Reaching Out: Jennifer Tarazon

Jennifer Tarazon knows how to reach her clients; not just because she comes from a Spanish-speaking community similar to the ones she now develops programs to reach, but because her area of expertise is in providing ways for her company to establish relationships. As Director of Multicultural Engagement at Mountain America Credit Union, Jennifer explains that outreach is a lot more than 'good politics', it is integrating everything from which dialects are spoken for one base of clients to which kind of cars the sixteen-year-olds starting their first accounts are saving up for. She speaks on the importance of collaboration between entrepreneurial institutions and small businesses, why it is so important to learn about the community from which your employees come, and how to look outside of your own diaspora for mentorship opportunities. She reminds us to ditch the scarcity mindset, and that when you give someone else a seat at the table, it doesn't mean losing a seat for yourself.  

Transcript

Narrator:

Welcome to the Harbert College of Business Podcast with your hosts, Sarah Gascon and Curry Dias. Jennifer Tarazan is the director of multicultural engagement at Mountain America Credit Union and was previously the director of communications at AARP Utah. She serves as chair of PBS Utah's advisory board and on the Utah Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Currie Dyess:

Jennifer Chairzan, welcome to the show. It's so great to have you. War Eagle.

Jennifer Tarazon:

War Eagle.

Currie:

All right, you've worked across government, nonprofit, and corporate sectors. What's the through line in your story that ties all of those experiences together?

Jennifer Tarazon:

So I think for me, it's just been finding my purpose. And I think when you find your purpose, it's really easy to find, not maybe not really easy, but it's easier to find jobs that align with that. And I think as I looked at different roles in my career and not having that very linear path, the things that made me excited, things that made me happy, the things that made me want to show up to work was when I was fulfilling that purpose. And for me, that purpose has always been engaging with communities and especially serving underserved communities and trying to find pathways for them. And so once I figured that out, that that was a way for me to find that fulfillment, then it's been an easier ride.

Sarah Gascon:

In your role, how do you define effective multicultural engagement in today's business environment?

Jennifer Tarazon:

Sure. So I was really lucky with Mountain America. They created this role. It's pretty new. I'm the first one in it. And so we were able to define what that was going to look like because I think for a lot of people when you hear multicultural engagement, they sort of think that it's virtue signaling they're doing something nice. And my take on it is that these multicultural communities are actually bringing so much to the economy and especially as a credit union, how do we tap into those communities, especially younger communities. When you look at the Hispanic population, obviously is really a growing population. It's huge for so many industries. So the most populated age, not the median, but the most populated age for Latinos in the US is 16 to 19. The most populated age for non-Latinos is 62. So when I look at the credit union and we talk about it, I say, those 16 to 19 year olds are our next member, they're our next team member.

They're the person who's going to buy a house, who's going to buy a car. So how do we start engaging this community because it's an economic imperative. And also when we look at preparing them to be financially literate, financially sound, because that's not just going to affect them and their families. Ultimately with that population growth, that affects Utah's economy, it affects the United States economy. So for me, really finding multicultural engagement is going into the community, finding what the needs are in all of those communities and how our organization can meet those needs, again, as an economic imperative, not just as this is something nice to do. It's actually the right thing to do.

Currie:

Sure. And I think that you're spot on with the maybe superficial perception. So what are some of the biggest mistakes that organizations make trying to connect with diverse communities?

Jennifer Tarazon:

Yeah, I think you really need an authentic connection. And I think sometimes when you see things that don't work, like you see someone just puts Ola in their ad and you're like, "Well, that's not going to do anything." And so I went to the Hispanic Leadership Summit. It was about almost two years ago, maybe a year and a half ago now. The vice president of marketing spoke for the NFL. She was vice president of marketing for the NFL, Latina. And she said, "We know at the NFL that our next fan has to be Latino. For us to maintain our audience to make money, we know that our next fan is Latino and we have to court that market." So when I saw a couple of months ago that Bad Bunny was the entertainment of the Super Bowl, it wasn't a surprise to me because I said, "Well, and this isn't them being nice.

