In this week’s Team Member Tuesday, we’re unearthing a few faces from Sagicor who with sheer determination have grown both personally and professionally on their journeys of success.

Danielle Smith, is a manager, mommy and millennial, try saying that three times! After nearly a decade with the company, she believes she has benefitted tremendously from the experiences, challenges, awards, opportunities and rewards of being a Sagicor team member. In her journey, filled with ups and downs, she has admittedly never looked outside of Sagicor since she began. Here’s why she stayed.

Maternal Influence

“I am a Sagicor baby!” boasts Danielle. 

We speak on cool summer’s morning, as she gets ready for a major day ahead. Mid-year appraisal season is upon us, Smith, courteous as ever grants us the time to sit and talk about her journey starting with her mother.

Her mother, Denise Smith, a former Sagicor employee, immediately after she completed her studies at The University of Technology, Jamaica in Human Resources Management and Marketing, encouraged Danielle to apply for the summer internship program; in addition, she through her strong work ethic and an amazing drive, became a muse for her to emulate while with the company. This, she sees as the genesis of her growth story at Sagicor in May 2012. 

“So, I have to give a big up to my mom, she encouraged me to apply right after Utech and I’ve been here ever since”, says Smith. 

Starting as a summer intern, she made the transition to HR Services Representative in November of that year with a deep passion for meeting new people and finding ways to help in any capacity. This multiple award-winning Team Member of the Year and Team Member of the Quarter recipient proved that her then role, as is indicative in Danielle’s career so far would not last long.

 By 2014, she would be promoted to HR Relationship Associate. 

Gifted with a winning smile and striking ability to get things done, she was, you guessed it, promoted one year later to HR Relationship Officer. 

Who dreams of doing HR? She does.

Career Dream

“I knew I wanted to do HR from high school days”, says Smith, “I’m not the average person; HR was never a popular field but in High School when we had to figure out what we wanted to do, for some reason HR kept coming back to me”. 

Smith describes herself as a people person, though she originally wanted to be a teacher, much to the chagrin of her father, she chose a similar field.

But what about people who feel that HR is a standard and pretty boring field?  

HR, boring? Never for Smith. 

She notes that growing up, HR had a completely different look and feel. “In our time, the picture of HR wasn’t as it is today, now it’s more internal marketing, selling the culture of the company”

She notes that she has a passion for passing on knowledge to others and teaching people which has allowed her journey to be that much more rewarding. “I was fortunate to land in HR upon starting Sagicor and I’ve pretty much stayed since then; I got the opportunity to do what I had dreamt to do, working with persons, teaching persons, leading people and guiding them”.

“I Work for A Great Company”

Citing Karl Williams as her mentor, she notes that in her new role, both being a young manager and the tenure, she has many people she can look to for support.

This may be life’s way of repaying her good deeds. Upon starting Sagicor, Smith to a particular interest in helping new team members get settled in the company. To her, this feels like home.

“I’m lucky as I’ve been able to meet new people and guide them along the way; I took pride in being able to relate to new team members with my own experience,” says Smith. She says that she feels fulfilled in her role and has not looked outside the company since she started in 2012.

“I’ve received many opportunities growth-wise, every couple of months/year, I was moving in another position, so I was able to grow as a professional. Additionally, Sagicor puts in place things that directly benefit us as team members – I was able to own two cars since being here and I’ve purchased a house; I was able to do my graduate studies because of scholarship opportunities that we have; I got the time off to study and it's really all thanks to Sagicor.”

Sounds good; we shifted gears. We asked, “off the record, you’ve never wanted to leave?”

“Umm, I mean no”, says Smith, mommy to a darling 3 year old. She notes that though it is not a perfect environment, and as people, we’ll always want more, especially financial wise at some point, she says “when I weigh everything and I look at the journey and what I’ve been able to benefit from, I think that has motivated me to give back to the company in many ways; I may have thought about leaving but I’ve never applied for a job outside of Sagicor”.

Touché.

Motivation for Others

In looking back, she notes that the following has kept her:

• Benefits that the company has given to her, personally and professionally.
• Trusting the process, putting in the work, believing the promises that exist at Sagicor.

 At Sagicor, we promise a great place to work, a high-performance environment, and a balance of compensation and benefits. As Danielle has shown, she is a testament to being #SagicorStrong.