When Tiago Prado, co-founder and chief visionary officer of Best Rate Zone (BRZ) in Framingham, Massachusetts, moved from Brazil to Boston at age 14, he had never felt so cold in his life. However, it wasn’t just the weather he needed to acclimate to—learning English was a struggle, and he was held back a year in school before eventually dropping out.

Determined to succeed, he enrolled at Bunker Hill Community College and took English classes to earn the GED diploma. After transferring to Tufts University on a scholarship and later working in asset management, Prado realized the language challenge he overcame while emigrating to the U.S. was his biggest strength. “Being Latino wasn’t my weakness—it was actually my superpower,” he says.

"I was once told by a marketing rep that my business plan was not appealing to her because it was niched on Hispanics," Prado says. "She emphasized that they don’t assimilate fast enough, fail to learn English and were bad risks. But it’s not about assimilation—I despise that word after that experience—it’s about integration."

After opening in 2017, BRZ combines technology with a multilingual team to serve personal and commercial lines clients in English, Spanish and Portuguese. This business model, caters to the changing consumer demographics in the U.S. and sets the agency apart from others in the market.

Declaration of Independents on Agency Nation Radio is where insurance professionals turn on the mic and share unscripted stories about leadership, technology, marketing, success and failure—stories that helped make them the professionals they are today. From Main Street USA to the pages of Independent Agent magazine—we’ve got the stories you want to hear.

Prado was also featured in the August issue of Independent Agent. Check out his interview here or read the full issue online.