Get to know some of United’s Hispanic and Latino leaders this Hispanic Heritage Month

United recognizes that the diversity of its team supports the Company’s overall mission to provide excellence in service. Its commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion fosters respect and a shared purpose that aligns with the bank’s core values and community leadership. Since the Bank’s founding in 1839, its leading principles have helped United grow from a single-office bank to a premier regional banking company with a strong presence throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast. Today, the Company holds approximately $30 billion in assets and serves a consumer and commercial customer base that is diversified across lines of business as well as geography, with more than 225 offices located throughout North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Georgia, as well as Washington D.C., where it is the largest community bank headquartered in the D.C. Metropolitan region.

United’s employees are its greatest asset – when team members thrive, so do customers and so does business. That’s why, this Hispanic Heritage Month, United is spotlighting some of its Hispanic and Latino employees, their accomplishments, and the work they are doing to support their communities, bolstering the Bank’s commitment to ensuring that employees from entry-level to management are empowered to reach their full potential and make a difference, contributing to a culture that is entrepreneurial, efficient, relationship-based, and service-oriented.

Beatriz Morales is a first-generation U.S. citizen, born in Los Angeles and raised in Guatemala. When she was younger, she dreamed of becoming a doctor so she could help others and make the world a better place. While she didn’t ultimately find her calling in the medical field, Morales uses her passion for service and helping others every day at United Bank’s Raleigh, NC location as a branch manager and assistant vice president.

Morales began her banking career as a teller at BB&T (now Truist), before being promoted to branch banker soon after. She worked her way up to assistant branch manager in 2016, a role she held for the next few years. In 2018, she joined CresCom Bank as a branch manager and was later brought into the United fold when the Bank acquired CresCom’s parent company, Carolina Financial Corporation, in 2020. As a branch manager at United Bank, Morales is responsible for achieving the sales performance objectives of the branch, as well as supervising, coaching, and developing branch employees. She leads by example and proactively strengthens existing retail and business customer relationships and develops new consumer relationships.

Morales moved back to the U.S. when she was 17 years old and immediately started working two jobs to support herself. Although work had to be a priority, she still recognized the value of an education and did everything she could to also earn her high school diploma. In 2005, Morales received her GED from Santa Ana Community College in California, and almost two decades later – with the support of United – she graduated from the North Carolina School of Banking earlier this year. And while Morales is proud of what she was able to accomplish on her own, she’s adamant about having the resources to provide the opportunity for her two daughters to attend college in the future.

Morales’ daughters are a big driving force in her life. In her free time, she likes to spend as much time with them as possible. But supporting other children, especially young women, is also a passion of hers. She is a committee member for the Boys & Girls Club in Wake County, NC and she supports Dress for Success Triangle NC, an organization that empowers women to achieve economic independence. Morales also offers career development support for the Youth Villages North Carolina organization, whose mission is to help children and families live successfully.

How has your identity influenced your professional life?

When I first joined the workforce in California, I didn’t feel as scared or awkward speaking English or being Latina because everyone around me had a similar background as mine – limited English skills, little to no education, and was Hispanic. It wasn’t until I decided to try something new and went to work at a wholesale club store that I started to feel like I was different. There weren’t too many other Hispanic people around, and my accent was very noticeable. My coworkers would make fun of how I talked and that made me feel very self-conscious of how I sounded, so I opted to work the night shift so I wouldn’t have as much direct contact with customers. But even so, I wanted to do well. I worked hard and was determined to move up and be promoted to a supervisor or manager one day.

Fast forward a few years, and I moved to North Carolina, still working at the same company. There, I was considered “exotic” because I was bilingual. A store manager approached me one day and asked if I knew how to sell credit cards, to which I emphatically responded “NO!” I was still self-conscious about my accent, and I was afraid that I’d be made fun of for mispronouncing a word. But he told me not to worry and to just be myself. “It’s not about selling credit cards,” he said. “It’s about building relationships and making people feel comfortable enough that they want to work with you.” So, I decided to give it a go, and by the end of the day, I had broken the store’s record for credit card applications. That was the moment when I decided to come out of my shell and use what I had learned and who I was to my advantage. Being bilingual became an asset, not a hindrance, for me. My heritage became something I was admired for and played a big role in my growth at the company.

When I started my banking career and those old fears reared their head again, I was able to push them aside. More than 11 years later and I am proud of myself and grateful for the people who believed in me, those who stood by my side and pushed me to just be myself and to see my identity as a strength, not a weakness.

Is there anyone who inspired you on your career journey?

It might be a bit cliche, but I find inspiration in my children. When my daughters were little, I was working at a grocery store. One day I overheard my kids playing pretend and one said to the other, “When I grow up, I want to be a grocery store worker like mommy!” And the other agreed. There is no shame in working in retail or any other job that provides for your family and puts food on the table. But I thought to myself that I wanted my girls to aspire to something higher than I could ever achieve. So, every day I make sure that what I do makes them proud so that they dream bigger and try harder. I’m pleased that they can now say, “When I grow up, I want to be a banker just like my mommy.”