From food to finance - how Deanna Leicht became a life services specialist
By Bonnie Gretzner
Ask people who have been in their profession for a long time how they got their start, and many of them say something along the lines of, “I always knew this is what I wanted to do,” or “my dad or mom was in this business, and I always knew I’d do the same thing. It was my passion.”
That’s not the case for Deanna Leicht, who has been in the financial services industry for 22 years.
“I was in the food services industry for a long time,” said Leicht, who started in that business in her teens and continued until in her mid-30s. “My kids were in school, and I was ready to leave,” and do something different, she said.
“I answered an ad in the paper for a Fortune 500 company, and the job ended up being one of those door-to-door insurance companies,” she said.
That job meant her schedule changed each week – days, nights, weekends. One evening, her daughter’s dance teacher said to her, “When are you going to get a real job?” That was a call to action for Leicht. The dance teacher’s husband worked with New York Life, and the company called her for an interview.
“The rest, as they say, is history,” Leicht said. “I worked hard, I went to classes – and I love what I do.”