As Dorothy Gale once recited in the Wizard of Oz, “there is no place like home.” My name is Heather Belanger, Commercial Lines Account Executive at Tri-County Agency in my hometown of Tawas City on the beautiful shores of Lake Huron.
I have been fortunate enough to have worked in my agency for the last 15 years. Clearly, that means I must have started working here when I was 12. I grew up in Tawas and for most of my teenage years I could not wait to leave “Up North” for the “Big City”. After graduation and spending a year in Ypsilanti, I received a call from my Agency Owner asking if I would come back and work at the office for the summer. Fourteen summers later and there is no place I would rather be. My office and our team have truly been home to me.
I began working at Tri-County as a co-op student in high school, mostly filing, shredding and answering an occasional phone call. Intrigued by the ever-changing nature of our world, I stuck around for a while and before long I managed the Personal Lines book. As the agency came under a new owner with a heavy Commercial Lines background, my role again changed to where I sit today in Commercial Lines.
At home my husband Michael and I have two kids. Alex is 10 and enjoys playing hockey where he is a goalie, which keeps us busy for endless weekends during the winter and spring months. Grace is 5 and started Kindergarten this year. She loves watching and cheering for Big Brother in net and is the best travel buddy. We have 2 dogs, 1 cat and 15 chickens (my husband is a bit of a hobby farmer). In the summertime you will find us working on projects at the house or enjoying the shores of Lake Huron every spare moment we get.
Sometimes being nestled in a small town, it is easy to get lost in how things have always been and be reluctant to embrace anything new or different. This was my primary reason for wanting to attend the Young Agent Conference in 2019. As a first-time attendee, I submitted an essay with hopes of winning a scholarship to cover the cost of the conference and much to my surprise I won!
As an admitted introvert, Conference was incredibly eye-opening. Seeing the camaraderie between fellow agents, vendors and carrier representatives was unlike any event I had ever been to. If I tried to hide in a corner I was always pulled back in to socialize by all the friendly faces and I could not have been more grateful.
After I returned home from Conference, I had barely been home a few hours when I received a call from another Young Agent Committee Member asking if I would be willing to join the committee. I was honored and excited by the opportunity. Sometimes being pulled out of your shell really isn’t so bad!
For my first year on board, I am looking forward to continuing to build relationships, work on professional growth and pass on the nerd-word that “insurance is cool”. I can’t wait to see what the rest of 2020 has in store for the YAC!