TurnKey Lender Employees Featured in the Austin Woman Magazine Women to Watch August Technology Edition
TurnKey Lender’s Co-Founder and COO, Elena Ionenko, Head of Marketing, Lisbeth Garassino, and Marketing Manager, Annie Janofsky have been featured in the newest edition of the Austin Woman Magazine showcasing the company’s mission of making fair credit worldwide a reality and the leading role women play in moving TurnKey Lender forward. The Women to Watch Feature showcases Austin’s most engaging, empowering and successful women. These Austin’s unstoppable women of FinTech are three of the leading ladies behind TurnKey Lender, the Austin-headquartered fintech company is changing how lending is done around the globe. The flagship product, unified lending management software powers traditional, alternative and embedded lending businesses in over 50 countries and growing. Co-founded by a woman, with a 40% share of women in senior management, and a 75% share of women on the board, TurnKey Lender is a global technology company that recognizes and celebrates the role of equality when it comes to creating products that make the world a better place. Around the world, and in all seniority and departments within the organization, leading ladies play a critical role in the success of the business. The team at TurnKey Lender is on a mission to empower lenders to finance great things with intelligence and efficiency, while promoting diversity in the FinTech industry, striving to create an inclusive environment and seat at the table for everyone. About TurnKey Lender TurnKey Lender is a global B2B SaaS company that offers AI-powered lending automation and decision management solutions and services in 50+ countries and counting. From origination and underwriting, to servicing, collection, and reporting – the company’s software can automate the entire lending process just as well as its specific parts. TurnKey Lender supports numerous credit products out of the box – both commercial and consumer – on the same flexible SaaS platform. Designed with the latest design best-practices in mind, TurnKey Lender exceeds regulatory requirements for data security, going above industry standards with SOC 1 and SOC 2 Type II compliance reports, the globally recognized PCI DSS and ISO 27001 certifications, and more. About Austin Woman Magazine Since 2002, Austin Woman magazine has been the leading magazine for women in Central Texas. The magazine’s mission is to inspire, celebrate and support the diverse community of women in Austin and its surrounding cities, championing the movers and shakers, the artists, the philanthropists, the business leaders, entrepreneurs and those who believe that no dream is too big.
Women in FinTech Friday Feature – Chilufya Mutale
Meet Chilufya Mutale, CEO at Premier Credit Zambia Limited. Read more below on Chilufya’s day to day and how she became a leading lady in the FinTech realm. Q: What is an accomplishment that you are proud of? A: I am so proud to be able to inspire other people to dream big, pursue their dreams and start their own businesses. I am also proud of our fintech startup, PremierCredit. My passion for supporting small scale traders in particular women was inbuilt early on. I do believe in the saying that “To empower a woman is to empower her children, her family and her community. This is one of the smartest investments we can make, as MSMEs form the backbone of our economy, so when we support them as PremierCredit, we contribute positively to our economy at large. We are introducing alternative finance by way of Peer to Peer (P2P) lending in Zambia using advanced technology, making PremierCredit the first mover in the market. Q: What advice would you give to young women today looking to start a career in the industry? A: It’s an ever evolving industry that is dynamic, never static. Join a brand that aligns with your ideals and principles. It’s a fun place to be if you are passionate about the industry. Q: Is there one piece of technology you cannot live without? A: My iPhone 😊 Q: As a female leader, how do you start your day? What are your tips for productivity in the midst of a busy schedule? A: I always have a task list and put high priority tasks at the top and start with those. I call these needle moving tasks. My tips for staying productive during a busy schedule is to stay focused on the goal and task at hand. For as long as an efficient part of your time is spent on needle moving high priority tasks, you will be fine. Q: Anything else you would like to share? A: Every person at one point in time goes through a rough patch. What I use to keep going is a positive mindset mentality. I have a mindset of never giving up no matter the situation. I learn from every situation that makes me better and stronger. My favorite quote: “Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston S. Churchill
Women in FinTech Friday Feature – Olga Adler
