Day in the Life: Kiira Weber of First PREMIER Bank

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2:50 am: 

I wake up … an hour before my alarm. Instead of going back to sleep, I think about my dharma talk for the yoga class I teach at 5 am. a.m. (hot Power Vinyasa) The focus is resilience: staying present in discomfort, relying on breath, and seeking stability rather than forcing through or distracting ourselves. Resilience isn’t about pushing until you break — it’s staying present when things are uncomfortable and hard, and choosing not to quit on yourself. 

3:50 am:  

My alarm finally goes off. I get ready, grab my mat and my (pre-workout) filled water bottle, and head out the door by 4:15 am. It’s a 22-mile drive to the studio (there isn’t a gym where I live). This is one of my favorite times of day: No music, just me and my thoughts. A silent 20-minute drive in the dark on the backroads through the prairie.  

6:00 am:  

After 45 minutes of trying to decipher left from right (I’ll never learn), my students are sweaty, tired, and still thank me — we’ll call it good. I wipe down my mat and chat with everyone I see and head home — another 20 minutes of silence. Second favorite time of day.  

6:30 am:  

Home; everyone is still sleeping. Golden. Since the house is still quiet, I sneak in a quick meditation before I make coffee and shower.  

7:00 am:  

My husband and I wake up the babies. OK, not really babies; our son, Anderson, is six and our daughter, Lennon, is three, but they’ll always be my babies (cue Mariah Carey). We feed them, we help them get dressed and ready for school and daycare. Meanwhile, I check my email and task list to make sure everything is set for me to hit the ground running when I get to the office.  

7:55 am:  

We’re out the door. My husband takes our daughter to daycare, and our son jumps in with me. Our son goes to school in a nearby town 20 miles away, and conveniently on my way to work, so every morning I drop him off on my way to the office. He gets to choose the music, but he almost always chooses no music. Another 20 minutes of silence (peppered with random six-year-old thoughts or stories). I change my mind; THIS is my favorite time of day.  

8:20 am:  

Drop the little man off at school, put on a podcast and carry on. My favorite podcasts that I rotate through: Happier with Gretchen Rubin, 10% Happier with Dan Harris, the Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday, and a tried-and-true classic Freakonomics. Yes, I see the theme.  

8:45 am:  

Arrive at the office. Our office is in Sioux Falls, SD, about 40 miles south of where I live. PREMIER is “on site,” in the office five days a week, which has been an adjustment after previously having positions with optional office attendance. Thankfully, I am part of an incredibly understanding and flexible team. It’s a small team of three attorneys (including me) and two paralegals, reporting to our Chief Risk Officer, also an attorney.  

9:00 am:  

Weekly Credit Bureau Reporting meeting for the new platform with internal and external teams. Our organization is in the process of a complete overhaul and shift to entirely new platforms and systems.  

9:30 am:  

Handle an issue concerning an out-of-state court order requesting customer bank records. As a financial institution, we frequently receive record requests in different formats. Part of my job is reviewing our responses. Occasionally, when we don’t produce the records, for various legal reasons, we get "feedback," from the requestor, and it’s also my responsibility to respond.  

10:00 am:  

Wolfpack — a weekly meeting with our Chief Risk Officer to discuss any issues, provide updates, and brainstorm solutions on how to handle life in general. The name, Wolfpack is inspired by Allen’s speech in "The Hangover," and reflects our legal team’s growth. First a Wolfpack of one…  

We discuss the progress of the organizations’ major transition to entirely new platforms. A lot to unpack here (if you know, you know). The discussion covers substantive topics like disclosures and compliance with various regulations (and comments to the regs) then shifts to strategies for responding to challenging emails. This prompts our CRO to provide insightful guidance through two stories. The first from the infinite wisdom of your favorite bear:  

Piglet: “When you wake up in the morning, Pooh, what's the first thing you say to yourself?” 

Pooh: “What's for breakfast? What do you say, Piglet?” 

Piglet: “I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?” 

Pooh: “It's the same thing”  

And the second through the story of the two monks and a woman: 

Two monks came to a river and saw a woman unable to cross. One monk lifted her and carried her across, then set her down and continued on. Hours later, the other monk complained about breaking their vows. The first monk replied, “I put her down at the river — why are you still carrying her?” 