It's not because they were like, Oh, the Latino community, they need to win. It was like, no, they're doing this because that's been in their marketing plan to court this community. And I talked to a couple of different groups of students recently who were Latino. And I asked them, I said, "Did that resonate with you? " And they were like, "Well, yes, no." I said, "Did you watch the Super Bowl after that? Did you tune in? " And they were like, "Yeah. Had you watched before? No." And I was like, "Well, they got you. " And so when you look at all of these different organizations like Coca-Cola, Toyota have done really great jobs of authentic advertising, finding the right community sponsorships that the Latino community likes, when you look at those successful brands, they have found ways to authentically engage. And we're looking, especially in the Hispanic community and a lot of immigrant communities, this twofold piece, right?

You have a population, perhaps recent immigrants that their native language is still sort of what they speak at home. It's their main preferred language. And then you have American born children of immigrants and their experience is so different. And that's me too. I'm first generation. Spanish was my first language growing up, but I don't watch the. I watch all the news American English channels that everybody else does. And I want to see myself represented in English. And so I think as marketing and as all of these different organizations, and I think Coca-Cola and Toyota have done that really well when they say, "We have marketing for this more recent immigrant who speak Spanish or whatever language of their country of origin." And then now we are looking at American more Latinos who are very proud to be American but still very proud of their culture and their very bicultural.

And how do we tap into that knowing that these are two really different demographics?

Sarah:

So how do you balance that authenticity with organizational goals while building community partnerships?

Jennifer Tarazon:

Yeah. I think for us, I've been fortunate that I told my team when I started, I said, "My first year here, I'm on a listening tour." So I'm going to all of our local community partners. I think sometimes large corporations sometimes in their zeal to want to support everybody, sometimes they sponsor or they team with organizations who aren't necessarily who the community goes to. Maybe the community doesn't trust them as much as another organization. So my first year I said, I want to go into the communities, really talk to people, see which organizations they connect with, who they support and really what their needs are specifically. And then we were able to come back and say, "How does this align with all of the different things that we're doing?" And so as a result of that, we started working on a financial education and professional development program that was initially aimed for multicultural communities.

They come and spend a day at Mountain America and learn from a lot of different professionals. And one of the things we really focus on when they come is to say, one, there's no right path to success and there's no linear path. We have people here who maybe didn't go to college right after they graduated or they were in a different field. And then we also want people to know you don't have to be a financial person to work at a credit union. We have videographers, we have graphic designers, we have writers, we have a cafe downstairs, we hire a chef, we hire a trainer. So there's a lot of different paths here and there's a lot of ways to get a really cool corporate job that doesn't require you because if I had known math, I wouldn't have gone to law school. There's a lot of different ways to be successful.

So that's one thing we really want people to focus on. And then we do a lot of that basic financial education and really because that started off as a multicultural initiative, but then we found that so many students wanted that information. Now it's growing to expand beyond that multicultural community and we're inviting college students and juniors and seniors to come and participate in the program.

Currie:

Jennifer, you've operated in environments where your influence matters maybe more than your title. Do you have any personal tricks or tips on how you can build credibility fast and trust quickly whenever you walk into a new room?

Jennifer Tarazon:

Yeah. I mean, I think it all goes back to the beginning, right? I did not go to school with a lot of social capital. I didn't enter the workforce with a lot of social capital and I talk a lot about this with students where my dad's a carpenter, my mom did data entry, nobody ... I'm the first to my family to go to college. So there wasn't a roadmap to say, "This is how you're going to do it. " And what I found was I saw people that were able to say, "My dad's going to call this person and get me an interview or push my resume on. " I never had that. And so for me, my reputation and credibility have been the most important thing for me and not the easiest, but for me the easiest way to build that social capital. So I always tell people, show up when you say you're going to show up, do what you're going to say you're going to do, be the person that you project out into the world because nobody can take that away from you.

