Lourdes Sierra PNC Financial Services Group

Lourdes Sierra grew up in southeastern Arizona, close to the Mexican border. Raised in a small agricultural farming community, she spent her youth working in the fields to help her family. “It was through that hard work that I learned those valuable lessons that resonated with me throughout my life,” she said.

One of them was aspiring to pursue higher education.

“That was unheard of because my parents collectively only had three years of formal education,” Sierra said. “I always viewed education as an opportunity for me to change my trajectory.”

She became heavily involved with Chicanos Por La Causa while she was an undergrad at Arizona State University. After she graduated, she stayed in the community and did education outreach campaigns for ASU to increase the number of underrepresented students who attended the university.

“I’ve always had a passion for community, even though I was a business major,” Sierra said. “At the end of the day, we only become a stronger community and a stronger country when we’re all given opportunities to achieve.”

As vice president of client & community relations at PNC Financial Services Group, she is helping to do just that. Early childhood education is a focus area for the organization that hits close to home for Sierra. “It’s an area that, frankly, is underfunded and underappreciated,” she said. “If we’re going to meet the educational outcomes that we want to see in communities, it’s got to start at the earliest level.”

Education and community have been driving forces in Sierra’s life since she was a girl. Today, she tries to share the fruits of those labors with others — and lift communities in the process. “That’s really what I’m trying to do. I’m trying to move from transactional giving to transformational impact,” she said.