I love this team. 

11:30 am:  

Back at my desk. I check my email. Skim through daily/weekly updates from various regulatory and legislative sources and law firms. Delete junk messages, read a few articles, and flag several to read later. 

12:00 pm:  

Pull up on an ongoing litigation matter. While most of our litigation matters are managed by outside counsel, I like to stay involved. I spent five years at a large firm specializing in consumer finance litigation before moving in-house. On this matter, I review and continue the internal investigation, then start planning out our strategy.  

1:30 pm:  

Respond to emails from the Bank regarding fraudulent wire transfer and indemnification. The legal team serves both our Bank entity and our Credit Card entity.  

1:45 pm:  

Check on subpoenas. I skim the due dates and review the matter with the nearest deadline. Reviewing these requests is a nice break when I need to switch up what I’m doing. Our paralegals are great and have created a streamlined process. My job is to make sure everything tracks.  

2:01 pm:  

I heat up my lunch, leftover chicken with some broccoli (to make sure I eat something green) paired with a Celsius. I eat at my desk and then I get back to work. I try listening to the rest of my podcast but after five minutes I realize I’m not actually listening, so I shut it off.  

2:15 pm:  

Email with outside counsel re: FCRA ID Theft Litigation. 

2:30 pm:  

Provide requested guidance to the business concerning coerced debt state laws. The legal team is responsible for monitoring new state laws and consistently tracks legislation that may affect the organization. 

2:45 pm:  

Check on flagged emails that have been sitting for so long they’ve turned yellow. I see one I can tackle quickly. A simple response to opposing counsel on a bankruptcy case. Although the legal team doesn’t handle bankruptcy cases, we often get involved for one reason or another. This instance came to us via correspondence marked as an attorney’s demand.  

2:50 pm:  

Respond to Teams messages with “silly questions” (their words not mine), toggle between reading emails and checking litigation cases and force myself not to start/review investigations (did I mention I love litigation?). 

3:15 pm:  

COOKIE DOUGH. I recently purchased cookie dough my boss was selling as a fundraiser and it’s finally here! Eighteen glorious pounds of cookie dough to freeze and save for later — or eat raw right now … Maybe this is my favorite part of my day? 

3:30 pm:  

Pull up the proposed New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (NYCDCWP) Debt Collection rules and continue drafting an overview and guidance to the business on the impact and any changes we may need to make to our current process to comply with these new rules.  

4:30 pm:  

Almost fall asleep, thanks to the NYDWCP. I need to move, so I walk to our break room for a Diet Coke. I grab a Diet Coke but pick up a Celsius too because I know my day is far from over. Back to NYC.  

5:05 pm:  

I check in with my boss before leaving for the weekend, and we end up talking about summer plans and upcoming PTO. Somehow, our conversation stretches to nearly an hour — admittedly I'm a bit chatty. 

5:44 pm:  

Scroll through the 18 text messages I missed/ignored while chatting. Let the home team know I’m on my way.  

6:05 pm:  

Pick up my son from my parents’ house (my mom is retired and serves as afterschool care for our son. It takes a village).  

6:37 pm:  

Home. Finally. Baby girl runs to greet me with the biggest hug and smile and a “How was your day?” I live for this. Thankfully, my husband has grilled burgers waiting for us. We sit down to eat together (we are very intentional about this, because we know these days are numbered). We each take turns sharing the highlight of our day. Mine is the cookie dough. 

7:10 pm:  

Both kids shower and put pjs on. We consider watching a family movie, but the Red Sox are playing, so we turn on the game and settle into our night.  

9:10 pm:  

S**t. It’s past my bedtime (and the kids’ bedtime), but Boston is in extra innings … I have to see how the game ends … Thankfully, Yoshida comes in clutch and the Red Sox win. 

9:30 pm:  

We start the bedtime routine. The kids each pick out a book, we snuggle in, and I read to them. We tuck them in and turn out the lights and hope Lennon doesn’t get a second wind.  

9:45 pm:  

I head to bed, do a little breathwork, and thank my lucky stars for this beautiful life and sleep.