Latest / Leaders In Payments / Women Leaders in Payments: Andie Hill, EVP, Agent Sales at Payroc | Episode 411

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Women Leaders in Payments: Andie Hill, EVP, Agent Sales at Payroc | Episode 411 · Leaders In Payments

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Leaders in Payments podcast, where we talk to C-level leaders from across the payments landscape.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: We'll be discussing the products and services that impact the payment space today, as well as trends and predictions for the future of payments.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: We will also hear stories from our guests about their journeys to the top.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Hello everyone and welcome to the Leaders in Payments podcast.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: I'm your host, greg Myers, and this episode is part of our Women Leaders in Payments month, something we do every year in the month of July, and it's one of my favorite times of the year.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: This year's theme is redefining leadership, influence, impact and innovation.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: So those are some of the things you're going to be hearing about during the month of July.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: So, first, a special thank you to our sponsors.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Our title sponsor is WorldPay, our participating sponsors are VisiPay and Payrock, and our episode sponsors are the Clearinghouse and Genico and PaySafe.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: So special thanks to those companies.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: Today, I'm honored to have as our special guest Andy Hill, the Executive Vice President of Agent Sales for Payrock.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: So, andy, thank you so much for being here and welcome to the show.
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: Thanks, Greg.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: Thanks for having me.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: Happy Friday.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, same to you.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: So, Andy, thank you so much for being here and welcome to the show.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: Thanks, greg, thanks for having me.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: Happy Friday, yeah, same to you.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: So let's have a little icebreaker to get started.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: So if you could have dinner with any female in history could be past or present who would that be and why?
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: And what kind of restaurant would you go to?
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: Oh, that's so hard.
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: So probably go with like a Joanna Gaines from Magnolia, out of Waco.
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: So I have some family ties back to Waco, so I've seen a lot of the things that she's done with the community.
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: But I love her story.
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: I love that.
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: She's this you know family, this mother.
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: She's an entrepreneur.
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: She's gone out and built not just this business and the decor side but also in the building side and then now in the restaurant and cookbook and it's like it never ends.
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: But I love her spirit and she never seems like she's run down.
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: She always seems like she's ready for the next big thing and so I kind of would love to sit with her and I've seen a lot of her little cooking shows and so I would probably say maybe not a restaurant.
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: I get to eat in a lot of restaurants in my shows and so I would probably say maybe not a restaurant.
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: I get to eat in a lot of restaurants in my real job.
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: So probably like in her kitchen, like I would love to sit there with a glass of wine and have her, you know, maybe either have someone prepare something out of one of her cookbooks or maybe just sit there and show me how to do some of those things and you know, just talk about life and hey, where do you get that picture from?
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: You know, how do you get this idea to do this decor kind of thing.
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: So that's probably where I'm most comfortable is, you know, hanging out in someone's kitchen and drinking some wine and chatting it up.
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: But that would probably be my perfect scenario Awesome, awesome.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: Okay, thanks for sharing that.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: So let's talk a little bit about your background.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: So tell our audience a little bit about, maybe, where you grew up, where you went to school, how did you get into payments and why payments?
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: Yep, so I grew up right outside of Baton Rouge, louisiana, in a little town called Baker, louisiana, so I've lived in from Baker.
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: We moved to Baton Rouge.
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: I've lived in this area primarily my entire life.
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: I went to school at a little college called University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette, louisiana, then, unfortunately, in South Louisiana.
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: We like to party a little too much sometimes.
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: So in the midst of that I came back home, ended up getting married, worked in restaurants and corporate training and then, when I was eight months pregnant with my second child, I decided to go back to school for general studies at another little school in the opposite end called Southeastern Louisiana.
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: So general studies, and worked for a company early on that sold sales and use tax software.
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: So back in the early 2000s some states required that you had to file your sales and use tax business through a software online, but we didn't have free internet.
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: The internet was not this real prevalent thing that we see today.
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: Right, so we would create this software for the businesses within these states to file this tax.
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: But as the internet grew they started having free websites to then upload your sales and use tax.
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: So that caused me to go to a shift and find a different career path and I hadn't looked for a job in quite some time and so this whole idea of not looking at a newspaper, but now you're going to be site like a monstercom and this were very foreign to me.
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: So I see this ad and it's you know, work from home and get a salary and earn a commission and benefits.
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: And I'm like, oh, this is the job for me.
