Women in Title Leadership Network & Support | Ep 37

In a world where change is the only constant, Mo Shamil stands at the forefront, guiding title professionals to not just grow their businesses, but to master the art of innovation. With every episode, you're handed the keys to unlock unparalleled growth and stay ahead of the curve. Get ready for a transformative journey. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the Title Agents podcast, where we bring you expert insights, industry trends, and strategies to help title professionals stay ahead. I am your host, Mo Shamil, CEO of Alltech National Title.

And today, we have an exciting guest who is making a real impact in the title industry, especially for women in this field. Joining us today is Kimberly Whitlock, Operations Manager for National Title Operations at Westcore, with years of experience in title operations and a deep passion for empowering professionals. Kimberly is also driving force behind Women Entitled, a community dedicated to supporting and uplifting women in our industry. In this episode, we'll talk about the evolving role of Women Entitled, the challenges and opportunities they face, and how organizations like Women Entitled are making a difference. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just getting started, this conversation will inspire and equip you to grow your career.

Let's dive in. Hello, Kim, and welcome to the podcast. Can you start by sharing a bit about your background and what led you to the title industry? Yeah, well, thank you for having me, first of all. I'm really happy to be here.

So yeah, I started in the industry about 15, 16 years ago. You know, like most of us, I didn't get into this on purpose. I was actually going to go to nursing school. But at the time, there was a long wait for nursing school. So I happened to get into title through a friend of, you know, a neighborhood friend, an acquaintance, if you will, and I fell in love with it.

So here I am. It's like quicksand. Once you get in, you can't get out. That's a new one. I usually call it a black hole.

Once you get in. Yeah. I like quicksand, too. That's a great analogy. Yeah, it is.

Growing up, we were always, it was like on movies and things. I was scared of quicksand. But now, that's what I use. Does it even exist? Or is it only in movies, quicksand?

I think so. I don't know. I've never seen it in real life. So it might just be. You don't want to find out, right?

Exactly. Exactly. No, thank you. Yeah. So what inspired you to create or get involved with Women in Title?

Was there a specific moment or a challenge that sparks this initiative? Yeah. So I started Women in Title late 2022. And it really was born from a need of women, you know, colleagues and friends I've made through the industry, just, you know, feeling that sense of competitiveness, or they felt like they couldn't come to other women, maybe in similar positions to ask for advice. I've told the story before, right, you know, I was working at different underwriters early in my career.

And a lot of the, you know, a lot of our industry is women. And so a lot of those agents who would call for advice were women, and they were intimidated by our male, our older male underwriting councils. So I found that they were come to me a lot. And, you know, I enjoyed that. But when I went back to the agency side, they didn't want to ask me those questions anymore, because they thought we were competition.

And I really wanted to start this group to make every woman feel that they had a community behind them, and they can come to any of us for support. I wanted every woman to feel supported. And like that network behind them, whether it you have a specific title question, call me up. I'll help you. Or you want career advice.

Hey, I'm here. I hope that happens. You just want to, you know, bet. We're all here. And so, yeah, that's really how it started.

Awesome. How, what's the structure of the group? And what's it, can you tell us, dig a little more into depth about it? Absolutely. Yeah.

So we started in Denver, Colorado. We started with monthly coffee meetups. We, our very first meeting was only seven women. I was so nervous. It's a good start.

It is a good start. I was so nervous, though, walking up. I really, I didn't think anyone was going to show up. I was, you know, I was hopeful, but I just, I didn't know what to expect. And those, that first group of seven women were, were amazing.

They came with notebooks and pens, and they were ready to go with their questions and take notes. And that was really inspiring. And so from that point on, we have not missed a month. And now we have upwards of, you know, sometimes more than 20 women. We've since moved to a larger coffee shop in a more central location.

And so here in Denver, besides our monthly meetups, we also do a yearly charity event. And so typically what we'll do is at the end of the year, we pick a charity together, something local to the community that benefits and supports women in our industry, in our community. And we, we do something around that, whether that's collecting donations or collecting funds to help. And so that's been really successful. This year, we're rolling out multiple charity events, which is really exciting.

And then we, last year, I met an incredible woman at October Research's Women's Leadership Summit. Her name is Liz Castleman. And we got to talking and she really inspired me. And we've taken this now, you know, central to Colorado organization and we're across the country now. So we have chapters in Utah, Texas.

That's awesome. Louisiana. I mean, they're popping up everywhere. Florida's coming. Just every day, we're hearing from more women who want to start up in their, in their cities and their states.

And yeah. Do you have anything in D.C.? Nothing in D.C. yet. Nothing in D.C.

