Please tell us about your family, interests, and hobbies.

I’m a new mom to a very active and happy 6 month baby boy! My husband is a Police Sergeant for the City of Charlottesville, VA and we have been married for 7 years. Once upon a time, I was an active runner and enjoyed cooking, sewing, wine tasting, and gardening. However, 2015 has been mostly about diapers, stroller walks, play dates, mommy and baby yoga, and sleeping when we can!

What is your professional background and how it has led you to working in environmental insurance?

I began my insurance career working for State Farm as an Underwriting Assistant in the Fire Unit of the Operations Center in Charlottesville, VA. I assisted both local retail agents and underwriters on Home Owner, Rental, Boat, and Personal Article policies. The insurance industry seemed to click with me, it made sense and I enjoyed it. While State Farm is a great company to work with, I knew I wanted to work for a smaller company where I could be challenged and hopefully make an impact. I am very fortunate to have found just that at Beacon Hill. I enjoy focusing on such a specialized portion of the industry and continue to learn something new every day.

What is the most important lesson you have learned in your career?

Do what is right, not what is easy. The path of least resistance does not always lead to the greatest outcome. In an industry, and society, where everyone needs an answer yesterday, quality is often overlooked. While providing prompt service is always a goal, it’s equally important to provide accurate service. What good is a quick quote if it doesn’t provide the proper coverage for an insured? This has been a challenging concept to learn when you just want to keep your clients happy. But it’s always worth it in the end to take the extra time to get the job done right.

If you had to choose one word to describe the most important motivator to being a leader in your career, what would it be and why? What are you doing specifically at Beacon Hill to help you achieve this?

Optimism. Even on the worst of days, I’d like to think that tomorrow can only get better! There are so many factors that contribute to the success or failure of your day, binding an account, meeting a production goal, etc. that are out of your control. How can you really expect to be successful tomorrow if you’re still sour about what happened last week? Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. You have to believe that the future can be better before making it happen. At Beacon Hill, I make a point to praise other departments and individuals for their various successes. Whether it’s meeting or exceeding a production goal, writing a great article, hosting a valuable training session or just solving a difficult issue, we have a lot of talent at Beacon Hill! When a team, or individual, experiences a situation that did not go as planned, I try to help facilitate a “lessons learned” conversation. What went wrong and how can we do this better the next time? I try to maintain a positive attitude and optimistic outlook regardless of the challenges that have been presented. I enjoy working in an environment where we can communicate and collaborate to face challenges head-on in hopes of finding the perfect solution.