Series
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Patricia Pacheco

In this episode, we are privileged to host Patricia Pacheco, Managing Director and Private Client Advisor at Bank of America, who shares her journey of resilience and empowerment.

Patricia's story is one of transformation and tenacity, as she navigates through profound personal losses to emerge as a leader in the financial sector. Here are the three pivotal takeaways from our conversation:

1. Building Bridges Through Relationships: Patricia’s first breakthrough came from her natural ability to engage and connect with others. Her story of transitioning from a waitress discussing her ambitions with patrons to securing an interview at American Express through a diner's recommendation illustrates the power of everyday connections and the importance of sharing your story.

2. Leveraging Personal Loss for Professional Gain: Facing the heartbreak of losing close family members, Patricia channeled her grief into her professional aspirations, using these personal trials as a catalyst for her career. Her journey is a testament to using personal challenges as fuel to pursue and realize your dreams.

3. Advocating for Financial Inclusion: Patricia is passionately committed to democratizing financial empowerment. She emphasizes the need for financial services that are accessible and beneficial to all, particularly underserved communities, highlighting how financial inclusion is integral to creating equitable opportunities.

This episode not only explores the remarkable resilience and ambition of Patricia Pacheco but also offers inspiration and actionable insights for anyone looking to transform adversity into an empowering pathway to success.

Tune in to be inspired and learn how to navigate your own challenges with courage and determination, turning personal hardships into opportunities for growth and impact.
Show transcript
00:00
Hola. I'm Claudia Romo Edelman and I'm Cynthia Kleinbaum Milner.
00:03
And this is a podcast,
00:04
La Latina, the playbook to succeed being your authentic self today
00:08
An incredible guest,
00:09
Patricia Pacheco Deva is managing director of private bank and private client
00:14
advisor at Bank of America.
00:15
And these are the three key takeaways of this episode.
00:19
Number one, she has become a master relationship builder,
00:23
getting people to open doors for her and for others.
00:26
My favorite example was how she got her first job.
00:28
She was waiting tables and telling her customers about her dreams.
00:32
One of those customers got her an interview with American Express.
00:36
Number two, how Patricia turned loss into leverage,
00:40
using grief as her guide.
00:42
She had many challenges from losing her mom and her brother and
00:45
used that pain to fuel her dreams and make them come true
00:49
She also talked to us about the importance of financial inclusion
00:52
and her focus on democratizing financial empowerment,
00:55
all of that and more here at a La Latina Cynthia,
01:06
we've been discussing how important it is for Latinas to generate wealth
01:10
particularly because we understand that only 33% of Latinas have retirement
01:15
income from savings or other assets.
01:17
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01:20
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01:24
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01:25
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01:29
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01:32
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01:35
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01:37
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01:40
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01:45
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01:47
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01:49
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01:51
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01:56
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01:58
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02:00
An incredible guest and a friend of mine,
02:02
Patricia Pacheco Deva Patricia is the managing director,
02:06
a private client advisor and the business development lead for diverse segment
02:10
within Bank of America Private Bank.
02:12
She oversees a private bank,
02:14
multicultural practice at the firm.
02:16
In early 2021 the Bank of America executive was promoted to managing
02:20
director and then she was appointed to co chair Bank of America's
02:24
Hispanic Latino Executive Council which encompasses the bank's most senior Latino executives
02:30
Patricia is also a member of the Association of Latino Professionals
02:34
for America Alpha Latino Justice and previously was a member of the
02:39
Y MC A US National Board Patricia.
02:42
Welcome to A La Latina.
02:43
Thank you, Muchisimas Gracias,
02:45
Muchisimas Gracias for having me,
02:47
Claudia and Cynthia. We want to know everything about you.
02:50
Tell us about your background and what made you be who you
02:54
are and what you do today.
02:55
Well, where can I start?
02:57
But again, I just wanted to say thank you Muchisimas
03:01
Gracias for having me.
03:02
I think it's a great honor and it's always humbling to share
03:05
the story, the journey how to start because it gives you
03:08
an opportunity to reflect,
03:10
right? And remember,
03:11
so how did I start the story?
03:13
I arrived here when I was 14 years old.
03:15
didn't speak a word of English.
03:17
Many of folks probably already heard this story,
03:20
but I actually arrived.
03:21
Not because I wanted to.
03:22
Unfortunately, my, my mother passed away of cancer,
03:25
Dominican Republic very early age of 42.
03:28
So typical Latina way.
03:31
My grandmother and my aunts decided that the first course of action
03:35
was for me and my brother to come to the States.
03:37
But the thing is that they didn't tell us,
03:39
right? They brought us here to visit my aunt.
03:42
And once we got here,
03:43
they told us guys,
03:44
the best thing to do for both of you is to,
03:47
to stay here and and try your best to do.
03:50
The best thing you can do to stay living with your
03:53
aunt at that point in time,
03:54
obviously, was shocking because not,
03:56
I only lost my mother.
03:58
I lost my family back in the Dominican Republic,
04:01
lost my friends. But I remember back then how painful it
04:04
was the moment I also remember looking up at my very strong
04:09
AUA my strong aunts who have just recently lost my,
04:13
I lost a daughter.
04:14
Recently my aunts lost a sister and a best friend.
04:17
But I looked at them at this incredible ladies,
04:19
a powerful woman. and,
04:21
and got inspired by their strength and told myself I had to
04:25
do the best to make my mother proud in heaven and make
04:29
this woman proud of me.
04:31
And I remember that it was sad,
04:33
it was upsetting and it was scary.
04:36
but early age,
04:37
like many immigrants, right?
04:38
I committed to myself and to my family that I was going
04:42
to be accomplishing the American dream.
04:44
We were right by working hard and being focused and most importantly
04:49
never giving up on the dream of coming back one day
04:53
to Dominican Republic, which many years later that didn't happen.
04:56
But then I always early age,
04:58
always remember, never forget where you come from.
05:01
So with that, as we tell the story today,
05:04
you will, you will find that I never have forgotten where
05:07
I come from, which is the Dominican Republic.