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: I mean, I don't even know what it is, but I can do this.
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: So I send in my resume and it's like crickets, I get nothing but the job is still online.
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: So in my head I'm like, oh well, they haven't seen, they couldn't have seen my resume yet.
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: So I sent in stuff again.
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: I'm like, you know, not knowing that in this new world it just will post for 30 days whether they hired someone.
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: So I think sending it in probably like three or four times might have gotten their attention.
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: And so that I had an interview and I went to go sell merchant services for First Data and I repped a bank here in Louisiana.
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: So that is how I kind of got into the industry and I knew some folks.
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: Luckily I kind of just met some people along the way that then I moved out of selling merchant services to managing ISOs and at First Data.
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: Then I went and worked for NPC, which became Vantiv, and then worked in commercialization and then from there kind of met people there who were great influencers and sponsors that I got a position at Visa for seven years and then from there I'm here at Payrock.
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: Okay, we'll talk a little bit about what you do at Payrock in a minute.
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: But before we do that, another kind of fun question.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: So you're at a conference, you're asked to speak, you have to come up on stage, you have a hype song.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: What is your hype song?
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: I'm going to tell you again, going back to the old, you know hometown girl, it's got to be Garth Brooks calling Baton Rouge.
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: You know, if you've ever been to a Garth Brooks concert, you'll know why.
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: If you've ever been to a Garth Brooks concert in Baton Rouge, louisiana, you'll definitely know why.
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: But I think it is who I am.
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: Every time the song comes on, whether we're at a sporting event, in the car, we sing it at the top of our lungs.
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: So I think that would probably be my song if I walked out.
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: It's me.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: Okay, it's funny because I've asked this question I think you're the seventh or eighth one I've interviewed and yet to have the same answer twice.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: So I think that's kind of cool that everyone has their own kind of deal, so I love that.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: Well, let's talk a little bit about your career.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: Obviously, Executive Vice President of Sales.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: You know Agent Sales, so maybe tell us kind of what excites you about your job.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: What do you do on a day-to-day basis?
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: So the job is exciting in itself.
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: So being a part of Payrock is certainly a dream to be on this leadership team.
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: A lot of the folks that.
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: I work with day in and day out.
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: I have either worked for in terms of I supported their business, whether it was at Payrock or when they were at WorldPay or at Vantiv, or folks I worked with at First Data, so now being able or some of these same leaders I worked with at one of those companies, so to now be able to work side by side with them in growing this little company.
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: That was past, you know, from a data perspective, from a relationship perspective, being able to go out and mentor both internally, like some colleagues and folks I work with, but even externally some of the agents that I work with problem solving with them, understanding what the industry is doing, how to overcome some of the objections that they face every day.
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: Merchant is hard, payments is hard, you know they are up against federal regulations, state regulations, and they've got interchange changes and they've got, you know, just, product and solution changes and they've got changes that we bring their way right.
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: So there's lots of stuff that they face every day, but they're out there pounding that pavement and they're trying to get that next big opportunity.
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: So being able to watch that and being able to help them succeed really fuels a fire in me that it's working Like these.
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: Things, you know, aren't falling to the wayside.
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: We're watching these folks become successful.
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: Then, internally, we're watching folks become successful and move to the next level and, you know, finding their own career paths, and so that's pretty exciting to me, for sure, okay, okay, well, let's talk a little bit about leadership.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: So, obviously, leadership is changed over time.
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: So how do you define modern leadership and how do you kind of embody that every day?
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: For me personally, modern leadership is being relevant and being authentic.
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: You know I usually come with a disclaimer.
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: I told myself for this interview I was going to be on my best behavior, but in my normal day to day I come with a disclaimer to folks I work with some of my clients that I have a.
• 8:53
  Speaker 3: You know I'm quick to drop a curse word here and there.
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: It's the moments that I'm not dropping it that you probably have to be worried.
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: That's what my children would tell you is.
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: Then they're like oh gosh, she's not cursing, like not even in a funny way or a fun way, right?
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: So I think, being relevant, understanding that payment isn't just taking a credit card, payment is now really expanded into FinTech you got to be a little bit of a data scientist.
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: You've got to be a little bit of a data scientist.
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: You've got to be a little bit of a private investigator.
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: You've got to be a little bit of a lot of things.
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: But you have to be relevant in those things.
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: You have to know that.
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: You know a federal law trumps state law and then state laws will say that they have this.