Meet Olga Adler, Founder at Austin Business Woman. We had the pleasure of hearing from Olga, recently, on LinkedIn Live, where she shared her mission in promoting women owned and founded businesses, here, in Austin, Texas. Read more below on how Olga became a leading lady and inspiration to women owned, operated, and founded organizations like TurnKey Lender. Q: How did you become a leader in the Austin business community? A: Leadership in itself has never been the end goal for me and I think it is the same for many entrepreneurs. You just focus on what you do best, find a market niche for your efforts and try to find out if people need what you have offer. It does not matter what industry you are in, whether it is tech, finance, marketing or something else. If you are committed to your mission, aren’t afraid of becoming the face of your business and take full responsibility for every step of your way, then you become a leader. Q: What are you most excited about with new advances in technology today? A: The fact that you can shop, work, learn, connect with people and explore the world from anywhere anytime. Many people think that technology is preventing us from interacting face-to-face causing more isolation. I disagree, in my opinion, technology is bringing people together and it’s giving so many opportunities to businesses. This year, the pandemic demonstrated that technology is in many ways the core of economic resilience and adaptability. Q: What are your tips for productivity in the midst of a busy schedule? A: It might sound counter-intuitive but I recommend that people do not rely too much on their plan. The more we plan the less flexible we are when things don’t go as expected. When you start a project, especially involving a lot of people and activities, remember that the success does not lie in everything going exactly as planned (not that it wouldn’t be great) but in being able to quickly respond to unexpected scenarios and last-minute changes and to keep your mind open for new opportunities. Q: Is there a piece of technology you cannot live without? A: My phone. There’s virtually no part of my job that I couldn’t do from my phone. It’s not the most efficient way to do things but being a working mom when you are trying to run your business and care for a baby at the same time, you learn to do a lot of things on the go and, most of the time, only using one hand. Without smartphones, it wouldn’t be possible.
Women in FinTech Friday Feature – Yvette Salas
Meet Yvette Salas, Relationship Manager at Camino Financial. We had the pleasure of connecting with Camino Financial through LendIt FinTech USA 2021. Read more on Yvette’s day to day and how she became a leading lady in the FinTech realm. Q: How did you end up as a leader in the FinTech Industry? A: I ended up as a leader in Fintech because I work with a team of great people at Camino Financial who are all leading the efforts in order so that affordable alternative business loans are more accessible and inclusive! I’ve been fortunate to be part of the founding team at Camino and I’ve been granted a ton of autonomy on the job because my team trusts that I have our members’ best interest always front and center in what I do! Fintech is a fast growing industry. If you want to stay in a position of leadership and relevancy you’ll have to fall in love with your end-user and stay focused on the problem your technologies are solving for. It’s only when you truly care in solving your end users’ problems can you gain the know-how required to build great products that earn you wins and recognition as a leader in your industry! Q: What is an accomplishment that you are proud of? A: My proudest accomplishment at Camino Financial has been serving our Members! I will never stop beating at the craft of learning how to understand their needs and wants whether spoken or not. Once a prospect becomes a borrower of Camino Financial they become a Member! I’ve had the pleasure of assisting our very first member in accessing capital and my current role in serving our members is being a member champion. I’ve been fortunate in leading the efforts in growing our renewal sales which I like to refer to as our profit center! I’ve helped build our members’ success team, and launched our onboarding program. We onboard every member, welcoming them to our familia. At Camino our Members are at the Center of Everything We do; We’re not just a lender, we want to see our members better off every time they borrow from us! My biggest accomplishment by far at Camino is the EMPATHY that continues to grow in me for our members! Q: What are you most excited about with new advances in technology today? A: The new advances in technology have allowed companies like Camino Financial, an online non-bank lender, an opportunity to fill the financial lending gaps that exist in the market. New technologies like data sharing, machine learning and artificial intelligence have digitized how we gather the necessary data to make credit decisions when lending to our borrowers. As an online lender we leverage these technologies to