Katrina Thornton

Honestly, I attribute my success to a lot of support. I have a great manager who, since she's been in her current role, has created opportunities to promote or level up within the organization - even before she was there, there was no opportunity like that, and she's made that possible. I also have amazing coworkers. We have a really, really great team that makes it hard to want to leave. We always joke that our team is one that people want to come to, and we have a lot of people in other positions in the company that came from our team - VPs that came from our team, sales performance managers that came from our team. When you're here in this role, it provides opportunity for growth, which is really a positive thing, but it's also the team that people want to be on. That makes it a lot easier to come to work every day, to clock in, and to want to show up again the next day. It's just a very healthy culture.

I would say, talk to as many people as you can. That's something I wish I'd done differently. Network, talk to other people that you think you want to be like, find out what they do. Don't be afraid to just have a coffee and keep going. You're gonna hit roadblocks, people are gonna tell you you can't do it, but all the successful women I know have overcome. No matter what you go through, it's not the end. And there's always different paths to success, so even if your path doesn't look like what someone tells you it should look like, that doesn't mean you're not successful.

I think the biggest challenge, especially for my agents in insurance, is the misunderstanding of what they do, and life insurance especially - how important that is. Those are never my stories to tell because I don't sell insurance, but I do help agents tell their stories through marketing and why what they do is so important. It really touches home when you hear those agents talk about delivering service to families - like one of my agents whose friend's home caught fire, and delivering service to them that allowed them to rebuild their home, or agents who have to deliver a life insurance check to a mother after their children have passed away. I really think it's a misconception of what they do. It's impactful work that they do, and a lot of people judge them on 'oh, we have to have insurance, and it's a scam,' but if you've never been in the position on the receiving end to receive those claims that are more than just an auto fender bender, but a life-changing moment, then it's hard for people to understand what it is they do and how really impactful it is. As for opportunities, I would say for Farm Bureau it would really be in our recruiting efforts, to have more individuals be able to work in this industry, and especially younger people. We have some coming in now, but we have a lot of clients who are older, so just trying to reach that younger generation and bringing them to the industry.

Within my work, I would say knowing that my family comes first, even professionally or personally, and professionally, that's supported. With a three-year-old, life right now is just knowing that they support that, and the flexibility that can happen when needed means a lot to me. Also, just the integrity of the people that I work with and the accountability part. Working in insurance, those are so important - working with trustful people, respectful people. That's really, really important to me, and who I want to surround myself with. It's almost like the saying, you know how your parents used to tell you, show me your friends and I'll show you who you are - I can say that at work. I work with people that have the same values as me.