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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01:51
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01:56
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01:58
Perfect. Let's do it today.
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,
03:44
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,
04:14
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.
04:37
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,
05:51
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,
06:09
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.
06:25
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,
07:15
I'm so inspired already.
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,
08:02
she actually was appointed to be the ESL teacher and she
08:05
became more than a teacher.
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.
08:45
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,
09:45
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,
10:13
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
11:33
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,
12:49
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
14:13
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
14:39
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
15:47
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,
16:28
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
16:36
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,
17:02
this is the American 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
18:27
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,
20:32
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?
21:51
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.
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
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,
22:51
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.
24:31
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,
24:39
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,
26:04
But also coming from a place of how can I be
26:07
helpful. But as well,
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.
27:05
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.
27:54
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.
28:02
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.
28:52
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
29:29
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?
30:40
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.
30:55
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,
31:03
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?
31:36
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.
31:52
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.
32:41
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
32:58
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,
33:22
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,
33:34
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,
34:59
I had to make a choice.
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.
36:27
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,
36:49
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.
37:52
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,
38:40
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
39:15
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
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,
40:45
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.
41:07
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,
41:32
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.
43:12
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
43:56
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,
45:07
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
45:55
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
46:22
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.
