Meet Darlyn McDermott, an insurance industry professional, market leader, entrepreneur, and a mentor who is also interested in manufacturing and technical-aspect of the industry.
If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life. -Marc Anthony
These words perfectly explain Darlyn McDermott’s 27-year-old career. She is an exceptional insurance and financial services professional and a mentor to many. She graduated from college with a BA and immediately began working in the industry. Although it is a male-dominated field, McDermott has managed to make her own mark. She has mentored young and diverse industry professionals and is empowering the next generation. As an entrepreneur, she founded IMS, which stands for Insurance Made Simple, in 2007. She advises individuals and businesses on how to handle their insurance. It entails educating and empowering them to deal with their own insurance-related issues. Through her “I’m Savvy” program, she has mentored over 300 people from both a group and an individual standpoint. It is a mantra about being valued and being unique. It includes tenets that can be applied to any profession.
McDermott works for Hartford Street Broiler (HSB), a Connecticut-based insurance company, where she is in charge of America and Europe’s four applied industrial and technical solutions. The work here entails developing new products and reaching out to global industrial customers who are very much in edge technology. She also has a strong relationship with MAGNET, a manufacturing and growth network headquartered in her home state of Ohio. It helps manufacturers grow and compete in the state in order to thrive.
She collaborates with engineers and manages the business side of the project. McDermott is passionate about insurance, manufacturing, technical aspects of the job, and mentoring talented people. She wants to bring people along and get them involved. She believes that the more diverse your team is in terms of education and talent, the more diverse a solution you can provide, paving the way for success.
Darlyn’s job is flexible, which has allowed her to devote more time to her hobbies and to care for her aging parents. She has to work early in the morning or late at night, but she takes out time for herself and her family during the day. She does, however, point out that flexibility comes with responsibility. “When you do something you love, whether it’s working with Magnet or HSB, it’s not work because it’s enjoyable”, she says. Her colleagues are like her second family. They connect and understand each other, which makes work easier and operations seamless.
Darlyn has a driven personality and appreciates the gifts she has been given, which is at the heart of her belief system. She credits her success to the excellent mentors she has had along the way, some of whom she sought out and others who sought her out. She believes that intellectual curiosity is the key to advancement in any career. She is an eternal optimist, a quality that has helped me overcome adversity as we pivot. She understands that as every year in business, things move faster, and roadblocks become more significant as you advance in your career. The ability to adapt and change while continuing to persevere, modify, and succeed are important skill sets that we all require. Another aspect of success is lifelong learning, along with keeping up with the technical for her.