Tonita Webb's guest appearances

Tonita Webb

See It To Be It

The CUInsight Experience

Amplify Voices

Belonging Leadership

Jenny Blake

Amanda Gates

Aliza Kelly

Bill Cheney

David Miller

Neen James

John Spence

Randi Zuckerberg

Deanna Minich

Carrie Hunt

Kiana Danial

Jehmu Greene

Brittany Packnett

Jeanne Bliss

Andrea Seemayer

OwlTail

This month, our See It To Be It podcast guest is another inspiring female leader, Tonita Webb, who is the CEO of Verity Credit Union. She tells us about her journey to becoming CEO in a male-dominated industry and the struggles she faced along the way being a BIPOC woman. But how did she get to be CEO of a credit union? Well, Tonita grew up in a single-parent household and her mom was sick with Lupus, so her responsibilities were to take care of her mom and her siblings at the same time. She has always dreamt of living in a different place while she was growing up, due to the trauma she experienced in her hometown along with the limited opportunities. She didn’t know where that place was but she knew it was not in her hometown. She always kept that possibility in front of her and when she got older and started school she found a liking for science and math. She said in her high school there was a big push for African Americans to become engineers. She joined an engineering group in Highschool and then it led to her going to college to study engineering. Looking back though, she does not think she was built to be an engineer. She says she is a people person and LOVES to help people achieve their goals and that is how she got into management, although being able to think like an engineer did help her to get into the business world.  When she got into college she did not want to be in a lot of debt, and the thought of debt just stressed her out. She asked herself, how could you finish school and not be in a ton of debt? The Air Force answered her question. She had the opportunity to go into the Air Force and come right back to Hampton University in Virginia to finish school, which she had every intention of doing. She said four months later she was stationed in Berlin, Germany, and was a police officer, laughingly she said, “and that was not in the plan”. She did that the whole time she was in the military. She ended up finishing school but not in the way she thought.  Fast forward four years, Tonita got married and had children. When she was in the Air Force, her heart would ache from missing her children, so she decided to get out of the military and got a night shift job at a bank. She then became interested in the training which is what introduced her to Human Resources. She loves working with people and that is what started her HR career. She then went to Florida and started working for the Department of Health with their HR department. Tonita says, “this is what helped me awaken a desire to help people''. Fast forward another year or two, she had another kid and her husband then decided to resign from the military after ten years. They went back to Seattle and had two more kids. With four kids now, she wanted to go back to work. She had three options of work: a bakery, credit union, and Seattle's supersonics. She said the credit union job just spoke to her because she could have a better opportunity to help people.  Tonita says that one of the things that drive her as a BIPOC woman is that she gets to change the system and be part of making that system more inclusive. She says the one thing she wants people to know, especially people in the BIPOC community, is that people make mistakes. No one is perfect, and you do not need to be. She says, “I learned what I know today by trial and error.” Tonita didn’t have great examples of how to plot a great financial future and she has made a lot of mistakes along the way, but she wants to be that example for the future generation. She saw firsthand her mom struggle with debt because of her illness, it was hard for her to work. She just knew that that was not the life she wanted for herself. She says that her mistakes are her greatest education because you just learn as you go. You can take ten steps forwards and five steps backward but all that matters is that you are moving forward.  Melinda then talks about how Tonita is a black woman in a male-dominated industry and asks her what struggles or challenges she had on the way coming up in this world. She said it wasn’t easy and the world of management, leadership, and business was designed by white males. Because of this, she did not feel comfortable in her own skin because she did not grow up with a white male figure in her life, and cannot relate to them easily. She said what she learned was that she had to discover herself first before she could navigate her career journey. She would talk to a therapist as a BIPOC woman about the hardships she had to face with navigating her career in this industry. Once she discovered herself in this way, it allowed her to help more people. Melinda asks Tonita what is her favorite piece of advice. Tonita says that she has learned that women have to balance and accept their humanity, take space for themselves and step aside from the expectations that society has on women. We have to stop labeling and putting expectations on women. Women have to balance workspace issues along with balancing relationships and motherhood. You need to allow yourself to have space. 

