Prospera Regional Board Member Ana Castilla is the Vice President Florida Regional Community Development Manager for TD Bank. In her role, Ana helps people and places thrive by supporting equitable access to housing, income, education and health, building resilient communities. Additionally, she contributes her time, talent, treasure, ties, and testimonials to help Prospera deliver services to more clients, support our staff, and serve as a representative of our brand in the South Florida community. Keep reading to learn more about her:
What are your company’s mission and products/services?
TD Bank, America’s Most Convenient Bank, is one of the largest banks in the U.S., providing over 10.0 million customers with a full range of retail, small business and commercial banking products and services at more than 1,100 convenient locations throughout the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Metro D.C., the Carolinas and Florida. In addition, we offer vehicle financing and dealer commercial services through TD Auto Finance. TD Bank and its subsidiaries also offer customized private banking and wealth management services through TD Wealth®.
At TD, we foster a culture of care and inclusion among our colleagues and within our communities that extends to the products and services we offer our customers. TD’s goal is to help our customers establish a more secure, and sustainable financial future for themselves, their families, and their communities. This is central to our vision to Be the Better Bank.
More specifically, TD’s Community Development team, which I support, drives activities that revitalize and/or stabilize communities via community development loans, investments, and services. As a TD Community Development Manager, I am responsible for expanding and improving the ways the Bank meets the needs of underserved communities, as well as fostering community development activities, while delivering on our Community Reinvestment Act (“CRA”) goals. I also work with various lines of business within the Bank to shape and drive strategy for outreach in LMI communities.
Additionally, I build relationships with nonprofits, such as Prospera, as well as community organizations and Community Development Financial Institutions to better understand the changing needs of our communities, provide needs assessments, offer products as appropriate, and provide solutions that will have a positive financial impact on individuals, families, businesses, and communities.
What motivated you to serve on Prospera’s board as a volunteer?
The positive energy and the commitment to clients from the Prospera leadership and staff motivated me to get more involved with the organization and to serve on the regional board. I’ve been working in the community and economic development space for many years and know how important having engaged and dedicated board members can be in helping an organization leverage the community, build visibility, and increase its impact. At Prospera, when the board meets, we are all honed in on how we can help the organization meet its mission. We also celebrate every organizational achievement – big and small, because progress of any kind matters and should be recognized. I love to see the number of clients being served at each board meeting and discussing the challenges and opportunities developing in the South Florida economic ecosystem. I feel very fortunate because serving on the board for Prospera is a wonderful opportunity for me to give back to my community!
What would you most like the community to know about Prospera?
My number one message about Prospera is that its consultants can provide any business with a solid, meaningful opportunity to revisit or review its business plan, operating performance, and growth opportunities. I believe that a trusted business consultant can do a lot for an entrepreneur, especially if they are used to deciding everything on their own. They can truly benefit from analyzing alternatives. The biggest challenge for many small business owners is having the capacity to manage all the responsibilities of the day-to-day enterprise and finding time to step back and analyze performance or tweak strategies. For Hispanic business owners in our South Florida community, it is especially helpful to be able to meet with a counselor in Spanish to better discuss challenges and solutions. I have witnessed Prospera consultants and their ability to ask the right questions to get a business owner thinking about how to improve profits, operations, and potential growth. Then they help the business owner with alternative solutions, identifying resources to make changes to their business model, positively increasing cash flow and returns. The ongoing coaching and motivation provided by Prospera technical service providers is a huge benefit to an entrepreneur.
Which are the three words that best describe you?
The three words that best describe me are outcome-oriented, collaborative and flexible. I like success, and I’m more than willing to share opportunities and lend support to others to help realize achievements. When you work in the community and economic development space, you learn quickly that no one has all the answers (or resources) and that our success depends on many variables and stakeholders moving the needle together. I enjoy problem-solving and negotiating to find the best outcomes for all involved – and that means you have to be willing to hear others’ perspectives, understand their goals, and bring partners to a realistic consensus. Prospera is a great example of an organization that creates opportunities for their partners to collaborate and engage to support the ultimate goal of strengthening the organization’s capacity and meeting the evolving needs of the small business community it supports. I should also add fulfilled as a word that describes me. I’m lucky to be doing rewarding work that I have a passion for and having an institution like TD Bank supporting me in my contributions and professional and personal growth.
How do you achieve work/life balance?
Actually, this is an interesting question because when we started working from home during the pandemic, I found it more difficult to separate my work life and personal life since it shared the same space. I had to be more deliberate about it. Luckily, my employer, TD Bank, had recently launched a great personal health program that helped me set boundaries and goals for financial, mental, physical, and social health. I have a lot of interests and hobbies that keep me busy – some with others and some alone. Experiencing new things, new places and new people is something I really enjoy. I learn a lot and I think it helps me stay in a creative space. But I’m still working on getting back into a good routine with sleep, meals, and activities – it’s a constant work in progress.
How do you stay informed about trends in your industry?
When you’re in community development, a lot of the work involves constantly assessing needs and opportunities. I think that a lot of my day-to-day is around meeting with partners, stakeholders, nonprofits, like Prospera, and community residents to better understand where resources exist and how we can best connect them to individuals, businesses, and initiatives to ensure successful outcomes. In a sense, those of us that work with customers, community representatives, and local agencies probably see trends developing very early on – when most of the evidence is anecdotal. This is why serving on a nonprofit board, working on collaborative initiatives and other group activities, is so important. My collaboration with Prospera provides a great source of information about small business needs, challenges, and successful strategies. I value the ability to raise community concerns and provide examples of local strategies to my team at TD and to partners I work within the community.
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