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: So it's not knowing everything, but it is knowing enough to be dangerous about a lot of things in this space.
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: And then I think again, being authentic to who you are is what builds your brand in leadership.
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: To be a leader is someone that can be dependable I think that's expected Someone who is achieving out there and I always say activity isn't always achievement.
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: But I think, to be authentic to who you are, I don't ever want to wake up and not be me.
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: I want to wake up and know that when someone talks about me, they're not talking about someone that they thought they met, like the same person they're talking to is like oh yeah, I love when she told that story or I love this, and I think that is to me what modern leadership is.
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: It isn't someone just showing up, you know, in a nice suit and dress, suit and this, and pretending to be something else.
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: It is showing up in a t-shirt and a hat on a work call some days because you do have four children or you were late that morning and we have the accessibility because of technology today to do those things, but knowing that that's okay, you don't have to show up to work with your makeup on every single day, you can still get the job done without those things.
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: Okay, good, I love it.
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: So have you in your career or life had one of those kind of defining moments, kind of those aha moments that really has kind of defined you, whether that's a career perspective or, you know, just from your life perspective?
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: I think there's been a few.
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: I would say I'll kind of break it up into two segments.
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: You know, I think from a professional standpoint, you always have this kind of top of the hill that you're working toward and a lot of times I think it's an internal career path, that this is where this is your top, this is where you're trying to get, and I think a lot of times for me that was getting to a position at Visa.
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: I think a lot of folks in my shoes that have kind of worked this same arena that I've worked would say that that you know, getting this position that still I was still in acquiring I still got to work with ISOs and processors and people that I knew was kind of top of the hill.
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: And then this opportunity comes for Payrock seven years later, and I would tell you that most folks probably that's probably the biggest question I get all the time is why did you leave Visa to go over here?
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: And it was just what you start to realize is that there's things that you that's what you thought you wanted and then you got them and they were fantastic.
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: I love working at Visa.
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: I would never say anything.
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: I always tell people it was one of the best parts of my career, my life.
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: But then what I realized is I really liked being in front of these business owners and these agents and these ISOs.
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: I like that problem solving in this relationship.
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: I also like having a seat at the table and making decisions that are meaningful.
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: I don't always know that being at my you know, at Visa was going to get me to that point, but I knew at Payrock.
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: I knew the culture.
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: I knew Jim Oberman he was a mentor of mine.
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: Brian Campstra was a client of mine that I worked closely with for a long time and kept a relationship with after I left Bantam that this was this place that I wanted to be, and so I think you know my husband probably looked at me sideways when I said I wanted to do this, but I have a plaque on my wall that says that this may be the moment that you were created for and I think in that moment it's what kind of spoke to me and said I think this might be the moment, this is the moment where you kind of get to put your stamp on things and all that stuff that you worked for.
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: It's taking you to here so that you can share that knowledge, you can help build some of these things.
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: So I think that was a big defining moment.
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: I think the other part in my life that was really defining was I adopted a little girl six years ago.
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: That was through a family adoption and my kids were older, like my daughter was 19.
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: My son was 17.
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: Who does that Right?
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: And so it's, like you know, I'm in this height of my career and you know, and was a single mom, and decided that this was again one of those moments where you say this is something I feel like I was called to do, that I was going to take this little girl and she would, you know, and give her a different experience and kind of break a cycle that I had been a party to for, you know, many years, and I would say that was a defining moment that has literally changed, I think, the course, along with these other things a big part of my life.
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: You know, at 45 years old someone doesn't go and get a baby Most people you know you've had this.
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: Someone doesn't go and get a baby most people you know you've had this.
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: It's definitely a wonderful change, but it was a defining moment of when I made that decision to do some of those things Okay, okay.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: Well, what do you think is something that women leaders bring to the table that our industry needs more of?
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: I think we see things through a different lens sometimes.
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: I think a lot of times depending on how you, what experiences you have from the past.
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: I think because a lot of women these days, we are multitaskers by nature.
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: That doesn't always make for the best outcomes, but it's how we operate, regardless of what you want to say.
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: It is who most women especially if they have families, especially if they have any living, whether it be dogs, responsibilities we always feel this kind of overarching need to make sure that everything is okay.
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: So you know I think that's part of you don't have to make sure everything is okay.
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: As being the leader, it's okay for things to fail.
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: I'm a big proponent of you.
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: Know what.