This month, our See It To Be It podcast guest is another inspiring female leader, Tonita Webb, who is the CEO of Verity Credit Union. She tells us about her journey to becoming CEO in a male-dominated industry and the struggles she faced along the way being a BIPOC woman. But how did she get to be CEO of a credit union? Well, Tonita grew up in a single-parent household and her mom was sick with Lupus, so her responsibilities were to take care of her mom and her siblings at the same time. She has always dreamt of living in a different place while she was growing up, due to the trauma she experienced in her hometown along with the limited opportunities. She didn’t know where that place was but she knew it was not in her hometown. She always kept that possibility in front of her and when she got older and started school she found a liking for science and math. She said in her high school there was a big push for African Americans to become engineers. She joined an engineering group in Highschool and then it led to her going to college to study engineering. Looking back though, she does not think she was built to be an engineer. She says she is a people person and LOVES to help people achieve their goals and that is how she got into management, although being able to think like an engineer did help her to get into the business world. When she got into college she did not want to be in a lot of debt, and the thought of debt just stressed her out. She asked herself, how could you finish school and not be in a ton of debt? The Air Force answered her question. She had the opportunity to go into the Air Force and come right back to Hampton University in Virginia to finish school, which she had every intention of doing. She said four months later she was stationed in Berlin, Germany, and was a police officer, laughingly she said, “and that was not in the plan”. She did that the whole time she was in the military. She ended up finishing school but not in the way she thought. Fast forward four years, Tonita got married and had children. When she was in the Air Force, her heart would ache from missing her children, so she decided to get out of the military and got a night shift job at a bank. She then became interested in the training which is what introduced her to Human Resources. She loves working with people and that is what started her HR career. She then went to Florida and started working for the Department of Health with their HR department. Tonita says, “this is what helped me awaken a desire to help people''. Fast forward another year or two, she had another kid and her husband then decided to resign from the military after ten years. They went back to Seattle and had two more kids. With four kids now, she wanted to go back to work. She had three options of work: a bakery, credit union, and Seattle's supersonics. She said the credit union job just spoke to her because she could have a better opportunity to help people. Tonita says that one of the things that drive her as a BIPOC woman is that she gets to change the system and be part of making that system more inclusive. She says the one thing she wants people to know, especially people in the BIPOC community, is that people make mistakes. No one is perfect, and you do not need to be. She says, “I learned what I know today by trial and error.” Tonita didn’t have great examples of how to plot a great financial future and she has made a lot of mistakes along the way, but she wants to be that example for the future generation. She saw firsthand her mom struggle with debt because of her illness, it was hard for her to work. She just knew that that was not the life she wanted for herself. She says that her mistakes are her greatest education because you just learn as you go. You can take ten steps forwards and five steps backward but all that matters is that you are moving forward. Melinda then talks about how Tonita is a black woman in a male-dominated industry and asks her what struggles or challenges she had on the way coming up in this world. She said it wasn’t easy and the world of management, leadership, and business was designed by white males. Because of this, she did not feel comfortable in her own skin because she did not grow up with a white male figure in her life, and cannot relate to them easily. She said what she learned was that she had to discover herself first before she could navigate her career journey. She would talk to a therapist as a BIPOC woman about the hardships she had to face with navigating her career in this industry. Once she discovered herself in this way, it allowed her to help more people. Melinda asks Tonita what is her favorite piece of advice. Tonita says that she has learned that women have to balance and accept their humanity, take space for themselves and step aside from the expectations that society has on women. We have to stop labeling and putting expectations on women. Women have to balance workspace issues along with balancing relationships and motherhood. You need to allow yourself to have space.

