Oral History Program Kimberli Green Interviewed by Jackie Larsen 24 March 2017 Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Kimberli Green Interviewed by Jackie Larsen 24 March 2017 Copyright © 2023 by Weber State University, Stewart Library Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. The reviewed and corrected transcripts are indexed, printed, and bound with photographs and illustrative materials as available. The working files, original recording, and archival copies are housed in the University Archives. Project Description The Weber State College/University Student Projects have been created by students working with several different professors on the Weber State campus. The topics are varied and based on the student's interest or task for a specific assignment. These oral history assignments were created to help Weber State students learn the value and importance of recording public history and to benefit the expansion of the Weber State oral history collections. ____________________________________ Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ____________________________________ Rights Management This work is the property of the Weber State University, Stewart Library Oral History Program. It may be used freely by individuals for research, teaching and personal use as long as this statement of availability is included in the text. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Green, Kimberli, an oral history by Jackie Larsen, 24 March 2017, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, Special Collections and University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. Kimberlie Green Circa 2010 Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Kimberli Green, conducted on March 24, 2017, at America First Credit Union, by Jackie Larsen. Kimberli discusses her life and her experiences as a minority leader in Northern Utah. JL: Thank you for meeting with us today. Can you please start by telling us about your background, which includes your childhood, teen years, where you grew up, some hobbies, family values and education? KG: Sure. I am a Utah native, I was born in Ogden at McKay Dee Hospital. Spent most of my childhood and teen years in Layton, Utah. I was raised in East Layton, just off the east bench. I have parents that were high school sweethearts. They just celebrated 45 years, which isn't very common anymore. That’s something that I am proud of them for. I have two older sisters, and family values— my mom has always been a career person. I grew up with her leaving the house before we went to school and coming home later in the evening. We had meals after seven o'clock and my parents both worked. I think the term was ‘latchkey generation’. We would take care of ourselves from when the bus dropped us off until my mom and dad got home. Education: I received my associate’s degree from Stevens-Henagar College right after I graduated high school in accounting and business management. I took a small break of seven years and had kids and started back up at the University of Phoenix to complete my bachelor’s in business management, and I graduated in 2010. I’m kind of close to a master’s degree we'll get there one day. JL: Do you have any specific hobbies? 1 KG: In childhood, we loved to be on vacation. We traveled a lot as a family; my parents are very much into motorcycles. I was a Harley kid, going on bike trips with my dad and vacations with my parents. We always had a good time. My parents had a lot of great friends, camping and anything outdoors. JL: What experiences did you have in your childhood, teen years, and adult years that led you to believe that you were or could be a leader? KG: I think I got a glimpse of it in elementary. There was a reflections contest about writing, and I have always had a love with writing and expressing emotions and feelings. I also love to read; it's kind of that adventure-imagination that takes you into another realm. So, there was a contest in sixth grade, and I didn't tell anybody I was going to do it. I didn't tell my parents I was going to do it. I sat down, and in about 20 minutes I wrote like a seven-to-ten-page story about a princess who wanted to be a warrior and her dad didn't want her to be, and I won. I shocked my parents because I had never written anything before, but that was kind of my first glimpse. Then I struggled in my teen years a little bit. I tested the limits and the waters, if you will. I really struggled through sophomore and junior year in high school. It was a confidence thing. I didn't have a lot of confidence, and once you start going down a path of, “It's ok to miss one class, and it's too hard to make up anyways, so why go back?” It was the middle of my junior year, and my mom sat me down and said that she had a job to do as a parent, and her job was to put a roof over my head and give me resources to survive, and my job was to go to school and to get an education. And if I wasn't going to do my job, then she 2 wasn't going to be able to do her job. And if I chose not to go to school, then I would choose to live somewhere else and live on my own. As a 16-year-old, that was fairly terrifying. We talk about it now, and for her, it was the scariest day of her life, because she didn't know what I was going to do or what choice I would make, but I feel like I made the best choice. I turned it around, and in less than six months, I went from straight F’s to over a 3.5 GPA and received Student of the Year. The mayor of Layton came to present it at an assembly, and told everyone how horrible I was in school and how many absences I had and this big shift I had made. It was that recognition, that once I put my mind to something, I could do it, really ignited something inside of me that just kind of flipped the switch, and I have been 100% driven in everything I do ever since. I had a teacher in high school—it was the DECA