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By: Adam Bajan,Alex Nikotina
Published On: July 20, 2016A Bachelor of Business Administration graduate from China, Danya Wang is hard working, energetic and above all, motivated.
Danya immigrated to Vancouver in 2005 and with her BBA in hand, went to work as an insurance broker. Four years later she was employed full time with IA Excellence, a nationwide life insurance company originating in Quebec.
“I started working in life insurance in 2005, but back then I didn’t really know as much as I should have,” Danya admits. “After four years of learning and growing within the industry, I was ready to start moving up in the company.” IA Excellence provides high levels of training for its employees, and Danya took full advantage of that. “After some learning and training, I was soon confident to make my own decisions with clients.”
But Danya wanted more. In financial services, having specific designations and training is necessary in order to be recognized as a professional. The CFP (Certified Financial Planner) is one of those designations. It was this designation that Danya decided to take in 2013 – a daunting task – and started thinking seriously about solidifying her career at IA Excellence. “At first, I tried to prepare for the exam alone, but as I heard that the exam format was changing, I knew I wanted more help with the preparations.”
Danya’s desire to uphold the high standard she set for herself motivated her to look into her options. “A friend told me about the different types of CFP programs and courses out there, and I decided to sign up and take the Capstone course at Ashton. The instructor, Becky Wong, was really helpful. She helped me to understand how the different areas of financial planning are interrelated.”
“There’s no right or wrong in financial planning – there are just different options. And once you understand that yourself, then you can pass that on to your clients.”
When asked how the CFP Capstone course helped her to achieve her goals, Danya is emphatic: “I wouldn’t have passed the exam without it. The instructor, Becky, was amazing. I always think it’s great when instructors teach from the heart and use real world examples. You can’t just teach right from the book.”
Danya’s current role is very mobile. As a Living Benefits Specialist, Danya specializes in critical illness and disability insurance, and is in charge of BC sales for her company. What she is most excited about, however, is an opportunity to provide training to other professionals in her industry. “I usually work with groups from 5 to a hundred people, helping different brokers and financial services professionals with industry tips and advice.” From time to time, Danya also gets to attend special events and offices as a guest speaker.
When asked what she enjoys the most about her work, Danya points out the people and the relationships that she gets to form with them.
“I am fortunate to meet so many amazing people who are helping me and supporting me in my journey, as well as many clients that have become good friends of mine.”
Today, Danya enjoys her work at IA Excellence very much and has plans to learn even more about the different aspects of the financial planning industry. “I’m getting more into disability insurance now. It’s a really interesting area, because a lot of people are unfamiliar with it.” Danya is confident that she has the skills and abilities to succeed in her career, no matter what direction it takes her.
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