LaToya Rowell is the vice president of Comerica’s community affairs and is responsible for the management of external community initiatives and partnerships, Comerica’s Diversity Business Resource Groups, and their financial education outreach program, the Comerica Financial Education Brigade.
What’s a typical day like for you?
A typical day is probably with me getting into the office at about nine and looking at emails. I try to make a to-do list, but that usually doesn’t work because I’m always pulled in different directions. It could be managing a contribution to a charitable organization we’re partnering with, or it could be having a meeting with our marketing communications team about an upcoming event we’re doing. My day is pretty diverse.
What are the pillars or the foundational things that Comerica leans on?
We have a very strong focus on financial education and health care. Our biggest one is our financial education outreach. We want to make sure that the community, especially our community as African Americans, knows the basics. People are used to people having money in their mattresses and not putting it in a bank because there’s that fear of just basic banking and savings. We also do small business outreach as well so that our community knows how to access capital and things of that nature. We have businesses do virtual camps to teach people some of the basics of small business owners.
Why is it important for women of color to work in leadership roles and decision-making capacities?
For me, it’s to help move the needle and to bring the next generation forward. Someone did that for me, so I feel very moved and empowered to be that person that moves the needle. There are so many of us to come, and many that come behind us, and the ones who have done it were able to get me through.
How do you use graphic design in your role?
It helps me especially when I do my social media posts. I do a lot of graphics for our guests. Recently, we did a military veteran drive where we collected different items for the VA hospital, and I designed the flyer. It just helped me with that creative piece. I love to write, so I write a lot of our posts and for our internal communications team, I like to put those things together.
