We met Sedric at the CUNA YP conference last year and hearing him speak during out Children’s Miracle Network Give Back session. The passion that he carries for the credit union space and music is absolutely contagious and we knew we had to hear his story and what drives him. His gratitude, dedication and people helping people lifestyle have helped many others in the industry and we are thrilled to shine a light on his journey in the credit union industry and his impact throughout Mississippi and beyond.
We always like to know; how did you get your start in the credit union industry and what keeps you here?
I love to tell people that I am a converted banker, after just graduating the Mississippi School of Banking Program from Old Miss I was eager to do more. There was a vendor in my class that was also a student in the banking school and he was really good friends with the CEO at Statewide Federal Credit Union. Statewide needed a branch manager in their home office and without hesitation this guy set me up on a lunch meeting Statewide’s CEO and I was sold on the credit union space instantly. It still shocks me this guy put his name on the line for me almost instantly but that is what the people helping people movement is all about. I could not get things done in the banking sector that I can now in the credit union space. The CU space allows you to get more of the story and not just know the members by a credit score. We get to find out what the member is going through, and it allowed me to bring my heart back into it and help people.
As far as what keeps me here, when I got into the credit union space, I immediately asked my CEO if he was going to allow me to totally endow myself with all things credit union. 3 years later I have completed the DE Program, graduated CUNA Management School and am CRASHING the GAC next week.
We hear you there, it seems like once the credit union bug gets you it takes over.
You’ve seen Spiderman, it only takes one bite 😊These last 3 years have been the best years of my career and that’s what keeps me here. I get to use my passion under a platform that really supports my personal endeavors.
That is a busy 3 years, congrats on all the successes within the credit union as well as outside of your credit union. As a 2020 GAC CRASHER what are your goals while out in DC?
The networking opportunity is a huge part, we started a groupme. A groupme with 60 people is insane, let me tell you; these people are excited man. Outside of forming relations and networking, I am excited about the behind the scenes look at how credit unions are conducting business, this experience will give me a full 360 view. DE changed my life, CUNA Management was the icing on the cake, I think GAC will give me what the credit union is all about which will make me very well rounded. Which is what I asked for from day one.
Sounds like you have great leadership at Statewide Federal. We are a demanding generation at times and I really like the way you put things out there and said I will join this movement but here is what I want in my career. Not everyone is as bold or confident with this, what is this generation really struggling with?
I would put in all capital letters AWARENESS. Before I got in the credit union world I had no idea what CU Movement was, the banks put credit unions in the same world as the payday loan folks, you just sort of stay away from them. Overall awareness is the biggest struggle. I do a lot of speaking engagements; I get to educated people on credit unions and at times people literally have no idea this world exists. I was the same way, I was completely unaware of the impact from the membership and the community.
Honestly, I think this is where YP’s come in. We get a bad rap for being millennials, but we are lining up with technology and constantly forward thinking. We are striving to be able to promote this movement through lines of social media and informing our generation of the movement. You guys do a great job getting the word out, some states are so far behind, I have learned some much just watching CUltivate and how you guys spread your message. After GAC, I want to implement what you all are doing and get my message out the way you do, with platforms and mission driven purposes.
That is 100% why we started CUltivate, there is so much talent and good in the industry in our demographic and quite frankly not enough light or awareness was being focused on YP’s. You had a ton of success with starting a YP Group in Mississippi how did this come about.
I attended many conferences outside of my state and I would always see YP, YP, YP and I asked myself what is this YP stuff all about? I started to get invited to their meetings and they were these social networks that really cared and tried to get to know each other. I have met so many amazing YP’s outside my state. So ultimately, I brought this back to our league and I was very passionate about starting our own YP Group.
Our president of our league, Mr. Charles Elliot gave me the history of why we hadn’t had one and he told me, “you should start one.” He sent me to Christian Hartley and said you two would be more than enough to get this thing started. We game planned and pitched this to our league and got total buy-in. So now L.E.A.D exists. L.E.A.D is Leaders Engaged in Action and Development and we are all about seeing our young people develop in their space. I am honored to be the Chairman of the Board of L.E.A.D and very proud of what we’ve done. Since forming our board our goal was that we wanted to establish a ground level YP group, we started out with 14 LEADers and out of that 14, 9 were promoted in their initial year of being in L.E.A.D. We could not be prouder of that!
Talk about making an immediate impact, wow. We love your spotlights on YP’s in LEAD and Christian is an amazing person. Doesn’t sound like you have a ton of time outside or living the movement to its full extent. What does Sedric do in his free time?
Well outside of my wife and three kids I also am very passionate about music. We are a busy family with 3 boys under the age of 11 and my wife is a nurse so we are always doing something! I also have a cover band and we perform all over the place. We cover tracks from old school Stevie Wonder to newer music – I enjoy all genres.
Music is a strong connector in my family, generations and generations of my family have played music, the opportunity to keep their legacy going in the form of music means a lot to me. 601 live band is our name, if you check us out, the older guy in the photos you will see is my dad, being able to perform with him is bananas. My boys are very musically inclined so I couldn’t be prouder of that. I don’t have time to be in a negative mindset and music just keeps me motivated. Music is a unified connector – everyone can identify with some form of music and to be able to do that outside what I love in the credit union space is amazing.
CUltivate is people helping people with our mission to spread the word, connect the people, and give an outlet to share your stories. Know someone in the industry we should interview? Drop us a line at CultivateYP@gmail.com
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