(cheerful music) - Lauren Davis is Huntington Bank's Regional President right here in West Michigan.

She has passion for banking.

She's had it since she was very young.

She enjoys building strong teams.

She's passionate about the community.

Plus she plays the alto sax.

Welcome, Lauren, to this edition of "Powerful Women: Let's Talk."

Where's the saxophone?

- Thanks, Shelley.

- Next interview, right?

- Yeah, I didn't bring it.

I don't play as much as I used to.

And when I do, my beagle howls.

So I don't know if that's 'cause he appreciates the music or he thinks that I need more practice.

I'm not sure.

- Next time the saxophone and the beagle in studio.

- [Lauren] Yes.

- And we may get to this, I think playing a musical instruments has to do with being good in in the number industry.

I think I've heard that you might be- - Yeah, yeah.

And they do say intelligent people know how to read music, so that could be part of it too.

- Okay, okay.

That's why you're here and we have much to learn about you.

Congratulations, obviously on this success.

What's it mean to be a regional manager of a a well-deserved bank?

- Yeah so, we have a lot of different lines of business to support our clients.

From the mortgage team, to our wealth team, to our commercial team.

And we're looking for ways to help improve people's lives in our communities.

And so, for me, I have loved banking since I was a young girl.

And so how it impacts communities and people's lives.

So that's, to me, this is an exciting time both for Huntington and for myself and my career.

- [Shelley] Yes.

All right, young girl, how were you interested in banking?

Give me a story.

- You're gonna love this, Shelley.

So when I was about seven years old, my dad owned a small business.

And when my sisters and I played store, remember the business checks?

They were like those long, it kind of ages me- - [Shelley] Yes.

- But they were those long business checks.

And I would write out the business check for my groceries while they'd use play money.

And so I learned early in my life that banking impacts so many people's lives and I wanted to be a part of that.

- Hm, so did you claim that as your first major in college?

How'd you get to where you got?

Yeah.

- So, yeah, yeah.

So from a family of seven children, so I'm one of seven, two older brothers and four sisters.

And my parents couldn't really afford to put us all through college.

And so I started out at Northwestern Michigan Community College in Traverse City.

It's a community college where I could get the basics and maybe an associate's degree.

So I could begin to have some advanced learning.

And hoping to continue my career.

And with that, I was able to get additional scholarships and grants to pursue my degree at Central Michigan.

And at Central is where I met a professor who was, she was very focused on banking.

And she saw my potential and she really encouraged my focus on banking and finance.

So that's kind of how I pursued that.

And then when we met with banks for interviews, she would help me with my resume or with interview questions so that I would be prepared.

And she helped me with networking.

And so I ended up, in February, before I graduated from college, I actually had my first job with Old Kent Bank.

And a few weeks after graduation in May, I moved to Grand Rapids.

- Wow.

And here you are, even bigger and better.

Let's stay with the mentor, the she, that wrapped you in her arms and said, I believe in you.

How important is that?

And how important should that be today?

- Yeah, yeah.

So I think about through my career, as I said, I started at Old Kent and I've had a lot of mentors, male and female within the organization.

And I really focused on that early in my career.

I found ways to always raise my hand for learning opportunities.

And then those advocates for me, or mentors for me, would always find a new opportunity.

So that gave me the opportunity to work in different facets of the banking industry.

So started out on the retail side of the bank, what most people know is when you go into a branch, I was a branch manager.

And then moved from there to operations and compliance and audit and finance.

And then had the opportunity, most recently, to go back to the commercial side of the bank.

Because I really wanted, after nine or so years of helping people who helped the client, I wanted to go back to a customer-facing role where I could work with the client directly.

And I loved being a relationship manager.

You know, helping businesses, business owners, try to figure out how to mitigate their risks, how to use technology for their cash flow.

And, you know, how to improve people's lives at their businesses.

It was so different than the consumer side of the bank where I first started.

So using those opportunities, that gave me the ability to find people in the community who could mentor me.

