Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Nilsson Mendoza.
Hi Laura, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
For fifteen years, I worked as a professional musician after studying composition and arranging in popular music in Santiago, Chile. During COVID, I decided to semi-retire as a professional musician and become a mortgage loan officer. It has truly been rewarding to help and coach others to achieve the goal of homeownership, and I’m very happy with my career shift. As a musician, I worked various side jobs to supplement income, such as teaching music, selling Harley-Davidson motorcycles, and bartending. All of these prior experiences really made the transition into mortgage lending seamless as each part has complemented and supported this endeavor immensely. As a Chilean American, I’ve been so grateful to help fellow Latinos achieve their homeownership dreams in English and in Spanish as buying a home can be difficult when the language being spoken is not your native language. I hope to continue helping first-time homebuyers, fellow Latinos, veterans, and anyone looking to buy a home while still playing music with my band, The Firewalkers. Also, my husband is an Iraq and Afghanistan combat veteran, and he and I have created a YouTube series called “Veterans Post Tour,” where we visit veterans organization posts such as the American Legion, VFW, and AMVETS.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It hasn’t always been a smooth road. Musicians haven’t received a raise in 50 years, which makes it difficult to support oneself while contributing to the musical culture of this country. I hope someday to advocate for fellow musicians so that we can receive government grants to help support ourselves if we play a minimum amount of gigs per year. I also dealt with a lot of sexism in the music industry as well as when I was selling Harleys. I really had to learn to be tough and put people in their place without making myself look conflictive. I’m grateful that the men I play with now treat me as an equal in every way. It was also difficult in the mortgage industry at first. After I left the big retail lender I worked with, I moved to a mortgage company that I thought was the perfect fit, I found out it wasn’t. Someone in the company made a racist remark about one of my colleagues, which I brought to their attention. They weren’t happy that I did and, after that, made my life miserable instead of firing me. I didn’t realize how hard it was to find the right mortgage company to work with. Now, I work for the best company. We have a great product that offers low rates and great service, and my bosses are 100% supportive of me. Plus, we are a very diverse group of people that covers multiple races and cultures. I am extremely grateful I get to work with them.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
As a musician, I currently play in a band called the Firewalkers. We are a vintage R and B band that consists of vocals, guitar, drums, upright bass, sax, and occasionally acoustic guitar. I sing lead, and play acoustic guitar. The best way to describe vintage R and B is that it is the roots of rock and roll. We cover artists that Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis were covering in the 1950s and also write our original material in the same genre. It has a lot of passion and groove, and audiences love it. I am very proud of my time as a musician in the metro Detroit area. I’ve toured, won Detroit Music Awards, and have played with some of the greats. My journey as a musician continues, but I’m extremely happy and pleased about where I’ve been and, hopefully, where I may go too!
As a mortgage loan officer, I tend specialize in working with the Latino community, veterans, and first-time homebuyers but also work with anyone who is looking to buy or refinance their home. I help clients from the very beginning with establishing credit, credit repair, and saving money for their initial purchase. We also offer all sorts of loans such as FHA, Conventional, VA, USDA, as well as non-traditional mortgages such as DSCR, bank statement, foreign national, ITIN, and construction loans. I love being able to offer so many products to accommodate any client for whatever they need. I think what sets me apart from other loan officers is that I work with my clients long-term so they can achieve their goals, no matter what situation they are in when we first interact. Putting clients in a proper financial situation from the get-go is another quality that sets me apart. Whether it means advising them on loan products or helping them consolidate debt with a cash-out refinance. Helping clients create generational wealth and manage their own finances is crucial as a loan officer, whether it’s a first-time home buyer or someone who is using the equity in their home to create a better financial situation for themself.
I’m also really excited to share a Veterans Post Tour. Through a music gig I was asked to play, my husband learned about the American Legion and ended up joining. After visiting multiple legions and in addition him signing up for the VFW, we wondered why there weren’t younger members joining. That’s when Veterans Post Tour was born, and since then, we have filmed multiple veterans service posts showcasing what makes each one unique, what they do for the community, and what they do for veterans. 22 veterans a day commit suicide, and these posts offer a place where they can go to talk to someone and get help before they make that life-ending decision. The series is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, so we are trying to get donations to help us travel to more posts across the country and document the good they’re doing while hoping to drive younger membership and keep them going for generations to come!
What makes you happy?
I think the most rewarding thing that makes me happy is helping people and performing for them. Watching first-time home buyers, fellow Latinos, or veterans get into their first home brings me a lot of joy. It’s so much more than the pay. I especially get excited when a client and I have been working together for a long time, and they have really put in an effort to get their situation in a position to buy a home. I always say it’s not a matter of if you can buy a home; it’s a matter of when!
Performing is something selfish that I love to do. The energy I receive from an audience when I’m on stage is incomparable, especially when the audience is captivating and returning that fantastic energy to me, which is just recycled back to them and creates this magnificent flow that is like nothing else on this planet.
Besides those two things, the simple, everyday things that make me happy are cooking for my loved ones, spending time with friends and family, and having get-togethers at my house.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.theFirewalkersDetroit.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/rocknrollmortgage; www.instagram.com/veteransposttour; www.instagram.com/thefirewalkersdetroit
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/lauranilssonmendoza2011485; www.facebook.com/veteransposttour; www.facebook.com/thefirewalkersmusic
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauranilssonmendoza2011485
- Youtube: www.YouTube.com/@veteransposttour; www.YouTube.com/@thefirewalkersdetroit
Image Credits
Matthew Dolinar,
Jeff Cancelosi
Rick Roshto
Daniel Keil
Scotty Maiale