lend to riskier small business borrowers that are currently underserved by traditional lenders and otherwise would be taking unaffordable loans in order to keep their businesses’ afloat. Technology has made access to capital more accessible, inclusive, has improved the user experience, lowered the cost of capital by digitaliing loan processes, and making paperless transactions possible! We are very forward-thinking on how technology will continue to advance allowing us the opportunity to get smarter about our members and expand our reach! Q: As a female leader, how do you start your day? What are your tips for productivity in the midst of a busy schedule? A: I wake up in prayer and gratitude for having the opportunity to live a blessed life and having family and friends! I squeeze in a work-out and like to make sure my house is always nice and tidy before I start my day! My best tip for productivity is EAT THE FROG! It’s a phrase I heard that has stuck to me; basically it means do not put off your hardest most important tasks to the end of your day but rather make it the priority and get it done! Once you eat the Frog the remainder of your day will get easier and you’ll feel less stressed out and more accomplished! Q: What are some of your favorite ways to spend your time when you aren’t working? Any tips for relaxation and destressing? A:
Women in FinTech Friday Feature – Michelle Katics
Meet Michelle Katics, Co-Founder and CEO at BankersLab. We are excited to welcome Michelle to the LinkedIn Live stage Tuesday, May 25th at 12pm CST to share more on her journey, software simulations that help bankers and retail lenders excel in the digital age, and more. Read more below on Michelle’s day to day and how she became a leading lady in the digital transformation, innovation, and technology realms. Q: How did you end up as a FinTech industry leader? A: I became an entrepreneur to solve my own problem. In the banking industry, it was difficult to teach a diverse audience about the finer points of portfolio and risk management. Simulation was like magic! Test and learn, compete, have fun, and learn along the way. Now, we deploy the same simulation to help lenders figure out how to deploy new tools and data, as an impactful next step after our original mission of training. Q: What advice would you give to young women today who are looking to start a career in the industry? A: The same advice I’d give to anyone – metacognition is your superpower. Metacognition is ‘learning how to learn’. Going forward, no matter what you studied in school, your ability to constantly integrate new skills sets and knowledge are a superpower. Those who can combine a ‘deep’ skill set (eg. whatever you studied in depth in school) with a ‘broad’ skill set will be scarce for years to come. The engineer who knows how to talk to the sales guy. The data scientist who is able to build a business case. Precious as gold. Q: What are you most excited about with new advances in Technology? A: Democratization. Yes, we have machine learning, big data, AI and other innovations. But the game changer is the availability and ease of use of so many new tools. This empowers smaller institutions – credit unions, community banks, small businesses to benefit from these tools and technology. It also empowers anyone with an internet connection to teach themselves to use these tools. This will empower innovation across more diverse elements of humanity and the economy. Q: As a female leader, how do you start your day? What are your tips for productivity in the midst of a busy schedule? A: I used to roll over and start reading email. I have stopped this, and instead start with a short meditation and then review my intentions for the day before springing into action. Q: What are some of your favorite ways to spend your time when you aren’t working? Any tips for relaxation and destressing? A: Sitting in chairs all day is going to kill us slowly. I did always run and cycle. Now I also do weight training and yoga over zoom with friends. Covid drove us to exercise together over zoom, but now its here to stay – we enjoy that daily touchpoint with close friends to keep us sane. Also, accountability to actually do core exercise (which I don’t enjoy) seems to be working! Q: Is there one piece of technology you cannot live without? A: My iPhone
Women in FinTech Friday Feature – Sheryll Viguilla
