Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hello and welcome to the Mic'd UP Show, Season 4, where every mortgage has a story.
And today's story is really special and on par as we are the ultimate hub where hidden stories behind the mortgage industry come to life. I am Michael Kelleher and we dive deep into the entrepreneurial spirit which you will hear a lot about today. Strategic insights and breakthrough innovations that build the world's greatest mortgage companies. So whether you're advancing your career or scouting for industry leaders or exploring opportunities, fintech, prop tech, you're in the right place. Get ready to unlock the story behind every mortgage. Let's dive in. Today's guest is Patty Arviello. And the reason I am so excited is it matches the DNA of this show. Someone we say we do this for the people that don't go to conferences because maybe they can't afford it or maybe they're so talented people don't want to send them to get recruited. So we like to bring the leaders on here to show that if you went, these are the type of people that you would talk to and they're actually more open to talk than you would see. And today is the perfect example of why we do the show. Someone that was a processor in 2004 and is now CEO of one of the largest mortgage companies in the country, some could argue, in certain areas, the largest, over 5,000 employees. And she is one of the very few women founders in our industry. And so she will give a great example here on this show for all the women in the industry and Latina where you can go and some of the ingredients we'll break down today and how you have to get yourself out there. So, Patty, I know you're very busy. Thank you very much for taking the time to come on the show.
[00:01:47] Speaker B: Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.
[00:01:50] Speaker A: You talked about how. How you wanted to buy your Nana, I believe, a house, and then you ended up buying your. Your mother a house.
As this is the industry you're in, can you talk about any moment during that process that stood out or any particular day of purchasing that home for her and what it taught you about wealth and generational wealth?
[00:02:11] Speaker B: That's. That's an amazing question.
I actually, it was when I was 6 years old and I was in my aunt's kitchen in Tijuana, and my Nana said, like, you're going to be the one who's going to buy me a house.
And of course, you're six. And why I remember that, I don't know.
But I think the way our family Formation is just the way we grew up. I'm the oldest grandchild.
And so therefore then you become matriarch. You know, you're next in line and definitely has taken its course. It seems that's where I've ended up. But yeah, I think, you know, rooted on very early. Even as a little kid, I would drive by other people's homes that were nicer than ours. Or I remember my mom was telling me, oh, yokiero Mercedes Ben. And I'm thinking she wanted a van, but she wanted a Mercedes Benz. And so I would always look at all these vans and thinking, oh my God, my mom really wants one. I just felt this, like, inherent need to provide her. Not like my dad couldn't, but I just remember early on wanting to do for her. And my mom cleaned houses my entire life. She was made, she owned her own cleaning service. So I always saw her as like an entrepreneur.
And yeah, so I just have this early on desire and fire to provide for my mom.
And in that it didn't take me into housing, but the fact that I fell into housing is funny because, yeah, it was a very formidable time in my life. And I just remember the desire of wanting more for myself and my family.
[00:03:45] Speaker A: On that note, and really, my dad used to always say, you're going to be somebody. And he never really cared what I was going to be, but he reinforced that as his slogan. So that's really nice.
You talk about looking at life in decades. I thought that was a really cool way of saying it. A lot of people talk about the what on our show. And in Mortgage, you talk a lot about the why, especially in the videos you've been releasing recently.
Can you say how maybe the why has changed or maybe it hasn't about what mortgage is. And you're always a loan officer at heart, even though you've had every position, it seems, on your way to CEO.
Is the why still today what it was when you started?
[00:04:24] Speaker B: I think my why today is the same as when I became or started to become very successful and felt super, super alone. So I think I've said this a million times, that I will not retire without more CEO founders, women founders of mortgage companies. Like, I really want to be that mentor for them. I really want them to take the risks that men so easily, more easily take than women.
So I really, that's been my narrative for about 20 years now is that, yes, I would like to see more women founders of IMBs in this country. And so I'm, you know, I can see the trajectory of women growing in leadership positions. I can see them opening broker shops. It's just, let's take it that next step. And I think a lot of it is, is we lack the resources. Right. And so I want to be that for these women. I want to make sure they know they can message me on Instagram or call me or reach out and say, I really want to take this broker shop and get a warehouse line. I really want to, you know, take it to the next level. Yeah.
