August 2023

Elian is a Latina immigrant from Venezuela with over 20 years of experience in the lending industry. From the beginning, her passion for helping her community has been at the forefront of her career. While serving as VP Mortgage Lender at Arvest Bank, she collaborated to open the first financial literacy center aimed at teaching Spanish-speaking families about banking, budgeting, and finance. During her time at Arvest, she was also recognized as the top producer of residential government loans.

Driven by her passion for community service, Elian transitioned to the nonprofit sector, joining Habitat for Humanity. Her most significant achievement there was developing a comprehensive financial literacy program for new homeowners and obtaining HUD certification for Habitat to provide homebuyer counseling.

Entrepreneurship is in Elian’s DNA. In 2018, she founded Galera Business Consulting, where she has made a profound impact on local nonprofits by creating and supporting programs that foster economic development within Tulsa’s Latino community. Her firm played a pivotal role in launching a Spanish-language entrepreneur cohort in collaboration with the Lobeck Taylor Foundation, graduating over 40 Latino food business owners. One of her most notable contributions was with the nonprofit Avanzando Juntos, where Galera Consulting developed lending microloan program guidelines, tailored business curricula for Latino entrepreneurs, and established a comprehensive ecosystem for Hispanic businesses, including a professional referral program.

Elian is also a co-founder of Tulsa Latina Leadership, the first networking group exclusively for Latinas in Tulsa. She has successfully hosted conferences that brought together over 100 professional Latinas, with her events consistently selling out and inspiring other women to reach their full potential.

Recently, Elian returned to her lending roots by opening her own mortgage branch, where she now serves the Latino market with residential loans as her own boss. Her dedication to her community is also evident in her volunteer work. She has been a member of the former Economic Development Commission of the City of Tulsa since 2018, now Partner Tulsa. Elian also serves on the boards of the YMCA and La Cosecha, and has been part of the steering committee for the new Community Development Corporation of East Tulsa, which recently announced the first business incubator for immigrants in East Tulsa—one of Elian’s long-held dreams.

Elian is married and has three wonderful children. Her love for her family and her city fuels her unstoppable desire to support and uplift the Latino community in Tulsa.