Influential Woman · Insurance
Shelly Terry
Insurance, --
Charlotte, NC
Her Story
About Shelly
Shelly Terry brings five years of experience in the insurance industry to her role at Progressive Insurance, where she specializes in commercial trucking insurance. In this capacity, she works to ensure that stakeholders maintain appropriate liability limits, remain compliant with FMCSA regulations, and receive required certificates of insurance and state-specific documentation. Prior to entering insurance, Terry built a strong foundation in telecommunications, working for AT&T and Verizon Wireless, and earlier in banking. She holds an Associate in Science degree, a Bachelor's in Business Administration, and a Project Management Certification with honors from DeVry University, which she completed in 2026. A notable achievement from her time at Verizon Wireless includes advancing from service representative to coach supporting new hires within her first year in the role. Terry values honesty, integrity, and loyalty in both her professional and personal life, and she credits her success to keeping God central, along with networking and her personable approach to advising and communicating with others. She is exploring future opportunities such as becoming an agent owner or expanding into territory sales.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Shelly
01What do you attribute your success to?
I keep God in the center of everything that I do. That's number one. And I totally believe that it's always outside of me, the things, the advantages that I get. The opportunities that I get. It's just networking, always making sure that I ask the questions. I'm a personable person, so I never meet a stranger, and so even just meeting folks you know, in day-to-day grocery store, you know, what do you do? Okay. Or, you know, or just advising. That's another one of my attributes that I have. You know, just advising folks and things like that. So just being networking, advising, and communicating with people, you learn so much. You're able to help people, and they helped me as well.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Never limit yourself. Always keep advancing. And always raise the bar, because the bar can always go higher. It's don't let anything limit you. There's always something new to learn every day. So, for us to just get in there and just do it.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say for them to, get their first and foremost, get involved in multi-lines, like, of insurance. So, not just one line, like personal. Try all lines, personal lines, commercial lines, do multi-line insurance so that, they can decipher which portion of insurance they actually like to work with. Because sometimes, if you just work with one type of insurance, you you get burnt out, and you feel like. I don't think this is for me, but it might just be that position is not for you. Out there and and try all lines of insurance.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Some of the opportunities definitely are, Being an agent owner, going up, territory sales, things like that. Those are some things that I'm even, thinking about embarking upon in the future. So those are definitely some opportunities where we can expand. With Progressive Insurance, I can expand, you know, who we are. And, expand our territory as far as the products and services that we offer.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Honesty, integrity, Loyalty. I kind of move by those three things, and that helps to shape the person that I am, and it helps to shape the circle that I have around me. I have some really great people that I'm always linked in with, and it's based on those values. Operating on that, it attracts the correct people into your life.
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