From Stage to Agency: How Creativity Became Susana Gibb's Biggest Business Asset

Susana Gibb runs her agency the way a director runs a production. Confidence is rehearsed through role-play, not waited for. Listening means catching what's under the objection, not just the stated words. Authenticity beats scripts because clients spot performance from the back row. Accountability is collegial because ensemble work demands it. Creativity fills the gaps the playbook can't.

How does an acting background translate into running an insurance agency?

Susana didn't walk into insurance with a five-year plan. She walked in with a theater degree, a history of performing in front of audiences, and a skillset that most hiring managers would have overlooked entirely. Commanding attention, reading a room, adjusting her delivery in real time, these were skills she'd spent years honing on stage. In insurance, they turned out to be everything.

The transition wasn't instantaneous. Like most career pivots, it required Susana to translate what she knew into a language the industry understood. Stage presence became client communication. Improvisation became objection handling. Directing scenes became managing a team through difficult performance conversations. The vocabulary was different, but the underlying competencies were identical.

What accelerated her trajectory wasn't just raw talent, it was her willingness to codify those instincts into teachable systems. Performers understand the value of rehearsal and repetition. Susana brought that discipline into her agency's sales training, treating every client call as a performance to be refined, not a conversation to wing.

Over time, she built an agency that didn't just function, it had a culture. Her theatrical background gave her an intuitive understanding of narrative: why do clients stay? Because they're part of a story in which they feel seen, heard, and protected. Susana built that story deliberately, from intake through renewal.

What skills from the stage actually move the needle in P&C sales?

The insights Susana draws from her performing arts background aren't abstract, they translate directly to agency operations and sales performance.

Confidence is a practice, not a trait. Actors don't wait until they feel confident to walk on stage, they rehearse until the behavior becomes automatic. Susana applied this to her producers, insisting on role-play and call reviews not as punishment but as craft development. The result: agents who handle objections fluidly because they've handled them a hundred times in practice.

Active listening is a professional skill. Most people confuse hearing with listening. On stage, actors who aren't truly present miss their cues. In insurance, agents who aren't truly listening miss the client's real concern. Susana trained her team to listen for what's underneath the stated objection, the fear, the confusion, the prior bad experience, and respond to that instead.

Authenticity scales. Audiences can spot a performance that isn't genuine from the back row. So can insurance clients on a phone call. Susana's agency culture prioritizes authentic engagement over scripted pitches, which paradoxically makes the team more consistent, not less. When you're being real, you don't have to remember what you said last time.

Accountability in ensemble work is non-negotiable. Theater is a team sport, one person's missed cue affects the whole production. Susana built her agency accountability culture on this principle: individual performance matters because it directly impacts the people around you. That framing shifts accountability from punitive to collegial.

Creativity solves problems that playbooks can't. Not every client situation fits the script. Susana's background gave her permission to improvise, and she gave her team the same permission. Within clear guardrails, creative problem-solving produces better client outcomes and keeps good producers engaged.

How do you audit hidden competencies on your team and put them to work?

The lesson here isn't that you need to hire former actors. It's that you should audit the hidden competencies in your team and use them intentionally. Your most effective producer might be a former teacher who knows how to explain complex concepts simply. Your best retention specialist might be a former therapist who creates genuine connection on every renewal call. The question is whether you're harnessing those strengths or accidentally suppressing them with rigid scripts.

Start this week by scheduling a team conversation, not a training, a conversation, about what each person brings to the agency from outside the industry. You'll likely surface skills you didn't know you had available. Then think about where those skills could fill gaps in your current process. If your follow-up calls are mechanical and low-conversion, maybe you need someone who can bring warmth and presence to those conversations instead of just reading from a CRM note.

On the leadership side, Susana's model suggests that the agency owner's role is closer to a director than a manager. Directors don't perform the scene, they shape the conditions under which their actors can perform at their best. That means giving feedback with specificity ("your opening on that call was flat, here's why"), creating safety for mistakes during practice, and celebrating growth publicly.

What's the takeaway for agency owners hiring outside the industry?

Susana Gibb's path from actress to insurance entrepreneur is a reminder that the most valuable things you bring to this industry are often the ones that don't fit neatly on a license application. Creativity, communication, presence, and the willingness to rehearse excellence, these aren't soft skills. They're the foundation of agencies that retain clients, develop producers, and build cultures worth showing up for.

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