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According to the African-American Credit Union Coalition, mentors in workplaces are more likely to pair up with professionals of their own culture, leaving many Black professionals steps behind whites in their pursuit of occupying the C-suite. This limitation is what triggered the AACUC to launch the pilot mentoring program "1-to-1Woman," which matched nine white female credit union executives with nine Black female rising professionals to form a mentoring relationship over a four-week period.
The white female executives were assigned as mentors for the Black women, who were selected based on merit, education and credit union industry experience, the AACUC said. Participants received a workbook containing weekly topics, which were related to professional development, race/cultural bias and gender similarities and served as a springboard for conversations, according to the organization. Pairs were encouraged to meet twice a week, and all meetings took place virtually as the participants were located in different states and time zones.
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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.
