RBC
Marcie Cardinal
Branch Manager, Queen & Lee, Toronto

Marcie: I've been with RBC almost 13 years now. I started in RBC's Aboriginal High School Stay In School Program. Since then I've had the opportunity to be a Customer Service Representative, to be an Account Manager, to take on a Manager of Client Care role, to lead a de novo branch, and now to lead a retail store

I think one of the most defining moments was taking on the leadership role in the branch manager capacity. It's been a great opportunity to lead a number of different teams through a number of different strategies that RBC has, and this has been the most defining career moment for me.

I've been part of the Royal Eagles now for almost my entire career – so 12 years, 13 years. Royal Eagles has really been a foundation for me; although it's grown and evolved and people have come and folks have gone, it's always maintained its stability for me. I've had the opportunity to lead the Royal Eagles over a couple of years, which was a great learning opportunity for me.

The Royal Eagles really provides a foundation for me in the fact that it provides mentorship, career coaching. It's introduced me to some great new friends that I have been able to maintain friendships with over the last few years. The Royal Eagles has really provided an opportunity for myself, as well as my fellow Royal Eagles, to give back to our aboriginal communities and work together to do good.

A few key principles that I've used in my career have been hard work and a passion for what I do. There is a key to success in terms of really aligning your goal with some key milestones along the way, and going back and revisiting those and making sure that you've been a success at those. I've also currently started my MBA, my Master's of Business, and I'm really finding that to be helpful in my career in understanding the Bank at a higher level and understanding their strategy and what goes behind that. So, I think some key principles to use during or in your career are hard work, passion, and having a set goal in mind of where you want to be – and having the education behind to help you through.