05:09
So that's a little bit of the story.
05:11
I mean, I think that's from the personal side.
05:13
I mean, I just like many immigrants have first arrived to
05:17
the to America. I had to go and wait tables
05:20
through high school. I had to help my family with
05:23
means and how I end up to college.
05:26
That's a great question.
05:27
I end up going to college.
05:29
Thanks to the community of Shelter Island.
05:31
I arrived to Shelter Island,
05:32
Long Island. Many of you probably know the Hamptons right far
05:36
away. My family and I were the first Latina family
05:40
in Ch Island. So that was very difficult to say the
05:43
least. However, was also the testament of what is the
05:47
American community in the American country,
05:50
the USA of America,
05:51
which is we welcome immigrants.
05:54
We support immigrants with the land of immigrants.
05:58
And that community embraced my family and I and helped us and
06:01
helped me apply to college,
06:03
educate my family that it was OK to send your daughter away
06:06
to send your niece away,
06:07
to go to college.
06:09
And thanks to someone committed to that,
06:10
I was able to apply.
06:11
I got to, I got in Manhattanville College and thanks to
06:15
the higher education opportunity program which is a program funded by the
06:18
government and by the schools,
06:21
the private schools, many of them do fund it.
06:23
I got full right.
06:24
And here I am,
06:25
I, I went from having a very,
06:28
you know, coming from very limited resources to now having a
06:31
great journey in banking.
06:33
thanks to those to those opportunities that was granted to me
06:36
by this incredible country and also granted to me by beautiful neighbors
06:41
that took it upon themselves to show up my family and I
06:44
either way, so I always take the time to thank that
06:47
and to thank them and thank my community because many times you
06:51
hear the negative rhetoric,
06:52
but in reality, the US of America is a beautiful country
06:56
and, and all of us take the time to give back
06:59
and embrace the immigrants that come to this country.
07:02
We can never forget that,
07:03
right? Because here I am,
07:04
right. 23 years in banking,
07:07
more than 3030 something years in America,
07:10
I really gotta say this is the the line of opportunity,
07:14
right? I mean,
07:15
I'm so inspired already.
07:16
And by the way,
07:17
I, I know you said you wanted your mom to be
07:19
proud. I am 100% sure she's so proud of you and
07:23
everyone in your family.
07:24
What you've accomplished is pretty extraordinary.
07:27
It just like very tactical question.
07:29
How did you learn English?
07:30
Like you came, you lived in a place where nobody spoke
07:32
Spanish. It was like,
07:35
yeah, that was so funny because I still like my friends
07:38
and I always make fun of me a little bit in a
07:41
good way because they say Patty,
07:42
you still have an accent and I love my accent.
07:45
But it's funny because back on 1993 I remember like yesterday,
07:50
the first I arrived to the count to the US,
07:53
they didn't have an ESL teacher.
07:55
they could, they actually the Spanish teacher,
07:58
her name is Mrs P because if you see me,
08:00
Mrs Picas, hello.
08:02
she actually was appointed to be the ESL teacher and she
08:05
became more than a teacher.
08:06
She became an ally,
08:07
she became a sponsor supporter and mentor and she embraced,
08:11
I took in our family to her house.
08:14
She will take us to her house to watch movies,
08:16
she will take us to movie theaters to watch movies in English
08:20
She was sitting with us in class,
08:23
translating for us the classes.
08:25
So again, a very different story than many,
08:28
many Children experience right here in the,
08:32
in the high schools in New York City.
08:34
But again, I I'm very fortunate that I had that opportunity
08:37
So yeah, we had an ESL teacher given that was
08:39
immersed into 100% English high school.
08:44
I had to learn,
08:45
it became natural, right?
08:46
Like many kids nowadays,
08:48
I don't think that we take enough time to thank the allies
08:51
but there's so many allies out there that did what misses
08:57
because it did, which is take upon someone and little help
09:01
it. We don't need you to take over our lives.
09:05
We just need to know that someone cares to give a little
09:08
hand to give a little help.
09:10
So thank you for all the people that have done that for
09:12
immigrants, for Latinos and for everybody because you see from little
09:16
resource to managing wealth that's what the American dream and it does
09:21
I do want to go back to one point of the
09:25
values that you had in your family that propelled you to be
09:28
the driven professional that you are.
09:31
And I know that there's a personal story that also shaped your
09:34
thinking. Would you mind sharing a little bit more of that
09:38
Sure. I think from the beginning when I grew up
09:41
in Dominican Republic, early on,
09:43
I saw my mother,
09:45
a working mother who changed careers several times.
09:49
We came from very humble beginnings.
09:51
So my mother's dream and goal was to get us out of
09:54
poverty. And my mother believed education was a path to that
09:58
right to break through cycles of basically generations curses of,
10:04
of lack of resources.
10:06
And my mother was an example of what it means to be
10:09
persistent, to have grid,
10:12
to never give up.
10:13
And I remember early on looking at and my mother was never
10:17
around because she was working two jobs and then doing her masters
10:21
at the end of the day,
10:22
getting home at 11 o'clock at night from the university.
10:26
And I remember my grandmother taking care of me and my brother
10:29
And I remember the fights and the arguments between my mother
10:32
and my father and also my grandmother.
10:34
But all of them were working together cohesively to show us
10:39
not by talking, but with action,
10:41
what it means to persevere and what I'm really grateful of is
10:46
that example. And now I have a daughter and she's 14
10:48
years old and I know that many times I'm not home and
10:51
when she wants me to be home,
10:53
However, as she's getting older,
10:55
I realized the impact that I'm having by showing her that a
10:59
woman, not only the role of a woman is not only
11:02
to be a mother or to stay home and take care of
11:05
the family, but also the role the woman plays in this
11:08
incredible country and, and ending in society,
11:11
right to be the her entire self and value her entire self
11:15
and add value to the entire society.
11:18
So to me, I am really appreciated by the example.
