We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lady Of Banks a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Lady of thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you get your first job in the field that you practice in today?

I was trying to pick between which of the options were available, but my first internship changed my life. I was in college and in the communication school when I applied for a position at a midsize international communications company.

I started in human resources, which is where my desk would be in the news building. Yes I said news. I’m as old as newspaper. And when I met with the head of HR, I wanted to be exactly like her.

I fashioned myself accordingly, and I knew to wear a skirt to work. She challenged me and she pushed me through every bit of the process including the press itself. Oh, that smell of newspapers is hauntingly fabulous

She shaped me up and the next year she called me and said I need you to come to work for me. Can you come visit and chat?

There was an opportunity and she told me it was a golden one that would lead me to my ultimate success if I would take it. I said yes. I was really scared to call my father and tell him I am quitting college.

My father was very involved with his university. He actually sat on an emeritus board that they had to create for him because they needed him.

My father was an entrepreneur, I was able to watch him my whole life because my mother died when I was young. I would sit in meetings with senators and his entire staff and occasionally I would interrupt and throw in my opinion. It was met with applause, and I knew that I needed to use my voice.

At 19 years old I was working full-time for a fashion magazine. It was amazing and it was wild and it was fun and it was PINK. We lead the charge by putting all of our 60+ newspapers online as well as 20+ magazines.

Now it has been around 25 years since that internship and in between that, I started a business with sweat equity and it hit its peak at 1.9 million in sales. I was the CEO for 15 years.

I worked in the healthcare system, the nonprofit healthcare system. I raised millions of dollars in just a few months. But unfortunately, my body started calling me.

I was in and out of the hospital dealing with multiple issues. It took 20 years of working hard and proving that we can shatter glass ceilings. But we do get tired. I am medically retired but I still have a lot of life left in me.

I’m not going anywhere, so you’re gonna have to deal or run! Haha!

I think that a good laugh and a hug are great medicine, but there is a lot to do in this country and I am working behind the scenes to do whatever it takes to keep that torch held high

In my time, I have found the most peace I have ever wanted in my life. I honestly had not had peace since my mother died. I did not know what it was like to go through all of that childhood. There was no 16th birthday tea and a lot was intentionally served upon me after my father remarried, I was invisible.

I asked to go to therapy at 15 years old. I had been moved from my bedroom to the basement just like Cinderella.

But that wasn’t going to be the end of my story, that’s just a chapter.

I am now living in the most divine chapter of my life. My health is terrible, but my happiness is overflowing. Indulge in privacy, so Lady Of Banks is the best you were getting, but if you’d like to go to the Lady Of Banks, you’ll see what I’m doing.

I’m creating pieces that are going to be available and approachable for people because I can’t make but a very small amount a month. Everything over that is going to charity. I need my healthcare because even one of my medications is $8000 a month.

I am right now working on my leather goods and colored lab grown diamonds. I live a life of pink, my husband is the greatest man in the whole world, and he makes sure that my rose colored glasses are secured

But to be honest, now, I am known as mama. And I can’t be found in the garden. Fairies know how to hide.

I know it’s a wild and twisting story, but it’s the only way it can be told

Here are some facts about me:
1. I used to sing with James Brown.
2. I woke someone out of 61 day coma- which proves that I am Gabby
Shines through -she woke up to shut me up.
3. My love of poodles should be part of my title.
4. Ge, is a shortened version of my first name which I shared with my grandmother. Double first boy names.
5. Last night I got a message from a girl who used to be a shopper for me. I helped her reach a year of sobriety yesterday.
6. Kids curiosity is mind blowing. I’d rather lay down in a field of daisies with my children, then be anywhere in the world. Well maybe France.

🇫🇷 MERCI
@theladyofbanks
[email protected]
www.theladyofbanks.com (under construction)

If you can’t change, then you don’t grow. Share your smile it is free. Pick up your pieces and someone else’s. Learn to love but to have boundaries. Do not share what is yours to keep. That does not make selfish, it makes you connected.

and lastly, life is going to punch you down. You’re gonna have to get right back up on that horse. Between God and therapy and love you will realize that you have enough.

If I can give that one bit of advice, just pray for enough, and then you will live a world of bounty

Lady of , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

The Lady Of Banks is a Luxury brand made for people who can’t get in Hermes. I am dropping my first piece in honor of my best friend during pride! And throughout the first month of my business 100% of proceeds are going to charity. That’s right. Right out of the gate I want to show you that I’m here to make you feel good.

And if that’s not your bag, I am a horse, a deeply emotional being. I love to talk about therapy and I absolutely get in with every single follower of my account.

I am thrilled to release an eight piece collection, which is starting in just a wink! My creative director is in Hong Kong, his name is CoCo and together we are going to make fashion fun, sustainable, structured, capsuled pieces. Made of only the highest quality and served to you like the queen you are.

Welcoming all people to my barbecue. IYKYK

If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?

If I could go back in time, I would know that I would have excelled in science, and if I had known that I would have studied more in high school. I would love to be a doctor. Having worked on the executive side of healthcare I received the proper inoculations so that I could go in to procedures. I have seen miracles right in front of me. And people who come in looking like they are going to die and instead they get a left ventricular assist device. And I can explain every bit about the surgery.

My doctors are always shocked at my ability to ask the right questions and also to talk about procedures. I am not a doctor Google, but I proudly served my community by truly getting at the heart of the matter.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I was making my rounds in the hospital and I happened to know The couple that was in the room. I knew that he was to be discharged sometime that week. When I went in, I just knew something was off so I pricked his foot and he didn’t react. I saw that his wife who is wonderful was suctioning his throat. I asked about how often that was going on and then a few other questions and then I ran to the nurses station. It was 5 PM on a Friday and everyone was gone pretty much unless they were on call.

I called an incredibly talented and equally kind surgeon who always shows up. He’s a hero. They were headed out to the beach, and he immediately turned around based on my limited knowledge.

I was terrified. I didn’t know what to do. I had already tried to reach out to the surgeon and she was off duty. I was mind blown.

I waited in the hall until he arrived and I think I held my breath the whole time he was in there. He walked out and he said you just saved a life and We are getting him into surgery right now,

The patient had been on steroids and of course there is swelling when you are on steroids. The patient did not stop using them, even though signed off at preopand when they put the spacers in his spine, everything looked right in surgery, but after a few days without steroids the spacers were slipping and coming out and pressing on his spine.

The doctor went in from the opposite side, and thankfully this man is still living and they give me a call every year. It was one of the Most defining moments in my life.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.theladyofbanks.com
• Instagram: @theladyofbanks @theladyofbanksjewels @theladyofbankshome, @theladyofbanksgarden
• Other: Thank you for allowing my peace and privacy. We do have a face for the brand and I Just crowned her Last week. Should you need a picture of me? I would love to make something where it keeps my presence private.

Image Credits

@missladyofbanks