Get to know Enzo Severino Luna, a Member Experience Market Manager at First Commonwealth, whose journey with the Credit Union is a story of unexpected opportunities and hard-earned success. In this edition of "The Faces of First Commonwealth," we dive into Enzo's background and how his passion for financial literacy and community service has shaped his role.
From a chance encounter to leading multiple branches, Enzo's path is a testament to dedication and a genuine desire to help others. Join us as we explore how his personal experiences and professional growth are making a meaningful difference in the lives of First Commonwealth's members and the community at large.
Can you share a little bit about your background, what led you here to First Commonwealth and how you made your way to becoming a Member Experience Market Manager?
It kind of just happened by complete chance. I went to go open up an account and the manager, Bryn, who is now also a Market Manager here, spoke to me about potentially applying, so I applied. I got hired as a part time teller at PNC. And then from there I worked my way up to full time. I was there for about two years. I wasn't feeling a lot of growth in that company, so I ended up coming to First Commonwealth, where I was hired on as an MXA as we know it. You know, others might know it as a Universal Banker role. And from there, I worked very hard over the next year and a half to become an MXA II or the equivalent of an Assistant Manager. And then, there's a theme here, I worked very hard for a few more months, I got promoted to be the Branch Manager of our Trexlertown location. Got promoted, I guess it was more of a transfer than anything else to the Allentown Union Blvd. location to be the Branch Manager or Member Experience Manager there. And after about a year and a half, two years of doing that now, I got promoted to be a Market Manager. So now I'm overseeing the Union Blvd. location, Downtown Allentown location, and the Whitehall location.
Do you have any advice for members who might be new to the Credit Union and are unfamiliar with the offerings here at First Commonwealth?
The best thing that you can do is just go into any location and start talking to someone. The person that you engage with will be passionate and talk about all the products and services that we offer. But it's beyond just the products and services, right? There's so much that we teach our members with digital banking and the online channels. But, the one thing that you don't get from the digital banking and the online channels is that in person, face to face interaction and going into a location and really talking about, hey, what can First Commonwealth do for me? Well, who better to tell you than someone who works here who's passionate about what they do?
Something that you're passionate about is our financial literacy program. You've been involved with Raub Middle School in Allentown. Tell us about the importance of families and students getting financial education early in life.
It is one of, if not the most important thing that we can teach our kids. You look overall at the United States, the economy, where people are at financially as a whole, and generally, we're not doing too well on an individual basis. And a lot of that has to do with not being taught these things when we're young. I'll use myself as an example. So, just a little bit about me. I came to the United States when I was three years old. I was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and everything that I learned in finance, was just from watching what my parents did. And you know, I'm sure my parents will see this and kind of shake their heads, but they didn't make the best financial decisions. They had their own business, they did well for themselves. But everything that I learned about budgeting, everything that I learned about saving, that all came from me at 22 years old, starting a career in banking. I didn't learn budgeting from school. I didn't learn budgeting or anything finance related from my parents. That was all just, here's maybe what not to do, right? I learned how to work hard from them. I learned how to do a lot of things from them. But had there been someone when I was much younger to show me, hey, this is how you can get a vehicle loan. This is what an interest rate is. This is what an annual percentage rate (APR) on a savings account means. If I had someone there to kind of show me that when I was younger, and I was hopefully paying attention, who knows how different my life could have been. That’s why with First Commonwealth, we have the staff, we have Certified Credit Union Financial Counselors that can go out to the schools and give these presentations, teach the parents, teach the kids. But we really need to start with educating parents who might not know about how to budget, how to save, and they can teach their kids. Because we can teach kids all we want, right? But if they're seeing their parents do something completely different, then it's just not going to be as effective.
In a sense Enzo, it's never too late to get started on that journey. And like you had said earlier, for those who are maybe curious or don't know what we offer here at First Commonwealth, walk right in, that's something that we can help with.
Your membership alone, the $5 that you keep in your savings account allows you to meet with a Certified Credit Union Financial Counselor. Other places will charge you money to sit down, look at what your finances look like, and figure out a budget/savings plan, whatever you want to call it. We do it completely, 100% for free, and we are passionate about it. Any location that has a financial counselor, which is probably all of them now, anyone can just walk right in and say, I want to meet with a Financial Counselor, and then you can get started right now. Like you said, there's no better time than the present. It's never too late.
On top of all the work that you do with our financial education here at the Credit Union, you're often representing us at conferences and an integral part of our DEI committee. What drives you to volunteer and be part of our community, really making First Commonwealth a better place?
A lot of my values, my desire to volunteer and be out in the community is just driven by my life experience. And I think that the biggest thing for me it is getting out into those communities that might not have as many resources as other communities. I'm Hispanic, I'm an immigrant, I grew up in in that environment. And knowing what I know now and doing what I do now, I want to do as much as I can to teach and give back. We were recently, a few months ago, doing the Volunteer Center Volunteer Challenge with the Boys and Girls Club, and that is a whole entire atmosphere and ecosystem that I was just never aware of. My parents never put me in any after school programs. My mom, this is actually so funny. My mom used to work across the street from the apartment we lived in at the McDonald's, and she would give me a walkie talkie to communicate with her in case I needed anything. There were no after school programs that we were aware of. So, whatever we can do, to get out in the community. Whatever I can do to get out into the community, and somehow, even if it's one person, make that impact and make that change will lead someone to a brighter, happier future, whatever we can do, right? Whether that's building picnic tables for the Boys and Girls Club. Whether that's me going to the Pennsylvania Latino Convention and learning more to bring back to share with others about our community. Whether that's just going out and teaching a class on financial literacy, I think there's just a lot to be done, and if I'm not going out and doing it, then I really shouldn't even be in the position I'm in.
Enzo, as we wrap this up, talk about one experience that sticks out to you the most where you had a major impact on a member here at First Commonwealth.
Yeah, the one always just pops into my head. It was a member who he is from Peru, and I came to find out that his daughter had cancer. And we were trying to think of different creative ways that we can pay for her treatment and get her the help that she needs. We ended up doing a cash for title vehicle loan. So, he essentially took a vehicle loan out on his already paid off vehicle. It was at a lower interest rate, which some other banks really aren't doing nowadays. It's a secured loan. He was able to send the money that he needed to pay for her treatment, and I hadn't seen him for months after that. But I come to find out that she was in remission and by some miracle that the tumor that she had was almost completely gone. Just knowing that I played some part in that, whether it's through submitting the loan application, guiding him in the right direction, or even just talking to him and being there for him. That will always, without a doubt, stand out as the biggest impact that I've made in someone's life.