So I went from finding my mentors and my advocates within the organization to finding those in the community as well.

Because they just gave you a different perspective.

They may not know banking, but they know business and they know life.

And then they got to know me and could give me really good advice about things that I needed to focus on or develop.

- But obviously you said yes to taking risks and to having someone believe in you.

You could have said no, thank you.

- True, true.

But anybody who knows me knows I love taking risks.

I see risk taking as an opportunity.

When there's change or turmoil in an industry or at your company, if there's challenging issues to discuss, there's always an opportunity for us to grow and develop.

And so, I see those a risks as taking an opportunity instead of a risk.

So more as a positive instead of a negative.

- Cool.

What's it mean to build a strong team?

- Yeah.

So, to me, building a strong team is identifying people with different backgrounds, different ideas.

At the same time, I want, when I'm building a team, individuals who think about others when they're making decisions, when they're winning, when they are challenged with issues, very collaborative.

And people that are looking to the future of talent.

Because, you know, what we're doing today, yes, it matters, but our future matters too.

And we need to find ways to develop the talent of the future.

And that goes back to my mentor.

You know, people that mentored me, I wanna pass that along to other either young women or young men who wanna work in our industry.

- Bet they're watching you right now.

Men in the industry, I think we can hopefully soon stop bringing this up.

But did you begin to work in the industry where it was traditionally male dominated and how'd you maneuver?

- Yeah, great question.

You know, I don't really think about it like that, but I can see from the outside world where it may seem like that.

In the retail and the operations side of the bank, there were a lot of men and women who I worked with.

On the commercial side, it tends to be more men who prefer to manage a P&L or manage portfolio relationships.

But I'm constantly encouraging women to consider the commercial side of banking.

I will tell you, instead of focusing on the fact that I was different than those who were male maybe in commercial banking, I just focused on my strengths.

And with that, I think came confidence.

Were there opportunities that I maybe worked harder for than my colleagues, maybe.

But it made me stronger.

You know, I learned more about myself.

I pushed myself further because I wanted to prove that I was supposed to be at the table.

And when I think back to, you know, over my career, one of my greatest strengths is my husband.

You know, he's my biggest advocate, yet my harshest critic.

He helps me understand a lot of times how men think.

That helps me make my decisions and look at things differently.

And at the same time, he's really great at kind of encouraging me to really push my confidence forward.

And when I do that, I feel like I'm unstoppable.

- Hm, does he cook too?

- [Lauren] He does- - There we go.

- [Lauren] Shelley, he does.

I don't know how to cook (laughs).

- How about the boys in your life, your two boys, are they supporting you?

Are you teaching them these ways?

- Yeah, so my son's, Jacob and Colin, both college age.

When, you know, I've had challenges over the years in my career, they were there supportive, how can they help mom get through this?

You know, happy mom, happy life, is how they look at it.

But then when I found out that I was gonna move into this role, they were super excited.

They couldn't wait to tell their friends.

They couldn't wait to be at work events where they could help, you know, share what our family is about and how we wanna support the community collectively.

And yeah, they are very supportive of powerful young women.

- Hm, why is your community important to you?

You serve on several boards.

- Yeah, great question.

You know, I have a lot of people ask me, you know, how do you decide what boards to serve on?

And, for me, I've always focused on, we'll go back to, I had shared with you, I'm from a small town in Northern Michigan.

And it was rural community and maybe everyone wasn't granted the same opportunities as everybody else.

And so I, when I came to Grand Rapids, realized I wanted to focus on organizations that were really focused on women and children.

So I started, the YWCA is one of the boards that I'm on.

Michigan Women Forward with you.

And also I'm on the ACG West Michigan, that's a networking organization.

But I really started because they had a Women in Finance mentorship program that they wanted me to help start.

And I found that there was a lot of ways that I could use my career, my experience, and my connectivity to help young women who were moving to Grand Rapids starting a career and didn't know where to begin with the networking process.

