Fiji transplant and Beaverton resident finds joy in selling insurance

She went from a nursery to Office Depot to the insurance business

By Kristen Forbes

The Times, Nov 19, 2009

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After arriving in Seattle from the Fiji Islands in 1988, Premila Singh applied for a job at a nursery and hardware company, where she was hired the same day of the interview. She stayed with the company for a long time, working in customer service. When the nursery opened a new store in Tigard, Singh moved south to stay with the company. When they later went out of business, Singh took some time off and then started working at Office Depot.

“I really like talking to people, meeting people,” she says. “I get very outgoing, being around that kind of environment.”

While at Office Depot, her insurance agent stopped by the store to purchase paper. He inquired about how Singh was doing and the two started talking. He encouraged Singh to get her insurance license. Singh wavered at first, but when she grew tired of working in retail, she decided to go for it.

She became licensed and ran into another friend, who encouraged her to go talk to someone working for Aflac. She visited the office, but wasn’t sure yet if this was something she wanted to do.

“She said, ‘Let me know when you’re ready,’” Singh recalls. “After a while I decided, yeah, I’m very hard-working and outgoing, so I said, ‘Let me try it.’”

She began working at Aflac but eventually wanted more. She researched offices online and connected with a branch of Mutual of Omaha. Last year was her first year.

“I didn’t know anything about insurance,” she says. “Now, you can ask me any question about insurance. I was very successful last year. And the reason I was successful is because I had a good mentor. You have to get out there and talk to people – he motivates me to do it. And now, I do it.”

Singh, who is East Indian, says she originally came to the United Sates because she has family here.

“In Fiji, everyone thinks the United States is the greatest place. Everybody wants to come here. But I think it’s good – there are good people in this country. I wouldn’t have had this kind of support in my country. The people are very nice.”

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