Women to Women Network

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Kelsey Olson

We sat down with Women to Women Network member Kelsey Olson of Wauna Federal Credit Union, and here's what she had to say…

Who are your clients/customers?

We've been local in the community since 1967, so we have strong relationships with our members in Clatsop, Columbia, and Washington counties in Oregon, as well as Pacific County in Washington. We value one-on-one relationships with our credit union members. 

How do you help your clients/customers?

I am the creative and design specialist at Wauna Credit Union. My role is managing the visual brand of our credit union and visual communications to our members. We have a lot of concrete opportunities to define our brand. It's an exciting challenge because we're growing from a hyper local organization to something that needs to appeal to the slightly more urban demographics in Washington County, without losing touch with our roots.

I help Wauna customers by giving them a consistent experience when they enter a branch. My work will feel familiar and welcoming to them because they know what to expect. I tell the brand story by taking a compelling history and turning it into something that creates a path toward the future through robust visual components. We're growing the roots so that we can expand. 

What brought you to this line of work?

I started my career a little bit backward because it is very typical for designers to begin in an agency and then move to an in-house role later in their career. I took an in-house role directly from school, so I never went the agency route. I was doing marketing and brand management for a Fortune 50 company, which was an amazing experience, but I wanted a little more creative control and flexibility. 

I chose to move toward freelance work for about four years, but then 2020 came, and freelancing became a little more lonely. At that point, I was looking for the "Goldilocks" of jobs. I wanted a team, but I also needed flexibility and creative control. Wauna is the middle ground of my two prior experiences. 

I'm still very much at the beginning of my career, but I've done the pendulum swing to find a position that suits me from a work-life balance and stability perspective.

What brings you joy?

It's very satisfying to see something I've created on a billboard or physically in all of our branches in the real world. Regarding the organization's mission, it always brings me a lot of joy to hear testimonials from members. Hearing that people have had a wonderful experience with our frontline staff and how our staff made their day easier and brought them some happiness is at the core of what makes it worth it for me.

What defines you?

I am proud of my ability to stay consistent. I'm usually the cleanup person who defines what has been started. I take joy in being able to take something complicated or maybe a little bit less intuitive, like numbers and data, and turn it into a narrative to communicate something worthwhile. We have so much information and statistics in the financial services industry, so figuring out how to take that from zeros and ones to a complete story is a personal passion.

What's the most important thing you want people to know about you and your business?

I would love people to know that Wauna is focused on keeping things local and supporting small businesses. We're not sending your money out to Wall Street; we are keeping it in the community, which is so essential these days. We have our tagline, "You're not a number, you're an individual," and in my experience, our staff is very focused on helping and serving our communities. 

Wauna Credit Union

kelsey.olson@waunafcu.org

(503) 728-6155

waunafcu.org