Norma Coronado-Ortiz

As a minority woman and Latina working in a predominantly male industry, I come from a blue-collar background where both my parents retired from factory work. Watching both of them work so hard showed me a good work ethic. I've always had my dad in my ear telling me to be independent, and anytime you get an opportunity to learn something, learn it, because no one can ever take that away from you. That's been my drive - to learn anything. If somebody wants to teach me something, I'm right there wanting to learn how to do it. I don't know if I'm ever going to use it, but I might, because that knowledge can't be taken out of my brain. I worked even harder to get that degree when I had my son. My drive and motivators are my family.

I would tell her it's not for the weak. You have to have a thick skin and know who you are. Have the biggest family support and the most family support that you can get, because there are days where I look at my husband and I feel broken just from having to deliver large increases to people because you build relationships with them, or trying to make someone understand why a carrier did something. It's getting harder and harder. I would encourage them to shadow somebody. Stand your ground and don't back down, because it's still a heavily male-dominated industry. Some males still try to pat me on the head. Have a thick skin and keep going. Learn everything that somebody wants to teach you. If someone wants to take you under their wing and teach you something, get under there and figure it all out with them. Be inquisitive. Be the one that wants to ask all the questions, even if it's annoying to somebody else.

The biggest challenges currently are that rates never go down, they always increase, and with inflation, we're trying to figure out how we as brokers can help employers stay relevant in their industry and keep and attract talent as people age out and start to retire. Part of that is the benefits package, which is probably the second biggest expense that an employer has aside from payroll. The challenge is staying on top of anything new that's coming out in the industry, staying educated on the different funding ways that an employer group can fund, and finding ways to save money for them. How do we help them keep employees? The most important thing is teaching them how to save money. So education on all the most up-and-coming things in our insurance world and helping employers save money are the key challenges and opportunities.

When you're in a workplace, having your superiors or whoever you report to have your back is extremely important. Flexibility is something else that's also important - a work-life balance. My first job is being a mother and a wife, so that is extremely important to me. Having an employer that understands the work-life balance is a big value to me. Currently where I'm at at Shepherd, that is something that they value a lot as an employer, and they allow the flexibility. Work-life balance, family, and faith are my core values. I just kind of go with God and let Him lead the way.