You can get your degree, you can do your job, but if you're not showing up to work on time, if you're not sticking to your commitments, that reputation follows you. And so I know that I have built over the last 20 something years a reputation that precedes me. And I know that when people talk about me, they'll say, "Yeah, you can trust her. She's going to show up. She's going to do this. " And I also really try to find ... I don't like transactional partnerships. I really like to find authentic partners and people that I'm on the same page with. And I tell them, "Hey, I want to make you look good. You make me look good. Let's work together and let's do some amazing things together." And we know that we trust each other and we support each other. So I think really that's been the most important thing for me is just you have to build that trust and credibility before you even enter the room.

Sarah:

You've had some really incredible jobs. How did you decide when to pivot versus when you decided to stay the course and stay for many, many years?

Jennifer Tarazon:

Yeah. I think, like I said, it's always been tied to purpose. I would go someplace and if it wasn't, if I'm just reviewing contracts or if I'm just working an event and there's no purpose for me behind that, it's harder for me to stay motivated and to do those things. I think everybody's purpose is going to be different. It doesn't mean that we all have to be do gooders and social justice warriors, but it's just what gets you out of bed in the morning and what makes you excited to do something. So I sit on a couple of different boards and I sit on ... I'm a commissioner. I was appointed by the governor of Utah for the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Services. So we grant the liquor licenses to businesses in Utah. And even when I do that, my bent is always like the mom and pop shops, the small businesses, how do we support them?

Because we do have some really great corporate entities and businesses that come here. But for me, and what really gets me motivated when I do that is to be able to say, "Oh, I'm helping a small business owner today." When I'm on the board of PBS Utah, when I work with PBS, I'm like, "What stories are we telling? What diverse stories?" And that doesn't just mean multicultural stories, but just across the board, making sure that all Utahns are sort of represented. That is exciting for me. So even though my time gets pulled in a lot of different directions, I always feel really fulfilled in doing that. And I think when you have that, it makes you stay that course.

Currie:

So you brought up working for the Alcoholic Commission. It's very different than the role you have now. Looking at your career, you have built a very unique combination of skills, law, communications, there's policy, community engagement. How intentional was that and how can students start stacking skills early on?

Jennifer Tarazon:

Yeah, I'm going to be honest, it was not intentional. But when you don't have a clear path and you don't have a lot of people that can kind of tell you where to go. I think I graduated college in 2003 and the internet was a little bit different than it is today, kids.You didn't have maybe as much information at your fingertips as you do now. A lot of things were just landing pages. So figuring things out was a lot different than it is today. In retrospect, I wish I would have talked to more people on my journey. I would do internships and I would do the work, but I think it's a little intimidating when you're young to say like, "Hey, will you have a coffee with me and let me pick your brain a litle bit?" And so when somebody asks me to do that, I always say yes.

I just had coffee with someone from the University of Utah yesterday and she's studying health policy and I'm not really a health policy person, but I was like, I might know somebody or let me at least give you some general information about my path and how I open some doors for myself. I just sort of tried different things and it was like, "I like this so I'm going to keep kind of doing this. I didn't like this so now let me pivot and go here." And I think the important thing is when you're young is like you have that time and I think sometimes you think you're behind or there's a finite time to accomplish things and it's so not true. I was telling a group of students the other day, at 35, I was working in DC at a national nonprofit and I was living with my partner and I had this apartment in downtown DC and I was just like, "This is the best thing ever." And then we broke up, quit my job, I moved into my parents' basement in Utah for six months and I was like, "This is the lowest most embarrassing time of my life." And I was like, "And I'm 35 and I wish, oh my God, I wish this had happened five years ago instead of right now." And then now I look back at that at 44 and I'm like, "That was such a blip in time." And look at what that pivot allowed me to accomplish.

