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This week we feature Young Professional Marsha T. Woodley
This week’s featured young professional, Marsha T. Woodley, is a typical example of the success that can be attained from staying the course despite the challenges.
Miss Woodley, 30, has worked her way up from starting out as a Teller at Scotiabank to a proud position of Relationship Officer at the same company, which she has served with distinction for some 12 years.
Our Young Professional has the very serious responsibility of handling large accounts and mortgages in the Personal Banking Department and of course most of her customers are the high tier clients for the Personal Banking Unit.
“It makes me feel respected and grounded as a young person doing something that is very positive,” the September-born Woodley told VINO.
Ms. Woodley started with Scotiabank, St. Thomas, USVI in 1999 as a Teller and was transferred to the Road Town, Tortola branch in 2000. She was later promoted from a Teller to a Retail Administration Clerk (administrative clerk for the Personal Banking Department) and continued her climb on the success ladder.
Other positions included Personal Banking Assistance (Customer inquiries), Personal Banking Officer and now Relationship Officer, which she explained is similar to a Personal Banking Officer except that she deals with credit lending and deposits on a much larger scale.
“For me, my job is about meeting new people and helping them strategically plan to meet their financial objective. As a young person, planning is very important, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail and failing is not an option. It is something that the people in our community need to be more focused on. When you have a goal in life you have to plan before you get to that goal, so the thing I like most about that position is helping people to achieve their financial goals.”
Her passion and progress at Scotiabank are also reflected in her many accolades, which includes receiving the Managing Director’s Award on several occasions, but one of her greatest recognition was in 2008 when she was awarded with the Scotia Excellence Award for the Virgin Islands (including the USVI). She said that award also came with an all- expense paid trip for two to Canada.
And even though she has been an excellent employee of Scotiabank, it could be considered an irony of situation as this young professional never really envisaged working at a bank, simply because she would often shun book keeping as a school child.
“I didn’t like book keeping at all. When I sent out my applications Scotiabank responded and so when I started in the telling area dealing with cash, it was the same accounting, the book keeping that I did not like in high school that I had to do. It was just amazing that’s where I ended up, right in that field. But back in the times, no, that was not where I thought I would have been.”
Now that she is there and doing an excellent job, Ms. Woodley aspires for even more success.
“Although I am currently at a supervisory level, my aim is to be in a managerial position in the next three years or so at Scotiabank. It feels like that (Scotiabank) is my life and where God wants me to be.”
She is also currently pursuing a Professional Financial Planning Designation with the Canadian Securities Institution and her AICB accreditation at the same institution.
God, she said, is always in the forefront of what she does and has helped her overcome her strongest challenges in order to remain focused on her goals and responsibilities. “There are times when you want to quit but you just have to put your mind to it. You just have to put your best foot forward and know what your goals are along with people motivating you in the background.”
Her strongest support and encouragement, she said, comes from her mother and those experienced persons at the bank that she is never shy to approach for guidance.
“My favourite question is, what can I do better next time? They are always willing to share.”
Ms. Woodley singled out the Managing Director of Scotiabank, Joycelyn Murraine as one of her mentors, who she said she particularly admires since she is the only female Managing Director at any bank in the Virgin Islands.
“We all tend to learn a lot from her as a manager. Her idea is that when her time comes for retirement one of us should be able to take over her leadership role. So she normally imparts her knowledge and encourages us to be all that we can be. Her most repeated quote is ‘Always aim for the moon, just in case you should miss the moon you will definitely fall on a star’. I really take that to heart and it has helped me to get where I am at right now.”
Outside of work, Ms. Woodley is a member of the D.O.V.E. Ministry at the New Life Baptist Church. Her steel pan playing days are long over but she reflected on her active days when she would make fine music that relaxed the soul. She said even after not being a fulltime member, she would often respond promptly whenever she was called upon to play.
Her words to youths: “Put God first and everything else will fall into place after. You have to work hard and give it your best. When you are employed by someone you have to be honest, stealing is not only physically, but stealing time from your employer every day is just as bad. You have to be honest in everything that you do and you will reap the benefits later on.”
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