VYP Q&A: Daniel Carrasco, Bank of America

Get to know some of your fellow VYPers in this recurring series of Q&A sessions with some of the Valley's top young professionals. This month, meet Daniel Carrasco. The Assistant Vice President of Small Business Banking at Bank of American in Phoenix, Carrasco is an active community volunteer and longs for a European adventure.

Q. What are your primary responsibilities at B of A?

A. Bank of America recently developed a program to aid small businesses, which it hadn’t offered before. My primary responsibilities are to create, maintain and develop relationships with business owners and serve as their liaison through the bank.

Q. What’s the first thing you do when you get to the office each morning?

A. I follow up on issues or leads from the day before. I don't like to contact my clients if I don't have an answer, so I will work with my department to get answers and have the most up-to-date information – that’s my first priority. I’m excited to begin each day because I get to meet so many different people; I don't think in any other field do you get to have a conversation with a carpenter and a doctor and have similar discussions. I learn so much about different fields, every day is a different learning experience.

Q. What is most rewarding about your job?

A. Being able to grow with a business owner. Their successes are your successes; it’s a team effort.

Q. What’s the best advice you have received?

A. “If you always give more than you expected to receive, you will always receive more than you expected to give.” And, it’s always rung true!

Q. What advice would you give yourself today to a young Daniel Carrasco beginning his professional career?

A. Failure is okay, as long as you learned something. I think in the past I really put myself down when I felt I had failed. As I mature in my career, I find that sometimes failure is a way to check your ego and teach you different ways to do things.

Q. What are your long-term professional goals?

A. I want to expand my presence with business owners all over the Valley and become the trusted business advisor for those business owners. Later in life I would like to get into education, as I enjoy teaching and mentoring. One thing I believe will be most important in helping me achieve my goal of expanding my presence is continuing to have a consistent presence in the Greater Phoenix Chamber and leveraging those relationships the organization brings to the table.

Q. How do you spend your free time?

A. I volunteer for the Boy's and Girl's Club of Metropolitan Phoenix by coaching baseball. I also enjoy mentoring students and preparing them for college. I work with Metro Tech to mentor students in its banking and finance program. I would like to go to Bavaria in Germany. I took a German class in college and have wanted to go ever since because I find German culture so astounding.


This interview, conducted by Sandy Des Georges, is part of the Chamber's monthly Valley Young Professionals email. To find out more about being a part of the VYP group, click here. To sign up for any or all of the Chamber's newsletters, click here.