[00:05:29] Speaker A: And you also talk about, I mean, I got into the national scene in 2013. I'm sure it was even more male dominated before that. But you talked about the lack of seeing somebody like another Latina woman. And so you'd naturally gravitate towards feeling like you had to be masculine. So you're now going out there and showing that you can be you and succeed for other women. And I, I think, I guess what would that advice be on that note, to maybe a Latina graduate from college that's just getting into mortgage. What would you tell her about, like, at least doing it locally, like dominating your zip code, let's say. And then how do they get to where you are?
[00:06:06] Speaker B: Yeah. So, you know, early on in my career, what put me on Angelo Mozilla's radar, which he was, you know, everybody knows, I hope everybody knows Angela Mozilla, founder of Countrywide, one of the founders of Countrywide. I was very young when I stumbled upon Countrywide, and I kind of coined that as my college career. I spent almost 10 years there. I learned everything, really the basics of everything there.
And what set me apart and what put me on Angela's radar was in the early 1990s when the refi market just stopped. Right. And I was still young. I didn't realize, okay, wait, loans stop. People stop calling for refinances.
So I really had to find a market in a niche in my market. My niche was the fact that I spoke Spanish and I lived next to a town that was primarily Latino, and it was Santa Ana, California. So those clients and those realtors seemingly were busier than the non Latinos because that desire to. To own a home in this country so high, no matter what, in that segment of the market. So that became my niche. So I would tell any. I tell anybody who's bilingual, really, it's such a niche. It's so needed because the basis of that culture is trust. And so when we feel like we're interacting in business, who, culturally with people who culturally understand where we've come from or maybe the way our parents were raised, it's really important to us. So it's really kind of a niche and an advantage for a Latina right now getting into this business.
[00:07:40] Speaker A: Yeah, I know you like data. I was Speed to trust is, is actually a KPI. I feel that some people just have it and some people don't, but that is a culture we had, we've had a couple guests from non rep on there and they talk inherently keeping money out of the banks and how, you know, that's obviously difficult to even get a mortgage with that. So it's just getting in there and educating earlier and building that trust. We have something in common. I think from one of your videos, or at least I have in common with one of your talking points is I deflect compliments by like. And I just get really analytical about mortgage talk and I don't. And you talk about how at some point you learned, I guess you called it confidence building. But like why it's so important to accept those compliments and that sincere praise. Can you tell the audience about that?
[00:08:30] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean I think naturally for women, men do it too, but I think naturally for women, especially in a male dominated field, we feel like we need to dim our light. Right. And so, you know, otherwise we're kind of coined other, you know, labels. And so, you know. Yeah, I dimmed my light for many, many years. It was Rick really that gave me the extra confidence that, that I didn't, that I lacked in myself, you know, as a processor. In 2004, I, I, I, I, you had and right. I was a processor with my, you know, charms and lap. I had already done a lot of things, but I was making a lot of money as a contract processor. So um, he really helped me quit doing that. And I remember it was a, a gentleman at a NARA conference one time, Jerry Asencio, he was a former president of NARA. Um, same thing. It was about 10 years ago and somebody came up to me and said, oh, you're so beautiful, you look so beautiful. I'm like ah, my hair or my face or, and, and you know you, when you're in your 40s, you never think you're going to be 60, right? I'm 60 now and it happens to everybody. And geez, I wish I would have known them what I know now, like when people tell me, oh my God, you look so good for your age, I'm like, oh my God, thank you so much. I feel like I look really good for my age too.
So you know, dimming her Light and.
And not showing up.
I mean, the biggest form of flattery is a compliment, and you really kind of just make someone feel bad for actually serving it to you. And so, yeah, I had to learn that, and I learned it from my husband and from Jerry as Ancio.
[00:10:05] Speaker A: That's special.
