Jada Grandy-Mock Is Preparing New Paths for Herself, Family and Community By Angela Lindsay
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ifth Third Bank executive Jada Grandy-Mock has accomplished a series of impressive firsts throughout her life. She was the first in her family to go to college; the first to earn a master’s degree; the first to own a home; the first to get married; and will likely be the first to leave an inheritance. However, when asked what makes her most proud, her answers reflect her delight in the advancement of others. Grandy-Mock is chief corporate community economic development officer at Fifth Third Bank. She and her brother were raised by a single mother in a neighborhood in Pittsburgh where teenage pregnancies were common, she said. She also recalls her brother dodging bullets in their public housing community. While her mother worked hard, Mock was responsible for her brother along with completing household chores. Despite the hardships, Grandy-Mock stayed the course and brought her brother and others right along with her. “I’m most proud of my brother graduating from college and the father and husband he has become,” she said. “I supported my brother’s education financially, and it has really paid off.” The beauty of her experience is that her cousins attended school as well and “the generational poverty gap is gone,” GrandyMock said. None of her family members currently live in public housing. GrandyMock considers lifting up others to be one of her most important assignments in life and her work as a founding board member of the Renaissance West Community Initiative reflects her dedication to that cause. “Seeing that community thriving and being a haven of hope and economic opportunity for its residents” is extremely important to her, she said.
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