Elevating Women in Mortgage Leadership: Laura Hopkins on mPower’s National Movement
Laura Hopkins joins Brena Nath in New York City to explore how mPower is helping reshape leadership dynamics in the mortgage industry. As VP of Membership at the Mortgage Bankers Association, she shares the journey of taking mPower on the road — from its origins to its growing demand nationwide.
Nath and Hopkins talk about why these gatherings matter, how they spark actionable change, and what makes conversations among women leaders so unique. This is more than just a highlight reel — it’s a glimpse into a growing movement that’s redefining mentorship, advocacy, and opportunity in the mortgage industry.
Laura Hopkins joins Brena Nath in New York City to explore how mPower is helping reshape leadership dynamics in the mortgage industry. As VP of Membership at the Mortgage Bankers Association, she shares the journey of taking mPower on the road — from its origins to its growing demand nationwide.
Nath and Hopkins talk about why these gatherings matter, how they spark actionable change, and what makes conversations among women leaders so unique. This is more than just a highlight reel — it’s a glimpse into a growing movement that’s redefining mentorship, advocacy, and opportunity in the mortgage industry.
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00:00I'm excited to be here in Times Square in New York City. Laura Hopkins and I, for those who
00:12don't know her, she's the Vice President of Membership at the Mortgage Bankers Association.
00:17And the energy and the air is palatable here as far as like the importance of connecting
00:22and community. So first off, welcome. Thank you. Nice to be here. Great to be here at
00:28Secondary, very important time in our industry. One thing that's been unique to me about MBA
00:35Secondary throughout the years is you guys have always made sure to include, or at least for as
00:40far as I've been attending the conference, an Empower lunch within MBA Secondary. Lately,
00:46Empower has been going on the road. You've been taking that energy, that important conversation
00:50to different places across the country. And we're excited at Housing Wire to be able to host it at
00:56the gathering here in June at the Broadmoor and take a little bit of that energy and bring it into
01:00what we know our audience, our executive attendees also need to see. Can you touch a little bit on
01:06why it's so powerful? Why is it so important to have these conversations on the road at conferences?
01:12Absolutely. And I'll just expand a little bit on what you said about us going out and on the road.
01:19Empower kind of caught on after a year or two. It just really caught on and people started saying,
01:24hey, can you come to us? Not everybody is able to come to a secondary or an annual or the
01:32Empowering Youth Summit. And all women have something to say and something to hear and experiences to
01:40share. So it's very important to get in the room, have a collective voice, help rise each other up,
01:49and really find things that resonate between each other. We all have a ton of experience. And then
01:56we have a lot of new leaders emerging that we need to learn from, too, and bring them to the table.
02:03That's such a great call out. We have had a prep call already for this session.
02:08Yeah. I loved being a fly on that wall in that room, not only because of what they were talking
02:13about, but even the women in that call, like, respected each other so much. And they were
02:18learning from each other on how they've navigated this industry, but also honored what you're saying
02:23this next generation to come. We covered so many things in that prep call, which has me so excited
02:28for this session. We have it for an hour at the gathering. I don't think that's enough time to
02:32really dig in. And it's already an hour. What would you want to highlight for people to take away
02:36from this session to kind of get them excited?
02:38Yeah. Yeah. And it's never enough time. But that, I think, is kind of the good thing, because
02:43it's actionable things that we talk about. So everyone gets inspired, and that's awesome,
02:49and we share ideas. But then to go back to your leadership role, or, hey, maybe now I can advocate
02:57for myself for the next role, and to help kind of inspire other people, but create action.
03:05The parts that stand out to me is everything that you just said. It's the fact that not
03:10only have they, I always like to honor so much of what you, I mean, including you, Laura,
03:15you've carved such a path for other women, and even your team. And then how you guys are
03:18also helping those women take the change that you guys have stepped, and even make it a better
03:23place for this next generation of women. So I'm honored to host you.
03:27We're excited.
03:28And the rest of the women. And also just attend the Empower Lunch here. I think it's an important
03:32continued conversation, one that we continue to bring women together, connect, have those
03:35open discussions. So thank you, Laura, for joining us. Excited to see you again in a few weeks.
03:40We're excited, too.