So, you know, empowering women, helping women see that this, what I'm doing today is possible.

- Yeah.

What is your advice for young women to begin the networking process?

- Yeah, I would say first, you know, reach out to people in your own network, but at the same time, don't be afraid to reach out to someone who maybe is in your local government or someone local in banking, someone local at your church, that you can reach out and say, you know, you're a great speaker and what can I learn from you?

Or you do a great job, you know, advocating for something.

I wanna learn that talent.

So when I found people that I wanted to connect and network with, I identified those that it was a skill that I didn't feel like I had, but I had observed it in another.

And then I would reach out to them and kind of ask them, can you teach me?

Can you show me how to do that?

Can you help me build that skill?

And I've not once had anyone in Grand Rapids who said, nope, sorry, I won't do that.

I mean, it's a great community.

- Well, back to taking a risk, that's probably the toughest part is the fear- - Right.

- That there will be a no and most likely no is not the answer.

Is there a motto that drives you?

That picks you up if you ever need that or that drives you to work even harder?

- Yeah.

One that I really live by, and it kinda goes back to what we were just talking about, is, you know, people won't remember what you said to them.

People won't remember necessarily what you talked about, but they're gonna remember the interaction that they had with you and how you made them feel.

So it's by a famous author and, you know, she had her own struggles.

And she focused on, you know, the interactions that people have with you every single day matter.

- Wonderful.

So is it okay to keep feeding my piggy bank?

- Yes, it is, yes, it is.

- Will that get me where I wanna go and- - Yes.

You know, we're definitely going through some challenging times, a lot of unknowns, but yeah, saving those pennies is still gonna be super important in your future, so.

- Great.

Thanks for your leadership, for what you do for Huntington and certainly for what you do with our "Powerful Women: Let's Talk" series.

Thank you, Lauren Davis.

- Yeah, thank you for having me, Shelley.

It's been fun.

(upbeat music) - Hello everyone, time for "Powerful Women: Let's Talk."

Thanks so much for joining us today, I'm Jennifer Moss.

It is a pleasure to bring you today's powerful woman, Dr Vicki Harris.

Dr Harris is the Chief People and Culture Officer at Our Daily Bread Ministries.

She joined the organization in 2013 and she holds a dual Master's Degree in Human Resources and Business Administration.

She received two honorary Doctorate Degrees in Global Humanities for Africa and Latin America.

Our Daily Bread Ministries is a global ministry with 38 offices around the world and distributing resources in 150 different languages and countries.

And they are noted for their mission to make the life-changing wisdom of the Bible understandable and accessible to all.

And so we welcome you- - Thank you.

- Dr Harris.

- Thank you, it's great to be here.

- So you, you know, in earnest and to be honest, full disclosure, we haven't talked in a bit, in ages, but I know Dr Harris.

I, of course, follow you on Facebook as well.

And I've seen all the wonderful places that you have an opportunity to visit, literally around the world.

But those visits aren't without a purpose.

Tell us about the vision and purpose behind what you do and what you're doing.

- Thank you.

Well, as the Chief People and Culture Officer for our Daily Bread Ministries, we visit each of our regions.

We have offices in the UK, in Asia-Pacific, and Latin America, and Africa, India, and Canada.

And so I have the opportunity to visit all of those regions to really help them to set policy, to make sure that we're making an impact in the region, to make sure that HR is functioning well, and that we're meeting the needs of our people.

Our motto is that we wanna make sure that all of our employees are thriving.

And so when it relates to diversity, it relates to just employee issues, wanna make sure that our leaders are caring for our employees well.

- And again too, at the heart of the work is to make sure you all look at making sure people are well taken care of and also purposing yourselves to give them the word.

- [Vicki] Yes, yes, yes definitely.

- Is that part of what you're doing as well?

- Definitely.

Spreading the gospel is number one, number one for us.

And our employees are committed to doing that.

