Welcome to E!'s Tales From the Top, our series on women who are leaders in their fields and masters of their craft. Spanning industries and experiences, these powerhouse women answer all the questions you've ever had about how they got to where they are today—and what they overcame to get there. Read along as they bring their resumés to life.
In the housing industry, Patty Arvielo is what you'd call a household name.
When the billionaire businesswoman co-founded New American Funding 20 years ago, she never dreamed of creating one of the nation's largest private, Latina-owned mortgage companies. But the first-generation Latina, who is a mega Oprah Winfrey fan, let the television host's words of wisdom be her guide.
"I've watched every one of her shows and she always says, 'If you can see it, you can be it,'" Patty told E! News. "It's an important piece of advice...If you don't believe in yourself and you can't see yourself as wealthy or being in shape or happy in your marriage, or whatever it is, nobody else is going to see it."
As she put it, "You gotta see it first and then it shines."
It's clear the 57-year-old hasn't let anyone dim her light, as she's left an indelible mark in the mortgage world, sharing that she's thought of as "The Oprah of Hispanic and African American lending" in her industry.
Her rather straightforward secret: "I found my passion and I just work harder than most people. I put in more time than most people."
And four decades in, she's not about to slow down her hustle.
"You can't be complacent," she simply stated. "When people hit the lotto, you think they're done? The work starts after they win. Money has an energy and a power. No one can say, 'When I've won, I'm done.' Because when you're done, you're in the dirt. And I'm not done."
She's also not stingy with her advice, dropping so many gems with E! News about embracing failure (just don't make the same mistake twice!), how being a Latina in a male-dominated industry is her superpower and other inspiring lessons she's learned along the way.
E! News: How did you start your career in the mortgage industry?
Patty Arvielo: I was 16 and searching for a job that paid me the most per hour. I took a clerical data input job, and, a couple of years into it, I finally asked the people ordering the credit reports, "Why do you even need these?" They're like, "We do mortgage loans." They made more money than me, so I went to the Sunday paper, and I found a loan opener receptionist position.
By the time I was 19, a gentleman handed me a box of cards and said, "Ask realtors for loan referrals." That was my first sales job...I failed terribly. By that time, I had a friend that sold loans and she was making a lot more money than me. I took the most entry-level position so I could get in. I was 24 years old and within the year, I worked my way up to an assistant vice president role...It was really chasing the almighty dollar, chasing the opportunity to gain expertise. I always saw myself making more money. It was hard work, but I found my passion early on.
E! News: Why is it important for you to focus on serving the Latinx and Black community?
PA: In the '90s, I was working in Fountain Valley, Calif., which borders Santa Ana, and I wondered why the area was so much busier than mine. It was because Latinos were still buying homes. They were not rate-conscious, they just wanted the opportunity to get in. So, here I am in Santa Ana, I look non-Hispanic, non-Latina, but I started knocking on doors and dropping Spanish. We, as a culture, bind together and I got a lot of support from my community.
I'm one of the very few women that are specializing in lending to my demographic and the culture that I love so much. And there are some nuances in the way we spend our money in comparison to white people, so I find myself the expert in it. In my industry, I'm quite famous for being the Oprah of Hispanic lending and African American lending as well.
E! News: What has your experience been like as a Latina navigating the mortgage industry?
PA: My superpower is being Latina. A large part of our success has been our outreach to underserved communities and people looking at my company and seeing themselves in our narrative. When companies and corporations seek to penetrate a demographic, it should be represented by the demographic. Oftentimes, companies will go after the Latino market, but they don't hire a Latino.
In the beginning, I was scared and walking on eggshells, hoping not to offend. But I'm a woman and I'm a Latina, so I gotta rock who I am. I want to thrive, I want to win. We're looking up to males, but why aren't they looking up to us? It's because they don't know how to. There's still a struggle, but I'm hoping for the next generation, because of women like me speaking up, it will be different.
E! News: What inspired you to create your own company?
PA: I married really young, at 24, and had two kids. By the time I was 30, my first husband left me. All of a sudden, he walked out the door and was gone. My safety net was gone. I found myself a failure, being a divorcée and, at the time, we were in a down cycle in mortgage. So not only was I depressed but there was no work. My parents helped me through that struggle and it took me about a year to get on my feet. At that point in time, I couldn't commit to a nine-to-five job...so that was the early step of my self-employment.
Then, I got set up with this wonderful man, who I now claim as my husband, and he was a successful entrepreneur. He invested all of the profits of his own company in the tech sector during the tech boom and...we became really, really, really rich. But overnight, we became really, really poor. I'm like, "Why don't you come to work with me? Why don't you come to mortgage?" So he dove right in. We synergistically were the merger that nobody could do—he's really good at everything I'm not good at, and I'm really good at everything he's not good at. It was a good partnership and we started building this company, New American Funding. We're going to celebrate our 20th year next year.
E! News: What is a memorable business mistake you made and what lesson did you learn from it?
PA: I was lucky that I failed early. I got all kinds of credit card debt when I was young. I didn't have financial awareness, I wasn't taught how to balance a checkbook and I wasn't taught that you don't take credit because you can get 10 percent off. I cleaned up my credit by the time I was 25. That was probably my first failure and my second big one was my first marriage. And I've made several missteps in business. You think that just because you own a company, you're a leader. You're not. It's something you have to work on daily. But I fail every day, all the time. I just don't fail at the same thing twice.
E! News: When you reflect on your accomplishments, what makes you proud?
PA: My kids make me proud. They're all uber-successful in their own way. My oldest is a very successful hotel leader, creator and artist. My middle is a phenomenal mother and I'm very proud of that. And my youngest is only 18, but he's an accomplished theater performer and straight-A student. I'm proud of my marriage, and thirdly, I'm proud of the company we built. We're the 20th largest overall and we're the 10th largest retailer originator. I never, ever dreamed of that. I also don't take it for granted, I'm always working on our vision and working to be better than we were yesterday...I'm very smart in a different way—I don't have a college degree and I have a learning disability, but being a typical Latina, I work harder than most people. I put in more time than most people. I don't seek balance because that's irritating to me...I'm not done, there's so much for me to do.
E! News: You've made such an impact with your business and mentorship. Why is it important for you to share your expertise with others?
PA: I find myself very alone as a woman in business—even more as a Latina in business. Men have been in business much longer than women. I mean, there are clubs for them and all they do is talk about business. Women don't have that. So, I find myself spending a good amount of time speaking to people that I've just met or doing my mentorship class. I spend my time giving information that I was struggling to find. I find success and relevance in other people's success and I'm really happy when other women are killing it.