Today’s Class: March 17, 2017

Today’s guest was Yahaira “Jay” Placencia, a Senior Vice President at Bank of America

in the Bank of America Wealth Management division. In 2016, Forbes Magazine listed Bank of America (BOA) as the eleventh largest company in the world with its headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina. BOA serves clients all over the world. The National Football League team, Carolina Panthers, plays its home games in the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Today’s host was Ingris Izaguirre Maradiaga.

Ingris welcomes “Jay” outside of the Life Skills class prior to the start of class.

Jay said “Ingris made me feel welcome; she made me relax before going into the classroom to meet her classmates“. A perfect host!

Ingris escorts Jay into the Life Skills classroom

Ingris introduces Jay to her Life Skills classmates

Imani Turner welcomes Jay to class following Ingris’ introduction as other students waited to do the same. “I was very impressed with how professional the students’ greetings were. Firm handshakes and good eye contact. Impressive!“Jay commented.

Jay began her story by explaining what a person does working in the “banking” industry. Like many large companies, there are a wide variety of jobs at a large company like BOA. From tellers and managers of neighborhood BOA banks to computer programmers in the Informational Technology (IT) departments, Bank of America has approximately 208,000 employees.

“I work in the wealth management division”

Jay begins to share her banking story with the Life Skills class.

Jay said. “This simply means when a person gives the bank a certain amount of money to invest, my responsibility is increase the value of this money each year over time. For example,

if someone gave BOA $100,000 to initially invest, my responsibility is to increase the $100,000 to $105,000 the next year and to $110,000 or more the following year

and each year thereafter. I am entrusted by BOA clients to make them wealthier each year.“

Jay then explained

her success is related to the perception people have of her personal brand and her ability to network.

Jay spoke about personal brand and networking

“I find myself continually going to events to meet new people. I tell them about the brand of Bank of America and how my personal brand can successfully manage their money to increase their wealth. And, after I meet someone I think will have value to my network, I stay in touch. Have you heard of LinkedIn? Does everyone have a LinkedIn page? You should.

Staying active on LinkedIn will help with your career!“

Jay’s story is also marked by valuable mentors who helped her become the success she is today. “One of my mentors early in my professional career advised me on how I should dress for success as a business woman. Another mentor at BOA told me very specific things I had to accomplish to get the significant pay increase I was looking for.

We all need mentors who are smart and trustworthy.“

Jay spoke about future employment of the Life Skills students, the challenge of finding something you like to do and benefits that can be offered when working at successful companies. “It may take time to find something you enjoy doing. It took me awhile. I thought I wanted to be a doctor when I was your age. I eventually found a job in business. Besides finding a career you’re passionate about so you enjoying going to work everyday, we all need to be aware of the benefits companies offer their employees. Health benefits. 401K retirement programs. Some companies might even pay your college tuition!” Jay finished by explaining how the value of money increases over time. “The earlier a person starts saving, the more money you’ll eventually have.”

The class ended with a networking session for students to exchange contact information with Jay.