Meet Sheryll Viguilla, Sales and Business Development Manager at GROVER. Read more below on Sheryll’s day to day and how she became a leading lady in the FinTech realm. Q: How did you end up as a leader in the Marketing and Technology Industry? A: 6 years ago, I managed to get into one of the largest telecommunications companies in the Philippines where I worked as a Merchant Acquisition Officer for their newly launched E-commerce Platform. It was not an easy path because people are so resistant to change but working with them, I started to develop interest to technology. Since then, I never left the technology space. I worked for a digital bank and now working as a Sales Manager for different software solutions for banks, insurances and fintech companies. Q: What is an accomplishment that you are proud of? A: In general, one of the accomplishments that I am proud of is the idea of bringing in solutions to help provide better customers experience to Filipinos. To be more specific, introducing mobile check deposit and other digital solutions to few banks which were extremely helpful during the pandemic when people are not allowed to go out to do banking. Q: What are you most excited about with new advances in technology today? A: Technology has been a huge part of our day to day lives but what excites me the most about it is its capability to connect people. Nobody knew that Covid19 would massively affect the whole world and technology has been our main platform to voice out our opinions, help each other and be aware of what’s happening around us. Q: As a female leader, how do you start your day? What are your tips for productivity in the midst of a busy schedule? A: I was always fascinated with the idea of working from home until I was forced to stay at home because of this pandemic. Working has become more challenging and being productive has become a choice. I always start my day with a quick workout as it helps clear my mind. Also to be more systematic and to become more productive, I came up with an excel sheet where I input all the things I want to accomplish for the day. My tip? Begin with the end in mind. 😊 Q: Is there one piece of technology you cannot live without? A: It is probably my cellphone. I know it is just a small piece of device, but it has almost everything I could think of; from working to leisure down to ordering my favorite cookie, I use my cellphone to do those stuff.
Women in FinTech Friday Feature – Casey Christopher
Meet Casey Christopher, Chief Empowerment Officer at Quontic Bank. We had the pleasure of hearing from Casey, recently, on LinkedIn Live, where she shared her expertise in empowering others to impact change, innovation in promoting inclusive, diverse customer and talent acquisition, and passion in advocacy of women in banking. Read more below on Casey’s day to day and how she became a leading lady in the Fin(Tech) realm. Q: How did you end up as a leader in the FinTech industry? A: Am I one? Ha! I’m constantly questioning norms and processes. How can we rethink what we do and then rethink that, too. I’ve applied the skills that I’ve learned in other areas of my life to my profession and being relentless in advocating for myself and what I bring to the table. Q: What is an accomplishment that you are proud of? A: I advocated for paid parental leave at my past employer, CenterState Bank in Florida and my current employer Quontic Bank in NYC. I have the emails announcing both policies framed on my home office wall. Something so impactful on our employee’s lives needed a champion that understood how this would be beneficial for both our employees and the bank. I feel that a safe and supportive culture cultivates innovation. Q: What advice would you give to young women today looking to start a career in the industry? A: Find mentors and allies that understand what your personal goals are, but are not afraid to push you out of your comfort zone and initiate difficult conversations. I always advise to reach out to folks you follow on social media – I think you would be shocked at how many respond and set up a time to chat. I ALWAYS do! Q: What are you most excited about with new advances in technology today? A: Data. Data. Data. Artificial intelligence. The pandemic accelerated innovation and there was a huge surge to transformation in banking. Q: As a female leader, how do you start your day? What are your tips for productivity in the midst of a busy schedule? A: I try and get on the treadmill every morning even if it is just for a mile walk. I wake up and say three things I am grateful for and I give myself some compassion and grace if I am having a rough day. I have a brilliant career coach that I meet with 2x/week that is beyond helpful personally and professionally. Q: What are some of your favorite ways to spend your time when you aren’t working? Any tips for relaxation and destressing? A: I love to read, practice yoga and snowboard, as well as spend time with friends and family. I don’t cook EVER, so I love dining out, too! Q: Is there one piece of technology you cannot live without? A: Iphone – I have two. One phone has all of my professional contacts and my work email, while the other has friends and family and my personal email. It is the only way I have found that I can truly disconnect and be present during non-working hours. If work emails are coming through – I WILL ANSWER THEM, so I have to literally remove myself from the source. Q: Anything else you would like to share. A: If you are reading this and want to connect, please feel free to reach out. I love learning about folks and new tech. Connect with me on LinkedIn!
