Microlending 101 for Creatives

Join the Arts Alliance Help Desk for another webinar in our series on lending in the creative sector. We're breaking down barriers to accessing capital and talking about how microlending can be ways for BIPOC and rural creatives to access the resources we need! Meet our panelists below:
Brett Mueller is the Director of Lending for Chicago and Northwest Indiana at the Illinois Facilities Fund (IFF). Brett has been with IFF for 12+ years working in its Capital Solutions department. IFF Capital Solutions see the same financial risks as traditional banks, but we make different choices. That’s because our goal is not to maximize profits for shareholders, but to bring capital to communities where it’s most needed. Recently, Brett has worked with a Black led Dance company in Woodlawn to provide financing for renovations of leased space; a line of credit to an Afro-Latino led Cultural Center in Hermosa, and financed the acquisition of a new building for an arts organization providing traditional Japanese drum and dance in Mayfair.
Yessenia Diaz de Leon is the Director of Community Lending at Allies for Community Business. Since joining A4CB in 2016, Yessenia has held the roles of Loan Officer, Community Lending Manager, Associate Director of Community Business, and now Director of Community Lending. In her current role, she thinks creatively on how to establish referral partner outreach strategies to meet organizational lending goals and executes on these strategies by collaborating across departments. Yessenia manages a team Community Business Lenders, working closely with them to ensure that A4CB funds the budgeted number of loans each year. Prior to joining A4CB, Yessenia worked at a small bookkeeping and accounting business serving mostly Latinx-owned businesses on the South Side of Chicago. Yessenia holds a bachelor’s degree in Business from the University of Notre Dame.
Tristan Brown is the Illinois Operations Manager for Justine Peterson, a non-profit community development financial institution. Tristan Brown has a lending background with almost 3 years of commercial lending experience at Justine Petersen. Within that time, his team has serviced over 450 local small businesses within the Central Illinois region, working closely with; Not-for-profits, SBDCs, Municipalities, local lenders and others. He manages partnerships, transactions, loan closings, and relationships throughout the state of Illinois.