BY KARIN DAVIS-THOMPSON, Staff Writer
CLEARWATER — After 19 years in sales and marketing, Cherrye Baker needed a change.
“I needed to find out what I wanted to do,” Baker said. “Insurance found me.”
Now, nearly four years later, Baker has founded Insure with a Heart, an insurance company that provides a variety of insurance services from health and life insurance – even for those who may be hard to insure, as well as coverage for critical illness, cancer, dental and vision.
A native Floridian, Baker said she believes her sales and marketing background has been a significant asset.
“And I also just have a desire to help people,” she said. “When people call me, they get me, and I answer any questions they have.”
When Baker first began her work in insurance as an independent agent for AFLAC, a supplemental insurance that can give the policyholder cash for expenses that health insurance typically doesn’t cover, she began to hear from her clients with requests for other kinds of insurance and help finding coverage they could rely on.
“I started to get requests from clients that had trouble getting quality insurance because they were labeled as hard to insure,” she said.
A person can have difficulty finding health or life insurance if they have poor health, a pre-existing condition or sometimes because of their age or lifestyle habits such as smoking.
So Baker decided to expand her business, believing that everyone should have access to quality insurance. She even included wellness services recently after finding a solution for a loved one stricken with terrible sciatic pain that caused lower back issues and difficulty walking.
In June 2018, Baker set up her office space, and in February she hosted a ribbon cutting to celebrate her new office and to let the community know where to find her.
When she isn’t working on growing her business, Baker said she is proud of the work she does at her church as a member of Mt. Zion Progressive.
She said as a part of her own wellness routine, she also loves to do Zumba and yoga and adds that both forms of exercise have been a big help to her. She wanted to share her love and passion for wellness with her clients and find a way to help them improve their health.
“Wellness is very important to me,” Baker said. “I wasn’t feeling the best on the inside. I tried the wellness program for myself, and it really helped me to feel better. After I gave it a try, I wanted to help more people.”
Baker said it essential to make sure that whatever company you choose to deal with for wellness or insurance solutions, they must be reputable.
“Be careful about ads on TV, or offers online. It often doesn’t tell you about the fine print, and you end up with something that isn’t worth what you are paying,” she said.
Many of the companies Baker have chosen to partner with have been in business for more than 25 years, and she says she always works to make sure that they are reputable and completely capable of offering the solutions her clients need.
For more information on the various insurance services, you can find at Insure with a Heart, visit www.insurewithaheart.com.
The office is located in at 10300 49th St., Suite 102, Clearwater.
To reach Karin Davis-Thompson, email kdavis-thompson@theweeklychallenger.com