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By Kris Maccini, Head of Digital Distribution, Triple-I
Dale Sharpe Jenkins, M.S., CIC, AINS, principal/proprietor, The Jenkins Agency Incorporated, is fast to level out that she didn’t select a profession in insurance coverage – insurance coverage selected her. A primary-generation faculty graduate, Jenkins sought a occupation that would offer her and her household with alternatives. She started her profession in life insurance coverage at a small firm in Columbus, Ohio earlier than shifting on to Progressive Insurance and opening its first claims workplace in Phoenix, Arizona.
“Insurance plays an important role in our lives. The insurance industry has allowed me to make a great living and help people with their needs at the same time.”
Eventually, Jenkins moved right into a senior building underwriter place at St. Paul Insurance Companies (now Travelers) and made the shift from claims to underwriting. While it was a rewarding place, Jenkins began a household and wished extra flexibility in her profession. In 1998, she leveraged her expertise in building to construct The Jenkins Agency Incorporated, an unbiased company primarily based in Arlington, Texas, specializing in industrial underwriting for building, non secular organizations, and different non-profits.
“We write property/casualty, life, health, and group benefits. Most of our customers are small Black-owned businesses, and we are minority certified. I’m proud of what our agency has been able to do for the Black business community. Their success is our success.”
Diversity has been on the epicenter of Jenkins’ profession. The Dallas Black Chamber has acknowledged the company for its work within the Black neighborhood; the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) Airport named The Jenkins Agency Incorporated as its Diversity Champion of 2023 on the SOAR Awards this yr; and Business Insurance Magazine has additionally acknowledged the company for its range efforts.
In 2008, Jenkins joined the National African American Insurance Association (NAAIA), the place she was a member of the founding Board of Directors and served as president of the Dallas chapter for 3 years. Since 2011, the NAAIA DFW Scholarship Foundation has offered monetary awards to highschool and faculty college students curious about careers in insurance coverage, finance, and advertising.
“I’m very focused on providing [insurance] industry awareness to young people starting out or trying to discover a career for themselves. I was on the receiving end early in my career, and it’s nice to give back now.”
The Jenkins Agency Incorporated celebrates its 25th anniversary this yr. Reflecting on the previous twenty years, Jenkins feels blessed to be in her present place. She based her firm on her personal and not using a e book of enterprise and constructed it from the bottom up, counting on referrals. Her husband, Jeff, joined the enterprise in 2000.
“In the early years, we were in survival mode. We realized if we could make it to five years, we could make it to 10. Hiring our first employees was a highlight, and most of them have been with us for over a decade.”
Like each small enterprise, The Jenkins Agency skilled challenges in its preliminary years. Jenkins remembers the tough transition from working in a big firm to working her personal enterprise and sustaining a piece/life stability.
“Whether working for yourself or others, flexibility is very important when you are working and raising a family. Having my own business granted me that flexibility. I was able to work around my daughters’ schedules and still manage responsibilities at the office. Having your own business doesn’t mean you work less; in my experience, you work more but with the advantage is being able to manage your day.”
To this present day, Jenkins cites her two daughters as inspiration, together with different up-and-coming professionals. Both of her daughters have profitable careers–her youngest daughter as a danger supervisor for a municipality in Texas and her oldest daughter as a enterprise proprietor in California and a university professor. Entrepreneurship runs within the household. Jenkins’ father was additionally a enterprise proprietor.
Jenkins, who teaches danger administration on the University of Texas in Arlington, can also be motivated by her college students. “My inspiration comes from the younger generation and how they embrace diversity and balance work and home. I’m also impressed with their talent.”
Regarding the continuing efforts to push for range, fairness, and inclusion within the trade, Jenkins is cheering on this technology and asks younger Black professionals to not lose floor.
“My generation had to maneuver in a different way. We tried to fit in in any way we could–from hair to speech. This generation has a voice, and they are not afraid to be heard. To them I say…Keep your skills sharp so there is no question whether you can do the job and be proud of who you are.”
Looking to take part in discussions round addressing disparities and dealing in direction of a extra inclusive and equitable insurance coverage panorama? Sign up for Empowering the Community: The Importance of Insurance within the Black Community, hosted on September 12 by The Black Insurance Industry Collective (BIIC).
Dale Sharpe Jenkins, M.S., CIC, AINS is an tutorial member of the Insurance Information Institute by her affiliation with the University of Texas at Arlington.