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Women’s History Month | Valerie Tolhurst

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AFSA is celebrating Women’s History Month by featuring outstanding female leaders in the consumer credit industry.

What has been the most important lesson?
As a Human Resources professional, the biggest lesson I learned was to learn all I can about the business and how it runs operationally and financially. Being financially literate, being able to read the reports, and understanding the basics of what we do all affect my ability to be a strategic partner for my company. We want to be collaborators and not paper-pushers. We can’t collaborate if we don’t speak the same language.

Was there a mentor who provided great insight in your early career?
I connected with a former boss early on and he inspired me to do more. He also gave me a chance and had a way of working with me so I could see my mistakes instead of him pointing them out. That goes a long way to growing in my career. After we lost touch, my next mentor has been my best friend and husband. He has helped me see different perspectives as a strategic leader and has helped me grow professionally as well as personally.

What do you wish the you of today could have told the younger you about building a career?
Save yourself some time and focus on building your HR career. Don’t waste the first 15 years of your career feeling unfulfilled. A great match for your skills is in that field and it will keep you engaged, growing, and happy.

Women’s History Month | Valerie Tolhurst
Mar 14, 2024

AFSA is celebrating Women’s History Month by featuring outstanding female leaders in the consumer credit industry.

What has been the most important lesson?
As a Human Resources professional, the biggest lesson I learned was to learn all … Read the rest

Women’s History Month | Meg Michiels
Mar 13, 2024

AFSA is celebrating Women’s History Month by featuring outstanding female leaders in the consumer credit industry.

I sincerely appreciate AFSA Women’s Leadership Council celebrating International Women’s Day (IWD) and Women’s History… Read the rest

PayNearMe Introduces Smart Switch™ to Enable Card Processing Redundancy for Lenders
Mar 12, 2024

Every minute of downtime lenders experience is expensive—leading to missed payments, high customer service costs and reputational risks. By connecting lenders to multiple merchant processors through a single platform integration,… Read the rest

Women’s History Month | Ronda Cepeda
Mar 12, 2024

AFSA is celebrating Women’s History Month by featuring outstanding female leaders in the consumer credit industry.

What has been the most important lesson? 
Embracing my uniqueness. As a woman, it’s essential to recognize and celebrate… Read the rest

Women’s History Month | Yordanka Martin
Mar 12, 2024

AFSA is celebrating Women’s History Month by featuring outstanding female leaders in the consumer credit industry.

What do you wish you of today could have told the younger you about building a career?
I wish I could tell my younger self to focus… Read the rest

Women’s History Month | Suzi Straffon
Mar 08, 2024

AFSA is celebrating Women’s History Month by featuring outstanding female leaders in the consumer credit industry. 

What has been the most important lesson? 

Keep going and continue to work hard. You never know what’s around the next corner!… Read the rest

Women’s History Month | Bethany Slomski-Rangel
Mar 08, 2024

AFSA is celebrating Women’s History Month by featuring outstanding female leaders in the consumer credit industry.

What has been the most important lesson? 

The most important lesson I’ve learned stems from a profound piece of advice given… Read the rest

Women’s History Month | Heather Slyman
Mar 08, 2024

AFSA is celebrating Women’s History Month by featuring outstanding female leaders in the consumer credit industry. 

My career started as a Programmer/Analyst at Boeing and later led to 21 Years in lending, 11 years of that in auto finance,… Read the rest

Industry Expertise | Strategic Video Engagement: The Game-Changer in Future-Ready Auto Finance
Mar 07, 2024

AFSA’s Industry Expertise allows Business Partners to provide thought leadership and best practices information directly with AFSA member companies. For more information about taking part, contact Grace McGurn.

Behind the Wheel: AlliedRead the rest

A Case for Rules of the Road
Mar 06, 2024

Across our country, American households have faced several years of challenging economic times. Inflation, while the rate is decreasing, has taken a serious bite out of everyone’s monthly budgets for such basic goods as gas and groceries.… Read the rest

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