Adnala Smith

One of the best pieces of career advice I ever received was from one of the guys I worked with at a restoration company. He told me, 'Don't wait until you feel completely ready for something.' At the time I was in sales and everything was so up and down, and I didn't understand what he meant. He explained that there is never a perfect time - one day you can feel great about something, and one day you're going to have all types of things telling you no, that's not good. He said just don't wait until you feel completely ready, you can be kind of ready, but just take those opportunities and put your foot forward and try. So many opportunities come before you think you're fully prepared for them. I've learned that growth happens when you're willing to step into new challenges. Throughout my career in insurance, I've learned that confidence often comes after action. A lot of times when I was talking to people so much, I thought, I gotta get licensed, it's technical, what do I do? But some of my biggest career advancements came from taking on opportunities that stretched me beyond my comfort zone. If I would have waited until I felt totally ready, I would have missed many of those opportunities because things change - we're in a forever-changing world. That's how I got into insurance in the first place.

I actually have some college students and interns I've talked to about this, and many of them had no clue about the opportunities in insurance. A lot of business management and IT students don't realize that insurance agencies hire IT people, accounting people, data analysts, junior software developers who can build software and proprietary systems in insurance companies. I want to teach young adults, especially when I speak at local community colleges, about taking insurance courses. You don't have to have a specific degree - your field might feel laggy or saturated, but you can still love what you do and pivot into insurance. I ask them, have you ever looked into insurance? I open it up to the younger crowds because everybody is into AI, and we need AI in every field, not just medical or tech companies. You can take your degree and pivot into insurance and apply to insurance firms, NGAs, and carriers that have these positions open. I also talk to them about business opportunities - if they're in business management, how they can learn to open up their own agency or service the insurance industry. A lot of people think insurance is just commission-based life and health sales, but they don't really know too much about property and casualty and the depths they can go into. On the property and casualty side, there are so many opportunities beyond just selling on commission. That's what I try to educate them about when I get a chance to speak at women's events.

I'll start with the challenges. My biggest challenge in my role is finding solutions for difficult risk. Many submissions come to us because they have already been declined by standard markets, our admitted markets. Since I work mainly in non-admitted, me and my team have to analyze unique exposures and identify creative coverage solutions for these agents while still trying to maintain a certain type of underwriting discipline. Another challenge is balancing growth and profitability. One of the biggest challenges is helping agencies grow their books of business while ensuring that we write profitable business. A lot of times when they send something to us, they're like, hey, do this for me, can you just make this happen? But I have to be a liaison between the carrier and the agent. The other challenge is educating the agents. Many of our independent agents do not specialize in E&S insurance - they just started an agency, bought an agency, or are just getting into insurance. Part of my role definitely involves helping agents understand coverage options, submission requirements, and helping them learn how to present risk effectively so they can have a better response from our carrier market. As far as opportunities, definitely helping businesses obtain coverage is number one. If they don't make any money, we don't make any money. If I'm not in business, they're not in business. One of the most rewarding aspects of my job is helping businesses secure insurance, and that's also what I have as an educational insurance side business I do. I've built that relationship over the years. Another opportunity is being innovative in the E&S market. The E&S industry is constantly evolving, and we have tons of new products that we come out with, emerging industries, and changing risks create opportunities too. I work with a developed creativity team, and that is something our marketing team is really good at, and I love working with them on that. The biggest thing and the last thing would be my leadership and mentorship opportunities. As a manager and leader, I have the opportunity to develop underwriting talent, share knowledge, and help the team overall grow professionally. But the biggest thing is educating the agents, and that's something that I love to do, even outside of work as well.

If I had to put work and personal together, I would say meeting new people is one thing I love to do. I have a lot of different values, and going off of that, the values that are most important to me personally and professionally are overall integrity, resilience in this kind of business because you're dealing with all types of people, accountability, and service. Everything that I do, I do it with trust, and I have empathy for the agents. I really want to make sure that they look at me in a leadership role, not just business, but leadership, as well as a human. That's one thing that definitely goes into my personal life as well as my work. I'm also definitely spiritual, so I take time out and talk to God every day and read my Bible. I have an online Bible group that I'm part of. Without God, that's one thing - when I do talk to other women, I try to go to certain biblical and religious groups where we can collaborate on how we put God into our work life, how we keep God in our life as women and stay strong in this crazy world sometimes, even through the ups and downs.