So how would that. I remember the story you had about Inc Magazine in the day you got the text, and you almost felt maybe it wasn't real or actual ink.
[00:10:17] Speaker B: I thought it was a fake text. I'm like, are you. Do you have the right Patty?
Yeah. My first call was to Rick.
Like, we used to talk about this a long time ago, you know, before people knew who I was in the mortgage industry.
Rick comes from a marketing background. He's like, patty, your story's so important. Like, people need to know your story. He goes, I'm just another white guy. You're a Latina. You grew up in this business. You've done every single position.
And he's like, your story needs to be told. And of course, you know, I then dim my light. But he hired me a social media manager at the time who actually now is a loan originator for us. But he hired somebody to follow me around a decade ago to start to tell my story.
And, you know, because he felt the. The. The importance to the industry and the importance to just others wanting to get into the industry. And a really big part of NAF is training. Right. We teach people with. With zero experience how to become loan officers, processors, underwriters. So he thought that the narrative was really good on my story. I think he was right. I use it now to really help others because, again, super lonely. That whole. That phrase, lonely at the top. I'm super lonely at the top. I have very few people I can confide in.
And so the importance of representation matters more today than just about any other time in the history of women in the workforce. It matters because we're really excelling in business. Right. We're really doing really, really well. So the emulation part and the mentorship part is critical.
[00:11:48] Speaker A: Yeah. As an entrepreneur for forever, I. I don't even remember having my own salary. But I. I mean, I. When I started the app, there was. I never.
[00:11:57] Speaker B: You.
[00:11:58] Speaker A: You could not have told me how many lonely nights or lonely thoughts or just how much weight you have that others don't really know. And so to have somebody to reach out is special. The fact that you are now making it open to, I. I guess beyond New American funding. Right. But New American funding is. Is.
[00:12:16] Speaker B: Is.
[00:12:17] Speaker A: Do you have Some sort of group that you've put together.
[00:12:21] Speaker B: Can you tell us about the mentorship group that I've ran for five years. It's called Thriving Lead and you'll see US advertising on LinkedIn and Instagram. And I currently have about 55 mentees this rounds all women from all different backgrounds in mortgage, you know, could be title escrow. Our competitors, I never recruit, ever.
It's all about them. And honestly, I tell them every single time I grow so much through them. Like this whole part of growing older and feeling significant, I get little, little nuggets of that every single time I have somebody who grows with me or who entered my mentorship program and kind of feels lost. But then at the end of it is like, oh my God, I finally found what I love. I found my purpose, I found my passion.
And so for me, it's really made me feel so significant.
[00:13:14] Speaker A: And it's accountability, right? That you have. They have accountability and you almost have. It sounds like accountability to show up and be there for them and learn through them. That's, that's in anybody listening. This is the type of program that I would encourage endorse. I think anybody can go can grow in this industry if they're motivated and they have the right mentorship leadership and, and really want to get there. And I think half the reason they don't do it is they don't understand the doors aren't always open. Right. And so you're opening doors and appreciate that.
As creator of the mobile app, I found this, this data point really cool. So I wanted to ask you about it. It stood out to me.
In 2017, I went to the, I spoke at the Illinois Mortgage Bankers Conference. Barry Habib was on there talking about median age is 33 years old. This is going to be the biggest year because they're going to turn 30 last year it's up to 39 years old. So if you're listening, the median age the home buyer is 39. So if you're 39, you haven't bought yet, you don't need anxiety, you're not behind. But what's amazing is for Latinos it's 31 years old is the first time home buying age because that's awesome. Why do you think that is? An eight year difference? It seems like they're trending in different directions.
You have a pulse on why that might be?
[00:14:37] Speaker B: Well, fundamentally, we're just the core of our culture is family.
Right. And so we start families earlier. You know, we get married earlier. There can be different. You Know, a lot of people are very, very tied to our Catholic religion. So it's really. We skew younger anyhow as a population.
So. But yeah, it's a family formation, our love for family. It's, it's. We start younger.