We make sure that, not just in the regions that we do that, but all around the world our products are just translated into 150 languages.

We also have audio that we do in radio because some places don't have the opportunity to read the actual written word.

And so we make it available in all types of different formats.

Digital is something that's huge for us now.

'Cause a lot of people are on their phones.

And so we have digital apps for the daily devotion that goes out to people that only have a source of their phone.

They don't have a TV, they don't have anything else, but they have their phone and they can read the Our Daily Bread devotional.

- You're also trying to broaden it to the younger audiences, as well.

- Yes, the younger audience.

- It's like a lot of places are doing that.

- Yes, younger, more diverse audience is what we're trying to do.

We really want to make sure that we get God's word out there to people so that they can grow in the word of God, especially the next generation.

- Now you have quite the accomplished career.

Are you, one of my big questions always is, are you enjoying the journey?

- I am enjoying the journey.

It's been a long journey.

I have been doing HR for over 30 years now and I still enjoy it.

The global work is really satisfying, it's fulfilling.

The travel gets a little difficult sometimes because of the length of travel, but I thoroughly enjoy it.

And being able to meet the different cultures, being able to learn about their cultures.

Being able to find out how we can help them better to grow and to develop into who God really wants them to be as a leader or just as a citizen.

And it's very fulfilling.

- I was gonna say, 'cause you're entrenched, I mean those trips I can't imagine on the regular, because you do them so often.

We're talking about Trans-Atlantic.

I mean, you're going from Grand Rapids, Michigan, it's not a hard turn to go to Asia and then go somewhere else after that.

Is that correct?

- That's correct.

We'll go to Asia-Pacific, which is probably a 24 hour trip.

And then from there to Brazil or to the UK or to Indonesia.

You know, it's far reaching.

- Okay.

But you are enjoying it.

So, and when we talk about powerful women, you know, the idea is to encourage other women with our stories, with our journey.

Have there been any barriers that you've encountered along the way as you've traveled along your career's path?

- Definitely.

People see that I'm Chief Officer now, but they don't know the story behind it.

And so I like to share that in my sessions and in my mentoring relationships that we all have had to overcome obstacles and barriers.

My particular ones has been in the area of racism, in the area of sexism.

And my own defeating, not knowing my own identity, was probably a barrier that I've kind of put on myself because of the external things that were coming against me.

And so to be able to overcome all of those things, I'm passionate about diversity, equity, inclusion, as well as cultural intelligence.

Because I interact with so many different cultures, I wanna make sure that I have the empathy that's needed to be successful.

But still, I had to overcome their idea of a woman in leadership.

That was a huge thing.

And just- - [Jennifer] Especially a black woman in leadership.

- Especially a black woman in leadership.

- Absolutely.

- Yes, especially a black woman in leadership.

And I've had questions like, who are you?

Where did you come from?

What are you?

Because there's hard to tell sometimes.

And I've had to have, you know, conversations to just give them a little bit more information about my background.

And when I've been able to say I'm actually African American.

I do have some other nationalities in my DNA, but I recognize as African American.

And it's so interesting that some people will say, oh no, are you really?

And it's like, yes, so why is that a negative for you?

And it opens up the door for some good conversation about stereotypes and sexism against women in leadership or African Americans, especially in the different countries.

They don't quite understand.

And so it opens up the door for some great opportunity to discuss it and dialogue about it.

- And dialogue is key.

And I would imagine that in some of the countries that you're traveling to, being a female, number one, for some countries and then top it off being an African American female, that could open up big discussion on so many levels.

- [Vicki] Yes, yes.

- Because it's not a norm.

- It's not a norm.

It's better than it used to be 10 years ago, but we still have a long ways to go.

And so just being okay to not get upset with them, but just help them understand, first of all, who I am.

And then it just opens the door for more dialogue.

But what's so interesting, is growing up I did not know my identity because I was called albino, I was called half-breed, I was called all of these different things that really, I think, impeded me to really grow in terms of my own identity and self-care and self-love.

