A relationship led her to the US, and love of career keeps her originating
It was romantic love that brought Jade Taylor (pictured) to the US from Brazil, and it is love of her chosen career that keeps her happily ensconced in her career in mortgage.
After working 11 years at a bank in Brazil, Taylor found work at a credit union financing cars, she told Mortgage Professional America during a telephone interview. A few short years later, she would open her own brokerage firm in Snellville, Ga. – a city of some 21,000 residents some 33 miles east of downtown Atlanta – among surroundings that couldn’t be more different than the lush and mountainous topography of her native land.
While she found herself in unfamiliar surroundings, banking was something of a North star. “I worked for a bank in Brazil for 11 years, and once I got here, I worked for a credit union financing cars,” she said. “A friend of mine who I used to work with said ‘why don’t you come work with me in this industry doing mortgages. It’s about the same, just more paper.’ I said ‘OK, let’s give it a try’. That’s how I got started on the retail side.”
Embarking on a new dawn
After three years in retail, another colleague asked Taylor to join her in landing work for a broker. “And that’s how I got in the broker world,” she said of her brief stint for Home Lenders of Georgia Inc. After that stint, she opened her own brokerage firm she named Alvorada Mortgage – the corporate name reflective of her new horizon, the Portuguese word for dawn.
It was a similar sentiment that propelled her to move to the US on a wave of love that could’ve been invoked by bossa nova great Antonio Carlos Jobim himself. She met her husband, Bradley Taylor, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, after six months of online dating, she told MPA. She not only gained a husband, but a reliable business partner as well, she noted: “My husband helps me on the side of things I don’t like,” she said. “I focus mainly on operations and origination, and my husband is actually the one who does my compliance, payroll and things like that, so I don’t have to worry about that.”
She made it clear that would be the deal, she added. “When we opened the brokerage, I told him I couldn’t do it without him because there’s a lot of paperwork that I hate to do. I told him if I can just stay in my lane and originate, that’s what I love to do. But I wouldn’t want to be the one taking care of the administration part – checking if bills are paid, if payroll is done, if compliance is done. I like the part where I talk to the clients and try to figure out ways for them to qualify. Most of them are very limited with their English skills.”
Familiar faces among her clientele
And that’s when she sees the familiar faces of her motherland, catering largely to a Brazilian demographic that comes to her for their mortgage needs given their common language. She noted how her clients have achieved trust in her given those cultural ties, reminding her of herself when she first arrived in the US. “It was a little worse than it is today,” she said of her English when she first arrived in Georgia. She described her brand of immersion in order to learn English: “When I came here, I did the opposite of what other people do. I didn’t go live where most Brazilians are here in Atlanta. I was watching TV in English. I was trying to work mainly with English speakers so I could actually get better with my English skills.”
Which does not diminish the affection she feels for her compatriots: “I try to serve everybody, but my niche is 90% with Portuguese speakers,” she said. “It’s primarily for the language,” she said of the appeal for her services from her niche audience. “When I bought my house in 2013, I didn’t speak great English yet. I just signed the papers. Did I know for sure what I was signing? No, I did not. That’s why today I choose to help people I know don’t feel too comfortable because they don’t know what’s actually written on the paper. When we speak the same language, it’s easier for me to help them.”
This is where love for career comes in. When asked to describe the professional fulfillment she derives, she said: “Well, let me put it this way, I cry almost every day,” she said before pausing for laughter. “Because I get so many nice messages and pictures of clients holding the key to their homes. They feel so great. It’s so good to do something that you love – that’s my passion. That’s something I love doing. I’m getting paid to do what I love! Not a lot of people are that lucky. I finally found what I was looking for.”
For good measure, she spread some love to the Association of Independent Mortgage Experts (AIME), of which she’s a member, for helping her negotiate her career as a newcomer to the US. “People are so supportive,” she said of the rank and file. “You ask questions and they respond. That’s how I actually started to get more involved. They’re actually fighting for us and trying to get the broker channel better and bigger.”
In other words, muito obrigado AIME.