I remember my mom told me she was 19 and they were telling her she was an old lady. She got married when she was 19 and she felt old.
So it's this. Now we're like, you know, 11 years older and they're probably at 30. They're not selling them. I mean, he has his, you need to get married. You're getting old. Right. So we tend to skew younger about thinking about family getting married.
You know, we're kind of groomed, especially Latinas to get married and have kids. So it really still culturally just has to be, you know, it's tied to our, our core belief, which is family.
[00:15:38] Speaker A: So then that's interesting. So then it really stands out. I was looking at the demographics.
This is from the NAREP report annual report. You can Google it. It's so valuable. It has so much information. I didn't know which ones to take out of it. But non, I think they go with Hispanic and non Hispanic. That baby boomer makes up a much larger percentage for Latino or the Hispanic borrower. It's. It's like 25% is Gen Z. And if you're telling me that they're going to be buying earlier at 31 years old, New American funding and just in general, as somebody in riches are in the niches, but somebody that's willing to go out there and educate early, understand early culture, it seems primed for.
I can see why you had a great month last month. I overheard on another podcast, but I can see why you guys are really where the, the puck is going. Any comments on just that shift?
[00:16:30] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, listen, every company should know and I think they know that marketing to the Latinos market is, is a, it's just a, an essential core to business, to any business. Right. I don't care if you're Walmart, Amazon. We have to tap into the unmarketed, you know, black communities, the same thing. Very unmarketed. So, you know, we started 20 years ago. It's just my passion. I love it. I started attending NARUP the minute I found it.
You know, we've aligned with Gary for many, many years.
I found that when I first showed up there, there wasn't a lot of. I wasn't even a large IMB when I first started going to narup. Right. And Then we have grown to significantly a much larger company since I started going there. But even myself, I was the CEO, co founder of New American Funding and I was going to chapter events, I was networking at chapter events and people would say, oh well, what do you do at New American? You know, are you a loan officer? And I'm like, no, I own it. I mean, it was like shocking. But I tell everybody, even someone like me starts grassroots, especially trying to navigate your way into something like marketing to the Latino market.
It also really does help the fact that I'm Latina led and Latina owned. I think that our segment, our culture really, really empowers all of us that do step above and maybe rise in this country. I oftentimes will have a consumer, they may have a problem and alone in servicing, they'll email me, Mrs. Arbiello, I chose your company. I'm a Latino, you're Latina. Like they really choose our brand because they, they see our story. It's very important to me. I answer every one of those emails. So people do choose our brand, but it really comes down to ownership and leadership being diverse. Right. It can't just be like, oh, I'm going to hire some guy or girl, make them VP of diverse segments and then we're going to grow. It doesn't work. You need ownership invested in marketing to these communities and showing up to NARUP and showing up to aria. Can't just send your VP of diverse segments to these conferences because it doesn't work. Only ownership works.
[00:18:38] Speaker A: Yeah, they'll see right through it, you're saying. And I, I just love that whole story where you start grassroots and a lot of people don't show up physically these days. So it's such an advantage to go out to these events. And these trade organizations, no matter what they are, they are always struggling for more members because people like to give through fundraiser online. And it, it's, it's, it's good cause but it doesn't help these trade organizations make the movement. So it's great to hear you. You do that.
You talk about growing. I just had a, A, I guess a off beat question on that.
Well, two questions. One is you talked about your branding. How did you come up with the name New American Funding?
[00:19:23] Speaker B: It's not, it's not even like a sexy story or anything. I worked at a broker shop and it was called New American Financial.
Right? And this is when I invited Rick to come to work with me because oh my gosh, mortgage is so fun. He had sold his marketing Company didn't know what to do. I said, come to work with me. He showed up and he's a visionary. So he saw really quickly how this. How mortgage works. And so we actually bought the company out from the. The three gentlemen I was working with. They're all highly successful in different segments now. Hotels, you know, beverages. Very successful. Three young men. And we bought New American Financial, and we then turned it to New American Funding. It was a broker shop.