program—her name was Kristy Barnes. She will forever be embedded in my mind as someone who was so influential to me because she didn't judge me for the decisions that I was making. She held me very accountable, she didn't give me any slack, and she pushed me. She pushed me into this realm of business, of running the school store, and she put me in charge: someone that was sluffing every day. She handed me the keys to the store, and she said, "I need you to run it". And I did. It gives me goosebumps to even think about it because that woman will probably never know the impact that she made on my life. She had conversations with my mom, she had conversations with me. It was a group decision; it wasn't authority down on me. That was what really ignited my passion for business, and I found 3 out that I was pretty darn good at it. Those are some things that led me to believe that I was capable and that I was the only one standing in my way. JL: What are your core values, and how have they influenced your leadership experiences and abilities? KG: I think about the core values at the credit union that you work for, and they are in line with what mine are. Integrity, doing the right thing at the right time for our members and the organization. That applies at my home as well: doing the right thing for my family, for my children, whether somebody is watching you and it's for recognition or nobody's watching. To me, that is what integrity is. Communication, I thrive on communication. I am not scared of communication. I think that's something that has really catapulted me in my career and in my home. I've had some great mentors that really gave me the skill sets to have a good ability to communicate. I feel like even though that might not be your typical core value, if you don't have the ability to communicate with someone, I don't feel you can be near as successful or have the amount of impact that you could by just having that ability to communicate. Loving what you do is another core value. I have a passion for people. I have a passion for networking and getting to know someone and making a difference. I love to push others to their fullest potential. Something that I have really enjoyed is training, being an example, and helping others with that support system. So, I think integrity and communication and just having a passion for what you do. 4 JL: Can you name a person who has had a tremendous impact on you as a leader? Maybe it was a person who was a mentor to you. Why and how did this person impact your life generally and specifically your leadership abilities? KG: I've had several. This question is a hard one to pick just one. My mother has been a significant role model to me, probably because she's been the constant of all the things in my life that come and go—of all the decisions that I make and the success or failure. I have 100% confidence that I have someone here on this earth that will love me no matter what, will cheer for me no matter what. That gives you an incredible amount of confidence, and I am not afraid to try anything because I know it doesn't matter if I succeed or fail. At the end of the day I have people behind me. I've watched her lead others; I've watched her care about the members that she works with. She came home, and even though she was tired because she works a hard job and she gives it her all, she really always enjoyed what she did. I always felt like if I could do something where I left every day—if you have to leave your family, it may as well be for something you love to do. I've had leaders that have pushed me. I worked in corporate training for a while, and I had a manager that wasn't afraid to hold me accountable and be critical. I feel like sometimes, people think if you're critical of someone, that's a negative. At first, it felt like it, but we grew to have such a strong relationship because when you're standing in front of people and you're delivering a message, you have to do it at 150% of your game, or it impacts the message those people take away, and they are what is most important. So taking the focus 5 off of me and worrying about, “Do I look ok? Do I sound ok?” But worrying more about the audience that I was delivering it to. I would speak in front of 15-20 people, and after, we would spend hours going through what I could have done better, what I could have tweaked. “Here's what you did well, do it again. But this is what you need to do next time.” It was that, every day, constantly. We would write lesson plans and content. She would go through with a red pen, and I remember there was a couple of times, in a professional environment, I sat at the other end of the desk because it pushed me so far. But looking back on that now, she took the time, and she went through that, and she was critical of me, but it was always to better me. So it's going to be hard to hear now, but this is how it's going to help Kimberli in the future. I have never forgotten that, and I work extremely hard to make sure that I'm delivering that same feedback with people, whether I'm their supervisor or not. If I see or hear something that I think would be beneficial to share, I do. When you figure out how to do that with the best of intention, you never take a risk. If I share a piece of feedback with you and you know that it has no malice and is 100% to help you be a better person, you're going to be more open to hearing that. That has been a long road to go down, and it's because of that leader that really just pushed me to be better. Don't be stagnant, always be learning, always be pushing yourself to do better the next time. That's really impacted me as leader because I have high expectations, and it’s ok that I do because I work hard to walk the talk, and I think that makes a big difference. JL: What do you see as the biggest challenges of being a woman leader in Northern 6 Utah and what do you do to overcome