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March 12, 2025 11 mins
Founders Federal Credit Union, one of the largest and most innovative credit unions in the nation, was founded in 1950 in Fort Mill, South Carolina, to provide financial services to the employees of Springs Industries, Inc.

Nicki Nash is the Chief Marketing Officer and Spokesperson of Founders Federal Credit Union. Her career at Founders began in 1994 in the marketing department. Since then, she has served as Vice President of Business Development and Senior Vice President of Marketing. She began her role as
Chief Marketing Officer in 2003.

Founders has over $4.8 billion in assets, over 274,000 members, 44 locations, over 820 employees and is one of the strongest credit unions in the nation.

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
• B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communications specializing in advertising and public relations
with a minor in political science, University of South Carolina

CURRENT PROFESSIONAL OR CIVIC ORGANIZATIONS
• Member, USC’s Palmetto College Board of Visitors
• Secretary, Rock Hill Symphony Orchestra Board
• Member, York Technical College Foundation Board of Directors
• Member, Winthrop Eagle Club Board of Directors
• Member, Performing Arts Center Board of Directors
• Member, York County Regional Chamber Board of Directors
• Dean’s Leadership Council, CIC, University of South Carolina
Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the iHeartMedia Charlotte Women of Impact, celebrating women
in our community, presented by the Carolina Ascent and New
Hope Treatment Centers.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Sarah Lee here with the lovely Nikki Nash, Chief Marketing
Officer at Founders Federal Credit Union, and first have to
say happy anniversary.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
Thank you, thank you so much.

Speaker 4 (00:21):
You're welcome.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
You have just celebrated thirty years with this company. That
is incredible.

Speaker 5 (00:27):
It's insane. I cannot I never thought I would stay
somewhere so long. And in fact, yesterday the CEO called me,
he hired me, and he said, I just want you
to remember that yesterday, thirty years ago, you made the
best decision of your life. And my answer was and
I get to still keep making it every single day.
And I truly feel that way. It's such a pleasure

(00:49):
to go to work.

Speaker 3 (00:50):
It really is. I love my job. This really is
the dream job for me.

Speaker 4 (00:53):
I can tell you love your job.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
I follow you on social media and I saw a
post and it really made my day because you said,
I am so excited I get to go to work tomorrow.
Not that I have to go to work tomorrow, but
I get the opportunity because you love what you do.

Speaker 5 (01:08):
I do, and I love the people, and I see
the difference we make in the lives of our members,
and we do so much in the community, and so yeah,
I get to do it all and it makes me
so happy. And Founders has been such a blessing for
me and my family. You know, as a woman, you
have to balance those things, and they've allowed me to
do that. They've allowed me to have a family and
be involved with my family and my community and have

(01:31):
a career and it's a blessing.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
I love that you're at a place that lets you
express yourself and lets you enjoy every aspect of your
life that is not just work. Yes, so tell us
about your background at Founders Federal Credit Union.

Speaker 5 (01:44):
Okay, Well, I came to Founders right after graduating from
the University of South Carolina go Cox and I had
a degree in journalism mass communications with a specialization in
advertising and public relations. And I'd really say I'm one
of the lucky ones because I feel like I happen
to land well well and my first real job out
of college, although I still did my time, I took

(02:05):
a temporary marketing position that they had available to begin with.
But I was asked to stay and work on a
new project. The Credit Union was embarking on a new
imaging system. So I took a leap of faith and
stayed and I started pulling staples and scanning documents. That
was not the dream job, But soon I was moved
back to marketing, and next I was asked to start

(02:26):
the business development department at Founders, later becoming vice president.
And after this I again went back to marketing, this
time a senior vice president of marketing and later Chief
Marketing officer where I served today.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
That is amazing and what a beautiful journey. Now, when
you think about empowering the next generation of women, what
character traits do you think have been the most instrumental
to your success.

Speaker 3 (02:49):
I think that's easy for me and I have three
that I feel like or I must.

