Audiobook - Biography
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EnglishAccents
North American (General) North American (US General American - GenAM)Transcript
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On September 11th 2012 I stood nervously behind the curtain at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. I wasn't worried about a wardrobe malfunction, some complicated dance steps or hitting all the right notes from my seat in the audience. I just been texted that I'd won the election and was now the next secretary of NATHA, the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, 40,000 members strong, more than a century old and the most formidable trade organization in the industry. I'm not sure I can describe the joy and anticipation bursting from every cell in my body. At that moment, the feeling was beyond almost anything I'd ever experienced. As I stood backstage that day, as if that victory wasn't enough, I knew in just two years I would become the first female president in Nathan's 125 year history. I absolutely knew it, but how did I get here? Not a week has passed in my 20 year financial services career when something remarkable hasn't happened. That doesn't prompt me to ask myself that question. I mean it. How did all this happen? I am an ordinary woman from a town of 1925 people in central Wisconsin. There's nothing spectacular about me, my family lineage or the schools I attended. I did my homework, had after school jobs, did chores at home and played sports. I struggled with self confidence and still do and grappled with ideas about a career. I ended up feeling nameless and lifeless in corporate America before making a giant leap into financial services, where, for all intents and purposes, I started all over again. If you had asked me at the financial services three year mark fraught with so many challenges, I was about to give up, if I'd have greater financial success than I ever could have imagined, I'd have said you were crazy If you had asked me at that three year mark if I'd be good enough at my job to help lift a looming financial burden from thousands of individuals and families, either said you were crazy. If you'd asked me if I'd become the first female president of Natha that I would be able to accomplish something on such a grand scale again, I'd have said you were crazy, but it happened and it did so because I finally got out of my own way, worked hard and focused on believing it would. My life keeps me up at night. Not so much because I dwell on my accomplishments, but because I know it is possible for you to have your own string of victories in financial services. I want you toe, have what I have and more. I know what's possible in this industry, and as a woman who's forged a long road to the top, I want to help you get there, too.