I got to connect you with Hope, maybe she can help you get a start in D.C. That would be amazing. I mean, I think D.C. has an amazing title community and it'd be great to bring our, our community to D.C. It's a really great, women have found a lot of value, a lot of support and a lot of encouragement from our group.

So I'm really proud of it. So you emphasize networking and mentorship. What advice do you have for women looking to build strong professional connections in this industry? So, as many will probably agree, probably our industry is about relationship. Early on in my career, I worked my butt off and I realized, and I was very much, I'm very much a title person.

I was, I started off as a title examiner. So I love that. Same here. Great. Yeah.

I mean, I love that. I love digging in and researching. And so a lot of my career in the beginning was behind the desk. And I realized that once I started branching out and, and making those connections with others, my career just blossomed. And I speak a lot about, sorry about that, early on in my career, my first agency job, our underwriter, they had a female underwriting counsel and she was a really big inspiration to me.

And we've been in touch ever since. She's part of our community. She's been a great mentor. So yeah, I think any, the advice I would give is don't be scared to reach out to other women or men in our industry and, and spark those relationships and those conversations. I think that you'll be surprised.

I know that I was how, how willing others are to, to build those relationships with you and to share their knowledge and to help you, you know, along your career path. How has the role of women entirely evolved over the years? And are you seeing more leadership opportunities for women? Yeah, I think, yes, I am. I definitely, you know, since I started my career, I've seen more women in leadership roles.

I think we have a lot of, a long way to go still, but a lot of that is going to change when we start having these conversations openly about, you know, women wanting those leadership roles and they want to break out of, of the, the silos that they've been put in. Something I talk about a lot is like, I just mentioned, I started as a title examiner. Title is my, I'm a title nerd and I love it. But early on in my career, you know, I was applying for title jobs for a title examiner, title officer, and I would get calls back and they would be like, well, we'll hire you for an escrow position. And so a lot of women in our industry experience that as well.

They're pushed into escrow positions and sometimes there's not a lot of movement on the escrow side. You could be an escrow manager, things like that, but a lot of times you get stuck in that role. So I'd like to see more women just think outside the box and know that they can go for those leadership roles. And I think that we're seeing that now because we see powerful, strong women in leadership roles and we're knowing that, hey, she can do it, I can do it. It's an aging industry, if you think about it, especially like the higher, the bigger roles.

Yeah. It's like it's 60s, 70s, probably that's a good chunk of it. So we could definitely need the next wave. We definitely do. And that's an initiative that I've seen a lot of local LTAs take on is trying to reach out and speak to the younger generation and get them in, get them into our industry, let them know what a great, great career you can have in title.

What are some leadership qualities you believe are essential for success in this industry? I think there's a couple qualities that you need to be successful in this industry, whether in leadership or not. And I think that is the investigative mindset. I think any role that you have in our industry, you have to put that investigator hat on. out and speak to the younger generation and get them in, get them into our industry, let them know what a great, great career you can have in Tidal.

What are some leadership qualities you believe are essential for success in this industry? I think there's a couple qualities that you need to be successful in this industry, whether in leadership or not. And I think that is the investigative mindset. I think any role that you have in our industry, you have to put that investigator hat on. Nothing is black and white in this industry.

So you really do have to be a creative thinker, investigative thinker, think outside the box, be open to new, to change. That's hard for a lot of us, but our industry is always changing. Yeah, I think that's what I would say. For women looking to step into leadership or start their own agencies, like in the East Coast where it can do that, what key piece of advice would you give them? I would really lean into that mentor piece.

I would reach out to other women who have done the same thing or who are doing the same thing, pick their brain, figure out what they did because we can learn from each other's mistakes, right? The other thing I would say, which has really helped me rise in my career is you have to have that confidence to stand in that room and sit at that table with the other men in our industry who've been in this industry for a long time. It could be intimidating, but the way that I've built my confidence is really through the education piece as well. And so if you're looking to start an agency, just absorb as much as you can about what goes into that. When you have that knowledge behind you, you're just going to feel stronger and you're going to do great.

You just mentioned that our industry is always changing for that we're going to shift gears to automation and innovation in the industry. Technology is reshaping the talent industry. How can women leverage automation and digital tools to advance their careers and business? I think women need to embrace, just like men, honestly, but women really need to embrace these changes because they're happening, whether we like it or not, and we have to get on board. I know there's a lot of talk about AI and people are scared, but I truly believe that the ones who are going to succeed are the ones who are going to be able to leverage these tools just to make themselves more productive, stand out in a very saturated industry.

We need to do something, right? My advice to women is just take it all in, learn about it, don't be scared, and just go for it. Yeah. As the adage, I repeated this in the show a few times, is that you're not going to lose your job to AI, but you're going to lose your job to somebody using AI. Exactly.

