As women in banking, it is important that we lift each other up and celebrate each other's accomplishments. The entire purpose of the Girl Banker blog is to do just that! The Girl Banker of the Week series serves as a way to highlight Girl Bankers everywhere by telling their stories and motivating and encouraging other women in banking. It also is a great way for women in banking to connect! Read below about this week's Girl Banker of the Week! Olivia Bajaj | Vice President, Credit Officer | American National Bank & Trust You might be noticing that a big selection of the Girl Bankers of the Week are connections from Graduate School of Banking Colorado. I may be a little biased but it's my blog, so I can do what I want! Regardless, all of them are noteworthy and Olivia Bajaj of Little Elm, Texas is no exception. A quick glimpse of her resume will blow you away! I first met Olivia in 2013 during our first year at GSBC in Boulder, Colorado. Regardless if I ran into her in the classroom, hallway, or on Pearl Street, she always had the sweetest smile and demeanor.  She is lethal with numbers and one selfless gal. I'm thrilled to tell her story this week as the Girl Banker of the Week! Girl Banker Story "When I started college, I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do," said Olivia. "At the time, I found it important to understand my own finances in an effort to set myself up for the future, so I decided to go the financial route.

Olivia got her Bachelor's of Business Administration Degree with a Minor in Finance from the University of North Texas in 2007 and upon graduating, found a credit analyst position at TIB-The Independent Bankers Bank in Farmers Branch, Texas. It was then that she realized how much she understood and loved numbers and the rest was history. She was promoted to VP|Commercial Loan Underwriter II after just 18 months on the job. While in that role, she attended Texas Tech Banking School in 2010, obtained her MBA from Texas A&M in 2013, and graduated from Graduate School of Banking in Boulder, Colorado in 2015. In 2016, Olivia was recruited to American National Bank & Trust in Flower Mound, Texas to be a Vice President, Credit Officer, where she has been instrumental in implementing stronger risk management processes for active management and asset quality in addition to performing annual portfolio review of credits over $1 million to identify any material changes in borrower/guarantor financial position and collateral deficiencies amongst many other duties. She is a member of the Texas Chapter of the Risk Management Association (RMA), National Society of Leadership and Success, and Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society. In her spare time... When she isn't banking, Olivia volunteers with Soup Mobile, a program benefitting the homeless in the Dallas community. She also participates in the Christ United Methodist Church Metrocrest "Sack Summer Hunger" food program. She and her fiance, MOTIVATION | "Creating a positive work environment so everyone can be successful is my motivation. I'm always striving to help others shine brighter even if that means my light gets dimmer during the process. My grandmother my true inspiration and is the most selfless person I know so I'm just trying to be more like her each and every day."

Join me as we celebrate this week's Girl Banker of the Week, Olivia Bajaj!