11:22
And I also remember earlier on that my mother always told me
11:26
your current circumstances don't define your destiny does not define your future
11:32
Whatever might be,
11:33
you're losing a job or you're having a hard day or you're
11:36
having a hard time or you're sick or you are poor or
11:39
you're rich or whatever might be today,
11:42
does not define your entire future.
11:44
But I also remember the first time that I heard you talk
11:48
I was blown away by the way in which you flipped
11:51
the script for me for the first time about disabilities and how
11:55
you thought that disabilities were actually a pro for life and how
12:00
much it taught to you.
12:01
It was something that maybe you want to share.
12:05
Yes. And, and I think you mean by challenges
12:08
right? How you have a decision to make in life
12:11
right? I lost my mother at an early age
12:13
and then later on when I got to this country and many
12:17
years later at 25 I lost my brother,
12:19
my only brother and I have to tell you that was a
12:22
breaking point for me.
12:23
And at early age I had to make a decision or do
12:26
I allow this current circumstances,
12:29
define my future and define what I'm going to do and be
12:32
or let it get to depress me or let it or I
12:35
use this as a fuel as a passion as an energy to
12:40
continue and going after my dreams.
12:42
So I decided the latter,
12:43
I decided that no matter what happens to me,
12:46
even if I fall,
12:47
even if I cry,
12:48
even if I'm upset,
12:49
I'm going to use it as a way to feel my energy
12:52
towards my goals and to make my family and my,
12:55
my community proud. And I,
12:57
and I remember, you know,
12:59
it has been very tough episodes,
13:01
but I, I really remember that from my mother,
13:03
from my, every time something that happened in the family or
13:06
around the community, they just come together,
13:08
finding focus on the solution versus the problem that's very important,
13:13
right? Many of us and and many times,
13:15
right, things are happening,
13:16
things are happening out of,
13:17
out of control. So I always tell my mentees,
13:19
let's focus on the solution versus the problem.
13:22
What can we learn from this particular situation that we can improve
13:27
And the last thing I gotta say,
13:29
the naysayers, right?
13:31
There's a lot of naysayers,
13:32
naysayers and, and that,
13:34
I mean, negative people and believe it or not as I
13:38
reflect the path of my path,
13:40
there's a lot of negative voices around.
13:43
Should I take this assignment or this job or go abroad?
13:47
Like I went to Mexico when we haven't yet talked about that
13:50
But you have to listen to yourself and really believe in
13:55
yourself and realize how committed you are to your vision and your
13:59
goals and focus on the positive voices in your head.
14:03
The f the positive voices around your network,
14:06
the people that believe in you,
14:08
there's always going to be someone that has something negative to say
14:11
And what I back to,
14:13
to our conversation when we first met is I use those negative
14:16
voices or those nos as a motivator as a way to say
14:21
thank you for your feedback.
14:22
I appreciate it. But look,
14:24
watch me. I'm going to prove you wrong because I think
14:27
when you're really committed and passionate about whatever,
14:31
it might be a goal that you may have something that you
14:35
want to accomplish or something that you want to build for yourself
14:38
for your family,
14:39
for your community, nobody can stop you.
14:42
So we have to really,
14:44
you know, focus on that and and never give up,
14:47
perseverance is key so inspired.
14:49
You are like the example of the American dream.
14:51
They should, if they make a billboard that the American dream
14:54
Patricia is going to be the case that I like your father
14:58
and tell us a little bit more about private banking.
15:01
And also can you tell us about your journey,
15:03
how you go to private banking?
15:05
I read or maybe I listened to another podcast you were in
15:08
which you said you started as a temp and starting as a
15:12
temp is a little risky.
15:13
Maybe some people say I don't want to take a temporary job
15:15
I'd rather wait until there's a permanent role for me.
15:18
How did you say I'm going to go for it?
15:20
And this is my beginning.
15:21
Yeah. What happened?
15:22
I started as a temp.
15:23
Not because I wanted to,
15:24
I graduated in 2001.
15:26
And there was as many of you remember the tech bubble,
15:29
right? So there was no jobs in actually 2000.
15:33
I graduated September tw 2001 911 was my first day of
15:38
my job, which was at American Express.
15:41
And the reason why I,
15:42
I got a temp job was because of the fact that even
15:45
if I had a 3.8 GPA,
15:47
I'm on had a college,
15:48
by the way, I was just there,
15:50
they became a university.
15:51
I didn't have a job because there was a,
15:53
basically an, an issue in the industry,
15:56
right about jobs. Long story,
15:59
I went back home to Charter Island and that basically went back
16:03
to waitressing table. And what I realized at that moment again
16:06
back to being optimistic.
16:08
I'm never gonna give up on my dream to go work at
16:10
corporate America. I major on international business,
16:13
actually double major international business in Latin American studies in college.
16:17
So what I did is every table that I waited on.
16:20
I told my story where I came from my elevator speech,
16:23
where I came from what I wanted to do.
16:25
And when one stables,
16:26
I met Gordon Joost,
16:28
who at the time was the head of American Express Western Hemisphere
16:32
And then as I was talking to him about my story
16:35
he has an affinity.
16:36
He had a great affinity for Latin America,
16:38
especially Dominican Republic. He said,
16:40
why don't we just set an interview for you with my team
16:43
And at that point in time,
16:44
they didn't have an open job.
16:45
So that's how the t job came in.
16:47
And I remember walking into the garden in American Express Building.
16:53
I don't know if you have visited downtown in Vista Street and
16:56
seeing this beautiful big palms and realizing,
16:59
oh MG oh my God,
17:02
this is the American dream.
17:04
This is my dream.
17:05
Even if it was a tamp,
17:06
even if it was basically very little money,
17:09
I just wanted the opportunity.
17:11
And that's exactly what happened.
17:12
I came in at American Express Bank as a temp.
17:15
And then little by little actually within six months,
17:18
I got an extended offer full time.
17:20
And then basically seven years went by really fast at American
17:25
Express where I covered the Midwest and Canada for financial institutions.
17:30
Then I went and got invited to join JP Morgan for another
17:33
seven years where I covered as a,
17:35
as a banker in Cibe or com you know,
17:39
global Commercial Investment Bank where I covered Latin America.