That's why we have, in the Talent Agents podcast, we have a segment called AI Corner. Once a month, we demystify it and really try to dumb it down as much as possible to make people less scared of it. Yeah. That's a great idea. Yeah.

Yeah. We're working on that. Take the fear out of it. Yeah, exactly. If you look at it, it kind of mirrors how, a long time ago now, I think it's been like 15 years, when we introduced Offshore Resources to our industry, it was the same kind of concept where everybody was scared of something new, and it's turned out to be a great tool.

Nobody's lost their jobs. We just use it as a great supplement to what we're doing. I do see kind of technology and AI mirroring that journey as well. Awesome. Let's go, you mentioned giving back and community impact earlier in our conversation.

So Women Entitled focuses on charitable initiatives. Can you share some of the ways the group is making a broad impact beyond our industry? Yeah. So I can speak to the Denver chapter specifically. So, like I mentioned earlier, each year we pick a local charity that supports women in our community.

Last year, we chose HomeAid Colorado, HomeAid is in a lot of states, so a lot of agents listening to this may recognize the name. And so, we were lucky enough and we were able to collect three carloads worth of items needed for women living on the street or women escaping unsafe living environments. We also, thanks to all of our members and their generous donations, we did a silent auction and were able to raise a lot of funds for their cause as well. And this year, we are organizing our very first volunteer day for International Women's Day next month. So- Wow, what day is that?

It's March 8th. March 8th. But we're going to do it in the middle of the month because March 8th is a Saturday. But just for everyone's schedule, so we picked a local charity where a lot of our companies, you know, pay for a volunteer day, almost like PTO. So I've got a great group of women who have opted in, we've picked a local charity, we're going to go help them throughout the day.

And yeah, so that's what we do, we really, really like to pick those charities or initiatives within our community that we can help and give back. And a lot of our other chapters in other states are looking to do the same thing. Awesome. We are definitely going to put your info in the show notes. And so listeners can look into the information, so they can either participate or maybe expand the group to their locations.

That would be great. Yeah, we want to see everybody have the opportunity to participate in our community. So we're excited. So how can listeners get involved with Women Entitled and support this mission? So right now, join our community.

We are on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. You can find us on any of those. We just opened up our new community forum on LinkedIn, which is a private group on LinkedIn. It's a safe space for women to talk about any issues they're having, any topics they feel are relevant. So join that and follow our public page for updates.

Reach out to me, reach out to anyone who's a member of the community, and we'll tell you all about it. It's our favorite topic. We'll talk about it. And we'll provide you the resources within your city, in your state. And if we don't have them there yet, we'll help you get started.

And we will support you in your needs. As a follow-up question, I'd assume the LinkedIn forum is specifically for women only. And a second question is, what kind of conversations are you seeing that you can share? I mean, if it's private, obviously, keep it private, but... Yeah.

So right now, the forum is just for women. We just locked it down to a private forum this week. So the conversations are still just brewing. And we're actually, we have feelers out and we have a survey out to the team to try to encourage them to start those conversations. So we expect, you know, career advice or difficult situations that they're dealing with at the office.

Those are the types of conversations that will come up in our in-person meetings. So I expect the same within the forum. Awesome. So we're getting close to the end here. Do you have a favorite quote?

One quote that I really liked recently is, ignorance is the same as evil when judged by the outcome. And the reason that I like that is because we often dismiss inappropriate or offensive behavior because we think, oh, that person doesn't know better or they don't mean it. But when you look at the outcome and the harm that it does, I truly believe it's no longer an excuse and we all need to do better. That's awesome. Do you have a favorite book of all time or one that resonates with you that you read recently?

You know, I'm not a big reader, but one that I did read at a recommendation of a friend is called On Our Best Behavior. It's all about the history of the women's movement and kind of societal pressures on women and the difference between our experiences. And I think it's a really powerful read. It opens your eyes and I recommend anybody reading it, male or female. That's awesome.

Yeah. Well, that's a wrap up for another episode of the Title Asia Podcast. A big thank you to Kimberly Whitlock for sharing her insights and for the incredible work she's doing with women in title. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe so you never miss a conversation. And if you found value in today's discussion, we'd love for you to leave us a five-star review on YouTube and also one of your favorite platforms to listen to this podcast on.

It helps us reach more title professionals like you. Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you next time. And that's a wrap on today's journey with Mo Shamil from the Title Agents Podcast, reminding you that mastering the art of innovation is key in the title industry's fast-paced world. If you're finding it tough to keep up with the changes and challenges, remember, you're not alone.

Our calendar is open for you. Find the link in the show notes and let's connect. Make sure to hit subscribe to not miss out on strategies that elevate and insights that empower. Together, we'll navigate the future of the industry. I look forward to our next meeting in the upcoming episode.