When I was growing up, my mom was a single working mother of 3 and watching her struggle to provide for us made me who I am today. I have always been a very independent person from an early age. During my childhood, I wasn't what you would call a loner but I was kind of shy and didn't fit in. My mom was married to my brother and sister's dad before I was born and I never knew my dad growing up or really had a father figure in my life. (That's a whole different story and possibly a book) In school I had friends and stuff but we moved a lot possibly 2 or more times in one year. It was tough but I always adjusted and met lots of new people and still friends with a lot of them to this day.
I was 15 when I started working trying to help my mom. My brother and sister had married and moved out so it was just me and her. We used to be very close and had a lot of fun but things change. We don't see eye to eye half the time, maybe its because I am a mother now too and don't agree with some of her choices or perhaps its other circumstances, and just maybe its because I'm just like her, stubborn.
On my 18th birthday, I went to a car dealership because I wanted a car, I picked one out that was affordable I wasn't trying to be a cool kid or trying to fit in. I just wanted a car. I needed a loan to get the car so I go to a bank and talked to a loan officer. She was so nice, we talked a lot and I was approved for the loan. The insurance wasn't expensive but you didn't have a lot of options of paying for it monthly like you do now, so I went back to the same loan officer and asked for another loan and surprisingly she approved it again, but this time I got a job too. That's how my career in banking started, a simple conversation with a very sweet loan officer.
It wasn't until I started working there that I had self-confidence for the first time in my life and I had worked in the public at a grocery store the years before. I'm not sure what it was about the bank besides the work because its something I truly enjoy and everything about it. The numbers, the counting and helping customers overall and I did and still do take pride in my work. I was there 6 months before I was promoted to Teller Supervisor and my confidence went up even more. I threw everything I had into that job and I loved it but I still wanted one more thing and that was a bachelor's degree, so I enrolled in the night classes at the university. You actually had to drive to the university for night classes then because online classes wasn't evolved like they are now. On Monday nights, I bowled with a group of ladies from work, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday nights, I went to class. Some semesters, the classes I needed were on Monday night, so I wasn't able to bowl and I sure did miss it, that was an experience all by itself. We had so much fun. I think I was the youngest person working at the bank during that time and I literally grew up there. They took me under their wing and taught me a lot, especially the executive vice president. I went to him all the time when I needed help even with personal issues, he was there. He was also the reason I enrolled in night classes. But one day, him and several others were talking to me and other co-workers and they noticed flowers and balloons on my desk and said "Who's 21? It was my 21st birthday and I had been the teller supervisor for over 2 years then and they were shocked. They didn't realize I was that young. Everyone just laughed. They also told me they almost didn't hire me because they thought I was too shy and boy were they wrong. LOL
My night classes were growing few and far between and I didn't have many to choose from anymore because I had taken them all and the executive VP had always told me that if I wanted to work at a bank near the university all he had to do was make one phone call. I told him Thank you so much but there was no way I come leave my bank family. I just couldn't and I'm not sure how all this happened but somehow a job was created for me where I could still work full-time but take my classes during the day as well. I went to class from 8-11am and worked from 12-5Pm with 5-6 being my lunch break and at 6pm, I was starting the update and nightly processing. It was pretty cool cause I learned a lot about how banks operated and that's exactly what I wanted to do even after receiving my bachelor's degree. I always knew I wanted to audit banks if not internally, then externally. So essentially they prepared me for the job I have today.
And after a couple of years, with the new job, I eventually had to go the executive VP and ask him if the offer was still available to me to make that phone call. That was the hardest decision I had ever made. I did not want to leave my bank family but I was in my upper senior level classes and it was tough and there was never enough time left for studying. He told me of course. I put in my 2 weeks notice and I left on a Friday. That Monday, I was doing the same thing I had been doing for years but just with a different group of people. We weren't as close as my other job but they were a great group of people to work with in fact I work with several of them now and LOVE it.
Which brings me to where I am today, I received my Bachelor's of Business Administration in Accounting from the University of Arkansas at Monticello and I moved to another small town and really didn't know anyone here and had no family here until I started my job and all I can say is I'm home now. I found my job basically the same way I did when I started my banking career. I had a nice, simple conversation with a wonderful man. My bank family today, has been through everything with me during this journey and you can't compare that to anything. They've watched me struggle and helped me through it. They've watched me fall to pieces and helped me back up and I'm not sure they will ever know exactly how they have helped and continue to help me through this journey. They are supportive and understanding of Haygen and believe me you don't find that just anywhere. Family does not have to be blood at all. I have a huge family and they aren't just a "bank" family. They ARE my family.
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