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: You make a decision and you can always change it, and I think as leaders, we have to embrace that and we have to say that it is okay to not have all the answers.
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: It is okay to walk into a meeting and say I don't know, this is the first time I've heard this or ask a question if you don't understand something, or say we're going to do this and if it doesn't work, we're going to pivot the other way.
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: This is, you know, it's not brain surgery.
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: Someone is probably not going to lose their life over it, you know might feel that way sometimes, but it's not, and tomorrow, if that decision isn't the right one, we can change it.
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: We can make things different and I think sometimes we're afraid as women, to walk into a room and say those things because we feel like the judgment is going to be too much, and I think we have to embrace that it's OK, we can walk in and say those things and it's just like if anyone else does it, ok.
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: OK, well, let's talk about innovation and influence.
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: As you well know, the payments industry is fast changing, ever changing.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: So how do you stay innovative as a leader?
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: I think you have to be up with the trends.
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: I think you have to kind of, like I said before, you got to know a little bit about a lot of things.
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: The trends are massive.
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: The upswing in the technology that we've seen, it's almost.
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: We just feel like we started to really get a good handle on integration and ISVs and now here comes AI, right, and here comes blockchain and here comes these other things, and so it's like right, when you get where you feel like you got a good understanding, it's like wham, here's something else you got to learn about.
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: So I think, staying on top of that through whatever content that you like to absorb, through whether that be media print, if you like to do productivity classes, whatever your preference is but always staying on top of that If it's going to conferences and attending breakout sessions, if it's going to your own culture club networking groups, ask the questions.
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: Understand what are people's pain points out there from all aspects.
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: I'm a big proponent that usually one person's problems for an agent is likely the same problem to an extent that the ISO is failing, that the ISB is failing, that the bank customer is failing.
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: So listen to all of them and understand what these pain points are.
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: I think it can only make you better.
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: But I do feel like the technology piece is going to be kind of the leader of the pack as we look at the changes and what you need to understand for payment and how fast that technology is moving.
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: I know earlier you and I were talking about chat, gbt, ai is.
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: I think everyone is starting to use it, whether it's to make your PowerPoint, to ask it a question.
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: We're seeing it in risk being used.
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: We're seeing it in other formidable ways that a company can use those things.
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: You know it's funny because most of us just use it for hey, what is the statistics of this baseball team?
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: And what we're realizing is that it's so much bigger than that, like it's so much bigger than the average person just asking it a question, and I think we're going to start to uncover in our space more and more what those type of technologies can really do for us?
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: Okay, well, you may have just answered the next question, but I'm going to ask it anyway what is the one biggest trend or change in our industry that you're really keeping a close eye on?
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah, again, I would say it's the tech piece.
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: I think everyone you know selling ice cream shops, payments, keeps the lights on for sure.
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: But I think understanding that putting these tech pieces in place is going to keep your merchant there longer, it's going to keep those relationships closer.
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: Stickier is a word we always like to use.
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: You know those value propositions.
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: And even that ice cream shop who used to have a terminal.
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: He's probably going to go to something on a mobile app on his phone right, which, again, that's this new piece of technology that you're bringing, you know, to the forefront.
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: We've seen that with other competitors, like a Stripe and things like that.
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: I think we'll start to see even more of those types of innovations.
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: You know, we'll start to see.
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: We're seeing that the contactless P2P, contactless tap and goes, and things like that.
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: So I think the tech piece of innovation and the movement of money between just peers and people even a lot of us use the Venmo and the PayPal and things like this but even just being able to stand next to my kid and tap my phone on her phone to put money in her bank account, I think is not something that's far in the future.
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: I think it is something that's where you won't even have to go onto an app to do things like that.
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: But I think it's going to be those technologies that are going to start to solve some of the more traditional things that we've seen in the market to date.
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: Okay, Well, how do you think that women leaders can influence the future direction of our industry?
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: you think that women leaders can influence the future direction of our industry.
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: I think they have to be present.
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: I think they have to show up every day because, regardless in payments is probably still a four to one ratio, male to female leaders, and that's.
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: There's nothing wrong with that.
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: But I think we, you know, as women leaders, have to show up and we have to be at the table for the discussions.
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: We have to know that it's okay to make decisions, it's okay to have work-life balance, it's okay to have these things.
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: You don't have to have one or the other.
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: There is a place for all of it.
• 20:06
  Speaker 3: And I think, as women leaders, we have to have a voice.
