Mary Vasquez: Giving Northwest Immigrants the Power to Succeed

For Mary Vasquez, success not only means reaching her own goals – it means seeing others reach theirs. Having overcome the financial obstacles many immigrants face herself, she’s now dedicated to helping those who feel left behind in her community thrive.

Although born in the U.S., Vasquez felt very much like an immigrant as a teenager, as she spent the majority of her youth in rural Mexico and returned to the country with her father as a pre-teen. While enrolled in college and working as a supervisor at Ross, a friend informally recruited her to work for Point West Credit Union ($93 million, Portland, Ore.), where bilingual staff was needed. Initially reluctant to work with money, Vasquez met the Point West team at a holiday party she attended as her friend’s plus-one, learned about their mission, and said, “I’m in.”

Since joining the credit union as a teller in 2007, she has advanced to the positions of loan officer and community advocate, assisting members to manage their credit and open businesses. Leveraging her connections to the Hispanic community, she also built a partnership between Point West and the Mexican Consulate of Portland, and secured the credit union’s Juntos Avanzamos designation. She even found time to dedicate over 400 hours to over 30 community organizations in the past year. Last October, she was honored for her hard work with a 2019 Young Credit Union Leader award at the Northwest Credit Union Association’s MAXX Convention.

For the first installment of CU Times’ new monthly Q&A feature, “Spending Time With …” Vasquez opened up about her story and what makes her work so meaningful.

CU Times: We often identify Hispanic immigrants as being unbanked or underbanked. Have you experienced the difficulty of accessing financial services first-hand with your own family?

Vasquez: When I started working I realized my dad didn’t know what a financial institution was. Getting my first check, I remember asking my dad, “How can I cash this? What do I do?” And he had no idea. And in our Hispanic culture, talking about finances is worse than talking about any other personal life situation. It’s an extreme no-no. So I had to ask my friends and neighbors. I initially cashed checks at a grocery store, but then a good neighborhood friend I used to babysit for told me she had her account at Columbia Community Credit Union. So that was when she took me to open an account, and I had my first vehicle financed through the credit union as well.

But my first loan was actually a payday loan, and that was not a good experience at all. I lived through those difficult moments our members experience every day, and I understand feeling sensitive and embarrassed. So when a member comes to me and I can tell they want to say something but don’t know how to say it, I say it for them. I’ve been there, I’ve done it, and I can help them learn from their mistakes.

CU Times: What motivated you to go from taking a teller job to really going above and beyond in your career?

Vasquez: My community has been my inspiration to go beyond the limits I thought I had. I see members who have so much potential in this country but don’t know that they do, or don’t have the tools or information they need. Once you realize that you have the tools they need to reach their goals, I don’t understand how you wouldn’t do something to help them. Seeing Sara [owner of Sara’s Tamales in Portland, who launched her business with a Point West loan] come in with her five kids, and outside in her truck selling tamales – wanting to do more but not knowing she’s entitled to do more – I felt it was my responsibility to give people like her the tools they need to make their dreams come true.

CU Times: Your job has entailed initiating projects and partnerships that were new to Point West. How do you turn an idea into a real, successful endeavor?

Vasquez: A lot of the things I’ve done have not been done by myself. It’s always about teamwork. And because we’re such a small team, we do everything together and rely on each other for feedback. We definitely talk to our community partners. They’re the ones that tell us what the community needs, so every single product and service that we have is thanks to them too. You would be very surprised to know that if you have an idea and it’s a great tool to make your community members’ lives better, you’ll find out that there are so many people eager to help you achieve it.

CU Times: It’s obvious that the work you and others at Point West have been doing has changed members’ lives, but how has doing this work changed your life?

Vasquez: When you see them succeed, for example with Sara – and I’ve told her before that she is my role model, she is that strong woman I hope to see myself become – when you see a person who has limited education and doesn’t know the language, but who has a dream and decides to go out and pursue it no matter what her fears are, that really makes you reflect on your own life. It changed me completely once I understood that life is not about being entitled, it’s about giving a title to those who think they don’t have a title in life, and making them understand that they have a voice.

CU Times: Since joining Point West, how has the credit union industry progressed in terms of serving Hispanic immigrants, and what work still needs to be done?

Vasquez: It’s getting there. Point West started doing non-citizen lending in 2004, but because of the recession, we stopped doing it for a couple of years. After going through the recession, we had a lot of meetings and decided to open up the program again. We had a lot of members waiting for us. Every day I would pick up the phone and a member would ask, “Are you doing non-citizen loans again?” They had nowhere else to go. And we’ve been an open door for any credit union that wants to learn about non-citizen lending.

But I think we can do much more. The doors are limited for immigrants in general in this country. And if credit unions don’t open their doors to them, you can imagine where they go: Payday lending. A lot of credit unions don’t take alternative IDs or ITIN numbers, so that shuts many doors. Again, you have to remember that our Latino community is afraid of financial institutions, so they’re not going to come to you until you’re pretty transparent with them. So having bilingual staff and material they can read and understand is important. You also have to establish trust within your team and community so they can open up and let you know what they really need, because many times they don’t even know what they need, they just know they have a problem.

CU Times: Your work days are pretty packed – do you have a morning routine to set yourself up for success?

Vasquez: The first thing I do is look at my calendar. Then when I come into work, obviously coffee is a must, and then I look at my calendar again – it’s my number one. My routine is a roller coaster that changes day by day. I cover the four counties that Point West serves, and I’m the only community advocate, so I do all that and then I work with over 30 nonprofits in Oregon, as a board member for some and on the committee for others.

CU Times: How do you manage the stress such a busy schedule can bring?

Vasquez: I normally have my Fridays to breathe. I pick my daughter up from school, which I don’t get to do as much, get back to my emails and make sure that I’m OK personally. I read as much as I can – usually about leadership, women and credit unions.

CU Times: You’ve raised your daughter while building your career at Point West. How do you juggle work and parenting?

Vasquez: Being a single parent is one of the hardest things in life. For me it’s been about communication, honesty and bringing your loved ones into your career path. My daughter comes with me to work on the weekends if she has time – she’s very active in school and has a busy schedule – and she understands the importance of my job in our community.

CU Times: What are your 2020 goals?

Vasquez: This is a big year for me because my daughter turns 15 – a very special birthday in our Latino culture – and she wants to go to London and Paris, so we’re heading over there for her sweet 15. My big personal goal is to make that dream come true for her. Professionally, it’s about not giving up hope. I don’t watch the news, but I’m very aware of what’s happening in our world so I’m hoping for peace and more love within each other. I want to be a reflection of that, stay positive, continue doing what I do and hopefully do it better.