Be kind, understanding, helpful

When local credit unions rented the Jackson Zoo in Mississippi for a day-long event called “CU at the Zoo” a few years ago, Angela Mitchell, the zoo’s marketing director, was impressed.

“I discovered the credit union industry is full of amazing people,” she recalls.

A year later she became the assistant vice president of marketing for $118 million asset Members Exchange Credit Union (MECU) in Ridgeland in February 2016.

Now vice president, Mitchell has organized a number of other collaborations to benefit credit union communities, including CU4Kids St. Paddy’s 5K, CU Kid Zone, and the Jackson Public Schools (JPS) Food Initiative.

Some highlights from these marketing efforts include:

• Increasing attendance at CU at the Zoo from 1,500 to 4,500 guests within three years.
• Collaboratively raising over $100,000 in sponsorships for CU at the Zoo while providing an additional $18,000 in event revenue within four years. 
• Raising $15,000 for Jackson Public Schools Food Initiative, which provided 3,311 hot meals to JPS students and families during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Mitchell is also a member of the inaugural Leaders Engaging in Action & Development (LEAD) Class of 2019, a leadership development program for young credit union professionals. Supported by the Mississippi Credit Union Association, the group consisted of 14 young professionals representing nine credit unions across the state.

“I’ve always seen the value in working together as credit unions, and this is one of my favorite parts of the credit union mission,” says Mitchell. “We work together instead of against each other because our mission is bigger than profits, it’s about people.”

Her main goal when she comes to work is to be kind, understanding, and helpful to her co-workers, members, and prospective members. “If my attitude and character portray these three principles, I can accomplish anything,” she says.
Kathryne Lewis, Children’s Miracle Network specialist at Children’s of Mississippi, agrees.

“Angela is one of the most kind-hearted, thorough, and dedicated people I’ve ever worked with,” she says. “She has a servant’s heart, and when she sets her mind to something, she gives it 110%.”

Mitchell has learned people can accomplish more when they work together rather than apart.

“If you can find a way to work together and motivate each other to do better for the overall success of the credit union and the credit union industry as a whole, then everyone wins,” she says.