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: You know you have to get involved and make your own brand.
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: It's okay to have a brand, which is one of the things that I love.
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: I feel like when someone says my name or I have friends, and I know exactly not that person's name, I know who that person is.
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: I know what it's like to sit next to them at a dinner.
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: I know the ones that like to tell stories.
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: I know the ones that are going to be really up early in the gym in the morning and things like that.
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: I think it's fun to know those brands and you want the best brand for yourself as a leader.
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: So doing those things to build that brand is life changing.
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: I think that's what makes someone a solid leader is to know who they are and be authentic to themselves, to do those things.
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: Okay, well, let's talk a little bit about mentorship and impact.
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: So, have you had female mentors or sponsors and like maybe who were they?
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: You don't have to name them if you don't want to, but who were they and like, what impact did they have on you?
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: So I have been fortunate as I said earlier.
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: I would not have found my way to this spot without the sponsorship that I've had for some of the folks that I've worked with.
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: You know, all the way back to First Data, I would tell you folks can fit them in.
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: You know, I almost feel like you're going through a who's who.
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: I've been a very fortunate person to have worked with a lot of those women Stephanie Ferris, stephanie Wooten, robin Liedenthal, deirdre Cohen some of the top names in the industry.
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: I've been very fortunate.
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: But I would also say that for every great woman leader who has influenced me, I've had a male leader who has seen some of the great things, someone like a Tom Pajero, the late John Yarmie, who had seen something and said she's going to be something.
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: I'm going to fight for her.
• 21:56
  Speaker 3: You know, donald voting some of these folks out there that have really helped me.
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: So you know, I think, the women influencers I was definitely able to see myself in them because they're most like me.
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: They were women that had families.
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: They were women who were up and coming, you know, over the last 20 years and things.
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: But I would also say in that same breath that I don't want to discount the male influences that I had, because they also were someone who said, okay, she has a family, she's got to do this, you know, or she is someone who needs to be at this conversation and this meeting and things like that.
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: So I think I've been one of the fortunate ones that I've had this wonderful, wonderful ride of great influencers and sponsors.
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: Okay, so kind of follow on question to that, and I like to ask this question because I think everyone brings kind of a unique perspective.
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: So in your career, these mentorships, have they been sort of formal kind of things or they've been more informal?
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: I think we get wrapped up in, hey, I have to have this agenda and I have to have a monthly meeting and you know it becomes a very formal thing and I think some younger people are like not as apt to just go out and have more of a conversation.
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: That becomes a mentorship.
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: Any thoughts on that?
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: Yes, so I've had Of those that I listed.
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: Those were folks that I worked with independently in one way or the other.
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: I've had some.
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: I know this is going to sound terrible, but I've had some formal mentors and I would say that I probably hadn't gotten to your point as much out of that as I got out of the informal mentorship right, sitting at a dinner with someone who had been in the industry for a long time and just listening to them speak and how they interacted with other folks at the table and understanding that every time you walk into the room it's not a rinse and repeat.
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: When you walk into this room it may be bankers.
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: You might walk into this room and the guy's in a tank top and shorts, but he still owns that business and we're all probably still selling the same thing to the banker and I'm selling the same thing to this guy, right, but it's vastly different.
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: And so understanding that how other folks would navigate those situations and I always tease and say I think the best deals are done on cocktail napkins, right, but some of the best learnings have been learnings from sitting after a dinner or going to a conference and a networking event, where you're just kind of walking around and you meet new people and you talk to them.
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: I am extremely fortunate that I am on the board of the Southeast Acquirers and have been for some time now, and I will tell you, some of the best mentorship I've ever had were the people that I've worked with through that organization, people that I've met sitting at a registration desk, people that I've met just in a breakout session.
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: So I think the mentorship on the informal side can come from anywhere, but you got to put the effort into it right.
• 24:47
  Speaker 3: You've got to be the one asking and when you find that interesting person that you really like this is a really cool person you should share that and be like hey, I love that vibe.
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: You know what after this, do you want to grab a drink at the bar or do you have plans for coffee in the morning?
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: I would love to hear more about what you do at your organization and things like that.
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: Because, listen, we don't always mesh with everybody, right, but when you find those people that you do feel like there's something there and it's really cool, like you should really move on.
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: That.
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: I'm a you know, I'm a believer in that.
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: I think that's how you make great relationships and you do a lot of learnings.
