From nursing to banking to benefits, I finally found my professional calling

Growing up as a second-generation immigrant from Guatemala and El Salvador whose parents crossed the border for a better life, expectations were high. I was destined, my parents were sure, to become a doctor. 

At 14, one of the nation's best neurosurgeons performed an operation on my brain, and later allowed me to witness a similar arteriovenous malformation surgery on another patient. That's when I became enamored with the hospital setting and helping people. 

That proved beneficial once I found my true calling as a benefits broker, but it took me a while to find the right path. 

I always wondered how impactful it would feel to know you saved someone's life, which is what led me to become a nurse. At this time in my life, I was unsure and confused about the path I was on. I was married to an airline pilot who was in the air more than he was at home. I was working grueling night shifts and caring for a two-year-old in the morning, as if I had a full night's sleep. I was operating like a single parent with no work-life balance, and it took a toll on me and on my marriage, which endured a rough patch.

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The stress finally caught up to me: I broke down crying in the middle of a standard blood transfusion in the oncology unit, complaining about the lack of resources and support we had on the clinical side. I was just about done with nursing. Imagine being subjected to this emotional scene on the other side of that transfusion — my patient started to laugh and politely reminded me she was possibly dying of cancer. She also told me that she could introduce me to banking and finance when I was ready. 

I was intrigued. That type of 9-to-5 work would allow me to drop off and pick up my daughter from school every day. Nurses work three days a week, but it takes another three days to recover. A year later, I took the leap of faith and gave her a call. 

Before long, I started working in a branch setting of a bank and had an amazing boss, who saw the future I was capable of creating. She was familiar with what starting over was like. She pushed me to my limits, and I will forever be grateful. She knew I had much more potential and always coached me. 

A few months later, I worked with the commercial team and partnered with a more senior banker. We won a deal the bank had been chasing for more than 10 years. I remember printing the contract and framing it for my boss. I did what he hadn't in an entire decade. 

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Before basking any longer in the success of my new banking career, a commercial banker connected me with an insurance agency executive whose work she thought would be a great fit for me. Her thinking was that between my experience with the bank and my nursing background, I might actually find my true calling. She was spot on. 

I was fortunate enough to accept a job with a leader who understood that education must come first. He set me up with the best building blocks to support my future. I got to train for almost a year and had limited expectations when it came to production goals. He made sure I worked in all the roles that would eventually support me. I sat as an account manager, account executive, senior account executive and finally with one of the Washington, D.C. area's top benefits producers.  

Little did he know, I also had another big production under way: my last baby (I know, talk about timing). But despite all that, I still managed to complete the training as best I could and even brought in a pretty large commercial insurance deal — all while "training" to be a producer. Before I started in the field, I never knew what the job entailed, but now I can't stop trying to convince people why a career in this space is so deeply satisfying. 

For me, being a broker was about more than seeing the daily injustices that happened in the clinical setting; I was often part of hard conversations involving insurance company denials of an experimental drug or trial. Can you imagine having to tell someone that a complete stranger doesn't think their life is worth any more money? As pricing has become increasingly transparent, we are also seeing huge deficits in care. People are simply afraid to seek treatment due to financial hardship. My role as ex-banker-turned-benefits broker-is to educate and be a resource to help folks understand how to navigate the complexity of our healthcare system. 

As a much happier and healthier working mom, school volunteer and now broker, I wouldn't ever trade this gig for the world. I tell all my clients it's the closest thing that allows me to help people without requiring the clinical aspect. But having this professional background provides a unique appreciation for all the daily healthcare challenges I see across my book of business. I'm now seeing the struggle to improve quality of care while also lowering cost from a completely different vantage point. 

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It was also a necessary change that I needed to alter my path in life, providing a more comfortable space that would allow me to be the best possible version of myself.  Looking back on my meandering career, it has become increasingly clear to me how nursing, banking and the benefits brokerage business are all about forging relationships and helping people attain their goals — whether it's to get physically or fiscally healthier. 

For other brokers like myself who accidentally or haphazardly wound up doing this work, we can always build on previous experiences to give us the balance we need to serve our customers with both passion and purpose.