Last year, we hosted Season 3 of the ABA X The Girl Banker Brunch to kick off the American Bankers Association Bank Marketing Conference in New Orleans! This event has become such a fun reunion of bank marketing professionals from around the country who sport their Girl Banker merch, pair it with sequins, and get hyped up to jumpstart the conference. As usual, there was free merch and some lucky winners went home with their very own Girl Banker Sweatshirt!

If you’re like me, you’re already thinking about what to pack for Austin. To help make things a little easier, I’ve pulled together this inspiration board for the brunch. Think “Western Chic”!

• 🤠 Don’t have a lot of cowgirl gear but want to join in on the theme for less? Check out this Amazon list to help get you started.
• 🤠 Fun fact: Did you know that the flagship Tecovas store is on South Congress in Austin? It’s a quick jaunt from the conference site if you’re interested in making an investment in some cowgirl boots!
• 🤠 Be sure you bring your phone to snap all the photos with your bank marketing friends. ABA will have a step and repeat available for photos after the brunch!

Want to Get Hyped Early for the Brunch?

Here’s a Spotify playlist to set the tone.

Reigniting Your Flame

One of the biggest challenges of this event is outdoing the previous year’s theme (and outfit if I’m being honest!) I’ve been fortunate that the theme has always presented itself in some form or fashion and last year, it made itself very obvious while I was still in New Orleans. During a happy hour with several of my bank marketing friends, the conversation turned a bit serious.

My usual cheerful, joyous friends were all sharing about the stresses in their lives—bank mergers, aging parents, raising teenagers, dealing with perimenopause, the list goes on. The conversation was heavy but real and I immediately knew I had to come up with a way to address it at the 2026 brunch.

As life would have it, I personally experienced my own form of extreme burnout this last summer. While I was running the bank, I was also chasing my oldest son all over the country playing baseball.

I’m a firm believer that you can get burnout at a job you love and that was most certainly the case for me. I had lost my spark and frankly, my own sense of self. And I desperately wanted it back.

Bank marketers are faced with all sorts of challenges in a rapidly changing landscape. As an “expense” line item, they are held often to an unrealistic standard to make all the things happen.

They are not only navigating a social media algorithm that changes daily but are navigating AI—how it can help and how it is a threat. Oh, and have I mentioned deposit acquisition? Let’s add all of these tasks and stressors on top of the many opened tabs we have in our brains and it can become very overwhelming.

At this year’s brunch, we will be joined by 3 bankers who have navigated the challenges of burnout in their own unique ways at their bank.

Each attendee should leave motivated, inspired, and with a reignited flame to start off the ABA Bank Marketing Conference.

This Year’s Panelists

	Danita High SVP/Culture and Employee Development, First Community Bank
	Noel Hansen SVP/Commercial Banking Sales Manager, Alpine Bank
	Christian Elisabeth Hartley Community Bank President, Huntington Bank

Plan on Coming to the ABA Bank Marketing Conference in Austin, TX?

There is still time to register. Be sure you RSVP to the ABA x The Girl Banker Brunch to secure your spot!