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: And so you know, I've been fortunate in that piece.
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: But I think informal would probably be more my style.
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: I don't feel like in the.
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: I feel like to your point.
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: We all try to be so formal when we're doing these mentorships and you know we can't miss that meeting at three o'clock on Thursday and you can't do this and you have to be there for this and you got to show up with these questions answered.
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: Meanwhile we're all trying to run this business and we're trying to have these client meetings and we're doing all these other things and ultimately what happens is people drop out of those mentorships.
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: We've seen that happen a number of times because it doesn't feel like it was worth the effort, right?
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: So informal I is is an easier task to get things done and get those same types of learnings.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: OK.
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: So if there's a young female, maybe coming right out of college, or maybe they're changing industries and they're coming into payments, what's one piece of advice you would give them to help them be successful?
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: Soak up as much as you can, even if you don't feel like that's your job.
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: For instance, I know a young lady that I'm very close to who's in marketing in the payment space.
• 26:20
  Speaker 3: But now that she has kind of been exposed to other parts of the company, I don't think that's going to be her long path.
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: But to get to these other places where you got to start learning about the other things, right, you can't just stay in this little bubble.
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: So now she's joining finance calls, she's reaching out to other channel departments and everything that happens today.
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: As much as I love these children, there is a sense of entitlement to how they've grown up.
• 27:02
  Speaker 3: Right, they've grown up with almost this instant access to everything and it's pushed at them.
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: It's very rare that they have to go and pull some of that information out right from someone and so teaching these young leaders and folks who are just coming into their career that sometimes you're going to have to go out there and make those uncomfortable phone calls and say, hey, can I get 20 minutes on your calendar?
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: I want to ask you about this, or sending an email, because if not, they're not going to come to you.
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: If you sit there, you're going to still be sitting there in 10 years from now, I can assure you.
• 27:34
  Speaker 3: But I think that's part of as we talk about technologies and things.
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: The way that our kids grew up is vastly different.
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: How we grew up, as I said earlier, I used to look for jobs in the newspaper.
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: My kids don't even know what a newspaper is.
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: Really.
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: I don't think right.
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: I mean to explain to them what a classified ad is would blow their mind Like they have.
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: No, you would call a telephone number and you would put an ad and then you would pay for it and you would tell them what to write and you would hope other people would buy this newspaper and read it.
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: Like.
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: It sounds so foreign to us now when we say it.
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: Right, but that's how they look at these things and you have to kind of share like but those same people that read that newspaper.
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: Those are the ones that are still at this company making decisions right, and so for you to do some of the proactiveness will go a long way with some of those people, and you have to keep thinking that everyone understand where they come from, but also understand that this is a hodgepodge.
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: Like we say, it's a lanyard right, it's a little bit of everything.
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: So know that.
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: Who is that person on the other side?
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: How do they like to work?
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: What is it?
• 28:37
  Speaker 3: And so that's what I would tell someone who's just coming out of their career Like, don't think it's just going to land on your desk, it's not.
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: You're still going to have to go out and make those phone calls.
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: You know it might be a little uncomfortable.
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: Things like that Stay relevant, stay authentic, but take that extra step.
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: No one will ever fault you for that.
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, step, no one will ever fault you for that.
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, so kind of funny story.
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: So my first job out of college at a marketing degree, I was like, okay, I'm going to go to the Yellow Pages and I'm going to look up advertising agencies.
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: And I did, and I sent a letter to the only one that was in the town, the advertising agency from the Yellow Pages, and I actually got my first job that way.
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: So Yellow Pages kids would say what's a Yellow Pages?
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: I don't know what that even is.
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: Well, and I think even you know, as I don't know, what we are, are we Generation X or whatever we may be that we even forget.
• 29:25
  Speaker 3: So we were watching a documentary recently with my oldest daughter, who's 23.
• 29:30
  Speaker 3: And then I have a son that's 21 now, and in this documentary they started mentioning a calling card.
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: And to me, I'm just watching it, not even blinking, just kind of taking it all in, and she all of a sudden has the most confused look on her face and she looks and she goes Mom, what is a calling card?
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: And I had to explain to her and then it starts all coming back to you.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: We used to not be able to call outside of our area code without it being long distance?
• 30:01
  Speaker 3: Do you remember that, like you, used to never be able to call another state without it being long distance, so you would have these cards that had money on them and then you would plug that into your telephone and that's how you could call and it was cheaper than getting it on your phone bill and she goes.
