When speaking with Eun-Young’s borrowers about their experiences working with her, their appreciation for her efforts becomes quickly evident in the smiles that spread across their faces. The loan officer has helped Vermont business owners navigate the confusing world of business lending for more than a decade and she does it with empathy and patience.
So let’s get to know Eun-Young a little better.
Problem solving is key
Born and raised in Busan, South Korea, Eun-Young graduated from university with a degree in fisheries management that she soon put to use working in a cellular phone company call center. Here is where she first had the opportunity to problem-solve in English, as some of her company’s clients could not speak Korean, her native language. This is when she discovered her talent for thinking on her feet and in a foreign language no less. Soon she rose to the position of call center manager, honing her skills as a problem solver, able to focus on the needs of these customers despite the complications of language barriers and cultural differences, while also training and overseeing the center’s 20+ customer service agents.
In 1999 she married her ESL teacher boyfriend, a native of Vermont, and moved to his home state where she soon found work in customer service, this time as a front desk clerk in a busy hotel. It was sink or swim, with her language skills truly being put to the test, but in a short time she knew she could handle the most demanding of customers — someone whose room wasn’t ready after a long drive from southern New England during a blizzard. After that there was nothing she felt she couldn’t handle.
In 2003 she entered the financial industry, returning to her call center roots at VSECU, a credit union founded to serve state employees that was undergoing rapid change as the industry started to offer more services and the credit union opened its membership to all Vermonters.
When faced with the opportunity to again manage a call center, she chose to take the road less traveled as the credit union was establishing a commercial lending division and she took a position there as a business services consultant, absorbing everything there was to know about business services and lending. Within a few years she had become a junior lender there and began to establish her reputation as a cheerfully indefatigable partner for credit union members.
Relationship building is essential
For Eun-Young building and maintaining positive relationships has been vital to her success, which translates to success for her borrowers.
Be it with partner banks and credit unions, customers and colleagues, she believes that collaboration is crucial.
And borrowers credit her with making complicated processes understandable and working to provide a level of flexibility not typically associated with the finance industry.
“Maybe the path my life has taken has made me a bit more open-minded,” she said. “I try to explain the things which may seem basic to those of us in the industry when borrowers have difficulty navigating the obstacle course of applying for a loan.
“I don’t want anyone feeling discouraged by what can be a long and difficult process.”
Resources make it possible
Rather than a black-and-white approach, Eun-Young relies on her creativity to find ways to fit square pegs into round holes.
“I try all the tools in the toolbox before saying that something’s not going to work. And at other times it’s just brainstorming, talking through the process or consulting with my peers at VEDA.
“I try to be creative and look at all different aspects of a deal.”
This unflappable attitude is what borrowers most recall when talking about Eun-Young: the feeling of ease she is able to provide them so that they know they have someone in their corner.
Breaking down barriers
When one thinks of bankers or “financiers”, what comes to mind may not seem exciting. Yet for Eun-Young the banking industry is dynamic and exciting, and she sees her work as essential to the prosperity of her community.
Yes, there’s a lot of number-crunching, but it’s more than that — there is the personal touch, and behind that, the personal stories of Eun-Young’s clients and the lender herself.
“We try to be like a swan in the water,” she concluded. “We want to appear to float along gracefully while paddling along furiously under the surface.”