[00:20:03] Speaker A: We bought you guys. You put the fun and funding, right?
[00:20:07] Speaker B: Yeah, the fun and funding. I said it's not that sexy of a story or that great of a name. Actually, I like NAF better.
[00:20:14] Speaker A: Okay, so noted.
As you grew nafta, I have mentors or I listen in and they say, I always find this fascinating. Like, the ones that are really successful understand the people.
And you might disagree. So I guess I'm asking here. The people that grew your company from zero to $2 billion in funding are not always the people you need or you need. You need to find different type of people to get you from 2 to 10 billion and then up again.
Now, the CEO of CoStar, I guess, is one of the few that has done that differently. But do you find that your leadership style has changed at certain milestones where it was forced to change, even if you would have loved to?
[00:20:59] Speaker B: Okay, so my leadership style is better because I study it. And it is something we should all study because people all want to be led differently. So many different personality types, you know, male, female, you know, just we can go on and on. Culture.
Um, but what you did say was true for us.
You know, I could only get us so far, and I knew that. And it's such a talent for a CEO and a founder to really know when they've. When they've tapped out. Like, you know what? I can't take this company to the next level. So I'm. I feel like one of my strengths is that I find people better than me. My president, I find her so much better than me. Like my head of sales, I was running sales up until two years ago. I hired him. He's so much better than me. That's true leadership. It's true leadership when you can really look at yourself in the mirror and. No, it's not. I. It's we. And is we.
You know, is we going to take us to the next level? So I think being able to see that is really the companies that. That will grow and continue to grow and evolve. So especially right now, if you think about it, I'm 60 I didn't grow up with AI. I didn't grow up with the Internet. I didn't grow up with any of it. Social media, the analytics, like all of it. I think I'm okay at it.
But we brought in a 20 year old few months ago and he literally changed the trajectory of our social media department.
He's 20.
So I think that everybody needs to start looking for talent that's actually, you know, been raised in, especially with AI and bring that and like rapidly bring it to the table. Bring them to the table. Right. Sit them at the, sit him at the table with you. Because Ricky and I are like, wow, this is like amazing. These kids, I can learn it, but I'm never, I did not grow up the way these kids are growing up right now. And it's just changing really rapidly. I don't even go to Google anymore.
Right to chatgpt, straight to Perplexity or chatgpt.
[00:23:02] Speaker A: Oh, Perplexity. Mm, that's. Yeah, I agree too. Google says the Internet's gonna go away, but I don't know where reviews would go for the audience to ponder. Well, we are gonna do a quick one minute commercial break. I have a couple more questions for you on the other end and we'll wrap up.
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I was doing some research, Patty, and I came across another part where you sounded so strong in saying, didn't surprise me, but it was refreshing where you were asked about a competitor or a name, you know, in the mortgage industry. I'm not even gonna plug them. But you said, just like, I don't want to sit in the middle. I, you know, I'm always looking forward. I'm always looking.
I'm either having a, I'm never in the middle. I'm either having a bad day or I'm going after number one, and I'm gonna be number one. Can you just talk about that mindset and what number one means for nafta?
[00:25:26] Speaker B: Yes, number one means top five. That's the goal. If you ask any leader at naf, they will tell you that's our goal. We talk about our goals, we talk about how we're going to get there.
For me, that was actually a personal revelation about myself. And when people start to ask me, why do you think you, you, you've been successful? Why do you think it's why you. Right.
And I will tell you, it's just, I never sit in the middle. Like, I, I, every, every one of us can deal with adversity. The death of a parent, a sick child, a horrible day at work. Right. I can't sit in it, but I do reflect on it. I do take accountability for how I got there, whether it's personal or whether it's business.
I honestly am a fighter. Like, I'm not going to give up. Like, if I had my child, you know, is ill, I'm going to fight for a cure. If, if NAF is dealing with adversity, I'm going to fight for change. And it's not sitting in the middle that has made me where most days I am relatively happy. I just don't stay unhappy. I'm never, if you, if I die today, I'm not angry at anybody. I don't dislike anybody. There might be days that I do, you know, I've been done wrong, too. Most of us have, especially in the mortgage industry. But literally get over everything and having this free heart of, like, true forgiveness is free, actually, trust me, true happiness.