Speaker 5 (02:53):
One is confidence. You must be confident in your abilities
and your judgment and confidence does it mean that you're
the smartest person in the room. Sometimes I think it
means knowing you're not, But it does mean knowing you
have a value and you bring something to the table
no one else does. You have to be able to
make a decision and go with it. If it's wrong,
you'll own it and you'll go about correcting it, or

(03:16):
you'll just know you'll never make it again. And the
next I think that brings me to resilience. You have
to have resilience in this world. Whether you're at work,
at home, or anywhere. You're gonna have setbacks. You are
going to mess up. And you know, I always say,
some days you rock and some days rock you, but
you bounce back. And when you do that enough, you

(03:38):
get better. And I think that brings me to the
last one I'll say, which is grace. Give yourself some
grace and offer grace to others because you really don't
know their struggles. I think you need to meet people
where they are, and that's really the best way to
lead them.

Speaker 4 (03:53):
And that is what makes you an incredible leader. I
love your answers to that.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
And you mentioned earlier or when you started out, you
didn't start where you wanted to start, like you worked
your way up.

Speaker 4 (04:05):
We're removing staples.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
You were doing the hard work, like the grunt work
is what I call it, And but you respect those
positions because you've done it so you know how hard
it is.

Speaker 5 (04:15):
Absolutely and you know even when I was pulling staples.
I did a good job, like I did it well.
I wanted to pull the more staples than anybody else.
Like I was raising people. I felt like they didn't
even know I was raising them. But I think that's
so important. You know, even when you think nobody's watching you,
they really are. And they're not watching you in a
sense that they want you to do something bad. A

(04:36):
lot of times they want you to do well, and
they're gonna notice, and that's gonna help you in life
and your career.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
When you think of young people these days and they're
trying to figure out what they want to do with
their life, there's so much pressure to figure it out early,
you know, like you've got to be this.

Speaker 4 (04:52):
I remember being young and my.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
Parents asking, like an elementary school, what do you want
to be when you grow up?

Speaker 4 (04:57):
What are your thoughts on trying to figure it out?

Speaker 5 (04:59):
In the b I would say, just stop, don't be
in such a hurry. These are some of the best
times in your life and you're not supposed to have
it all together or figure it out.

Speaker 3 (05:10):
And guess what, no one does.

Speaker 5 (05:12):
No one does anyway, no matter what their Instagram story
looks like, they don't have it figured out either, and
slow down find peace with where you are now. Now
this doesn't mean not working hard at whatever you're doing.
I do think you should do that. But I'm a
firm believer if you work hard and put yourself out
there in an honest way, the rest will come. But
like you said, I also believe in paying your dues.

(05:34):
Success does not typically come overnight.

Speaker 2 (05:37):
That is so true, and based on the lessons that
you've learned from your experience. If you could go back
to your younger self, what advice would you give.

Speaker 5 (05:46):
Well, this is an interesting question because I have two daughters.
One is twenty three and one is twenty, so I
truly feel like I'm speaking to my twenty year old
self all the time.

Speaker 3 (05:55):
So I'll tell you the advice I give them.

Speaker 5 (05:58):
You teach people how to treat Your actions, and your
reactions set the standard for how others behave toward you.
If they disrespect or beliterate, belittle you and you tolerate it,
you're accepting this and you're telling them that it's okay,
and that decreases your value. And this applies to all
your relationships, whether it's inside or outside of your career.

(06:20):
Another thing I tell them is, don't give up your power.
You are responsible for your own self, your mood, and
what you allow to take up your time and energy energy,
don't depend on others for your self worth, let go
of toxic people, and don't hold grudges. And the last
thing I say to them a lot is it's okay
to be nervous. It means you care, and caring is

(06:42):
a beautiful thing. It means you want to do well.
It means you're invested in something and you are engaged
and you want to perform your best, and there's value
in that. Now, would I do anything differently, of course
I would. There are mistakes that I'm embarrassed about and regret.
I would do things differently if I had the opportunity.

(07:02):
But at the same time, I learned from those moments.
I grew in those moments, and as much as I
want to keep my daughters from making mistakes, in a way,
it's a disservice to them because there's also value in.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
Those Those mistakes put you on the path to where
you are today.

Speaker 3 (07:18):
Absolutely, that is very inspiring.

Speaker 2 (07:20):
What you said you should write a book like that
is very encouraging.

