Life insurance executive Natasha Scotland Courcy poured her heart out at the first Athene Life Career Expo on Tuesday, telling people she was a “pariah” in primary school.

At the event organised to attract fresh blood to the industry, the chief executive of Athene revealed that growing up in Trinidad, she had terrible eczema that impacted her scalp and left her partially bald.

“I was the kid no one wanted to sit next to in class,” she said. “But it built resilience. Resilience through adversity is what is going to propel you to success.”

She spoke at Pier Six on Front Street before an audience of about 200 students and career changers.

“I found ways to distract myself,” she said. “But I felt those scars internally.”

When she was 11, her father, a high-profile economist in Trinidad, pushed her to study hard for her Secondary Entrance Assessments, the equivalent of the 11-plus exam in Bermuda. Sometimes her father would be up with her until 2am helping her to study.

She explained that there were three tiers of secondary school in Trinidad, and this exam decided which one you got into. She wanted to get into the best school.

“I had to get this right,” she said. “My mother always said whatever you do, don’t be mediocre.”

With the encouragement of her parents, she aced the exam and got her choice of high school. From that lesson she learnt that while she was not the smartest student in the class, she could make up for it with pure grit.

That belief pushed her to do well, and exceed expectations, throughout her educational journey.

“Hard work pays off,” she told conference-goers. “There is no substitute for it.”

Colin Rego, founder and CEO of the Sargasso Group, also spoke at the event, saying that he is a second-generation Bermudian and “the son of a pot washer”.

His message was: “If I can do it, you can do it too”.

He talked about the many failures he went through before tasting success.

“Nobody knows about Bermy Eats,” he said. “That was what we had three years before Sargasso. I had many, many failures. I wanted to open up a frozen yoghurt shop.”

He recalled the day his mother called him in tears to say that a frozen yoghurt shop had opened on Bermudiana Road in Hamilton, and there was a line wrapped around the block.

“Six months before that I had everything lined up to launch the same kind of business, but could not get a $70,000 loan from the bank,” Mr Rego said. “My parents and I tried three times without success, but could not get it because we didn’t have a name that was known, or any money.”

After more stops and starts, he formed the food delivery business Sargasso in January 2019. Again, the idea was slow to get off the ground.

“I approached 50 different local businesses about delivering for them,” he told the room. “Zero were interested. They did not understand why they even needed my service.”

It was not until the pandemic hit in March 2020 that Sargasso finally started to soar.

“No matter what industry you come from, it is all about how you connect with people,” Mr Rego said. “Humility, gratitude and respect go a long way in life.”

The expo also included an exhibit hall with booths from several different firms including Deloitte, EY, Wilton Re and Pacific Life Re. There were free professional head shots offered and giveaways such as laptops.

There were also smaller panel discussions on topics such as branding and the nature of the life insurance industry. Because many attendees were young, there was a lot of basic explaining around insurance and reinsurance.

Gina Bassett, director of compliance at SunLife, said: “We are in the love business. Every beneficiary named on our policies is someone that our clients care for.”

In an earlier interview, Ms Courcy said she wanted to organise the event to highlight the job opportunities available in the life industry in Bermuda. She said people are often more familiar with the job options in property cat insurance.

She said there is a need for job candidates in actuarial science, finance and accounting, and also in supporting roles such as administration and human resources.