As a child growing up in Williams Lake, B.C., Nita Khabra learned early on the importance of a strong work ethic. Her father worked at the local sawmill for over 30 years and her mother was employed at various part-time jobs to help support their family of six.
Active in their local church, Nita’s father was also the volunteer treasurer, and Nita quite often would be found counting and rolling coins with him; a task that peaked her interest in finance. After she graduated high school, Nita moved to the Lower Mainland to continue her education in the field of business.
“My parents not only instilled respect and the importance of family, but also an innate work ethic. It was important to both my parents that my siblings and I worked hard in our studies to set ourselves up to receive the best opportunities,” she recalls.
After graduating from BCIT with a Diploma in Technology, specializing in Financial Planning, she began her career at Envision Financial, a division of First West Credit Union, as a Financial Services Representative at its South Point branch in Surrey. Eager to advance, Nita quickly excelled and progressively held more senior positions over the course of the next two decades. It was in the branch where she honed her leadership skills and successfully reached a career milestone—leading the team as Branch Manager of the Fleetwood branch. Last year, Nita moved to Envision Financial’s North Delta Branch to be Branch Manager there.
In addition to being career driven, she is also a wife and mother and credits the support of her husband of 19 years, Ravi, and her two children, Dhayven, 11 and Aniyah, 7, to her success.
“Having a full-time career, raising children, and maintaining relationships with family and friends is not easy, but I have learned a few tricks of the trade. Mainly, the act of prioritizing needs versus wants and knowing what’s in and outside of my control” she says.
Parsing what she knows has to be done versus what she wants to do allows Nita to focus on what’s important. “I’ve always taught my children that nobody’s perfect and as a result they do not judge or expect anybody else to be perfect,” she says. “It’s alright to stumble, as long as you get back up, dust yourself off and keep moving forward.”
Like everyone, Nita has faced her own share of adversity and had to rely on this mind set when her father was diagnosed with stage four cancer and given only six months to live.
“I always thought my parents were invincible,” she says.
While a crushing blow for Nita and her family, it taught her an important life lesson. “Life is too short and we must cherish what we have in the moment, rather than always looking for what’s in the future.”
As a result, she truly appreciates those around her, knowing that both her family at home and the tight knit family she’s built at work is what keeps her going.
Her father’s death taught her a lot about empathy. “I really lead from the heart,” she says. “I want my team to work together toward a common goal and know that they have a family right here at work to support them in achieving those goals.”
Nita prides herself not only on providing her members with expert advice, superior products and remarkable experiences but also on the time she invests to support the communities in which her members work, live and play. This is one reason she is so committed to supporting Envision Financial’s signature cause, the Full Cupboard; a program aimed at raising food, funds, and awareness on the issue of hunger in her local community.
“I’ve been with the credit union for 17 years now,” Nita explains. “I feel that my team, and everyone at Envision Financial, works together as a family with one common goal at the end of the day: To serve our members to help them achieve their financial goals and to help all the people that live in our communities to thrive.”
