It's almost time for the turkey!  I'm a huge Christmas person, but I can never get enough of the incredible Thanksgiving food which includes my stuffing with an Italian flare!  We are talking sausage, green and red peppers, red onions, tomatoes, olives, cheese and a whole lotta love. (Feel free to email me for the recipe; everyone at my house fights for leftovers at my house each year!)  I'm truly thankful for the opportunity to meet so many incredible women in our industry each month and thankful for those of you who continue to take the time to make introductions.  This month, you get to meet Alycia, Naama and Kalinda, as they share their incredible stories of adapting to changing roles and reinvention.

Alycia Riedl, Mercer

"This year has been one of significant change and pride for me. I was a health and benefits consultant at a large consulting firm with clients and colleagues who I loved, but my soul told me that it was time for me to take on a new challenge and opportunity for growth. My new role at Mercer is as a Client Relationship Manager for some of our largest global clients across all of our lines of business (health, wealth and career). It has been an awesome change and I love what I am doing now; however, it is also humbling to no longer be a subject matter expert. It is my job to build trust and credibility with clients, understand their business, their strategic objectives and challenges and align that back to ways that we can help them solve their problems and plan for the future.

I have stayed connected to my passion for benefits by being on the Board of Trustees for NAHU and by helping out on benefits projects for clients. I have also had the privilege of leading our Mercer Cares Minneapolis Chapter, which is our charitable and volunteer group at Mercer.  All of this change has energized me and I feel so fortunate to be surrounded by and working with so many amazing people and organizations!"

Naama O Pozniak, A+ Insurance Service

"What an exciting, unique, unexpectable and unforgettable trip around the sun this year was! This time of year, I love to remind myself that gratitude turns what we have into enough.

I was overjoyed to be recognized by my peers in receiving the 2019 Wellness Advisor of the Year!  I was also thrilled to be the recipient of the SIBBIE Award for creating jobs in my community.  Both of these awards really highlighted my passion and positivity that I have for what I do.

With open enrollment now on, it is an intense time in our office with a bottleneck of renewals, changes and options! However, together with my A+ team, we are making sure that clients are happy and healthy.

For 30+ years, I have not only served the insurance industry, specializing in health care reform, employee benefits, international travel insurance, and Medicare; I am a mother, yogi, market disruptor, Primordial Sound Meditation instructor (certified by the Chopra Center), and Associate Publisher for the Cal Broker magazine.

My presentations marries my two fields: I empower companies to reduce medical spending, optimize health care expenses, bring innovations, add technology, and decrease stress with meditation and yoga. I have also developed a CE,  "Reducing Healthcare Cost with Yoga & Meditation" which was approved by the Departments of Insurance in five states: CA, NV, TX, FL, and AZ!

I'm excited by the trend toward greater transparency and conversation in the market to develop solutions. I can't wait to see what next year will bring!"

Kalinda Dunn, MPH, Generous Benefits, LLC

"Over the past year, I have had the opportunity to become much more autonomous in my role as client services executive.  I came into the insurance industry without much experience or knowledge in the field, but after four and a half years, I would say I am feeling much more confident in my abilities to communicate insurance lingo with both small and large employers.

During the past 12 months, I have taken on a more leading role in small group renewals, walking them through start to finish with CFOs and HR managers alike.  I have also recently transitioned to a new agency with my boss, as he started his own company, and he has allowed me the freedom to help design the outlook and vision of our agency as we begin to grow and acquire new clients.

My goal at the end of each day is to have made the day better for someone else, whether that be adding a newborn to a medical policy or helping a client with a denied pharmacy claim issue, I try to be there for people to help answer their questions when no one else can."

As always, if you know of great women in the field who are working hard to make this this industry even better, send me an email introduction at [email protected]. I'd love to connect!