Creativity comes from adversity--life lessons and twitter

@JillCastilla of @CitizensEdmond with newest version of #clarkclass

@Okieprof

Jill Castilla, vibrant president and CEO of Citizens Bank in Edmond, brought her experiences and passion for success and community to the UCO Twitter for Media class, #clarkclass, yesterday.

In an hour and a half session, she told of turning around a bank in crisis in 2009 to the success it is today. She and it are nationally recognized, much of it due to the use of twitter and other social media. The bank has more than 30,000 followers in social media.

She was named “Most Admired CEOs in Oklahoma", “Most Innovative CEOs in Banking”, "Community Banker of the Year" and "Most Powerful Women in Banking" in 2015

She joined twitter in one day after hearing about it at a national conference. Now she and her bank are models of its use; she speaks at conferences around the country, and via Skpe, internationally, about its use and community banking. 

"Owning our story," Jill Castilla with Ann Chen at right

Of course there's more to the story, and the one theme that stood out was  how adversity spurs creativity and courage. There was no PR gloss coating of what the bank had been through from Jill. "We own our story," she says, speaking frankly of its travails and those in  her own life.

Now as Edmond's smallest, and oldest, and only community bank, it sponsors the wildly popular @HeardonHurd music and food festival once a month, donates $50,000 a year to Edmond Public Schools (more than any other much bigger bank in Edmond), and is rejuvenating downtown Edmond including it's renovation of  the original building.

She was assisted yesterday by her chief marketing officer, Ann Chen, who she convinced to come to Edmond after meeting her in Washington D.C.

After each speaker, the class debriefs, and here is a compilation of student comments, noted by @AshleyNapier21.

@JillCastilla Debrief

• Quick bank turnaround is impressive and  social media was a key.
• A little bank received lots of recognition and anyone can do it.
• Jill took it upon herself for all of her social media efforts. She didn’t have anyone else do it.
• She likes to read about people dealing with failure rather than uplifting information.
• She didn’t quit and had many reasons to quit, but never did. Her fearlessness equated to much success for her, her bank, and her community.
• She experienced many trials and it never stopped her. She kept going.
• HeardOnHurd is not profitable, but is done anyway to build value in the community.
• She isn’t all about the bank. She is all about the bank AND the community and she is using social media to back that up.
• Her framework for social media  is GAP (Genuine, Accurate, Positive)
• Evoke Coffee, built goodwill by letting them use CBEdmond’s internet.
• She got banned on Twitter, rebuilt a bank, and didn’t let that stop her.
• She is a positive influence on a personal level.
• She is personally invested in her bank and community because of her mom and stepdad. That made her self-reliant and achieve greatness.
• She is self-taught in social media.
• She doesn’t think she is creative, but really is and has found how to be productive. Not only is she creative, she has created long-term success.
• She has held every position in the bank. It helps her to be able to relate to many different positions and people.
• Failure is an option.
• She is trustworthy because she is so open about her problems.
• She is relatable and has given us permission to be ourselves. Seeing a female in a position of power is motivating.
• Twitter is more than a tool, it is a way of life. 

Student comments before class about the class:

• Past students have changed. Is this class a cult? What is in store for our class and what can we expect to change after we finish this class?
• When you retweet things it makes people feel special and feel like they think they are doing something special.
• Twitter is different on a computer than it is on a phone.