Tonita Webb: Changing the System from Within

“Members are also people.” -Tonita WebbThank you for tuning in to episode 108 of The CUInsight Experience podcast with your host, Randy Smith, co-founder of CUInsight.com. This episode is brought to you by our friends at PSCU. As the nation's premier payments CUSO, PSCU proudly supports the success of more than 1,500 credit unions.Today I sat down with Tonita Webb, the new CEO of Verity Credit Union. We talked about her new role and her journey from the military to credit unions. We also discussed her passion for serving the underserved and creating lending practices that are more inclusive for everyone. As we started our conversation, Tonita shared her reaction when getting the call to be the next CEO of Verity Credit Union. Listen in for Tonita’s goals for this next step and what she plans to do to help the next generation of leaders. Tonita believes life prepared credit unions for the pandemic shift and that we can stay relevant by maximizing technology. Tonita also talks about the challenges many minority groups face when it comes to lending practices and how it fuels her passion to help the underserved. We chat about ways credit unions have the ability to fill in the gap between opportunities and those that are in need. Tonita shares the importance of teaching people to be different and allowing them to be human, and gives examples of what this looks like when leveraging member risk. With the rapid-fire questions, we find out the oddly satisfying item Tonita’s husband purchased that she cannot live without. We discussed an opportunity Tonita said no to that she is so glad she did and what she was like in high school. We learn who Tonita thinks about when she hears the word ‘success’ and how that person has played a vital role in the development of her character. Enjoy my conversation with Tonita Webb! Find the full show notes on cuinsight.com.Subscribe on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher Books mentioned on The CUInsight Experience podcast: Book List How to find Tonita:Tonita Webb, CEO of Verity Credit Uniontonita.webb@veritycu.comwww.veritycu.comLinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube

“Members are also people.” -Tonita WebbThank you for tuning in to episode 108 of <a href="https://www.cuinsight.com/podcast.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The CUInsight Experience</a> podcast with your host, <a href="https://www.cuinsight.com/author/randall-smith" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Randy Smith</a>, co-founder of <a href="https://www.cuinsight.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">CUInsight.com</a>. This episode is brought to you by our friends at <a href="https://www.pscu.com/about" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">PSCU</a>. As the nation's premier payments CUSO, PSCU proudly supports the success of more than 1,500 credit unions.Today I sat down with Tonita Webb, the new CEO of <a href="https://www.veritycu.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Verity Credit Union</a>. We talked about her new role and her journey from the military to credit unions. We also discussed her passion for serving the underserved and creating lending practices that are more inclusive for everyone. As we started our conversation, Tonita shared her reaction when getting the call to be the next CEO of Verity Credit Union. Listen in for Tonita’s goals for this next step and what she plans to do to help the next generation of leaders. Tonita believes life prepared credit unions for the pandemic shift and that we can stay relevant by maximizing technology. Tonita also talks about the challenges many minority groups face when it comes to lending practices and how it fuels her passion to help the underserved. We chat about ways credit unions have the ability to fill in the gap between opportunities and those that are in need. Tonita shares the importance of teaching people to be different and allowing them to be human, and gives examples of what this looks like when leveraging member risk. With the rapid-fire questions, we find out the oddly satisfying item Tonita’s husband purchased that she cannot live without. We discussed an opportunity Tonita said no to that she is so glad she did and what she was like in high school. We learn who Tonita thinks about when she hears the word ‘success’ and how that person has played a vital role in the development of her character. Enjoy my conversation with Tonita Webb! Find the full show notes on <a href="https://www.cuinsight.com/podcast.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">cuinsight.com</a>.Subscribe on: <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-cuinsight-experience/id1449293528?mt=2" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/7wIqzbpmMdkkOH8BC61QnC#upsell" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://play.google.com/music/m/Idoi6xb22fusgk6pnux6deiidgy?t=The_CUInsight_Experience" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Google Play</a>, <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-cuinsight-experience?refid=stpr" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Stitcher </a>Books mentioned on The CUInsight Experience podcast: <a href="https://www.cuinsight.com/the-cuinsight-experience-podcast-book-list.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Book List</a> How to find Tonita: Tonita Webb, CEO of Verity Credit Union <a href="mailto:tonita.webb@veritycu.com">tonita.webb@veritycu.com</a> <a href="http://www.veritycu.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.veritycu.com</a> <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonitagwebb/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a> | <a href="https://www.instagram.com/verityseattle/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Instagram</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/verityseattle" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Twitter</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/veritycu" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTXYspax9WXwmPiPQjywtPA" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">YouTube</a>

Tonita Webb - Humanizing Membership (#108)