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Editor's Letter

Tips From a Rookie Networking Event Organizer

CU Times’ managing editor offers event planning tips after hosting monthly CU industry happy hours in Portland, Ore.

Networking strengthens careers and communities.

When I’m not traveling or holed up in my home office, happily free from face-to-face human interaction for the majority of the day and working away in my favorite sweats, I make an effort to get out to networking events around Portland. The problem: Usually when I try to explain to someone at a non-industry-specific event what I do, I’m met with a blank stare (oh, the woes of a niche industry trade publication editor working remotely).

So in January of this year, I took a big leap. With help from another Oregon-based credit union industry veteran (and CU Times contributor), Matt Purvis, I launched a monthly event, “Happy Hour for PDX Credit Union People,” specifically for those who work in or with the credit union industry. We just held our third event, and I’m stoked to say it’s been well worth the effort so far. The turnout has been excellent, it’s drawn people at all career levels and from a variety of credit unions and service providers, and one attendee and I are even working to plan a similar event in Seattle. It’s also allowed me to witness first-hand the sense of collaboration, as opposed to competition, among Pacific Northwest credit unions, and discover a passion for community event organizing that I never knew I had.

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Natasha Chilingerian

Natasha Chilingerian

Natasha Chilingerian has been immersed in the credit union industry for over a decade. She first joined CU Times in 2011 as a freelance writer, and following a two-year hiatus from 2013-2015, during which time she served as a communications specialist for Xceed Financial Credit Union (now Kinecta Federal Credit Union), she re-joined the CU Times team full-time as managing editor. She was promoted to executive editor in 2019. In the earlier days of her career, Chilingerian focused on news and lifestyle journalism, serving as a writer and editor for numerous regional publications in Oregon, Louisiana, South Carolina and the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition, she holds experience in marketing copywriting for companies in the finance and technology space. At CU Times, she covers People and Community news, cybersecurity, fintech partnerships, marketing, workplace culture, leadership, DEI, branch strategies, digital banking and more. She currently works remotely and splits her time between Southern California and Portland, Ore.

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