17:43
And then now the last 10 years,
17:45
I was invited to join Bank of America.
17:48
In initially the first eight years of Bank of America was a
17:51
corporate investment banker, global corporate banker,
17:55
which basically we focusing our fortune 500 companies,
18:00
global fortune 500 companies above $2 billion in annual sales.
18:04
So my job as a banker as a corporate banker was to
18:07
be a relationship manager and support these Corporates that are based in
18:11
the US. But they were multinationals like Unilever Diageo,
18:15
many others and from Latin America,
18:17
like many Bimbo like Mexico,
18:19
for example, helping them and supporting them as a relationship manager
18:23
get other services from Bank of America and also at the
18:26
time at JP Morgan.
18:27
So that has been my career,
18:28
relationship management role in the last three years.
18:31
Almost three years I joined private bank.
18:33
And it was a pivotal moment because it's very unheard of for
18:37
you to move from one line of business to the other.
18:39
But I have been fortunate that a Bank of America,
18:41
they provide you a lot of opportunities across the company.
18:46
And once I got managing director in,
18:48
in Bank of America Global Corporate Investment Bank,
18:52
I realized I wanted to do more.
18:53
I wanted to do something differently.
18:55
And I got promoted in corporate investment bank.
18:58
And it was the biggest day of my life.
19:00
To be honest, it was a lot of hard work together
19:03
and a lot of a lot of focus and a lot
19:06
of support of mentors and sponsors.
19:08
By the way, I decided I wanted,
19:10
I had more to give from a leadership perspective.
19:12
So I was invited by the head of Private bank in New
19:16
York City to join her as a market leader,
19:18
joining her leadership team and driving diverse segments for New York
19:22
City division. So it was a great honor working for as
19:25
well, working under Knox,
19:27
which was the president of,
19:28
of Bank of America Private,
19:30
but more importantly, working for Gina May back,
19:32
which is the division exec for New York City.
19:35
And Latina, the first Latina ever working for the CEO of
19:39
Private Bank in Bank of America.
19:41
So for me, it was a great honor to be part
19:43
under their leadership and also work with Tiffany Ube Sanders,
19:46
which is the head of divorce segments across the country.
19:48
So it has been a journey and I think we never talked
19:52
about often enough. We don't talk about the risks that we
19:55
take in our careers.
19:56
I think this has been probably the biggest risk I've taken because
20:01
I went from almost 21 years of global corporate investment bank,
20:07
right. In different roles,
20:08
different cover financial institutions,
20:10
then cover public sector and cover Corporates.
20:14
And now moving all the way to private bank,
20:16
which is individual wealth families,
20:19
and institutions like private equity hedge funds is a different total
20:24
diff it's like switching backs,
20:25
but without switching backs.
20:27
So which I think it's a lot of risk.
20:29
A lot of folks question me,
20:31
is she going crazy?
20:32
But the reason why I did it,
20:34
it's because I'm always looking to learn,
20:37
I'm looking to expand my,
20:39
my, we call it a skill set and I always encourage
20:42
my mentees and then the the folks that I come in
20:45
run into is to take risks,
20:48
but it was a calculator risk.
20:49
It was a calculator risk definitely was a calculator risk from a
20:52
perspective that I have solid skill sets in relationship management,
20:58
solid acumen that I could be transferred to this role,
21:03
right? Unless you have that,
21:05
then it's riskier, right?
21:07
However, if you see men today,
21:10
there's a statistics to prove that right?
21:12
Men take a job being 5050 right?
21:15
50% 50% not we as women.
21:19
Most of us, especially Latinas,
21:21
we need to be hunting 1050% most of the time,
21:25
prepare already to take that role.
21:27
So what I asked myself the question as I was contemplating moving
21:30
to private bank, it's how can I add value in that
21:33
role? How could I make a difference within private bank and
21:36
especially within the acumen and the experience and the skill sets that
21:40
I have covering this large conglomerate.
21:43
How can I really bring that to individuals who have accumulated wealth
21:48
and run multi billion dollar businesses?
21:50
Right. So for me,
21:51
I think that the skills were transferable and therefore because of that
21:55
was a calculator risk,
21:57
I always encourage folks to do that.
21:59
I know it's hard,
22:01
but maybe we can talk about how to mitigate the risk.
22:04
And the way you mitigate the risk is by creating mentors allies
22:08
that can support you through your learning curve,
22:10
being self aware of what you do know and what you don't
22:13
know and work on the things that you don't know at the
22:16
same time enhancing and amplifying the things that you do know,
22:20
because you need to have that confidence,
22:22
you have to hone in on that confidence and and believing in
22:25
yourself to bring your entire self to the table and to work
22:30
So to me,
22:30
that's very key. And the third thing that I tell you
22:32
about how to create the calculator risk.
22:36
It's very importantly as well to make sure that you're humble
22:41
and nimble enough because many times when you come from being very
22:45
successful. At one thing,
22:47
for example, in global corporate Investment Bank,
22:49
21 years I've done,
22:50
I did really well.
22:51
I got promoted to managing director.
22:52
I was on the highest possible place in my career.
22:55
Coming to a place where I had a lot to learn was
22:58
very nimble, very humbly.
23:00
So you have to be ok to be in that space,
23:03
even if it's for a little bit,
23:04
you don't have to be the superstar,
23:06
the one that know it all to begin with.
23:08
But you definitely have to be the one that is asking the
23:11
right questions that is open to learn,
23:13
that is open for feedback and feedback I think is the best
23:16
gift anyone can give you.
23:17
So I'm just imagining the story that you told me that you
23:22
told us makes me just like imagine this little girl in Shutter
23:26
Island, this teenager having a group of people that took care
23:31
of you maybe like I,
23:32
I don't know how you build those relationships,
23:35
but then we see you later in your early twenties waiting tables
23:40
again, building relationships with random people that you're waiting tables and
23:45
then you talk to us about your career in which you are
23:48
building relationships with executives of the most successful companies in the world
23:53
So I have a feeling that one of your superpowers is
23:57
building relationships. Do you have a playbook for what you do
24:01
to gain people's trust,
24:03
trust and for people to want you to succeed.
