Yahneake Sterling, Staff Reporter

"Whoever I want to be or whatever I want to become, it has to be because of me and what I put into it," this was what Alicia Foster's parents instilled in her as a child. - Contributed

She walks into the room in the cutest peep-toe pumps and chic corporate attire. Her smile is warm and welcoming. At just five feet tall, one may think Alicia Foster is a pushover, but think again.

This woman possesses an air of confidence and a subtle, firm business-like attitude that makes you look at her as if she is six feet tall.

Alicia Foster is the vice- president of the Employee Benefits Division at Guardian Life, a position she earned after just one year with the insurance company. This makes her the fifth female to have assumed a vice presidency position at that company. She joined the company in October of 2006 as assistant VP of Sales and Marketing/Employee Benefits and became VP in August of this year. Never one to play the gender card, she humbly responds to her appointment. "I don't look at it in the context of being a female vice- president, I just see it as my skills and abilities being recognised and, clearly, the organisation sees in me someone who can assist it in achieving its goal," Mrs. Foster said, but adds, "it is a good feeling that in such a short time you've been recognised as someone who can fulfil some of the objectives of the organisation."

Challenging Journey

As VP of Employee Benefits, Foster has responsibilities for selling products to corporate entities. Products include: group life, group savings, group personal accidents, pensions and group health.

Though she has 30 years under her belt, her journey was not without its challenges. In fact, while attending the Queens High School, nursing intrigued her. "I wanted to be a nurse to help people so I could see the difference I made in their lives," she reminisces. All that changed when, at 17, her father suffered a heart attack. Being a daddy's girl, she didn't want to pressure her parents with tuition fees and so she went to work.

Her first job was as at the then Mutual Life as an accounts clerk. She worked with the institution for three years before doing a three-year stint with the Canadian Save the Children Fund.

But, as fate would have it, she went back into the insurance business working for American Life Insurance Company. Next came First Life. Her return was no bed of roses, as for the first six months, she did not meet any of the set targets. "I got a target for the year, and in the first six months, I achieved nothing. I was very despondent, because this was the first time I was embarking on a sales career," she told Flair.

That could have been due to the recent death of her father (in 1974) who had been her rock. His death made her change career path.

Never one to give up easily, she picked herself up and moved on and in the latter part of the year, she exceeded the set targets.

This was due to the values instilled by her parents when she was a child. "Whatever I achieve in life, has to be because of hard work. Whomever I want to be, or whatever I want to become, is because of what I put into it.

"Those were perhaps the best years (at First Life) of my working life. Best because they were the years when I developed the most, learnt the most and really earned significantly. I grew to be a very successful sales person," Mrs. Foster revealed, noting that her experience was in the Employee Benefits area.

Product knowledge

"I recognised that what it required to be successful in that business was product knowledge; you needed to service your clients really well, build relationships with them and ensure that you know what is happening in their organisation at all times," she added. While at First Life she received the company's top award for six years and was the first recipient of the president's award for excellence.

It is, therefore, no surprise that she set targets for herself at Guardian Life. "The primary target that I had set for myself is to enhance the service to our Group Life and Pension plans, I am happy to report that, within a year, through combined effort we have managed to achieve that objective," Mrs Foster revealed.

Her plans for the future are to make Guardian Life even more of a household name, and to grow market share. A self-proclaimed workaholic, when this wife and mother is not at her desk or in meetings, she enjoys playing badminton and travelling.