the challenges? KG: There's not enough of us at the table. I don't know if it is a challenge, we just need more women at the table. When there are more women at the table, we have the same amount of leverage and contribution as the men at the table. Work in the financial industry is very prevalent with male leaders, and I am very fortunate to work for a company that supports equality. There are several females in senior management at this organization, and they see past the gender and look for what is inside as the person, and that is very important. I find that if we had more women vocalized in government, I feel like that would be a good thing and not such a shock. Maybe we wouldn't be having this interview about what it feels like to be a woman leader in Utah because I don't see a lot of people asking men what it feels like to be a male leader in Utah, because it's just the position that they are expected to hold. Maybe it will stop being such a surprise or shock or the unique factor, but it will just be a part of our everyday because we have so much to contribute. I feel like the values I have as a woman, the insight that I have, the unique things that make me a female: my voice is that much more important at the table to provide the pieces of insight that maybe a male side wouldn't pick up on or be able to share. JL: Do you have personal challenges outside of the office because of your role as a female leader? KG: Yes, it's a constant balance. I balance being a mom to two boys; I balance being a full-time career person—and I don't necessarily think it's just women leaders that have that, it's any woman in a career. If you are a working mom, the stay-at- 7 home moms maybe feel like you spend too much time away from home, and the working woman maybe feels like you don't spend enough time at work, when truly, at the end of the day, it’s really just my opinion and my own values that matter. I think oftentimes we let the world determine what's normal and what's not normal, and that's for me to decide. At the beginning of the interview, I talked to you about having a mother that worked more than 40 hours a week. I also told you that she was one of my greatest mentors and she did it successfully. She taught me through example that I could be a loving mother, and I could be a successful career person, and I don't have to choose one or the other, I can have both. It's about finding that balance, and it's not a one-size-fits-all. What's balance for me isn't going to be balance for the woman leader next door, because her story is different, and it's just as important. JL: What advice would you give emerging young women leaders in order to be successful? KG: Get involved! Don't wait. Find a mentor or find someone that you trust, that you respect, that has already been there and done that. Ask as many questions as possible. I regret not getting involved in the community sooner, especially in Ogden. We have this massive community in this city, and they give back. They are involved, people do business with who they know they can trust, and it's about relationships, no matter what profession you are in. Relationships, I think, play a key role, and you'll never get out there unless you start. Don't wait until tomorrow. Pick up the phone, look online, find a way to get involved, get to know 8 people. Be involved, not only in your community, but in your government, in your economy. Be aware of what's going on every day. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and find something that you're passionate about, because I would guess that every one of us can think of people in an industry. Person A and Person B: you can tell a difference when someone is truly passionate about what they do, and I would argue that that person is going to be more successful, and they can both put in the same amount of work, but it's how I do the work that makes a big difference. So just being involved, don't wait, start asking questions, find a mentor, take charge of your future. JL: What other insights can you share about being a woman leader in Northern Utah? KG: You don't have to do it alone. Sometimes I feel like there's a lot of competition with women in general, and it doesn't need to be that way. There's enough success out there for everyone. Success is better when you do it together. If you climb a mountain and you're there at the top alone, it's your success, but where's the value if you're not taking anybody with you? It's not duplicable. I feel like I would be a great failure when I get to the peak of my career as a woman leader if I have done it in a funnel and I haven't done everything in my power to empower those around me that are following me in that same path. I heard a quote, something like, “Be the kind of person that you needed when you were young.” Be the person that you needed when you were 18, or 19, or 20. It's not all about you, it's not all about me, it's about getting there together. Finding a tribe of women and trusting them and empowering each other and 9 being a support. Never second-guess your value because our gender doesn't matter. What matters is what contribution you make, and if you are making a difference, whether it's in the lives of your family or in the lives of your organization or your community. In general, I feel like we need a little bit more of that. We need a little bit more of, “Worry less about your own self and worry about others and helping them along the way.” It doesn't need to be alone. If someone has a success, it doesn't take away from mine. If anything, it should inspire me, that it’s something that can be achieved. I think we need to do a little more celebrating of each other. JL: Is there anything else that you want to add? KG: I don't think so. Thanks for thinking of me. It was fun to go through this and think about all of those dynamics in my life over the years, so I appreciate it. JL: Thanks! 10