Five Things about Me

April and May were and continue to be crazy busy for me. I’ve led webinars or seminars every two weeks. And I still have two more coming up! So yeah, it’s exhausting, but also exhilarating. I love learning new things and sharing ideas with you.

Many of you are new to me and my business. Let me take a moment to tell you about myself. Here are five things to know about me.

1. Where I live shaped my life. I live in Connecticut, the Insurance capital of the world. I stumbled into the health insurance industry out of college; my aunt worked there. It takes decades to understand the ins and outs of how insurance works. It gets more fascinating the more you know. All these years later, I’m still working in health insurance. I keep up with the constant changes. I want to tell you about them.
   

2. I love storytelling. Whether it’s reading a great book (24 and counting this year alone) or laughing over tall tales with friends, I’m up for the story. It wasn’t that long ago that humans huddled around the fire at night, telling stories to keep out the dark. It’s how we make sense of the world. Our health, the health of our loved ones, is intimate and personal. We need stories to help us understand, to allow us to share, to make sense of it all. Storytelling is a skill I treasure as well as a skill I continue to hone.
   

3. Watching my parents age has been one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I find I want to step in and make it all better, to fix it. But human relationships don’t work that way. We are all allowed to make our own decisions. That’s why conversations are so important. I keep reminding myself to ask questions rather than offer solutions, to foster our connection. I gotta’ tell you, though, when my 90 year old dad fell on vacation and wound up in a Florida ICU? That was an education and a journey with no easy path.
   

4. Dad gave me my big “ahah!” moment. If someone with decades of insurance experience struggled to coordinate care, the system is broken. Healthcare needs to be available and understandable to everyone. That’s why I am a Certified Insurance Consultant, not an insurance executive or agent. I want to work for people, not impersonal companies.

5. Now the fun one: I love to travel. 32 countries and counting. Everyone always asks what’s the most exotic place I’ve ever been. It could be Ouarzazate in the Sahara, Machu Pichu (although I liked Moray better) or lovely Tobago. But in reality, my exotic place is Nunda, New York, a small town in the Finger Lakes. When I walked into the (only) local diner, all the forks stopped half way up. It felt like the locals had never seen a stranger before.

   
   

   I have no idea where to visit next. What’s your recommendation? I’m always up for a good adventure.

What about you? What should I know about you?