She’s making bank!
Meet Kiko Davis, the owner of the only Black woman-owned bank in the nation, Black Enterprise reports. She follows in the footsteps of Maggie Lena Walker, who became the first Black woman to own a bank in 1903.
Davis is a majority stockholder of the First Independence Bank, the tenth-largest Black-owned bank in the United States. The stock was acquired as a trustee of the Donald Davis Living Trust, named in honor of her husband, who is managing director of Groovesville Productions & Publishing, which controls the rights to multiple Grammy Award-winning music catalogs.
As owner and operator of the bank, Davis credits most of her leadership to other women in senior roles that served as models for her. In addition to running the bank, Davis also serves as founder and president of the Don Davis Legacy Foundation. Davis said her passion for the work and people makes her stand out as a unique leader.
“The ability to genuinely connect with people and inspire a culture of synergy [is] a God-given talent that comes naturally. People tend to lend the very best of themselves when they feel leaders are passionate about them and their environment,” Davis told Rolling Out.
View this post on Instagramadvertisement
The trailblazing banker also spoke about why she felt women are better leaders, saying, “We possess a level of empathy for people in general with a higher level of sensitivity towards women and minorities. Oftentimes, it’s a skill set that, unfortunately, some men and non-minorities do not possess. They simply are socialized differently. I believe in order to lead people effectively, you must be able to understand them, or at least want to.”
Click here for more information about Davis’ First Independence Bank.
Photo Courtesy of Breanne White/Rolling Out