24:05
Because if you were an iceberg,
24:07
you know that those images of the iceberg where you see the
24:10
water and there's like all this substance below.
24:13
I see so many people that really got you where you are
24:17
and you've spoken about them.
24:18
But why you, what did you do that?
24:21
People said I'm gonna take her to the movies.
24:23
I'm gonna help her learn English.
24:25
I'm gonna get her an interview with Amex.
24:27
I'm gonna promote her.
24:28
I'm gonna steal her to go to a different place.
24:30
What did you do?
24:31
I think that's a great question.
24:32
And I actually, I was thinking about that the other day
24:36
and someone one of my mentors internally,
24:38
tell me, Patty,
24:39
you're very likable because you're authentic.
24:43
I think authenticity is key.
24:45
It's not about being likable because you do things nice things to
24:49
people. It's about when you your true self.
24:52
And I think one of the things and Claudia and I were
24:55
were laughing about this the other day.
24:57
We're having a conversation and I'm like Claudia,
24:59
you need to do this.
25:00
You need to do that.
25:00
One of the things about me,
25:02
it's that I am my true self in every possible conversation.
25:07
And my objective is always thinking about how I can be of
25:10
service to you. Whether since I was an early age,
25:13
given my background, my childhood,
25:15
we always have to think about how can I help my cousin
25:18
my brother how can I help my household?
25:20
How can I help MauA?
25:21
So I grew up in an environment where I was in service
25:25
to others. And I think as I come in into the
25:28
world of corporate America,
25:29
I'm always thinking how I can be helpful,
25:32
whether it's my client,
25:33
whether it's my coworker,
25:35
whether it's my mentors,
25:36
my sponsors, my supporters,
25:38
I think to me that has paid a long way because many
25:42
of my network today are individuals who I met 20 years ago
25:46
who we all grown in corporate America and every single one
25:50
of them when they call me,
25:52
I pick up the phone and I say how I can support
25:54
and how can I help even if it's just to listen.
25:56
And the other thing that I think that it's one of my
25:59
superpowers is to come from a place of,
26:03
of given, right?
26:04
But also coming from a place of how can I be
26:07
helpful. But as well,
26:09
how can I listen?
26:10
Because many times people just want to be listened to and many
26:14
times even in relationship management and that's a skill set.
26:17
Listening is a skill set by the way that,
26:21
that we need to develop and cultivate and I still cultivate that
26:24
However, in relationship management,
26:26
were you in with a client?
26:28
They want you to listen,
26:29
what are their pain points?
26:31
They don't want to hear about your great value proposition on your
26:34
products and services in detail.
26:35
They wanna know how you're gonna fix an issue that they have
26:38
and how are you gonna know that issue that they have if
26:41
you don't listen, when you're with a friend and you're with
26:45
a, a or whether it's incorporate or whether it's outside,
26:49
how you gonna really understand that individual inside out.
26:52
If you don't really listen and listening in without having a response
26:56
in your head. And again,
26:58
that, to me it's something that I have been working my
27:01
best to, to work on that skill set.
27:04
But the other way,
27:05
I got to tell you that many people tell me because I
27:07
don't like bragging about myself is that I am always thinking long
27:11
term, I think about not necessarily on building short term relationships
27:19
It's about how can I be of value in the long
27:22
term, how can I cultivate relationships?
27:24
But I think that we haven't discussed this in the podcast enough
27:27
What you just picture the pyramid and how do you push
27:31
forward? So I want to ask you both,
27:32
who is the successful,
27:34
the giver, the taker or the matchmaker?
27:38
That's a great question.
27:39
We don't know enough like la la.
27:41
So you, what do you think?
27:42
Just give me a guess.
27:44
Who is the winner or who's the loser?
27:46
There's givers takers or matchmakers.
27:49
I think it would be between the givers and the matchmakers.
27:53
Who is the winner?
27:54
Who's the loser there?
27:55
No, they're both would be winners,
27:57
the losers will be only the takers and I can,
27:59
I can give you examples of that.
28:01
OK. Hold it.
28:02
So I think that it is really important to talk about this
28:05
because we as Latinos have all the ingredients,
28:08
but we just don't know the recipe.
28:10
The winners the losers of all between the winners,
28:15
the takers and the matchmakers are the givers.
28:18
The givers are the losers of all.
28:20
But the winners are the givers.
28:23
Why? Because a matchmaker will never let a taker go to
28:27
the top. So it will always say like,
28:28
no, you don't deserve.
28:29
I'm not going to push you up.
28:31
But you can also and the matchmaker will only be trading.
28:35
So it's like a slower,
28:36
the giver is the winner and the loser.
28:39
Exactly. It depends on how much you give.
28:42
It depends on how careful you give it,
28:44
how authentically you give.
28:46
If you are like a give it all,
28:48
you're going to be losing yourself on the wait.
28:51
But if you're like,
28:52
if you are giving to people like the 10% the 15% the
28:56
15 minutes here people will be invested in your success because you
29:01
help them. So you become a little bit of the antidote
29:04
of everything. And I do think that it is important for
29:06
our audience to understand that giving is a gift,
29:10
but you have to give carefully intentionally and authentically so that we
29:15
can push each other and succeed.
29:17
I love that because you know,
29:19
one of the things that we were discussing among,
29:21
you know, our network in Ola and in HLC,
29:24
which is the Ola is the Hispanic employer who is sub group
29:27
by Bank of America.
29:29
And HLC is the Hispanic Latino Executive Council at Bank of America
29:33
And, and it was a similar discussions I had when
29:35
I was at JP Morgan and I ex month,
29:37
the er GS is the fact that it's so much expected of
29:41
us right from, as you go through the ranks of,
29:43
of a corporate America as a Latinx,
29:46
it's very few of us.
