Ashley Gasiorowski was not expecting to fall in love with pickleball. It just happened. “This year has been an interesting year,” she said. “I had picked up the sport of pickleball from my friends bringing me out to play, and I’ve just really come to love it. Not just the sport, but the community of people around it.”
And therein might lie the appeal for her. You might think that Ashley Gasiorowski is in the insurance business. After all, as senior client advisor for Independent Benefit Advisors, the company founded by her father in 2005, she is in the business of connecting people with the right insurance. But it’s that act of connecting people that truly drives her.
“We are independent agents representing a number of insurance carriers. What works best for one client won’t work for everyone. It’s not one size fits all,” she said. “The easy part of my job is educating and enrolling someone, but what we pride ourselves on is customer service. We are our clients’ customer service advocate for the life of their policy. If they’re enrolled through our office, they can call us, and we can handle most anything for them.”
That cuts right to the heart of what sets Independent Benefit Advisors apart. Since opening the Hilton Head Island office in 2018, Gasiorowski has made a name for the commitment she shows to her clients. Not just in scouring through all the options to find an insurance solution that works for them, but in carrying that commitment through to any extreme.
For seniors, that means having an advocate on their side in navigating the bureaucratic labyrinth that is Medicare. “I’ve done so much with seniors, it’s become near and dear to my heart,” she said. “One client told me I was an angel. But Medicare can be so complicated and confusing, it’s nice to help people make sense of it.”
The local office is considered a branch of the family business, located largely across North Carolina. Gasiorowski first came down to the island with an eye on branching out in her career but realized that the family business just worked too well with her skill set. “I picked up right where I left off,” she said. “I feel like insurance is second nature to me.”
Joining her brother in following in their father’s footsteps was only natural. “He taught me a lot, like how to set an example to employees,” she said. “He was never one that expected the office to run without him. He was always the first one in and the last one out.”
In the Hilton Head Island office, Gasiorowski is joined by a staff that includes client advisor Molly Lucci, administrative assistant Anne Petrat, and resident dog Tique, a black lab. “People come by just to see her,” Gasiorowski said with a laugh. “The whole team is amazing here, and none of this would run without them. I value them wholeheartedly, we are our own family, and when we have success, it is a team effort not just one person. But Tique is pretty sure she’s the important one.”
But the fact is, everyone who walks in the door is the important one. It’s part of what Gasiorowski learned from her father.
“He always says, ‘If you always do right, you’ll never go wrong,’” she said. “It’s about doing what is right for the person.”
To learn more visit www.schealthbenefits.com.