And like you said, just kind of being able to stack what I learned there and saying, now how do I use all of that to pivot? And I think it's like a privilege and it's a really cool thing to be able to do that. And I think more people have to get out of the mindset that those are setbacks or those pivots are failures. It really is just adding to your story and learning more. And now when I came to Utah, people are like, "Oh, I love that you were in DC. I love that you did all these different things." And it just adds so much to your resume and your story. So I think you can be intentional. I think it's great when people can be, but I guess my perspective is if you're not intentional but you're doing good work and you're working hard, it will pay off.

Sarah:

In your current role, you're focused on underserved and underbanked communities. What does impact actually look like and how do you measure it?

Jennifer Tarazon:

And I think it's so interesting at a credit union, every department has a different idea of what impact is. So for one department, it might be like, how many new accounts did you get at one department? It's like, how many rescue loans did we do with these communities? So it all depends. I think for me it's how many, one, I do a lot of community events. We're very grassroots. I do booths all the time. If someone reaches out to me and says, "We see what you're doing. Can you come do this for us?" That's a measure of success in multicultural and community engagement. I think for me, getting approached and saying, "We're seeing the work that you're doing, it's really impactful. How can we partner?" And that's always helpful. And we also look at, obviously again, how many leads did we get, how many accounts did we get?

But for me, the authenticity factor is finding who approaches you, who wants to work with you. And I think also we just got an award from the Utah Hispanic Chamber. It was the best workplace for Hispanic employees. And I was like, "That is awesome." And I didn't do that, but being able to reflect the work that we're doing out in the community and for the community to see that and recognize that, to me, that's a huge win and it shows a lot of that impact. And the new program that we're doing with the students, for us being able to say a hundred students ... Last year we had a pilot, so it was a hundred students that came through the program just Friday, we had 60 group of students that came through our program. So even just that, I'm like, wow, it's just exponentially growing.

And so if I can meet one individual, and that's sort of our theme at Mountain America to say it's every member counts. So if I'm talking to one person who are making an impact, I think that's really important.

Currie:

How do you see multicultural engagement evolving over the next five to 10 years and what role do you think financial institutions will have in shaping inclusive communities?

Jennifer Tarazon:

It's going to change so much. When we look at, I have a really cool chart, maybe I can send it to you if you guys ever want to see it, but it shows even in 2024, the largest pockets for certain populations ... So for white Americans, for example, the largest populations are silent, boomer and Gen X. And then for all other multicultural communities, Hispanic, Black, Asian, the largest populations are millennial, Gen Z and Gen Alpha. And so all of those communities are very bicultural. And so we know as a credit union, we know when I talk to other organizations, that authentic representation and how you reach communities is so important. It's not just anymore putting a brown face on your brochure. It really is going to be figuring out what the needs of those communities are. So for example, there was a report by the Urban Institute and I don't want to butcher it, but I think it's by 2040 that they say that we will have 70% of all new homeowners will be Hispanic, Latino.

And a big part of that is the Hispanic community really believes ... We're one of the remaining groups that still really believes in the American dream and really ties homeownership to the American dream. But when you look at that percentage, you have to say, if this is what's happening, what are we doing as a financial institution to look at that growth and say, how are we going to present home ownership to this group? Because it's probably going to be really different than another group. And we learned a lot in just some of the data that Hispanic communities, especially that second and generation and onward are really speaking Spanglish. Maybe they're more English dominant even. So again, just doing something completely in Spanish isn't going to be the thing that connects with the community. There's another stat, I think it was between 2018 and 2023, that 44% of all new businesses in the US were started by Latinos.

I think it was a negative 3% decline for white Americans. So if Hispanic Americans are opening businesses and amongst that group, Latinas open businesses more than anybody else, if we know that, how are we promoting our business loans to those groups? How are we making sure that they're qualified and eligible? We also saw, and a lot of this data is from the Latino donor collective, so happy to send that or people can look that up. It's really helpful data. But when you see that and you say, well, Latinos statistically are less likely to hear why they were denied for a loan than any other group. So if you know why you were denied, if they tell you it was because of your credit score, if you do these couple things, come back and we'll help you out, if they're not getting that information, they're just leaving and they're saying, "Oh, this wasn't for me and I didn't make it.