29:47
So it's so much expected from giving,
29:49
right? Giving you time mentorship sponsoring and many times folks
29:54
get to your point burned out,
29:56
right? Because you're in everywhere,
29:57
in every panel, in every,
29:59
in every mentorship program supporting and giving back,
30:02
which I think it's a duty and,
30:04
and, and the way of you paving forward and we're very
30:06
committed to that. But I also say,
30:09
and I have been pushing back recently is we,
30:12
we ha it has to be also be a balance,
30:14
right? And what I'm,
30:15
what I'm taking for what you're saying,
30:17
which is true is about how we do things in an intentional
30:21
way, in measurable way.
30:22
Exactly if there is no measurement to,
30:26
to anything that there's no result.
30:29
So what we, for example,
30:30
what we did recently,
30:31
it's like, how do we measure success in mentorship program?
30:34
And for me, what I done recently.
30:36
It's like, who am I investing my time in?
30:39
It's a top talent,
30:40
individuals who are really gonna do the follow ups on all the
30:43
things that I'm suggesting and advising,
30:46
which are the organizations that I'm gonna be investing in are the
30:49
organizations that are really giving back in a genuine way.
30:53
She would go to,
30:54
like, with me,
30:55
she's like, you have to do 1234 and they're like,
30:57
I'm like, I've done 12 and three.
31:00
Don't tell her what to do people,
31:02
but she's so funny.
31:03
But in reality, it's true,
31:05
like you have to be calculated around the quality of your time
31:10
Es especially as you go up in,
31:12
let's talk about this.
31:13
There are three things that I think that we still have to
31:15
cover with you. One is balance,
31:17
the other one is wealth and the,
31:18
the, the third piece is identity on balance.
31:22
We've heard again and again,
31:23
how hard it is to be a successful corporate America leader and
31:28
balance your life, your personal life.
31:31
So what have you learned in the last 20 years?
31:34
What would you say,
31:36
how to do it or what to be aware of?
31:38
Well, I for those that are my friends.
31:41
No, I am horrible at this,
31:42
in balancing. I think I,
31:45
I done a horrible job in,
31:48
in work life, balance,
31:49
whatever we want to call it right now.
31:51
But I think for me,
31:52
one of the things that I'm reflecting on and,
31:55
and I'm trying my best to it to spend more quality time
31:59
with my family. I think if anything COVID told that life
32:02
is precious and it's very limited.
32:04
And what I realized also for me is as I'm growing older
32:08
is spending more quality time with myself.
32:12
So I am a very focused corporate America executive,
32:18
right? who know by choice really?
32:21
Because I have to provide for my family,
32:23
right? And obviously the passion and the willingness to do more
32:26
and give more. It's because I want to be more successful
32:29
to give back to my family to my community.
32:32
But little by little,
32:33
I noticed at one point in time that I was losing myself
32:36
and I'm losing myself and feeling depleted and feeling exhausted.
32:40
And, you know,
32:40
many of my friends,
32:41
they have taken many hobbies,
32:43
whether it's meditation,
32:44
whether it's running exercise.
32:47
And I really believe for me what works is more meditation
32:50
going to church having developing my spiritual life.
32:54
It's very important. I've been growing up as a Catholic since
32:57
I was an early age.
32:58
And spirituality is something that was passed down to me by my
33:00
grandmother and going to church is something that brings me peace and
33:04
tranquility. But in terms of motherhood,
33:06
which probably, I don't know if you've spoken of about this
33:08
on your podcast. I think you have to say listen to
33:11
Liana, listen a little bit to Adela.
33:13
I think that's the one that hits the most to me.
33:16
Meaning where I always feel guilty,
33:18
I feel like there's not enough hours in a day to,
33:21
to be there for my,
33:22
my, my daughter and also be a successful career woman.
33:26
I think one of the things that I learned from someone that
33:30
was very successful, a female in,
33:32
in, in the banks,
33:34
she told me but it's not about,
33:36
it's not about quantity of time,
33:37
it's about quality of time.
33:39
It's making sure that you're there in every moment that matters for
33:42
your daughter. It's making sure that you're present.
33:45
And that's hard now,
33:47
especially with the phone,
33:48
with the iphone, with the,
33:49
the social media, with the emails that you get 24 7
33:53
and clients are expecting you to answer and colleagues are expecting,
33:57
but you have to put that balance and I have learned the
34:01
hard way to put that balance because I think my daughter,
34:05
she's extremely independent. I think she's my biggest,
34:07
biggest actually. I know for sure she's my biggest pride because
34:11
I see the young woman that she's becoming an extremely independent,
34:15
hard worker, very secure about herself.
34:19
But I'm not gonna lie,
34:20
Claudia and Cynthia. I feel guilty all the time.
34:24
And what I realized is that how can I be present?
34:27
How can I be in the moments that really matter how can
34:30
I really listen to her?
34:31
I pick up the phone no matter what meeting I'm in and
34:33
she calls I pick up the phone or I'm texting her through
34:36
the day. And one of the other reasons why I moved
34:40
to private bank is because I was traveling,
34:42
I was traveling every single week in the US and outside of
34:45
the US globally. And I realized after COVID when we were
34:49
at home for two years straight,
34:51
oh my God, my daughter needs me to be home.
34:55
I mean, we exercise together,
34:56
we do things together and,
34:58
and as a mother,
34:59
I had to make a choice.
35:00
Should I do I,
35:02
the next few years,
35:03
which she needs me the most,
35:04
which is teenager years.
35:05
We cannot argue that's when they really,
35:07
especially girls. Do I spend a little bit more time
35:11
in New York and less travel?
35:13
And that's, that's one of the things that went into the
35:16
question when I was calculating pros and cons moving from global corporate
35:20
investment bank to private bank,
35:22
which is more domestic,
35:23
right? But I have to say to you balance,
35:27
it's a journey. And the last thing I tell you about
35:30
this is that if there's one thing that I wish I'd do
35:33
better is to be more,
35:35
give myself more grace.
35:37
I think sometimes we are all each other's our own self worth
35:43
enemy because we expect so much from ourselves.
