The Royal Ascent Of Kelly Rivas

Beauty is confidence, Rivas said, and nothing shows confidence like wearing a literal crown on your head. Although it may sound over-the-top, it’s gotten plenty of people treating her like true royalty. Rivas said even some of her account executives, such as Adela Spalding from Acra Lending, address her as “Your Highness.”

“I pick up the phone and I say, ‘Hey, Adela,’ and she says, ‘yes, Your Highness,’ or ‘yes, my Queen,’” Rivas said. 

Of course, the title of Queen needs to be deserved. Given all of Rivas’s philanthropic endeavors and hard work over the years, she appears to make the cut, juggling many roles including broker-owner, business coach, philanthropist, and single mother of two daughters and one son. With so many projects on her plate, it’s a wonder how she’s able to look so good while doing it.

But, Rivas’ lavish attire isn’t just some gimmick to draw attention, she explained. It actually has a much deeper message. 

Often, Rivas notices women show up to business events in the same drab colors as their male counterparts – gray, black, and other muted tones – perhaps in an attempt to appear more serious. For those who want to blend in with the crowd, that’s the menu of options. Other women who aren’t afraid to stand out and embrace their femininity could take a note from The Queen herself.

“This crown symbolizes something for me that I never had and once I reached it, it changed my life. Confidence is everything, and I learned that the second I was able to wear this out in public,” Rivas said.

Queen’s Humble Beginnings

Most women in their twenties aren’t getting divorced and having to raise two kids on their own, but that’s how Rivas spent her early adulthood.

“My starting point was just being broken… being in my twenties and going through a divorce,” Rivas said. “[After] living with a person who is putting you down all the time, you think that you’re nothing.”

Yet, Rivas mustered the courage required to persevere and support her family. The wage she made at her corporate desk job was barely cutting it and deeply unfulfilling. At first, she worked as an assistant for Pinnacle Appraisal out of Kansas City, MO, learning the ins and outs of appraisals. Soon after, a friend of hers recommended she become a mortgage loan officer, she found a job as an originator at Royal Banc, a broker shop in Fairfax, VA, under Amir Shirazi. 

“I was like a sponge and I wanted to learn this industry,” Rivas said. “I always felt that I knew that I could be successful in this industry.” 

Though Rivas was eager to learn, no one at the brokerage was willing to train her or even provide resources so she could train herself. In search of guidance, she walked into her boss’s office and flipped through the books accumulating dust on his shelf. In one book she found a flowchart that broke down the entire loan process. Rivas ripped out the page and taped it to the wall by her desk, using it as an instruction manual to get started.

In those first few months, she kept telling herself that she just needed to close one deal. A few months later, she was holding her first commission check for $10,000.

“If you’re gonna be in any industry where you need to make some money to take care of your kids, this is it,” Rivas said. “I think that being single with two kids really taught me that you’ve gotta depend on yourself. I even taught my daughters that you can’t depend on your husband… you’d love to, but it’s best to always depend on yourself.”

After Rivas closed a few more deals, her boss, Shirazi, promoted her to branch manager.

“He said, ‘you’re gonna be owning all of this one day.’ And I would just laugh,” Rivas said. “But I knew it was good that he saw something in me.”

As Rivas’s career grew, so did her confidence. After learning to manage a team of loan officers as branch manager, she launched her own brokerage, Kelly Mortgage Center, in 2005. 

In 2023, her sales team accomplished $10.5 million in loan production. 

Although Rivas said the 2007 housing crash stunted her ability to scale the company for a while, she is confident that she’ll one day achieve a sales team of 300 loan officers and have her company licensed in all 50 states. 

Queen In The Making

Plenty of originators have drive, but that is not the same as having passion for their career. In 2005, Rivas was driven to improve herself and her family’s situation – in other words, rake in as much money as possible. Once the financial crisis hit, though, her brokerage struggled to generate sales. So, she began working at a call center for Citibank. 

Little did she know that detour would uncover a new passion for her career.

At Citibank, Rivas spent long hours underwriting loans and doing loan modifications due to the overwhelming amount of delinquencies that occurred in the aftermath of the 2007 housing crash. While she said she felt satisfaction from saving thousands of homes from foreclosure, it also made her recognize the widespread lack of financial literacy, and moreover, the lack of empathy from other people in the industry.

“I am literally in a call center where people can’t give a damn if you lost your home or saved it,” Rivas said. “I was really upset by it. So I wrote a book and let everybody know it was a paperwork process. People are losing their homes because their documents are getting lost through the cracks.”

It was an occurrence that happened everyday, Rivas explained. People would file paperwork without understanding the mortgage has to be dated within 30 days, so their documents would be out of date. The lender would request new documents, but if those weren’t sent in correctly, the homeowner would be foreclosed on. 

That’s when Rivas decided to pursue another entrepreneurial venture, Racomb, in which Rivas teaches homeowners how to fill out paperwork properly and encourages them to be proactive by calling their bank every Monday. Her team at Racomb would handle assumption paperwork, loan modifications, short sales, and debt settlements.

The book Rivas wrote and published, The Mortgage Matrix: Lies, Cheats & Deceptions … The Ugly Truth About Your Bank, offers guidance concerning loan modifications, short sales, foreclosures, bankruptcy, and more. 