[00:26:48] Speaker A: For me, that's special to me having. When you come up with your own idea, like, I did in mortgage, you just feel like everybody's going to take it and like. And so in the beginning, I have been able to get to where I don't hold grudges or get upset. But when somebody would take my idea and then try and sell it more connected in the industry, I used to hold it a lot longer and it was no good for me. So it's good for others to hear that your most watched video is on how selft talk is important, how setting your expectations and being your own cheerleader. Why do you think this video was the num. You know, was able to get thousands of interactions, comments, likes.
Not that the others didn't, but what do you think stood out for this one?
[00:27:36] Speaker B: I think because naturally we're in search of answers so quickly we feel like they're with somebody else.
When honestly you have the answer, you just maybe not. You maybe don't want to acknowledge it. You know, and anytime I'm sitting on those days where I'm dealing with adversity or I'm dealing with something that is. Is not favorable in my life, I literally sit there and go, this too shall pass. This too shall pass. I mean, it's life. It's a circle of life. Right? It's the reason why we're able to go on after.
Yeah. After we are dealing with adversity. It's the reason why we're able to have more than one kid. I mean, think about having a kid is so hard. How is the population so big? Like, it's so hard.
So it's because of that. Everything passes. Everything does.
[00:28:21] Speaker A: That's another special piece for our audience because everybody is constantly going through, I always say life, Lifesia to my daughter or we have to get her ready for it because there is adversity and you have to know how to get through it.
And obviously in our industry, women have to go through or have had to go through a lot more. They have to through more adversity at times.
And you say like, you often say like, why do women have to choose? And I think your slogan off of that and I could have combined them here is if you can see it, you can be it. Like what, what does both of those mean to you?
[00:28:55] Speaker B: It means that yes, you can be a successful CEO of a mortgage company and have three phenomenal children that love you, that didn't feel like you missed out on their games, that didn't think that you're not a good parent, that they were a choice that I took working and building a company over raising them. None of my kids feel that way. They're completely successful on their own.
My 20 year old owns his own company. My 35 year old is just in the midst of selling his first company. I mean really successful children.
My daughter is probably the best mother I've ever seen in my life. And, and I think the only reason she's that, that good of a mother is because I was a pretty good mother too. So she had a pretty good role model, but she's even better now. I just, you know, we just constantly are dealing with choices, women in business. And we have this guilt like no other that we're giving something up in order to get ahead. And I'm letting every woman know I didn't give anything up. I didn't give anything up. And so I think that's the narrative and we need to change that narrative, especially for women. Because the last time I checked, I haven't seen a male have a baby yet. Actually physically.
Um, you know, we, we have to all deal with that. Is that, yes, we're on this, this earth as women leaders and we do have different lives that we lead because of the physical part of giving birth and having to take care of our children. It's, it's not just mental for us or exhaustion is actually physical.
[00:30:18] Speaker A: You and my wife would get along. She wanted to hook me up to one of those like massage things so that I could feel like what, like contractions? Yeah.
[00:30:26] Speaker B: And I. Yeah, let me punch you in the stomach. That's how it feels.
It's not fun, but we forget. That's why we keep having more children.
[00:30:36] Speaker A: Human nature, right?
[00:30:37] Speaker B: Just life, it's this, the beautiful part of life and the thinking about us as just beautiful creatures, I mean, it's really kind of a miracle what we do as mothers and even as working moms. So I just feel like the narrative is that we have to choose. I have so many mid 35 year olds on the, on the verge of success women and they haven't had children or they're not married yet. The first thing they talk to me about is the angst over freezing their eggs or I can't find a guy. I mean, I never hear guys call me and complain about that really. So the pressure we have as women on this planet is so tremendous and the desire for us to succeed is so high right now. And honestly, I don't even know how you buy a house in Southern California without a wife that works. So I mean the expectations are different now. And so I think we just need to find a Little more work.
