Using knowledge to ‘carry one another’
‘We can uplift and build our community,’ says Brian Castle.
Brian Castle never underestimates the value of knowledge in changing lives.
Castle is vice president of real estate at $63 million asset Pine Bluff (Ark.) Cotton Belt Federal Credit Union. He began his career as a teacher, football coach, and later assistant principal, then gradually got into property development.
A real estate agent named Miss Florence Peters took him under her wing and introduced him to lenders and landowners, Black and white alike, who taught him that the most important insights may come from unlikely sources.
“If I would have allowed stereotypes and prejudices to influence me, I would have missed those opportunities to have those conversations,” Castle says. “You’ve got to treat each individual on the basis of their own merits.”
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