Tui Landa, Loan Officer
Originally from Thailand, Tui came to the US in 1971. She got her Masters in Business Education and was preparing to attend UC Davis for a PhD when she met her husband and life took her in another direction.
Before Business Impact NW, Tui worked in consumer banking and commercial loan servicing for big-name banks as well as auditing and documentation for the Small Business Administration (SBA). She found us online and was instantly drawn to our nonprofit mission. With her background in education, she originally considered becoming a business coach but her extensive professional experience was a perfect fit for our loan department. Now working part-time as a loan officer, she loves feeling like she’s part of a good cause; sometimes having the opportunity to fight for clients she believes in and even staying in touch beyond the loan process. The work is interesting and sometimes difficult but seeing clients succeed is worth it. She looks forward to being invited to more grand openings and helping more people achieve their dreams, a distinct possibility since clients love working with her as much as she does them.
Tui spends her free time with her family- 2 daughters and 3 grandchildren, her 3 “fat, spoiled dogs”, and enjoys gardening, cooking and travelling the world. She’s looking ahead to retirement eventually, but for now is happy to be back in Seattle. And we’re happy she’s here!
Henry Wong, Business Consultant and Office of Labor Standards Project Manager
As a small business owner himself, Henry recalls how fortunate he was to have a large network of people and resources available when starting out and wanted to leverage those experiences to become part of other aspiring entrepreneurs support networks. Finding Business Impact NW was a perfect match.
Henry started as a contractor with the Washington Women’s Business Center educating local small business owners on Seattle’s Office of Labor Standards (OLS) ordinances. Through this outreach doing trainings, workshops and one-on-one counseling he helps them develop tools and resources to meet compliance laws and seeks to understand the impacts of those standards on the communities we serve. When his contract with the OLS grant was up, it was an easy transition to joining our staff full time and expanding his role to include counseling clients on whatever aspects of their businesses they need help with- from conceptual planning in the early stages to sales and operations.
Like Tui, Henry was drawn to Business Impact NW’s mission of empowering entrepreneurs in underserved communities. His mom emigrated from China and built her own business from the bottom up over 30 years ago. Her hard work and experiences gave him the tools to eventually start his own business and to see first-hand how important it is to have access to resources that can help. He says his counseling sessions with clients feel more like “a conversation than coaching” and feels he often gets as much out of it as they do. In the future, he says he may consider starting another business himself but for now is enjoying expanding on the work he does here. “Seattle is comprised of so many unique and vibrant communities and being able to help them thrive makes it that much more exciting.”