Like work cooperation. I don't, I don't like to use the word balance because I've been searching that for years. It doesn't exist. But like work cooperation. Like when I had, I had a meeting last week and a girl took her baby and said, I am so sorry, but I have to do this. Put her baby on her lap in the middle of our marketing meeting. I said, God bless you. You don't ever have to say sorry for that. For me, you're multitasking because that's how I see you.
[00:31:54] Speaker A: That's a special message for men too, to understand that women on these, this journey, it goes beyond the walls of the office or the, the screen of the, the zoom. And you should be encouraging and not making them or making the woman feel any.
Like there's any less of a career or a pause in their career because they're going to do something as a mother. So. Correct, I guess that I wanted to segue into two final pieces.
One is just touch back on being a woman founder. It is so rare in our industry. I just wanted for the average listener or maybe real estate agent, that there are women presidents, but the founder who started it and grew and dealt with not just adversity, but how to get a warehouse line like you said, and then how to market and then how to reinvest balance sheet. P and L.
You have a group of women. You talked about it earlier. So I guess I, I don't know if that's called Berry in the lead, but can you just talk about what type of women could maybe be in the next cohort or what you talk about in that next cohort, what they should be listening for and why somebody should join.
[00:33:10] Speaker B: Yeah. So it's called Thrive and Lead. It's my mentorship programs, five years old. So when you see that. Yeah, that's. It's quite possibly you could give me a great, great, you know, group that I could form is like do you want to go from a broker to a banker? Do you. Are you a small mini core and you want to become a. You know, because these. I just think that we don't see ourselves as founders in this business.
And honestly, women in this business make up large percentage of the workforce all the way up until senior leadership.
All the way up. Right. You're are the head of compliance. Mostly women. The head of underwriting. Mostly women.
So I would really encourage them to step out of their comfort zone and realize that this industry is made for female founders. And actually the way I lead and we Lead naf. Our culture's so phenomenal that I really do feel the secret sauce is the male, female co founder that males have Rick to look up to and to resonate to, but the females have me to look up to and resonate to. And that way, you know, we have this, this tremendous harmony of people that don't see, you know, that the upward mobility of this, of being a founder or being a high level regional or, you know, whatever it takes. It's just that we're later to the game, that's all. I don't think like men. Everybody says, oh, did men hold you back? No, men did not hold me back. They've been in the workforce longer than women. That's it. It's a simple fact that we're gaining momentum and, you know, since the 50s have increasingly become more and more part of the workforce. It's just data. So, no, nobody's held me back. Men have actually been some of my biggest cheerleaders. Big. They've given me the confidence, they've helped me out, you know, Glenn Stearns, just like so many men have been so great to me. And so, no, I would never, ever be able to say that that happened to me.
[00:35:02] Speaker A: Yeah. And you sound like every leader of a top five mortgage company. You have this love for your technology stack. You talk about your culture stack and you're constantly talking about how you treat your customer and once they enter your ecosystem, you like to keep them in your ecosystem. So it's amazing to hear all your pride that you have when you, when you talk about a mortgage company. Kind of like I do with technology and people, I'm not the people don't want to talk about mortgage at my Thanksgiving table. So I only get to talk with it with people like that. And maybe that's why I created the show. But could you, could you just tell us what you find so amazing about NAF and why loan officers, processors, people that are listening and maybe are not completely happy, what is over at NAF that they should, they should know about?
[00:35:51] Speaker B: You know, I think that when we, we, Rick and I flew to Zappos, the shoe place, you know, the shoe store, because the founder had this, wrote a book about company culture. And this is 12, 13 years ago. And when I would talk about it and I would recruit and everybody be like, yeah, whatever, you know, but your Gen Cs and your millennials hold it at a very high level. So I think we, we started working on our culture and what it meant. We named it, you know, oftentimes I see email. Oh, my God, this person was so NAF 60. Or, ooh, this person was not. No, I mean, we use NAF360 as, like an award or maybe just say, hey, this person wasn't like, so naf 360 with me. In our interaction, it's so.
