David Shotts
Vice President
Ascend Insurance Brokerage
Chicago, IL USA
“You’re not going to accomplish anything without a little risk. Anyone who’s ever done anything started by rolling the dice.”
Videos
By Roadtrip NationDavid Shotts
Milestones
My road in life took a while to figure out.
Attended the University of North Texas, where he earned a degree in marketing.
While in college, he played in a band and toured the country playing shows.
During this time, he worked part time for a private security company and, after graduating from college, he decided to make that his career.
Says that he started to doubt his choice of career in his late twenties—asked himself, “Is this what I want to do with the rest of my life?”
As luck would have it, due to his knowledge of the entertainment security sector, he was recruited into the insurance industry by his broker.
Says the transition into the insurance industry was difficult because he had no idea what the industry was all about and he had to learn everything from scratch.
He is now a vice president at Ascend Insurance Brokerage, an entertainment industry insurance broker, where he specializes in insuring major music festivals.
Says he feels fortunate that his love of music has become so intertwined with his professional career.
Keep following my journey
Education
High School
Career
Vice President
I develop risk management plans for clients & advocate for them to insurance companies.
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Business
Music
Learning / Being Challenged
Day to Day
Not to sound corny, but every day I wake up is a great day. I love what I do. I love to bring new clients on. I spend a lot of time talking to existing clients and working with my team to problem solve. I love when we get to compete against huge multinational firms and (hopefully) beat them. That's always fun.
Advice for Getting Started
Here's the first step for high school students
Get an understanding of a professional field you would like to go into. Go after it, find a mentor through networking and don't listen to people who say "you can't do that" or "it's not done that way".
Recommended Education
My career is not related to what I studied. I'd recommend this path instead:
Hurdles
The Noise I Shed
From Myself:
"I don't know if this is what I want to do for the rest of my life."
Challenges I Overcame
Career Change
Interviewed By
Risk & Reward
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