Who are the people that our clients talk to, trust, and work with year after year? Get to know more about our agency by getting to know the people through our Employee Spotlight Series.
What do you do here at Wells?
I work here in the downtown office and I'm a client associate. I basically assist all of our client advisors in sending out endorsements, doing audits, any change requests. Essentially, I answer to 10 different people every day for anything they need done on their policies. I just go back and forth with the carriers and what needs to be done.
What's your background?
I'm originally from Asheville. I moved down here for college about five years ago and I've just stayed around the area after graduating. I got my degree in business administration with a focus in marketing. Somehow from there, I got my insurance license.
How did you get started at Wells?
After I got my license, I went to a couple interviews and nothing really felt right. I came to my interview here with Jessica and Mandy and I sat in the conference room for an hour just laughing the entire time. And that's when I knew if I don't get this job, I might spiral a little bit because I think I need it...and I've been right.
What's the best lesson you've learned throughout your career?
I think the best lesson that I've learned so far is just not to take myself too seriously. Because when I take myself too seriously, I get too stressed out and nothing is really worth all that stress.
What's the biggest challenge you've had in your career?
My biggest challenge work-wise was deciding to leave my last job, because I had been there for a few years. I knew it wasn't what I wanted to do long term, but I had gotten so used to the people and it was difficult to say bye to everybody and start something new where I didn't know everything. I wasn't telling other people how things needed to be done. It was a big learning moment where I don't know everything anymore and I have to ask questions. It was a little difficult for me to swallow my pride like that.
What accomplishment are you most proud of?
I think my biggest accomplishment was just moving so far from home and then after college deciding to keep going for it rather than moving back. Because I've just been doing everything on my own since then and trying my best to do everything for myself to become a lot more independent. So that's been a really big accomplishment and really rewarding, honestly, to know that I can take care of myself and I don't need to worry about moving back home to where things are familiar.
What's the first job you ever had?
My very first job was as a host at Outback back in Asheville and it was just a very strange job because I was 17 working with a bunch of servers of all different ages and I felt like a babysitter. It was like herding cats, really. But it was fun. I had a great time. I made a lot of friends.(...) Taught me quite a few things about being in a workplace.
What's the weirdest job you ever had?
The summer of COVID, I moved up to Martha's Vineyard where my great uncle manages a fudge shop up there. So I lived above the shop, working serving fudge and ice cream, and living on an island for an entire summer while things were pretty much shut down. Very strange, but very fun.
If you could do anything for work, what would you do?
I think I'd be an event planner. I really like organization and structure to things. I really like making schedules and having things planned out to a tee. I'm bad at doing it for myself. But I like the idea of writing things down, especially when I'm procrastinating on other things. I'd love to just write things down and make it look nice. So I feel like I'd be pretty good at that, attention to detail.
What do you like to do when you're not working?
Well, I got a puppy back in February, so I hang out with him a lot of the time, especially after I get off, I'm feeling lazy. We like to just hang out with the ball a little bit. He's a Bernies Mountain Dog mix. I have no idea what he's mixed with, though. So he's like kind of little. He's like perfect size. He's just like a little, little cinnamon roll. On the weekends, I like to go to the beach, at least during the summer. Now it's starting to get cold again. So I have to start figuring out what to do.
What’s volunteer activity/non-profit do you like to work with/support and why?
I'm a very big animal lover, so we'd go to animal shelters back in college. Some of my roommates and I used to go to animal shelters just to ask if we could hang out with the dogs and the cats for a little bit, see if we could walk them around the area. Because, you know, it's kind of sad. They're in there all day and they love some interaction, and that's part of my favorite thing to do is just hang out with the animals all the time.
What's on your bucket list?
I'd say to go back to Europe. I went for the first time last summer. It was a lot of fun, but I'd really like to go back and stay a lot longer next time. I definitely want to go back to France because I actually have a French minor that I got in college. So I'd speak at least a little French and I'd like to go test that out. Maybe visit Germany just because I like we have a lot of ancestry in Germany and Ireland and I just all over Europe really.
What's your secret superpower nobody knows about?
I'd say definitely around the office, one of my superpowers is I'm really good at killing any flies that I see. Flies are scared to see me coming now. Yeah. They know I'm coming with a giant book for them because they tend to gravitate towards me to torture me and I have made it my mission in life to get rid of them all.
What's your biggest strength?
I'd say one of my biggest strengths is I'm a very big people pleaser. Like I love talking to people, finding things to connect over, especially just helping people out. So I'd say it's helped me with a lot of relationships with new people I meet.
What's your biggest weakness?
I talk a lot. A lot of my friends tell me I don't know how to shut up and they're right. And so I say a lot of things and I over explain myself a lot. I've been working on that one.
Favorite Book?
my favorite book is probably The Art of Racing in the Rain. I first read it because my mom had it and I was definitely too young to read it, because there are a lot of choice words in there. Not suitable for a child, but it's always been my favorite book. I've always gone back to reread it every couple years or so just because I like to refresh my memory on it.
Favorite Podcast?
Me and my roommate have been listening to a lot of true crime podcasts lately. I couldn't even say which one because she'll usually turn it on once I get home. But we listen to a lot of true crime. It's made us learn we need to lock our doors more often. So we triple check the locks at night now.
Favorite Movie?
I'd say one of my favorite movies is The Proposal with Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock. That's a good one.
My Favorite TV Show?
I'd say right now I've been watching a lot of 911, but then every time I need something to go back to I watch a lot of New Girl. That's one of my favorites.
Favorite Musician?
I've been listening to a lot of country music. Not new pop country, but new folksy country. A lot of Zach Bryan, a lot of Tyler Childress, kind of along those lines.
How do you define success?
I mean obviously you want to be good at what you do, but you never want to feel like it's taking a toll on you. Success in work...you want to be happy with what you're doing while being good at it. You don't want to be good at it and have this sense of dread at the end of the day. So I'd say feeling good about what you do above all else.
What's the best advice you've been given?
I'd say the best advice I've ever gotten is to always trust my instinct. My dad taught me that from a very young age and he was right. A lot of the time if I have a gut feeling about something it's been correct and I don't know why, but anytime I tell him that he's like, "It's because you've got good instincts, you need to trust it." I've kind of lived my life by that.
Graycen helps keep the wheels turning assisting all of our client advisors and working with our carriers. If you have questions regarding your commercial insurance policies, feel free to reach out to us.
