Lexington, KY - Myndall Coffman learned financial responsibility at an earlier age than many. She was supporting herself from the time she left home for college, which meant working full time during the day as a bank teller, while taking classes at night. She was a homeowner at 21, the same year she married her middle school sweetheart. Two years later, she skipped out on her college graduation - with good reason: she was giving birth to her oldest son, Tanner.
Seven years (and another child) down the road, Coffman says she has questioned at certain moments whether signing on for so much so early on was the best decision. But as challenging as it may have been to juggle work, school and family, she ultimately has no regrets.
"It certainly worked," she said, though she admits that at the same time, she was eager to put school behind her and start working full time. "I was able to get all that out of the way and just start living."
Her ability to juggle remains Coffman's biggest achievement.
"It's so difficult to really try to focus on your career, all the while giving back to the community and raising and maintaining a family," she said.
Yet, she has balanced working full time with weekend activities that include swim lessons, soccer, play dates, hiking, and cooking out. She has sustained numerous promotions while keeping her ultimate career goal - to be a bank president - close in sight. All the while, Coffman has maintained significant community involvement, including volunteering for the Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk and the Boy Scouts of America Golf Tournament Committee, as well as serving on committees for LexArts, Leadership Lexington, Leadership Central Kentucky and the Professional Women's Forum.
Coffman said her community involvement with Leadership Lexington was a complete eye-opener to how little she actually knew about the town.
"It's empowering because you are learning so much," she said. "But you also realize how little you do for the community - how much it depends on everyone. Sometimes getting rid of your rose-colored glasses is a good thing."
The importance of teamwork has spilled over to Coffman's personal leadership style.
"I lead as a team," she said. "When you have a group going in the same direction Ö it can help your good ideas become great. Sometimes we focus too much on what we bring to the table."
Coffman, whose job duties include consumer and commercial lending, growing business for the bank, and supervising the performance of branch staff, admits that the most difficult part of her job is having to tell people no.
"I hate to see people in a bad financial situation and feel like there is nothing I can do to help," she said.
But the drawback is balanced out by the positives that include variety in her day-to-day work, and being able to spend time in the community working on an issue that affects everyone.
"Finances are such an important part of everyone's life, and it's great to help people - through the good and bad times," she said. "One of the biggest challenges for my industry in the near future will be to regain the trust and confidence that clients have been losing over the last couple of years. I have been blessed to be part of a stable institution that sits in a great place, and have always taken care of our clients first."