An Inside Look at the Digital Transformation of Credit at the U.S. Black Chambers
Scott Jordan is joined by Alisa Joseph to discuss the digital transformation journey of the U.S. Black Chambers, the role of the intelligent digital credit in today’s business environment, serving communities throughout crises with easily accessible and affordable finance, and how TurnKey Lender automation helps the U.S. Black Chambers serve their community better. Below find the full transcript of the interview. Scott Jordan: Welcome to Learning from Leaders, I’m an Account Executive with TurnKey Lender, and I’m honored today to have Alisa Joseph, who is Director of Programs at the US Black Chambers. Alisa, thank you so much for joining us today. It’s truly an honor to have you here. Alisa Joseph: It is my pleasure. Scott Jordan: Thank you. The US Black Chamber is an amazing organization. And again, we’re truly honored to have your organization as our client. You and I have been speaking for a number of months now. But if you don’t mind walking us through a little bit of your background as well as the Chamber’s mission. I greatly appreciate it. Alisa Joseph: Absolutely. So thank you again for having me here today. My name is Alisa Joseph. I am Director of Programs at the U.S. Black Chambers, and our organization has been around for 12 years now with the goal and the mission of being able to help black businesses succeed and for them to really bring economic vitality into our communities. We basically work across five pillars. Those pillars include advocacy, of which the work that’s on Capitol Hill takes place. And so if you think about PPP lending, we were instrumental in helping the next round of PPP lending, which is ending shortly to be able to get sole proprietors and 1099 contractors in that space. That was a lot of the advocacy that we did because they were left out in the first round. Secondly, access to capital, which we’re going to talk a little bit about today, but the ability to have not just adequate, but the amount of capital that you really need to grow and to move your business forward is really important to us. And that’s a lot of the work that we do. Contracting is our next pillar, which centers around being able to work with our corporate partners, work with city, local and state procurement agencies to be able to have access to contracts for black businesses. Next, entrepreneurial training. We do a lot of that work, so we’re always working to help prepare our businesses across whatever realm of work that they need. And so, as you know, digital became quite important in 2020 due to the pandemic. And so we spent a lot of time in that space talking about digital resources and tools that we’re going to help them move their businesses forward. And then finally, we have that one hundred and forty or so Chambers across the country and we do and provide leadership development training to through both our monthly meetings as well as to our annual conference. And so we want to make sure that our chambers are prepared and equipped to be able to serve their membership, which are other black businesses. And so that’s ultimately the work that we do. And we’ve been excited to do that work for a number of years now. Scott Jordan: Incredible. And it’s so important to you or to your membership. So in terms of your thinking about digital transformation and automation, I know this is something that’s been on your roadmap for quite a while, for a couple of years now, I believe. And if you don’t mind walking us through your thoughts behind that, what made you decide to move forward? Alisa Joseph: So the digital transformation of our organization has taken its place and steps and I would say at least around 2016-2017. We were working in a space of trying to figure out ways to provide access to capital specifically to black–owned businesses across the country. We partnered with companies like Liberty Bank and others to be able to provide a bigger stream of access for our customers. And then the pandemic hit I mean, literally a month before the pandemic, I was working on a program that was going to be in-person. We were doing it one of the local historically black colleges and universities. It was going to feature sort of a six–week immersion course that was really going to focus on marketing, financial statement, management and then operations business operations, because I feel that those are the key areas for any business to succeed. And in particular, if you’re looking for capital or contracts. And just as we were about to launch the pandemic hit, we had two weeks to really transform that work to do it online, and so that was that was a huge hurdle for us. We hadn’t done anything like that in the past. Zoom became our friend, as did Google Meet. And so that was one of the ways that we were able to really begin to bring the plethora of thought–leadership, subject matter expertise and digital tools and resources to those who were interested in watching and getting more information. As a result of that, we have to walk if we’re going to talk to our businesses about that, we also have to walk the talk, right. And so, it was important for us to really be thinking about what are ways that we can enhance what we’re doing in a digital fashion. And so that was really the move to how we started to transform some of the work that we were doing