Kyrah Klika’s family went through financial hardships when she was in high school, and she later struggled to work her way through college.

Now, the Chippewa Falls Vice President at $1.2 billion asset WESTconsin Credit Union in Menomonie, Wis., is assisting those who face similar challenges by bringing awareness to poverty in the community and promoting affordable credit union services.

"I wanted to bring light to this because we see poverty everywhere. It does describe some of our membership—those who we run into every day at the grocery store. Those are people who are living and working around us," Klika tells the CUNA News Podcast.

Klika has also been a booster of her fellow young professionals and has advocated for the credit union movement in Wisconsin and Washington, D.C.

For her efforts in the credit union movement, Klika was named a 2018 Credit Union Rock Star by Credit Union Magazine in a special issue sponsored by Fiserv.

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