This is one of 12 finalists for The Herald Business Journal’s annual Emerging Leaders awards for 2022. The winner will be named at an event on April 13.

Jonnathan Yepez Carino, 29

Pacific Premier Bank, senior vice president/branch manager

Jonnathan Yepez Carino wouldn’t take no for an answer.

One mortgage lender after another had rejected his home loan application because he was part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, better known as DACA.

“I came to the United States illegally, then through a bill passed by the Obama administration, I was able to get a Social Security number and work legally,” he said.

Now, in his early 20s, he wanted to buy a house.

A succession of loan officers — nearly a dozen— turned him down because of his immigration status.

Carino was undaunted. He assembled a packet of information to support his cause.

“I knew there were people in other states who had purchased homes in the same circumstance as me,” Carino said. “Every time a mortgage loan officer told me no, I would give him a link showing that it was possible.”

Eventually, a mortgage lender did take the time to review the information he’d put together.

“I was able to buy my house when I was 23,” Carino said.

The experience, he said, taught him persistence and resilience. It also inspired his older brother to buy a home.

Today, Carino teaches financial empowerment classes in Spanish and English on behalf of local nonprofits and financial literacy classes at area high schools, including his alma mater, Mariner High School.

He works with incarcerated people trying to reintegrate into the community, helping stage mock job interviews. “I love inspiring them to continue their journeys regardless of their past experiences,” Carino said.

Carino is the Latino Committee chair and treasurer for the Marysville Tulalip Chamber. In that role, he helps foster connections within the business community.

He is also a member of the City of Marysville’s Diversity Advisory Board. The board brings community issues to the attention of city officials with the aim of “making the city a more inclusive and inviting place for the community,” he said.

Carino was inspired to pursue a banking career at an early age when he and his mother, who didn’t speak English, encountered an “unhelpful” banker,” he said.

“I went to the bank with my mother and had to translate for her. She wanted some bank statements, and the banker was not very friendly,” he said. Afterward, he told his mother that one day he would be a banker and help people who did not speak English.

“I’m very passionate about giving back to underserved communities,” Carino said. “We immigrated to the United States. I didn’t speak the language and had to navigate a completely different system than what we were used to in Mexico. So, I know what that struggle feels like.”

Janice Podsada: 425-339-3097; jpodsada@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @JanicePods.