across email marketing, across our customer relationship management, and ultimately across products and services that we could deliver digitally. Scott Jordan: It’s amazing and I appreciate that background stuff. Definitely a lot to take in, a lot to think about. You had mentioned PPP before and the access to people and helping your membership. Obviously, I’m sure just like everywhere in the world, COVID had a major impact on a lot of small businesses. If you don’t mind walking us through how that affected your membership and how your lending products are going to be able to help them and, you know, really the process behind that. Alisa Joseph: So, you know, as a nonprofit, it’s really important for us to stretch the amount of funding that we get across a number of different areas. I mentioned the five pillars that we talked about, access to capital being one of those. But we have a small team and the need really became great, even with our chambers. Our chamber suffered as we also lost four hundred thousand black businesses across the country because of the pandemic. And some of those businesses came back, but a lot of them never will. So it
Women in FinTech Friday Feature – Corinne Bartow
Meet Corinne Bartow, FinTech Partnerships at MX. We are excited to welcome Corinne to the LinkedIn Live stage Tuesday, April 13th at 12pm CST to share her passion and expertise as a leader in the FinTech space. Read more below on Corinne’s day to day and how she became a leading lady in the digital transformation, innovation, and technology realms. Q: How did you end up as a tech industry leader? A: I started my career as an engineer, so when I moved into a sales role it was by default that I started in the technology space. Over time I developed an interest and expertise in creating and scaling partnerships which is what I focus on most in my current role. Q: What is an accomplishment that you are particularly proud of? A: I know some people don’t think of sales as an honorable profession, but it absolutely can be. I’m proud to have helped both customers and partners build successful businesses and better serve their customers’ needs. Certainly I could share many examples to illustrate this, but really, it’s the sum total of that impact that makes me particularly proud. Q: What advice would you give to young women today who are looking to start a career in the industry? A: There are a few things that I think are universally important. Asking lots of questions and learning to be incredibly curious will go a long way. Most people are eager to help when asked to share their knowledge, so don’t hesitate to ask for help or clarifications. Think of your career as constantly evolving. Just because you start on one path doesn’t mean you have to stick to that path. Expertise matters, but so does breadth. Become a clear communicator: Boil down complexity to digestible chunks, lay out ideas, decisions and plans in writing, edit for clarity and flow. Doing these things in your written communication will help you in verbal communication. Take copious notes and make meeting note-taking a collaborative effort. Q: What new advances in technology are you most excited about? A: I am fully immersed in what we do here at MX, leveraging technology to help improve people’s financial lives. I’m working with several partners that are well aligned to that mission and we are seeing some very creative, very exciting initiatives. It’s part of how technology is enabling highly personalized experiences in all of our lives. In some ways that may keep the unadventurous from expanding their boundaries, but I expect most will enjoy the benefits of tuned recommendations and automated mundane tasks. Q: As a female leader, how do you start your day? What are your tips for productivity in the midst of a busy schedule? A: Being here in New York where I’m two hours ahead of our Utah HQ folks, my mornings have become refreshingly flexible. That makes for good focus time, but it also helps me to find time for me, whether that is for exercise or investing time in personal interests. In the morning I review my calendar for the next couple days, reserve any time I need to get “heads down” work done, respond to any urgent items in my inbox and then let my calendar drive most of my day. I am guilty of working just a bit on many evenings and weekends, using that time to get to those things that are most important to me but might not be tactically important during the work week. Q: What are some of your favorite ways to spend your time when you aren’t working? Any tips for relaxation and destressing? A: I love to cook, travel, am an avid reader and enjoy live entertainment. Much of that was quashed this past year during the pandemic, but I am just back from my first trip and it was absolutely rejuvenating. I really think the best way to destress is getting outside. Find a quiet space and just observe the natural world. You can do that even here in NYC, so pandemic or not, get outside and admire mother nature. If you are too stressed to relax your brain, podcasts can be really helpful (as opposed to TV). Q: Is there one piece of technology you cannot live without? A: I love my e-reader and have become totally reliant on Google Maps. Otherwise, I can certainly live without technology, but would not choose to do so other than a few rejuvenating tech-free holidays each year.