35:47
We want to be 100% the best mother every single day,
35:50
100% the best corporate executive and 100% the best fan and family
35:55
member and many times we can't do it all at the same
35:58
time. And I wish someone would have told me that I
36:00
was so hard on myself when I was,
36:02
look, I had to ground break,
36:05
I had to do like I was the first one,
36:08
like the first Mexican that was at the UN and such like
36:10
I was like this and so on.
36:12
So I wish someone would have said it's gonna be OK.
36:15
You, it's even if you like the five extra hours that
36:19
you're putting every day on,
36:20
like you could reduce it to three or to two and you
36:23
know, it's gonna be OK either way.
36:26
OK? So let's go.
36:27
What I do, I do want to share one more point
36:29
which is about the village,
36:31
right? So I'm very fortunate because I have a husband who
36:34
is extremely supportive and I have family members who have been very
36:37
supportive. So my daughter is now turning 14,
36:40
but through this 14 years,
36:42
if I didn't have that right partner,
36:44
which is my husband and Davis bias.
36:46
And if I had the right,
36:47
they didn't have the right village,
36:48
which was my aunts,
36:49
my cousins, my friends,
36:52
my community that many times,
36:53
even my college friends that helped me through when I was doing
36:56
my MB A to throw my daughter a birthday party,
36:59
right? I think it's important to take the time to
37:03
surround yourself, right with the right village and never forget to
37:06
be grateful and thankful because it takes a village.
37:09
It's not just about ourselves.
37:10
So before we go to our usual questions about being Latina,
37:13
you are in private wealth.
37:16
You have spoken about how it's been important for you to make
37:19
money. And this is a bit of a taboo topic.
37:22
Actually, in my day job,
37:24
we talk about how people and women in particular and Latina women
37:28
even more. So we don't feel comfortable saying I wanna be
37:31
rich. So can you talk to us about how can Latinas
37:35
benefit from the banking system,
37:37
either working on it or,
37:38
or having a relationship with a bank in a way that helps
37:42
them build wealth, retire?
37:44
Yes, I I break the taboo of money.
37:46
I'm breaking the taboo and like go generational wealth.
37:51
Yes, I think it is.
37:52
It's not necessarily just about being rich,
37:54
right? It's about building generational wealth because to us Latinos,
37:59
especially Latinas, we don't,
38:00
we don't have a lot of the financial acumen,
38:02
right? Like because we not grew up,
38:04
we don't grow up with families that have generations of generations of
38:08
wealth and pass down that to us and that,
38:11
that legacy of understanding the rules.
38:13
I think every female and every person actually should be leveraging financial
38:18
institutions, banks, private bankers or financial advisors.
38:21
And the reason why I say that is because just like you
38:23
go to a doctor to get advice and get perspective and get
38:27
input on what's going on with your body.
38:29
It's the same thing and you go to an expert,
38:31
right? When you have migraines or you have a stomachache,
38:33
you go to an expert,
38:34
it's the same concept around wealth.
38:36
It's it's important to also leverage those experts,
38:39
to give you advice,
38:40
to give you perspective,
38:42
the right experts, right?
38:43
Because there's many out there,
38:44
but obviously the right experts that have you at the center of
38:48
everything and have you in mind and your family,
38:50
not just in the short term,
38:51
but also in the long term.
38:53
I think private banking has great a lot of offering.
38:56
And one of the things that motivates me since I moved
38:58
to private bank, it's there's such a huge bust of solutions
39:02
and products that can be very helpful to that community.
39:06
What I wanna do when in our team will focus on democratizing
39:10
financial empowerment. It's critical for us to understand the key things
39:14
that we need to do,
39:15
whether it's set up at early age and Ira 41 K,
39:18
all the different instruments,
39:19
the basic instruments, but as you grow and you become an
39:22
entrepreneur and you create wealth,
39:24
how do you set up your business for success for generations to
39:27
come? How you do that transfer of wealth to the next
39:30
generations to come by leveraging the right tools.
39:33
And I think if I look at our community compared to other
39:35
communities, that's an area that we need to do a lot
39:38
of more work. And I can tell Claudia this,
39:40
I, I think there's a lot of lack of,
39:43
of knowledge, but more importantly,
39:45
a lot of taboos,
39:45
right? There's a lot like Latinos in general and I'm generalizing
39:49
because it's not all Latinos,
39:50
they have this type of weird relationship with banks,
39:53
right? The lack of trust.
39:54
So banks, we need to make sure that we are becoming
39:58
more approachable, right?
40:00
That we are in the community that we're explaining things in a
40:03
very basic simplistic way.
40:05
So my commitment and and 11 of the things why I'm so
40:08
motivated the last a few years is because what we are doing
40:12
in private bank is really bringing all these incredible tools that we
40:16
have in in this legacy Trust Bank of years of private wealth
40:20
bringing it to the business owners who are now out there
40:23
to outshining many others,
40:25
right? From a growth perspective,
40:27
from a GDP perspective,
40:28
from a wealth creation perspective.
40:30
However, without those tools and without the right advice,
40:35
they most of the time that wealth gets evaporated.
40:38
So ask to you address your exact question is critical,
40:42
not just to create wealth,
40:43
but to maintain it,
40:45
preserve it in growing and to do that,
40:48
you definitely need to work with an ex best friend like a
40:51
BFF. It's almost like when you move to a place,
40:53
they say you need to have the name of a great doctor
40:57
be friends with the police and have a banker friend.
40:59
All right, let's talk about identity.
41:01
Being Latina incorporate America for you superpower.
41:05
A pro a con.
41:07
When did you have to dial down?
41:08
What do you think it is like the asset that has brought
41:11
to you being a Latino?
41:13
I definitely think it's my superpower and if you see me in
41:16
every possible discussions I had or even my linkedin post,
41:19
I love being Latina.
41:21
I embrace who I am from the beginning.
41:23
Early on in my career,
41:24
I had a lot of feedback around.
41:28
You have to tone your,
41:30
your way, you talk,
41:32
your passion sometimes gets the best of you.