It's so ingrained in every single person that walks through our door.
And it's so important because it really does start at the top. Rick and I are completely involved in the company. Like, when you go to our President's Council, I do not leave until the last person leaves the event.
So Christy and I were out till three in the morning a couple months ago because it's my job to take care of them. It's. I'm there to host them. And so I really do find that that's lacking. I, you know, you can't just show up on a meeting or on a zoom. The people need to know, especially in this industry, that you matter. And I think the biggest thing is, and I'm working on this, is how do I talk to all 5,000? How can I make myself accessible? Because it's so important for them to know that I don't care if you answer my phones.
[00:37:25] Speaker A: I.
[00:37:25] Speaker B: You're shipping alone, insuring alone. You matter. Because we could not do what we do without every single person that has joined our team.
[00:37:34] Speaker A: I. I do. I think Zappos is the company that actually did so much better. Weren't there customer service, they would answer any question, even if it was. Had nothing to do with shoes. And so people would call and then.
[00:37:45] Speaker B: Yes, it was him. I mean, it's just a phenomenal it. We went there, we visited it, we studied it. That's what I mean. Leaders still need to study leadership. I know some of us were born leaders. I certainly was not. I think I was bossy, and it kind of turned into a leadership thing. But I study it. I want to know what people. I want to know how people want to be led. I know that every single leader at naf, we've all done personality tests, we've all done all kind of tests so that I know when I show up for them that they hear me the way they need to be heard. So it's. And I can't treat everybody like a blanket, you know? So I think it's so important for us to really drill down on being good leaders, better leaders, and that comes with learning from other leaders. And there's so many phenomenal ways to do that with podcasts and books and you know, I'm constantly diving in and looking for the people I resonate with and then I study them because it's important on that.
[00:38:40] Speaker A: And we'll end on this final question on everything you said about learning and educating 24 year old out there that's starting to think about buying a home. What do you envision the perfect experience with NAF, the NAF360 experience to be so that they can buy at 31 or maybe earlier the new first time home buyer. How do you see that going in the future?
[00:39:05] Speaker B: You know we know because of data that a high, high percentage of them are self serving, right.
And so they're learning from the Internet on whom to do business with and how companies interact with them. So we do, you know, we have the four, one of I think the fourth largest call center in the United States of America. So we get, we do a lot of business online and you will find your first time home buyers there. So we do a large percentage of online first time home buyers in our call center because they immediately pick up their phone.
So when, when you self service kind of like you're, you're going to book this phenomenal trip to Africa, right? And African Safari is a super expensive TR trip. You're online. Who's the best? Singita? This. That. But at the end of the day you want to talk to somebody. You certainly don't want to wait days for a travel agent to call you back. So the ones that are doing well are the ones that pick up the phone. So you better have instantaneous customer service. When the, when that millennial or Gen Z is ready to, to converse and speak, you better have somebody ready to.
[00:40:03] Speaker A: Pick up the phone or you'll get eaten by the lions. Right?
[00:40:06] Speaker B: You book the lions eaten by the call centers.
It's, it's, that's the thing is that you know, I was, I was a lo, you know, for many, many years and when we had beepers. Oh yeah, I'll call you back in like hours. No, no, no, no, no, no. These people want to be spoken to. The second they, they, they want to speak to a human, that human better pick up the phone. So either you're working for a company that has that technology, which nafta, or you better find a company that has technology or buy it because they're not, they're not going to wait. Even if a realtor referred you a deal, that client already looking on the Internet and talking to Rocket or NAF or somebody online. So the competition is really heavy and it becomes, it comes from the self serving and education piece that we're all doing on our phones.
[00:40:54] Speaker A: Yeah, it's the new world. It's coming. We talked about it. They grew up with the phones all the time.
Thank you again, Patty. This was a fun hour and I appreciate you taking the time.
[00:41:03] Speaker C: And thank you for joining us on this journey into the heart of mortgage innovation.
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