After immigrating to the United States with her family, Minh (Emily) Duong’s career path was unclear.  

For a while, she worked part-time in retail. But Emily wanted a more meaningful career.  

“After I came to the US with my family, I had no direction,” she recalls. “I did not know to build a career plan. In the darkest time, I came across the BankWork$ program.” 

Emily had found the BankWork$ program with our Bay Area partners, Fremont Adult and Continuing Education. 

“It was the opportunity I was looking for, so I could not let it slip away.” 

In April 2018, Emily began our free, eight-week BankWork$ training program. It was the first all-female class BankWork$ class in the history of the Bay Area program, “a circle of support, friendship and sisterhood to rely on,”as Emily describes it. 

Emily experienced our program that provides the hard and soft skills they need for entry-level roles in banking, a curriculum that was co-developed by employers and community-serving organizations to ensure success. Emily graduated from the BankWork$ program that June. The youngest in her class, her peers chose her to be the class graduation speaker.  

After graduating, Emily interviewed for open roles with our partner banks partners. She soon received two offers, and she accepted a position with Bank of America as a part-time teller. Within the first six weeks, Emily was promoted to a full-time teller role. She was also recognized for her excellent customer service skills.  

In 2019, Emily was promoted to a Lead Teller role and continues to receive accolades for her top performance in her new career with Bank of America.   

“Regardless of which banking positions you would like to apply to later, after completing this short-term program, you are well equipped with the most powerful tool, customer service skills, which helps differentiate you from the crowd,” says Emily. “I was so grateful for every lesson from the BankWork$ program.” 

Today, nearly two years into her career in financial services, Emily’s advice to her fellow BankWork$ students is simple: 

“Be confident in your abilities and do not give up…If I can do it, then, yes, you can make it through as well.” 

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