And so once I was able to get over those obstacles, then it's interesting that now God uses that in all of the different countries that I go to and it helps to break down those barriers.

- Absolutely.

- Between us and different countries.

- Absolutely.

I can see that.

So as you face those challenges, those obstacles, those barriers, as you move through and along on your journey, what has it taken, you kind of mentioned it and touched upon it, but to really to solidify and find your own voice.

To know who you are, be comfortable in your own skin, basically.

- Mm-hm, it really takes I think, a lot of prayer for sure.

That's my relationship and that's our daily bread.

We actually come together quite often and pray about different situations and issues that we face.

The other thing is just making sure that you understand to have people around you that support you.

People that build you up and not necessarily tear you down.

And people that are encouraging and inspiring.

I make sure that I have those people around me to make sure that that helps me to say it's okay to be you.

It's okay to bring all of you to the table.

And the other thing is understanding diversity, equity, and inclusion.

It's for everybody.

We're all unique, we're all different.

But how can we really, really just grow and develop those differences, but be able to really embrace them.

- And be okay with others' differences.

- Be okay with that, yeah.

- Absolutely.

- And be okay with that.

It's a great thing.

It's not a bad thing.

It's a great thing.

- It would be kind of boring if we were all the same.

- Exactly, it would be very boring.

- So yeah.

- Very boring.

- Exactly.

- It's really good to see God's creation in all of the different cultures and nationalities and be able to glean on what do we have in common?

Versus what's different?

- What inspired you as you look back and kind of take a glance on your journey and your career to do this work?

I mean, I know your human resources background.

You know, the places you go.

We talked about they do look glamorous.

But it's not always easy and it's a lot of work.

But what inspired you to do this to begin with because you had 20 years in another company as well?

- Mm-hm, I think what started me, and really I would contribute that to my mom.

My mom was a strong black woman.

She was one that was divorced when I was 10 years old.

And so I saw the hardship of that.

I saw the hard work, and the diligence, and the focus, and the discipline that she had.

And so that became part of my DNA.

And so that inspired me to never give up, to continue working.

To be in the role of human resources, or diversity, or cultural intelligence, it is not easy work.

It is work that takes somebody having some good resilience, some perseverance, and just not giving up, but continuing on the journey.

So that became a part of my DNA and so that helps me.

It inspired me.

I started volunteering.

My mom was a social worker, and so I always had different people in our homes and foster care worker and all of that.

And so that helped me to want to give back to other people, to learn about different cultures.

And it just inspired me to really just continue to just branch out and not stay in my comfort zone.

And not worry about all of the obstacles, but how can I keep pressing forward and doing what I feel passionate about?

- Easy breezy question.

My favorite question, what makes you laugh?

- A lot of things.

I do, I love joy.

I love peace.

I love to be around different people.

And what makes me laugh is I think I love jokes.

I just like to have a good time.

I really do.

I enjoy having a good time with people.

Yeah, I enjoy that.

- [Jennifer] That's key.

- Yeah.

- And so, so much is happening, Vicki, in the world in which we live in today.

And people are often looking for just that little bitty word of encouragement.

Do you, by chance, have a favorite saying, a motto, anything, or scripture, that you use to encourage yourself and perhaps others?

- Mm-hm, I think for me it's always, this is such a time that there's so much going on in our world.

And because I'm in several different countries and people are facing just very different situations, I always encourage people to give thanks in all things.

It's not that you enjoy what you're going through, but if you can find the positiveness of it, if you can find the lessons in it, and if you can be encouraged throughout the process, then that will help you.

It's just simply to give thanks in all things.

- Absolutely, that's a good word to end on.

Dr Vicki Harris, I really enjoyed this conversation.

Thanks so much.

So nice to catch up with you again.

- Thank you.

- And thank you all for joining us for another edition of "Powerful Women: Let's Talk."

I'm Jennifer Moss, do enjoy the day.

(upbeat music)