141: Lucy Cortez

VP Commercial Lending

Lucy Cortez is VP of commercial lending for Community First Fund, a local nonprofit organization. Community First Fund provides both financial and Human Resources support to help support low income communities. 

Her role was to help businesses find funding to keep their businesses open during the pandemic. Often, she gave support to many clients who lacked technological skills and did not have computers. She is very passionate about her work and enjoys being a servant leader who sees all clients as unique and special . 

Lucy works with owners of barber shops, restaurants, bakeries, grocery stores, warehouses, studios. Her goal was and is to help people keep their dreams of running a business alive. Many business owners are small business owners who need the financial and human resource support that Community First offers. To meet public needs during the shutdown, Lucy and her colleagues used zoom meetings and phone calls.

During the corona epidemic, Lucy was diagnosed with leukemia. She is doing well presently. Lucy’s greatest wish is to put the pandemic behind us. Her hope is that children under 12 years old can get vaccinated soon, especially so that she can see her grandchildren.