" Where other groups, they're getting that information and they're being able to rectify the problem and then they're able to go back and get the loan. That's a huge difference. We're all responsible as financial institutions to look at that information and to find them and help them and meet them where they're at. And so I think as we all, these aren't just financial institutions, right? Institutions across the board need to look a little bit more at that data and to say, how can we adjust? Because at this point it's not even, again, not because it's the right thing to do, but because it's an economic imperative. If you want people to buy these things, if you want Latinos to buy from you, these are the things that you're going to have to start looking at. And right now, Latinos in the US are the fifth largest economy in the world.

So if you took them out of the US economy or the fifth largest behind US, China, Germany, and Japan, we have the largest economy before India, the UK, France, Italy, Brazil, and Canada. So again, when you're looking at those things, you're saying, "Well, yeah, I guess we do need to kind of focus on that. " And I have that percentage. So Latinos are expected to be 70% of net new US homeowners by 2040 and that's a study from the Urban Institute. Latinos are also projected to account for 78% of all net new workers by 2030. So again, it's not just who is your consumer, but who is your future employee and how are you going to address those needs of your employee, which may be a little bit different than the others. So we all have to adjust and it's all going to change because it's just a matter of population.

I think the other thing that's really difficult is that there's this misconception that, especially among Latino communities and maybe other communities now as well, that we're all undocumented and we have these different immigration statuses when the reality is that right now nine out of 10 Latinos, 87% in the US are lawful citizens and then US Latinos accounted for 71% of total US population growth and that's driven by birth, not immigration. So again, we have this huge cohort growing of American citizen, Latinos that are going to be our workers, they're our consumers. How do we as organizations meet those needs?

Sarah:

You've held leadership roles across multiple boards and initiatives. How has your leadership style evolved over time?

Jennifer Tarazon:

One, I think there's just a confidence in learning and knowing more. I think when you kind of start out, at least for me, I was definitely more like, "Let me sit and listen and learn." And I definitely feel the confidence more now to lead and to give that information. I think I've learned the power of educating myself on a lot of these things and being able to speak to things that when people try to throw information out and I can come back and say, "Well, no, actually this is what the data shows." That's obviously been super helpful. I think mentoring younger team members and people just that I meet younger adult professionals has also been really helpful because I've been able to kind of see what their needs are and how to show up for them a little bit more as well in those roles.

But yeah, I think for me, my leadership style on boards has just been to represent myself and those communities that I'm there representing. And again, not just Latino communities, but across the board, whether it's something for the credit union, whether it's something for small businesses. And then personally, I think leadership to me is I was told in one of my first jobs was when you get a hand, you give a hand. And so I've had so many hands that have helped me to get to where I am. So leadership for me is also kind of reaching back. I think when I first moved to Utah, and this was for law school, like 2006, I met a lot of women who I'd meet them several times and they would pretend they'd not pretend, but they would maybe not remember you or say they didn't remember you.

And I was like, I'm like one of few Latinas here. I know you remember me.

And there was a feeling that there's not a lot of room at the table for women. There's not a lot of room at the table for women of color. So there's one seat at the table, it's going to be me. And I think that was the old guard and I see such a change now where the feeling is, and especially for me, I see it with younger generations, but I try to lead with this where there's not a limited amount of seats at the table. And when you get to that seat, open the door, keep it open and pull people behind you because more success for you doesn't mean less success for me. And as I talk to younger women or people who come and seek advice, I think that's my biggest advice in leadership is just we all rise together and you can't do it alone.

So it's really important, one, because of karma, you've gotten help along the way from somebody to get to where you are and then bring other people along with you. I definitely also say those people are not always going to look like you. Sometimes you think that you'll find an affinity with somebody because they're from the same culture or you're fellow women or you went to the same college and sometimes that is true, but sometimes your allies are going to be people that you never expected and they're going to bring you into spaces that you didn't even know existed. And so be open to that and then also be open when you are looking to mentor or open the door for other people that it's not always going to look like, they're not always going to look like you. They're always going to sound like you, you're going to have very different experiences, but that's all part of leadership and growing within your career, growing within just your personal growth.

