“She tried to bring me in for real when I was in high school and during my early college years,” Deshawn remembers. “But it didn’t work out. I didn’t mind coming in to lend a hand, but it always seemed I was given small tedious tasks. I’m one of those people who needs my mind engaged and being used. I like to solve problems. My mind works best coming up with and figuring out solutions to problems.

“It wasn’t that I didn’t ever want to be in the mortgage business. I often say I was guilt-tripped into the business. It’s hard to say no to your mother.

“Turns out, the last time she asked me to come help her and CMS, I was in a place where I wasn't living up to my full potential. I wasn't challenging myself. So, I came into the business and committed to learning everything, for real. It was, and still is, a process. I have sat in pretty much everyone’s chair to reach where I am today. And that’s deliberate. I continually ask, ‘How can we improve?’ To answer this question and to direct and train where needed, I always need to be learning and have a mindset open to productive change. “Working with my mother is interesting. We laugh a lot, and we shout some, too. But in the end, we share an ideology. We’re passionate and can get into heated battles, but there’s nothing personal. We know how far to push the limit between work and family.

“She tells a story about us being in the war room, yelling, arguing, going back and forth. Then coming out and saying, ‘What’s for dinner?’ We don’t clash about what’s important. And when we do clash heads, it’s only because we care enough to make sure we are successful and can provide for our family and help our clients.”

Deshawn is a flexible and strongly adaptable leader. He brings the same question into his leadership philosophy as he does to the business as a whole, ‘How can I be better?’ “I think one of my strengths is being available and keeping the pulse on what we need to succeed. Especially when it comes to dealing with people and being understanding as well. I've learned from working with my mother about giving direction without dictating, and how people interact with each other.”

As a leader in the industry, Deshawn is keenly interested in ensuring the mortgage business has a strong and healthy future. He feels strongly about bringing youth into the business. “The mortgage industry is not glamorous. College grads don’t graduate with a degree in mortgage saying, I want to be a loan officer! It’s up to us to make it a little more glamorous to start with a mortgage company and build a successful career.

"I think the glamor will come from keeping flexibility in the industry. I can work from wherever I go. We can go wherever we want and still be productive. There are many roles, many ways a person can truly fit in a mortgage company.”

Deshawn believes mortgage has opportunities for people who want to learn and excel. In particular, he speaks of the growth potential for his company in the coming years. “I believe we will have several departments within departments which will allow us to provide for even more families than we do today. This is another lesson I’ve learned from my mom: always ask how many families can we feed. Or how many generations under US can we provide for? We pride ourselves on being able to provide for our work families and, in an important way, our customer families. Being able to keep raising up those umbrellas and give opportunities for people to learn and earn within our industry is what I see happening in the next five years.”