Lyric Emerson

I attribute my success to persistence, determination, and motivation. I believe that in order to be successful in life, you have to keep at it. You have to know how to face rejection, and you have to be able to push through it, even on your bad days. You have to wake up every day and say, this is what I want for my life, and I'm building the life that I want.

I would tell them, don't be scared of the man's world. Men are more likely to take risks than we are. Men are more likely to apply for jobs or to go after things where they are not as qualified as they should be. So, as women, I think that we need to stand up for ourselves, and not be afraid to take risks. We know our worth, we know our mentality, we know our education, we know what we know, so we should go for the things that we want without fear.

Some of the biggest challenges would have to be being the little guy. In my internship, we actually were talking about this last night, that with elections, it seems that the people who can spend the most on their campaigns are going to be the ones that win in office. That's kind of how it is with the insurance agency. I don't have any TV commercials, I don't have billboards or a big name brand. I actually spend very little on marketing, so I rely a lot on word of mouth. That would be the most challenging part, just being a little fish and not having the tens or hundreds or millions to spend to get my name out there nationally. The opportunities are really just networking with my local community, so because it relies a lot on word of mouth, I get to meet some very influential, very interesting, very kind people in my community, such as with my church, with Food Share. You never know who you're gonna write a policy for, who they're gonna give your name to, and I think that it just helps create almost a family feeling when you're able to stick with your community.

I would have to say honesty and empathy. There's a lot of insurance companies out there that are very predatory, and they feed on people's misfortunes, and the off chance that someone might die, you know, how are you gonna pay for their coffin? I believe in doing my work with integrity and empathy for people, and trying to help better their lives and better their situations without preying on them, basically. Just making sure that you see the good in people, and you try to help where you can.