Speaker 4 (07:24):
Maybe that's your next.

Speaker 3 (07:25):
Job in my spare time if you have any.

Speaker 4 (07:28):
Because you're a very busy lady.

Speaker 2 (07:29):
Now have you experienced any barriers in your career and
how have you broken this?

Speaker 5 (07:34):
Well, if you haven't experienced a barrier, I really doubt
you're doing much. I find that you have to handle
these on a case by case basis. Sometimes I think
people don't realize that their actions or words are a barrier,
And in those instances, sometimes I'll use a little humor
as a way around it to kind of diffuse the
situation and let them know that they're putting up a block.

(07:57):
Sometimes more particularly if you feel like they know they're
doing it, you just have to be firm. Again, you
teach people how to treat you. And there are times,
and still are times where I will hear about a
meeting I'm not aware of, or one that I feel
like I should be a part of, and I just
go to the person and I say, you know, you've
pulled together a meeting. I think I could bring value there,
and I feel like I'm going to be pulled in

(08:18):
eventually anyway, so why not let me hear all this firsthand?
And many times it's just an oversight.

Speaker 4 (08:23):
That is so true.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
Communication is key in all areas of your life. Now,
A lot of young women listen to the station, and
if you could give any advice to them as they
set out on their careers, what is the best piece
of advice.

Speaker 5 (08:37):
So this may be surprising to hear me say, since
we're talking a lot about women empowerment.

Speaker 3 (08:43):
But I would say, be a girl's girl.

Speaker 5 (08:46):
Support other women, find women mentors, be a mentor to
other women, advocate for other women when they aren't in
the room. Sometimes I feel like, as women, we think
that if another woman's light is shining, it's somehow dims ours.
But that's really not true. When another one shines, we
all shine. It just makes us all better. And I'll

(09:08):
tell you just this week, I was in a restaurant,
and you know, I always I do try to seek
out ways to make other women's day their day and
to show confidence, resilience and grace. Earlier this week, I
was at a restaurant and a young woman and our waitress,
and she looked at me and said, I love your shees, Like,
oh my goodness, I love your whole outfit.

Speaker 3 (09:29):
You were so put together.

Speaker 5 (09:31):
I want a dress like you one day and I
looked at her and said, you know, you just made
my day. And I said, you know, I was a
waitress in high school and college, and you're going to
learn so much doing this, Like you're going to have
skills from doing this that will take you into a
job and I'll take you far later. And I meant that,
and you know, and then I gave her a big
tip because she liked my shees.

Speaker 4 (09:52):
I think it's the first thing I said to you
and I walked up to you, I'm like, I love
your outfit.

Speaker 2 (09:56):
You have the best earrings and you have the best shoes,
and I almostash you. Is that a side gig? Are
you a fashion designer? Because you do have it all
put together?

Speaker 3 (10:05):
Well, thank you again.

Speaker 5 (10:07):
Sometimes people look like that when they really don't have
it all together. So that's perception maybe, But I do
love fashion and I like to dress, and I feel
better when i'm dressed for the day.

Speaker 2 (10:18):
You know, Yes, they give me a hard time because
they get up really early, but a lot of times
I'll get dressed for the day because I don't know
who's going to come to work or who I'm going
to see.

Speaker 4 (10:27):
And you perform how you feel.

Speaker 5 (10:30):
I agree with that. I really do, and I think too.
In my job in particular, we do have a dress
for your day policy in our corporate office, but I
really seldom dressed down because the one day I dress
down is the one day the Governor's there and they
want me to have lunch with them. I mean, that's
exactly the kind of stuff that happens. Or somebody's coming
in from an outside company, and so I typically dress

(10:54):
for whatever might happen that day.

Speaker 2 (10:56):
And I just have to say, it's an honor to
be in front of you and to hear all this
great advice.

Speaker 4 (11:01):
Thank you so much for your time.

Speaker 2 (11:03):
Nikki Nash, the chief Marketing Officer of Founder's Federal Credit Union,
Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 1 (11:09):
iHeartMedia. Charlotte Women of Impact celebrating women in our Community,
presented by the Carolina Ascent and New Hope Treatment Centers,
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