Women in FinTech Friday Feature – Keren Moynihan
Meet Keren Moynihan, CEO & Co-Founder at Boss Insights. We had the pleasure of hearing from Keren, Tuesday, on LinkedIn Live on her passion and expertise as a top leader in lending. Read more below on Keren’s day to day and how she became a leading lady in the lending, innovation, and technology realms. Q: How did you end up as a leader in the FinTech Industry? A: Business banking is slow, risky, and costly but there’s no reason it has to be. Being a former banker working with hundreds of businesses, I experienced the challenges of getting capital. I heard the echoes from those with cash flow challenges as I struggled to find solutions. Each business is run by people, each with families, whose lives depend on their success. I understand how challenging the experience can be and know there is a better way. I co-founded Boss Insights, a financial data platform empowering fintechs, banks, and credit unions to accelerate business lending from months to minutes. Q: What is an accomplishment that you are proud of? A: For businesses, capital access determines survival. COVID heightened the need for digital lending. We’re proud of what we achieved during this time. Offering free technology to lenders who supported new businesses when PPP was launched, having a PPP platform ready for lenders and businesses in three days for Oracle, and most importantly hearing from our lending partners like CCBank and Carver Bancorp that we were getting funds in the hands of the businesses who needed it. Q: What advice would you give to young women today looking to start a career in the industry? A: Every woman starting a business today is here because of the women who came before us. Now we exist in a time where whatever we set our sights on, we can go for. Whether we have an equal shot of getting there, remains to be seen. Q: What are you most excited about with new advances in technology today? A: We are moving to a future where we can get more things done in less time while controlling our own data. We’re excited to be contributing to that vision at Boss Insights. Q: As a female leader, how do you start your day? What are your tips for productivity in the midst of a busy schedule? A: Let the goal and not the details be your guide. Q: What are some of your favorite ways to spend your time when you aren’t working? Any tips for relaxing and destressing? A: I miss salsa dancing, traveling and water skiing – get me in front of a body of water!! Q: Is there one piece of technology you cannot live without? A: Give me music + airplay and everything will be roses. Q: Anything else you would like to share? A: “Let’s go fly a kite and send it soaring.” Let’s make 2021 a year where we fly.