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: But where would you get these cards from?
• 30:12
  Speaker 3: And I'm like from?
• 30:12
  Speaker 3: the grocery store, but then, it starts coming back to you and you're like, oh my gosh, think about how far we've gone since.
• 30:20
  Speaker 3: I mean I totally forgot that that was long distance, just to call outside of my area code, because now you can call to Mexico and Canada and across the globe.
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: And it starts to remind you that how different these new folks entering into the career market, what they grew up in, versus what others have grown up in and what it's going to look like in 20 years from now.
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: You know, when our kids are sitting here having the same conversation about what the technology was today versus what their technology was, you know, and things like that.
• 30:57
  Speaker 3: So it's just it's mind blowing, but it's so exciting.
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, definitely.
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: So one final fun question before we wrap up the show.
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: So when you look at your phone, what is your most used app that is non-business related?
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: I mean I don't know that I can tell you that.
• 31:12
  Speaker 3: No, I'm just kidding.
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: I mean I don't know that I could tell you that.
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: No, I'm just kidding, just joking.
• 31:15
  Speaker 3: I would like to say that it is Amazon, but in reality I probably have to say that it's Venmo, because I do have four kids, that I feel like I'm constantly moving money or paying their roommate the $30 for electricity bill and this for college and these things.
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: So I would probably say Amazon is probably the most used, but then relevantly, most used would be the Venmo.
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: Okay, okay, great.
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: So before we go, I just want to open the floor, see if there's any final things you want to discuss or any topics that maybe we didn't touch on.
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: So anything you want to cover before we wrap up?
• 31:54
  Speaker 3: I would say anyone listening to this, if they are the folks that are looking, maybe they're interested in starting a career in payments or starting a career in fintech.
• 32:04
  Speaker 3: Don't let the noise scare you.
• 32:06
  Speaker 3: I mean, I feel like a lot of times this business is, it seems, very generational, which I do love, but I think it's because our kids grew up in it and they hear us.
• 32:15
  Speaker 3: But for someone coming in from the outside, I think it's sometimes it can be really difficult to understand all the dynamics that go into payments and all the dynamics that go into how we make approval come back in two seconds from around the globe and things like that.
• 32:30
  Speaker 3: But I would say, don't let that scare you.
• 32:32
  Speaker 3: This is an industry that is life changing.
• 32:35
  Speaker 3: I can tell you from a little girl in Baker Louisiana, I never think that I would be sitting here having this conversation with you, having the experiences that I've had over the last 20 years, meeting the most wonderful, smartest people probably in the United States today from this industry, from people that I've met and love dearly, professionals personally.
• 33:01
  Speaker 3: So don't let the noise scare you.
• 33:03
  Speaker 3: That it's.
• 33:03
  Speaker 3: You know it's really hard to break into.
• 33:05
  Speaker 3: It's not.
• 33:06
  Speaker 3: It's exciting and it's fun.
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: And I wake up every day wondering what's the next challenge going to be, what's the next big opportunity, what's the next compliant cash discount type of thing?
• 33:17
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: How do I?
• 33:17
  Speaker 3: get that.
• 33:18
  Speaker 3: So, it's you know, be excited, look for opportunities in this space.
• 33:21
  Speaker 3: There's lots and lots of things and we're looking for great people that want to share their knowledge with us and do great stuff in this space overall and this is economy, and I think we've done a lot over the last 25 years, and I think in the next 10 years we're going to do even more, and so I would encourage folks to look at this industry as a path forward for their career change.
• 33:41
  Speaker 3: If they're looking for something like that, I appreciate you certainly having this conversation with me this morning.
• 33:47
  Speaker 3: And yeah, I think that's about it.
• 33:49
  Speaker 3: It's Friday.
• 33:50
  Speaker 3: So, I don't want to take any more of your time either.
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: No, this has been great.
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: This has been really great.
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: I really appreciate your time.
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: I know you're very busy, so, andy, thank you so much for being here today.
• 33:59
  Speaker 3: Thank you, Greg.
• 34:00
  Speaker 3: I appreciate it.
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: And to all you listeners out there.
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: I thank you for your time as well, and until the next story.
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us this week on the Leaders in Payments podcast.
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: Make sure you visit our website at leadersinpaymentscom, where you can subscribe to the show and where you'll find our show notes.
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: If you enjoyed listening, please share on your social channels as well.