41:35
I was coach obviously many times early on on,
41:39
you know, elevating my voice,
41:41
right? Dominicans, especially Dominicans,
41:43
we talk very high in my house.
41:45
We have this joke where we say we're not arguing,
41:47
we're just talking so that sometimes comes to corporate America.
41:52
And obviously you have to,
41:53
it's not that corporate America is telling you not to be yourself
41:56
But you also have to think about in any conversations that
42:00
you're having with, with the client internally.
42:02
You have to have a healthy debate and you need to know
42:04
how to debate and how to communicate in a way that's precise
42:07
and concise and most importantly delivers the message that you intended to
42:11
deliver. So I use my superpower of Latini that as a
42:16
way of being authentic,
42:18
right? Because Latinidad culture,
42:20
Latina, culture, Latino,
42:21
culture, whatever we wanna call it,
42:23
that is our superpower.
42:25
I think our, the reach of diversity that we have as
42:27
a community, our in our heritage that we have from
42:31
our family members. and how diverse we are we as
42:35
a Latino community. I think to me,
42:37
that's a superpower that we bring because we are diverse as it
42:40
is. So there's so many different perspectives even here sitting down
42:44
right? We're all from different countries,
42:45
different cultures within Latin America.
42:48
But we have our language in common.
42:49
We have a lot of things in common and our love for
42:51
our country and our families and our community in common.
42:54
However, we have a lot of perhaps different perspectives.
42:56
So I think different perspectives,
42:58
whether you're Latino or not,
42:59
it should be welcome.
43:01
But for me, many times,
43:03
many times, people say Patty,
43:04
you may be using the Latina,
43:06
you know, flag too much.
43:08
So be it. I don't really care about that.
43:10
I think for me,
43:12
it's about being a itself and I am 100% Latina and 100%
43:17
American. And I'm the most proud of that.
43:19
Now, Telos, if you were talking to your 30 year
43:22
old self, I think you were in your second job around
43:25
that time. What advice would you give yourself?
43:27
I will give myself the advice,
43:29
stop and smell the roses,
43:32
take the time to smell the roses.
43:35
Many times, you know,
43:37
we're so focused on the job on the next promotion,
43:41
on the deal, on winning the deal and we get the
43:44
deal in and we get the promotion,
43:47
but we don't even take time to go and celebrate.
43:49
Are you smelling the roses?
43:50
No, I'm taking the time in an intentional way to stop
43:55
Smell the roses.
43:56
Celebrate, go to dinner,
43:57
open the champagne bottle,
44:00
celebrate with my team.
44:01
Bring my team, talk about the win and stop and say
44:05
what did I did really well?
44:06
And what could I learn and move on?
44:08
And I'm taking the time as well to reflect on when things
44:12
don't go well, but don't think about it too much.
44:15
And when we have your daughter as a successful executive sitting
44:20
here and talking about you the way that you did about your
44:24
family and your friends,
44:26
you, I hope that you can realize that you,
44:29
you know, like everything was OK and that you did what
44:32
you could with the tools you had and that,
44:34
you know, like there's always,
44:35
always the time to do it.
44:37
So thank you for everything.
44:38
What you do for Latinos.
44:39
I have to say that you're really vested in making sure that
44:42
you elevate Latinos that there's more Latinos in the wealth that there's
44:45
more Latinos non for profits getting support and that you're,
44:49
you know, like not only giving your,
44:50
your advice but also pushing in corporate America to give more.
44:53
So who else should we have?
44:54
In this podcast. Oh,
44:56
I definitely think you have,
44:58
you put me on the spot,
44:59
but I definitely think you should have more of a woman from
45:02
wealth. Definitely we should have Gina Meach,
45:05
which is my boss.
45:06
I already told her,
45:07
you should definitely contemplate as well to bring allies by the
45:10
way. But I think from another woman that you
45:14
should consider internally,
45:16
we have Christina Cuaron,
45:17
which is, she's incredible.
45:19
Also Mexican she's the co for global technology in the bank
45:24
I mean, we have so many women but Christina Cuaron
45:26
comes on top of mind,
45:26
she has a rich history as well.
45:29
We also have Karen Chopra from Beat.
45:31
She's the head of Hispanic Latino strategy for Bank of America.
45:35
I mean, we do have a couple others.
45:36
I mean, you have Sylvana Montenegro from JP Morgan and you
45:39
should definitely bring she and I go way back in,
45:42
in JP. We also should bring mons who you just
45:48
like I want that.
45:53
Yeah. No, Mon Jas,
45:55
tell us. Why do you think a podcast like this?
45:58
And what we're doing is useful for Latinas.
46:00
I think it's critical.
46:02
I mean, the time that you told me you were doing
46:04
this, which I think I suggested one time to do
46:07
this podcast. I really think amplifying the story of Latina woman
46:13
It's critical because the stories are not told.
46:17
We, we are definitely still pay only 50 something to the
46:20
dollar. We still,
46:22
there's a lot of a lack of representation at the board levels
46:26
There's still a huge,
46:28
you know, gap of wealth as because we're only making 50
46:31
cents. And the podcast helps amplifying the story of success.
46:35
But more importantly,
46:37
showing generations to come that is possible.
46:40
Number one, number two,
46:41
amplifying this talent when corporate America out there is looking for talent
46:45
for boards or whatever its positions there.
46:48
So excuses because you amplify,
46:49
not only talent, non Latina talent,
46:53
you amplifying the top talent that I exist today in us America
46:58
who are driving this economy.
46:59
So for all the audience that is out there and you have
47:02
felt touched and inspired,
47:04
please share this podcast with other people,
47:07
Ratos, give us five stars.
47:09
This podcast is produced with a lot of love and knowledge by
47:12
people like you sharing your story produced by Manca,
47:15
which is the most amazing production home.
47:17
We need you to amplify it and get it out there so
47:20
that we can get Latinas more on the top and half the
47:22
time with half the bruises.
47:24
Patricia VCO. What an incredible,
47:26
incredible honor to have you here in the podcast today.
47:29
Thank you for teaching us how to live.