PODEROSAS: Power, Purpose, Cultura | Caroline, Roseanne & Arlyn - 063

What does it take to become a Latina leader in banking and lending? Every guest on this episode has a version of the story people never hear. They see the title. They see the promotion.

What they don't see is the manager who once told Roseanne, "we don't need two Latinas in this branch." Or Arlyn relearning how to walk and talk after a car accident at 17. Or Caroline watching her mother tour as a musician across three continents just to build a life of her own.

This Hispanic Heritage Month, I sat down with three Latina leaders in banking and lending, Caroline Isern of New American Funding, Roseanne Helmani, and Arlyn Kalinski of Rate, to talk about what actually shapes a poderosa. Not the accolades. The sacrifices, the doors someone opened for them, and the moments they had to decide what kind of leader they were going to become.

We get into the sacrifices nobody talks about, the assumptions people made about them because of their age or their background, and why cultura still matters in rooms built for people who don't look like us.

Meet the Leaders

• Caroline Isern: VP, Multi-Cultural Lending, New American Funding

• She grew up watching her mother, an Afro-Latina immigrant who built an independent career as a touring musician across Europe and Latin America, work harder than anyone she knew to build something of her own. Caroline is passionate about building teams from the ground up and leads by pointing people toward what makes them shine, not just what they need to improve.

• Roseanne Djelmane: SVP, Banking (employer not confirmed)

• She has spent more than 45 years in banking, starting out as a single mother of two navigating a male-dominated industry with no roadmap to follow. Roseanne is a former Los Angeles chapter president of NAHREP and a NAHREP 10 Certified Trainer, and two years ago she went back to school and earned her master's degree with a 4.0 GPA.

• Arlyn Kalinski: SVP, Fair & Equitable Lending Strategies, Rate (formerly Guaranteed Rate)

• She grew up in Isabela, Puerto Rico, in a home where education was treated as sacred, and a serious car accident at 17 taught her that setbacks don't get the final word. Arlyn found her purpose during the mortgage crisis, building infrastructure that helps limited-English-proficient borrowers navigate the homebuying process in their own language.

The Moments That Shaped Them

Each guest traced her leadership back to a specific turning point.

• Caroline points to her mother's grit as an immigrant artist who never let being an outsider define what was possible for her.

• Roseanne points to raising two children alone while working her way up in banking in the late 1980s and early 1990s, long before flexibility was part of the conversation.

• Arlyn points to relearning how to walk and talk after her accident, an experience that taught her healing, and leadership, is never linear.

Underestimated, and What They Did With It

• Every guest has been counted out at some point, sometimes because of age, sometimes because of gender, and for Roseanne, once by another Latina who told her, "we don't need two Latinas in this branch."

• Arlyn talked about walking out of a room where a senior leader dismissed her idea for a language access program, and instead of arguing, she found an organization that would let her build it.

• Caroline put it simply: she no longer walks into a room trying to prove she belongs. She walks in already knowing what she brings to the table.

The Sacrifices Nobody Talks About

• Caroline described a stretch of her career where she was carrying two roles at once until her body forced her to stop, panic attacks included, and that's what pushed her to protect her health as a non-negotiable rather than a luxury.

• Arlyn talked about the nightly math every working parent knows: choosing between finishing a deck and showing up for her son's art project, and deciding that neither choice makes you a failure. It just makes you someone who is juggling, not balancing.

• Arlyn's recommended read on this topic: Women Don't Ask

• Roseanne's recommended read: When Your Adult Children Disappoint You

Who Opened the Door for Them

• Caroline credited Patty Arvielo, co-founder and president of New American Funding, who gave her the chance to build a sister company from the ground up.

• Roseanne credited her children, her husband, and a former boss who gave her a national role without letting her age work against her.

• Arlyn credited a manager who put her on the spot in a room full of regulators and senior leaders, trusting that she had earned the room before Arlyn trusted it herself.

Why Cultura Still Matters

• All three guests are active with NAHREP, and each described the same thing: a room where business gets done alongside music, hugs, and community, without one canceling out the other.

• Arlyn put words to something many Latina leaders feel but rarely say out loud: humility is a value they were raised with, but in corporate America, quiet can get mistaken for a lack of ambition.

• Her advice was simple. Speak up. No mita ya no aplica.

Leadership Advice, Books, and Quotes

• Roseanne shared the measure of success that guides her leadership: "I don't look and measure myself against other people. I measure myself against myself."

• Arlyn recommended Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide by Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever. She also shared a leadership principle that stood out to her: "Real leadership is about whether the door stays open once you go through, and whether you bring others with you."

• Caroline shared a principle she now leads by: "Being different doesn't mean you don't belong. You're in the room because of what you bring to it."

When you help another woman rise, we all shine. And that’s how we make an impact. So, let’s build each other up and shine brighter than the sun. For more great content from Teresa, connect with her on LinkedIn, join her Women Who Lead Series on Facebook, and subscribe to her YouTube channel. You can find more episodes of Women Who Lead on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and anywhere else podcasts can be found.