“To know that these people are out on the street when I know that I could have saved them, you know, that is like my worst nightmare,” Rivas said. “Wow, you’re not in your house anymore. But I could have, you know, made some great changes on your paperwork just to show you that you are not filling it out right. I’ve done that many times, even for people who did not have the funds. Some people really did not have the funds, so we’d help them out as well.”

Rivas learned from her experiences at Citibank that fighting for herself in this industry meant that she needed to fight for her clients, too. Thus, it became her passion to help low- to moderate- income borrowers who were financially illiterate.

Realtor Edward Giles of Georgetown Realty Group is one of Rivas’s referral sources, and said “She’s genuine, and she likes to help people. I mean that should be everyone’s goal in this industry. You’re here to help people,” Giles said, referring to other originators. 

Uplifting The Financially Illiterate

Of course, acting charitably also defines a queen’s responsibilities. After helping thousands of homeowners at Citibank, Rivas decided to start her own nonprofit, WHHAM.ORG, dedicated to helping people achieve homeownership by improving their financial literacy. 

One of Rivas’s most beloved nonprofits, though, is COR CDC Youth Entrepreneurs Innovators Fund. At the time of the interview, Rivas had just come back home from a week-long youth entrepreneurship camp where she helped high schoolers improve their financial literacy and learn what it means to be an entrepreneur. 

“So for example, if you are thinking about starting your business, are you going to be an LLC? Are you going to be a sole proprietor?”

Campers and instructors work together from 9am to 5pm, learning what it takes to start and grow a business. For example, learning the difference between the term “budget” which references personal finances, versus the term “P&L” which refers to profit and loss statements for a company.

Another crucial lesson Rivas taught at the youth camp was the importance for entrepreneurs to have good credit. Rivas said that many adults are surprised to learn that when applying for a business loan, banks will look at personal credit scores as well as business credit scores. 

“We do it in a fun way,” Rivas said. “So they’re learning patents, trademarks, copyright, and we’re giving fun examples — even budgeting is fun!”

For the last step in the program, the kids present their business idea Shark Tank-style to a panel of judges. They compete for a cash prize of $5,000 to help start their business, but the buck doesn’t stop there. Those who go on to start their own business can receive assistance from their instructors for filling out paperwork and opening up their business bank account. 

Rivas raves about the brilliance of some of these high school kids. She described how a group of two girls presented an app that finds different places to volunteer based on the user’s preferences, and even tracks volunteer hours. Another presented a solar panel cleaning kit. Another shared ideas for making sustainable clothing that’s environmentally friendly. 

“Their thinking and their mentality was way past what I ever believed possible,” Rivas said.

David Hum, vice president of community lending for JPMorgan & Chase Bank, is one of the acquaintances she met through working with the COR organization, and said how blown away he was by her passion and teaching abilities. 

“She’s fantastic with the students she teached,” Hum said.  “And she’s always in the trenches, encouraging young minds to think bigger.”  

Not All Glitz & Glamour

Rivas said she stays committed by wearing lavish attire and glamming up, even on days she doesn’t feel like it. Although there are many different ways people can build their confidence, dressing like a queen does it for Rivas.

“Just put on your little bling earrings, start small if you have to put your rings on, make sure you’re beautiful every day because you’ll feel better,” Rivas said.

Her head processor at Kelly Mortgage Center, Carroll, said she’ll even encourage her employees if they don’t put effort into how they dress which ends up making them look dull. 

At first Carroll said she was put off by Rivas’s queenly get-up, saying “Why are you so dressed up all the time?” But said Rivas is the one who brought her personality and confidence to the surface when she said, “Appearance is important. Everyone needs to pick something that represents who they are, their personality and uniqueness, and wear it.”

After watching Rivas do business for some time, Carroll said she realized her appearance and energy is what allows her to “bring the fire” to her seminar and meetings, because “If you look dull, so will your presentation.”

Hum can also attest that Rivas always shows up in royal attire. Every time he’s seen her in board meetings, seminars, and other events, she shows up wearing her crown. 

“At Chase, everyone falls in line with the black and blue [work attire], and I think it’s more expected in the financial industry that you fall in line with others, but she’s [Rivas] so independent,” Hum said. 

It can be nerve-wracking to be the only woman walking into a board room filled with high-level executives. Yet, with the power of glam, Rivas could walk into the room with ease.

Although Rivas knows her style could be a bit over-the-top for some, her overall message to other women is to embrace their true selves. 

“It’s hard wearing a crown,” Rivas said. “Because people, you know, are always gonna comment on it. But that’s also my opportunity to let women know that they can do it too, because it’s such a male dominant industry that we’re in.”

What does it say when a woman hides her femininity to appear smarter, catering to male norms to earn the approval of her peers? Rivas said it implies you can’t be a woman and be smart or successful.

Though Rivas’s attire and overall energy exudes more playfulness and fun, she is serious about her intentions in educating younger generations on mortgage and finance. That  way they won’t have to learn the hard way, like she did. 

“I had to just lose things,” Rivas said. “I lost some houses in 2008, even though I was making a lot of money. I had to pay for like five mortgages at one time and then I bought this big old 10,000 square foot mansion…  I had to pay for that and five other homes at the same time.”

But, Nearly every hardship Rivas went through in her life has brought her to this point, where she now radiates confidence and optimism. 

Many of the students in the entrepreneurial program would say they wished they were taught more financial literacy in school, which Rivas agrees with. She confesses to her pupils that she never had that kind of education either, and yet, she’s still here.