Today we’d like to introduce you to Deidre Bembry.
Deidre, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I am a mother, wife, entrepreneur, change agent, village member, and philanthropist. I truly believe we have all been placed in this world with a designed purpose to fulfill. My life’s purpose is to use my gifts and talents to make a lasting impact. I am a product of a large, close-knit family and a southern upbringing. I am a Believer and a true lover of people. My family and my community have always been important centers for me. I have been a business owner for approximately ten years with a total of 19 years in the insurance industry. I have used this experience to make the lives of my clients better each day by providing education, financial awareness, and asset protection. I am passionate about meeting people where they are and having real conversations about what they want for themselves and the people important to them. I love taking care of people and being a ‘go to” for them at every phase of their life. I have always said that one needs a good hair stylist, good attorney, good accountant, good childcare professional, and a good insurance agent. Everyone needs this top 5 professional squad in their lives. I love what I do and I approach it with passion every single day! I tell my clients all the time… I focus on the answers and solutions for their problems.
I consider my most precious role to be that of a mother. I am the mother of three beautiful girls and one angel. I have encountered the highs and lows of life at an early age and each experience has taught me to use everything in life as a teachable moment. In addition to my business, I am the current Chairman of Keris Kares Incorporated, an organization established solely for Pediatric Cancer outreach. I have also created a blog, Unwritten by Deidre where I share it all with my readers in hopes that they will get what they are looking for in terms of all things life. It has taken me some time to pull all of my roles together but I can truly say I love the direction life is taking me in at the moment. I live each day that is given to me with passion, love, and expectation! My best life is NOW!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Wow, there is not triumph without obstacles and challenges. I feel that you cannot truly understand success until you have experienced struggle. Being an entrepreneur was always a dream of mine. I didn’t know what or how but I knew I would be in that space. Crafting, creating, changing, and Impacting. When I decided to leave corporate America in 2008, I had no idea of the struggle that was ahead of me. I was newly married with a one-year-old and carrying my second child. I was so focused on chasing my dream and I knew failure was not an option. In early 2009, I was doing my internship while preparing to open in a few short months. I had my laptop pulled up and I kept getting alerts on all of the stocks that were dropping. Companies were literally going out of business and being acquired. The bank that I had secured my credit lines with literally was not in business anymore. It just didn’t seem real. We had sold our home, relocated, and there was a financial crisis happening worldwide that we simply had not planned for. I had left my company car, cozy 9-5 with benefits to open a scratch agency in a new city in the midst of a recession.
The timing of it all was simply overwhelming. The thing was.. there was no reverse button. We had to make this work! In August of 2009, I opened my agency doors with a 20-month-old, two-month-old, and a spouse that had not found work yet in our new city. Oh, not to mention I had no clients. It was either going to be a recipe for disaster or my greatest test. I gave it all I had and then some. We were overextended, in debt, and exhausted. However, determination, marketing, and pure work ethic pushed us through year one, then year two, and then eventually one day at a time we made it through the recession with confidence, resilience, and the ability to evolve and be innovative in a difficult marketplace. I never forgot those lessons or sacrifices. I always felt that if I could survive being a new business in the recession, then I could make it through anything.
By 2013, I welcomed my 3rd daughter into the world. I had been a business owner for almost five full years and I was getting better and better at my craft. Then the unthinkable happened. In November of that year, my second born Keris was diagnosed with a rare form of inoperable, incurable brain cancer. We were completely devastated. However, we had to move quickly. Upon diagnosis, the doctors gave her 6-9 months to live. I remember my mind being completely blown because she had never even had a cold so how in the world could she have cancer. She was 4. For the next two years, we would fight cancer with everything we had. We traveled to three states in the process and endured multiple treatments. If I had not been an entrepreneur, I wouldn’t have had a job to go back too. My team helped run my business in my absence. In July of 2015, after 20 months of fighting, Keris earned her wings.
I still can’t believe I have a child that is no longer here. It is still hard to process at times. Earlier that year, myself along with my family started the nonprofit Keris Kares Inc during her lifetime. The purpose of our organization was to pay nonmedical bills for families that had a child with a pediatric cancer diagnosis. I was in Texas with Keris at MD Anderson getting treatment when our nonprofit became official. We just felt strongly that we had to do more. The pediatric cancer world was so hard to be in. Very limited funding and treatments and bills, bills, bills. I just knew we had to do something more. We planned our first event in May which was a 5k. Keris attended and we raised over 40k for families. We knew Keris was slipping away from us but we were so glad that she was able to see Keris Kares live and breathe and give. Keris Kares has gone on to be a thriving nonprofit, helping many families each year. We recently added our Keris Kares 4 the Arts program in several counties where we provide art supplies to elementary school teachers throughout the school system.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Deidre K Bembry Agency story. Tell us more about the business.
I help people plan, prepare, dream, and provide security for themselves and their families. I am licensed in insurance and financial services. My mantra is ask the insurance lady. If you have questions, simply ask the insurance lady. I make insurance simple and easy to understand at any level. I find that people want to do what’s right but oftentimes they don’t know where to start or what to even ask. I feel that this is where my gift really shines. I truly want people to make it no matter what life sends their way. I am proud that I have built a team of licensed agents in my office that believe in what we do and what we stand for. The best thing about what we do is that the more people we help, the better we do as a team. It’s pretty amazing. We have all experienced life’s highs and lows and it makes us approachable and passionate about taking care of our clients. People have several options but they choose us and recommend us daily and I never take that for granted. One of our core beliefs is to support and give back to the community that supports us daily.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Luck for me is when opportunity and timing intersect. It’s a beautiful thing when it happens. The truth is you simply can’t know it all or plan everything. Luck happens and as a business owner, you know it when you see it. Sometimes you are just in the right place at the right time. Knock on wood…I haven’t had much bad luck in business. I have felt lucky and blessed on many occasions in my personal life and business life. Sometimes you have to be humble enough to know it is not you.
Contact Info:
- Address: Deidre K Bembry Insurance Agency Inc
1111 Lower Fayetteville Rd Ste 200
Newnan, GA 30265 - Website: www.asktheinsurancelady.com blogunwrittenbydeidre.wordpress.com
- Phone: 770-502-0200
- Email: deidre@asktheinsurancelady.com deidrebookings@gmail.com
- Instagram: unwrittenbydeidre keriskares
- Facebook: unwrittenbydeidre keriskares
Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
