12/10/2007 (By Y&F Team)

Larissa Walkiw is the 2008 Young & Free Spokesperson!

It's official! Larissa Walkiw, 19 years-old, from St. Albert, Alberta, is Common Wealth Credit Union’s first Young & Free Spokesperson. We snuck up to her house last week to surprise here with the news. Take a look at the video!

All three finalists, Paula Mickelson, Shane Lamotte and Larissa Walkiw, mounted incredible campaigns to garner votes. In the end, Larissa managed to secure 49% of the votes while Paula came in second with 27% and Shane was a very close third with 24%. We have been thrilled with all three of these incredible young people. You all have done Common Wealth and your generation proud. Thank you!

Our President and CEO, Jeff Mulligan is thrilled, “Larissa is dynamic, likeable and definitely comfortable with all things web, so it’s no surprise that she’s captured the attention of the 25 and under crowd. By working with Larissa, we will be able to transform service, value and benefits for our Young & Free Members to what they expect from their financial institution.”

We caught up with Larissa for her initial thoughts, “I am very excited to connect with 17 to 25-year-olds and help Common Wealth Credit Union see what they can do for us through the Young & Free program. It’s exciting to be a part of an initiative that involves young people to the extent that we decide the financial services that we need and how they are communicated to us.”

We'll keep you posted right here on the blog over the next few weeks as Larissa gets up to speed and takes over.

Welcome aboard Larissa!

Y&F Team

Comments

1) John M. - 12/10/2007

Congratulations WALL-Q! You deserve it! Also congratulations Common Wealth on putting your credit union out there. Take that Mr. Bankers!

2) Vlodko Boychuk - 12/10/2007

Yey! Hurray!

Congratulations Larissa on your fantastic WIN! It was a well-organized campaign! I truly enjoyed your videos, blogs and pictures!

Best wishes in this new chapter of your "Young and Free" life! :-)

Vlodko Boychuk Edmonton, AB

3) Christina Potvin - 12/11/2007

LARISSA!!!!! I couldn't be happier for you!!!! However, I am far far far from surprised....your success here is just another example of your incredably incandescent overall aura. Lots of love, your cousin in Montréal, Christina

4) Y&F Team - 12/12/2007

Some more wierd factoids from the Y&F Team! Larissa's surprise video has received a number of YouTube honours this week:

#17 - Most Viewed (Today) - People & Blogs - Canada

#43 - Top Favorites (Today) - People & Blogs - Canada

#26 - Most Linked (Today) - Canada

#5 - Most Linked (Today) - People & Blogs - Canada

#8 - Most Linked (Today) - People & Blogs - Canada

#56 - Most Linked (Today) - People & Blogs - World

#16 - Most Linked (This Week) - People & Blogs - Canada

Wow, well down. Not sure what it all means, but one thing is for sure: Larissa is popular!