Aislyn Vaughan

Commercial Lines Account Manager
NFP
St. Albans City, Vermont

Age: 26
iPhone or Android? iPhone
Favorite streaming service? Spotify or Netflix
What’s in your earbuds currently? “Bring Your Love to Me” by The Avett Brothers

What brought you to insurance?

I moved to Vermont for someone, and his family worked in the insurance industry. They knew somebody in town, so I started as a receptionist. Within a couple months, I realized I couldn’t stand still. I needed more. I got licensed almost immediately, and then from there I was like, “Well, that’s not enough. I need to get my CISR and start working on my AAI.” Then I found the Young Agents and it was just like a snowball effect into the insurance industry. That was four years ago. 

What keeps you in it?

I like that it’s different day to day. You’re constantly digging, always finding out something new and more creative to solve someone’s problem and get them better coverage. Vermont is made of small businesses. It’s buy local, shop local. We don’t even allow Target in our state. So many people have more than one job. I’m a yoga instructor and a dance teacher as well—it’s just part of our community. It’s the way we function here. I go from contractors to waffle stands at farmers markets to boat washes to dance teachers to nurses. My book of business is all over the place. 

Role model/mentor?

My co-worker here at NFP, Lori Perley. She’s been working in insurance for many, many years. Insurance is just one of those things that when you’re a millennial, they throw you into it. They don’t give you the same training you would really like. As a millennial, you don’t want a boss—you want a coach. You want somebody to really mentor you and make you feel like you can make a difference within the industry. Lori’s been that person for me. It’s that support that makes a huge difference in a millennial’s life. I probably ask her a question at least three times a day. 

I’m vice president of the Vermont Young Agents Committee, and that’s the disconnect we’re working on—how to connect agencies with this process of bringing the new generation in, and how to implement a set of training skills that gives millennials the best introduction into insurance as possible, rather than creating an E&O exposure by just throwing them into it. Agencies instantly want experience, and that’s really hard to get. I only got to this position because I worked my butt off in order to go from receptionist to account manager. I wasn’t an account manager before and I didn’t work in personal lines or anything, so I had to start with endorsements and then finally beg them to give me a book of business when somebody left rather than hiring someone off the street.

Work/life balance?

I don’t keep them separate because I feel like being an account manager is part of who I am. When I first started, I would work my account manager job, and then two days a week after office hours I would work at a restaurant across the street. And then I was insuring a dance studio and they found out I had been a competitive dancer all through high school and college, and they were like, “Are you interested in becoming a dance teacher again?” So one day a week I teach kids dance. I got my yoga certification last May and actually taught a six-week series at NFP last summer, which NFP supported and encouraged. It was all about helping people in a business role let loose and reduce their stress by getting them out of that desk and into a healthy environment. 

So it’s all mixed together. When I met people at the restaurant, they asked where else I worked. When I’m at dance, I have dance moms asking me insurance questions. And when I’m at yoga, you need a professional policy to be an instructor, so I have people asking me about that. I’m not sure if that’s also part of the Vermont mindset, that we need to take care of our people in order to create a happier environment where they want to come to work. I love my co-workers and I love the town I live in, and it’s just all part of the benefits of my job. So I do look forward to coming into work, and I get that life balance outside it as well.

Most annoying millennial stereotype?

The misconception of being privileged or lazy is probably the most infuriating one. After seeing firsthand the work-driven stress levels of our parents’ generation, we want to adapt and change and connect to the world around us, and we want to be able to obtain a work-life balance that creates a healthier mind and a better workspace. 

Millennial stereotype that fits you?

Have you ever heard the Ralph Emerson quote, “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us”? I think that’s so us. We’re made of something else. We’re willing to get the work done to make our customers or clients happy—we’re just not willing to give up who we are as a person. My parents immigrated here from Ireland in their early 20s to give us greater opportunities. They made things happen for us just by moving here and supporting us, no matter what the dream was. Why wouldn’t we want to take advantage of that? 

Industry’s biggest challenge?

We have a lot of people retiring at a very fast rate, and we don’t have people filling those positions. And if you’re only willing to hire people with three to four years of experience, you’re going to find yourself without a staff. Agencies need to put the work in to recruit people who will want to make this a life career. I think a lot of times, companies look at millennials and think, “They need a job—they’ll work for it.” But that’s not necessarily the case. I don’t think companies realize that when they’re recruiting young people, they’re in an interview, too. What makes you appealing to this college student? What do you offer them? We want to feel challenged and inspired. We want to know it’s fulfilling and our work has a purpose and makes a difference in someone else’s life. We don’t want to sit there and feel like we’re just a cog in a machine.

This article is the ninth in a series that profiles 10 millennials in independent insurance, based on IA’s July cover story. Keep an eye on IAmagazine.com and upcoming editions of the News & Views e-newsletter for more insights into how young people are working to secure the future of your industry.

Jacquelyn Connelly is IA senior editor.