Denise Steller came to the McKinney community 10 years ago not knowing a single person in the city — until she started at First United Bank. She quickly discovered how warm and inviting the community was and was welcomed by many wonderful women, including Barb Delk, Kathy Blank and Elizabeth Mahusay, who became dear friends.
Over the years, Denise has built countless meaningful friendships and community partnerships through her involvement with the McKinney Chamber. She has proudly served on the WAM (2025 Chair) and Leadership McKinney Alumni Committees for the past four years, further deepening her passion for serving the community.
Those relationships helped open the door for Denise, who now serves as a Spend Life Wisely Ambassador and advocate for local non-profits, businesses, and financial literacy education, to partner with McKinney ISD after hearing the growing need for more financial literacy education among students. For the second year in a row, she has partnered with McKinney ISD, dedicating more than 100 volunteer hours teaching middle school students the importance of budgeting, saving wisely, and building healthy financial habits.
This past month alone, Denise and her team of bankers taught more than 4,000 students about the 50/30/20 budgeting rule while encouraging them to think about ways they could earn income over the summer and begin saving before entering high school. One of the most rewarding parts of the experience was hearing stories from teachers about students continuing the conversations long after the presentations ended — excitedly discussing how they planned to budget and save their own money.
Denise believes that if we can leave small nuggets of financial wisdom with our future leaders today, we can help create a stronger and more financially confident community tomorrow.