Currie:

Jennifer, if you were to give one piece of advice to college students who want to build a career that creates both financial success and meaningful impact, what would it be?

Jennifer Tarazon:

Two things, right? Be your authentic self. People want to know your story and they want to get to know you. I definitely have a humble beginning and that brings, I think, to me, the ability to meet anybody where they're at. Spanish is my first language and I can go into communities and speak to people in Spanish. I think sometimes you think that your past or some of your failures are liabilities and they're not. I read somewhere once that someone said, "People connect more with your failures than your successes." And I have found that to be true when I go and speak to people, the story that they always come back to me is always like, it really meant a lot when you said you were living in your parents' basement. And I'm like, "Oh yeah, well, thank you for the reminder." But when I started getting that feedback, I was like, "Wow, that is so true." Because if you see someone that is like you or has had those struggles like you and you see them moving forward, you're like, "I can do it also." So I think people find a lot of authenticity in your story and who you are.

And then again, just like you have to build your social capital, you have to build your reputation. If you don't have people who are going to make those phone calls for you, you have to unfortunately maybe work a little extra harder. I was at an event the other day and I mentioned this to Sarah, I think we got to see Michael Phelps and I'm sure you guys know these stories, but he was saying that most swimmers train six days a week. And so he was like, so I decided to train seven days and I knew that I was going to ... And I think we all know he has a different high performance body type for swimming, but he was also like, "But I'm not superhuman." He's like, "But that extra day of training meant the world." And that was the same for me where I was like, when I started working, I was like, "I'm going to be the first one to get here.

I'm going to be the last one to leave and listen to all of the advice and feedback that you get from all of these leaders that you meet." Because I remember one time I had a boss who was like, we worked remotely a lot and he said, "If I don't see what you're doing, I assume you're not doing anything." And so I would always send weekly check-in emails and I do that now with my boss and she's like, "I really appreciate that you do that. " And I was just like, "What made you think to do that? " And I was like, "Because my boss said this to me. " And I think you have to be your own biggest cheerleader. I think sometimes we also think that you're going to get, if I'm doing the work and I'm doing the right thing, someone's going to see it and I'm going to get promoted.

You have to put that into the world and you have to let people know what your goal Goals are you have to let people know where you want to go and what you want to do. Because I was just having this conversation where my therapist was like, "Well, you're doing so great at your job and if you ever have bigger aspirations or different aspirations, you have to let people know because they're thinking she's killing it in her job. She loves what she does. She doesn't want another role in the organization." And I was like, "Yeah, that's a good point." And so as I mentor some of my younger colleagues, I'm also like, tell me even in a year or two, what is it that you want to do? And let's figure it out. So find those allies, but also always just be thinking of what is it that I want to do and put it out in the world because we're not mind readers.

And sometimes I think we're just like, oh, they're happy in their job. They're doing what they want to do. And I had someone who was like, "I really want to join some boards. I don't know how to do it. " And I was like, "Well, I will bring you to some of my networking events and then you can meet people and take it from there." But if you don't put that out in the world, it's not going to open for you.

Sarah:

Jennifer, it's been so great speaking with you today. How can our audience members keep up with your story or even connect with you if they have other questions or want to have a coffee chat?

Jennifer Tarazon:

Yeah, I would love that. You can find me on LinkedIn, Jennifer Tarazon. I'm multicultural engagement director at Mountain America. I think can't miss me on there and yeah, would love to chat with anybody. Like I said, when you get a hand, you give a hand. I've talked to many people who have helped me get here. So if I can be that person for somebody else, I'm happy to do it.

Currie:

You're awesome. Thank you so much.

Narrator:

Harbert, inspiring business.