WHERE YOU START DOESN’ T DEFINE WHERE YOU FINISH FORGING SPACE IN INSURANCE FOR NON-TRADITIONAL TALENT
by Misty Carson of One Digital for Risk & Insurance
After 16 years working for car dealerships, I was ready for a change. I needed a career that offered financial security and the flexibility to spend more time with my kids. A LinkedIn job ad I stumbled across for an insurance producer role intrigued me. The position required no prior experience and would train me and get me licensed. The best part? It was selling to a market I already understood, auto dealerships.
The insurance industry has given me flexibility, purpose, financial security and most of all, the chance to serve others.
I never envisioned myself in a professional services career. Growing up in a small town in Michigan, I was raised by a teenage mother before becoming a teen mom myself and achieved emancipation at 16. This industry paved a new career path for me – one that helped me grow professionally and offered me work-life balance, while allowing me to work in service of others.
I’ ve known poverty, especially in my early years, but I always had a sense of the importance of giving back to my community. I can’ t explain the pull of this feeling other than to say it became a goal to give back to communities and families that looked and felt like my own, as soon as I could create some income for myself. Doing so began in very small ways. I started picking names off my local town’ s Christmas tree with my kids, doing a small amount of holiday shopping for those without support to experience the joy of the season. My family and I made this a holiday tradition, and I was proud to see my kids embrace the spirit of giving during the holidays.
Today, I am an active member and corporate liaison for the Association of Professional Insurance Women, I sit on the board and serve as advisory chair of the PACE Center for Girls, hold a seat on the community advisory board for The Junior league of Tampa and recently co-founded the Florida Chapter
26 KANSAS INSURANCE AGENT & BROKER