Women in FinTech Friday Feature – Lisbeth Garassino
Meet Lisbeth Garassino, Head of Marketing at TurnKey Lender. We had the pleasure of hearing from Lisbeth, Tuesday, on LinkedIn Live on her expertise and thought leadership in leading global marketing teams in the technology and innovation spaces. Read more below on Lisbeth’s day to day and how she became a leading lady in the technology and innovation realms. Q: How did you end up as a leader in the Marketing and Technology Industry? A: I have had the opportunity to work in some of the leading cities in the U.S.A. as well as abroad leading marketing for global companies as well as start-ups. I started my career as a Fulbright scholar teaching journalism overseas and acting as a representative of the U.S. Embassy promoting cultural understanding. For the last 16 years, I have been developing my marketing and leadership skills in many different areas that has led me to be a leader in this space. Having worked in New York City, Silicon Valley, Washington D.C., the Greater Miami area, and now, Austin for different industries while always working on marketing strategies and initiatives has led me to hone a wide-ranging skill set. Building relationships with other professionals has also helped me make connections with many talented people. Having passionate entrepreneurs and mentors has inspired me and shaped my professional path and career. Q: What is an accomplishment that you are proud of? A: Here at TurnKey Lender I am proud of the talented Global Marketing Team that I have brought together. Building and leading a cohesive and highly-effective team is vital to any initiative. Outside of work, I am proud of the cancer research advocacy work I do. I co-chaired the TargetCancer Research Advocacy Council of Boston. I am actively involved in the Joe Garassino Foundation of Watertown, Connecticut whose mission is to provide help to individuals with cancer in Connecticut. Under the Joe Garassino Foundation, created a closed loop online community for people who have cancer. You can find it here at https://joegarassino.org. Q: What are you most excited about with new advances in technology today? A: Asking how can we harness the power of technology to further develop our careers, interests and skill sets and be truly globally connected. And at the same time, use technology to help us all become wiser and more aware beings. It is a great responsibility of our time to be cognizant of the positive and negative capabilities of technology. For as humans we have yet to truly understand the impact of different technologies on the development of humanity. Q: As a female leader, how do you start your day? What are your tips for productivity in the midst of a busy schedule? A: I begin my day with meditation and coffee! Carving out time to go inwards before getting to all of the demands of the day is helpful for setting your tone and intention. I try to block out what I need in order to tackle the priorities on my calendar and I begin planning each week by identifying the high-level activities that need to be accomplished. When I need to reset, I go for a quick walk to clear my head and get re-energized for what needs to be accomplished. Q: Is there one piece of technology you cannot live without? A: I suppose it would have to be my iPhone X. Whether I am using my Insight Timer app to meditate, my work apps, the New York Times, Clubhouse or another networking tool, it is all there.
Women in FinTech Friday Feature – Leigh Christie
Meet Leigh Christie, Senior Vice President of Global Technology and Innovation at the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce. We had the pleasure of hearing from Leigh, Tuesday, on LinkedIn Live on her expertise and thought leadership in growing and advocating for innovation and global technology in Austin’s business community. Read more below on Leigh’s day to day and how she became a leading lady in the technology and innovation realms. Q: How did you end up as a leader in the FinTech Industry? A: For the last three years, the Global Tech & Innovation team has worked with local, active investors committed to supporting thriving industries that may not be receiving the spotlight they deserve. Arguably, one of these industries is FinTech. Austin has 300+ FinTech companies that call Austin home, and FinTech may be one of our best kept secrets. As a result, my opportunity to lead here is born out of the necessity to do more locally to highlight and better support FinTech founders and companies. Q: What is an accomplishment that you are proud of? A: I’m very proud of completing four marathons: San Francisco, New York (x2) and Honolulu. With each marathon, my overriding goal is to enjoy every minute of the training and race. It also serves as a reminder to my daughters that you should always do something you love and that’s just for you. Q: What are you most excited about with new advances in technology today? A; The advances with AI are incredibly exciting. There’s no doubt that AI impacts every industry. Austin has been listed as one of the leading hubs for AI technology and advancements and one of the top cities in the world for AI along with Beijing, Hong Kong, London, New York, Seattle and Singapore, to name a few. Founders, companies and universities leading in AI continue to attract capital, which bodes well for the future of AI. Q: As a female leader, how do you start your day? What are your tips for productivity in the midst of a busy schedule? A: Coffee, coffee, coffee. After coffee, I often list my top 5-7 deliverables for the day. It’s a must to carve out space and time for the unexpected. I also schedule daily blocks of time to brainstorm and draft deliverables and, most importantly, to take a break and check in with my teenage girls. Taking a walk and listening to a book on tape midway through the day helps clear my head and gives me energy to take on the rest of the day. Q: Is there one piece of technology you cannot live without? A: Everyone in our house is currently working or attending school from home. Where in the house any one of us chooses to be on any given day changes frequently so locating one’s laptop, iPhone or headphone charger is a daily game of finding a needle in a haystack. By far, the charging cable is something I cannot live without and it’s always difficult to find in my home.