Emmy Hill remembers how difficult it was as a young Mexican girl trying to assimilate into a new country, culture, and language when her family moved to the US. Years later, she is exemplifying the power of cultural diversity and helping to empower generations of Latinos through her leadership both at UFCU and in the Greater Austin community. During her ten years at UFCU, she has been a trailblazer in taking on new leadership roles and has found an employer as committed as she is to empowering a strong, diverse community.
“When my family moved from Mexico. Spanish was my first language but at that time, you very much had to assimilate, so I lost a little bit of my culture. But working at UFCU, I found a home where that diversity is celebrated, supported, and encouraged. As a small example, I'm asked to speak in Spanish at UFCU meetings or when we have events, and it makes me so proud to work for an organization that celebrates diversity of thought and diversity of experience.
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As a young professional growing my career, UFCU has made a significant impact on me. I've had opportunities to spend time with leaders and team members that have helped me expand in my career, from a single skillset to leading teams and starting new departments. And I love working for an organization like UFCU that shares my core value of community. Over the last ten years, UFCU has given me the space and encouraged me to give back. I've been on the Hispanic Chamber board since 2019, and am currently chairwoman. I’ve also recently become a member of the Long Center Board of Trustees. These roles are incredibly important because we are supporting Latino-owned small businesses in the Greater Austin community. And that in turn supports generations, families, people moving up from mid- to large-sized businesses, helping them to get more involved in advocacy, and connecting them to the bigger system of Greater Austin.
“For me, the most exciting thing about working for UFCU is that no matter where you work or where you sit, you have an opportunity to be creative, come up with new ideas, new solutions, try them out. Across the organization, there’s a real commitment to empowerment and encouragement to remove barriers in how we serve our Members. Within my own team, I consider a lot of our work to be cultural stewards. We look at everything UFCU does through a cultural lens to ensure that our frontline teams deliver a consistently excellent Member experience.”