From being Miss Liberia to building a top-notch insurance Agency in USA: Inside Patience Noah’s entrepreneurial journey

Former Miss Liberia, Patience Noah, has so proudly evolved from being a beauty queen, to a top-notch insurer in the United States.

Ms. Noah now runs her own insurance agency, the Patience Noah Insurance LLC in the USA.

Among other things, Patience Noah Insurance LLC is based in Massachusetts but licensed to do business in several states across the USA. The agency helps small businesses and families plan for the unexpected by providing General Liability, Commercial Auto, professional liability, and workers compensation.

On its official website: https://patiencenoahins.com/,  Patience Noah Insurance LLC  clearly indicates that it also provides automobile insurance, home insurance and life insurance, in addition to educating clients on their insurance contracts, providing advocacy services to clients and acting in their best interest.

Life after Beauty Pageantry

Around the world, Beauty Pageantry  is considered an opportunity for young women to showcase their substance. However, in many cases, transitioning into the real world after the pomp and pageantry becomes an arduous journey.

But, life after beauty pageant for Ms. Noah is one of leading a rapidly-growing pan-African insurance agency and she remains strongly committed to making a positive mark in the world of business.

Transition from Beauty pageant to Business

Ms. Noah says she prepared herself adequately to transition from a beauty queen to a businesswoman.

Touching on her transition into the world of business, she says: “It’s been a smooth transition. I always told myself that I didn’t just want to be a pretty face. Beauty fades, which we all know is true. I always saw my Miss Liberia title as a platform  to connect with my people so that I never forget where I come from. I got into the insurance business right after college. It was my first major job I got and I haven’t left the industry since and I don’t see myself leaving anytime soon.”

Ms. Noah has been in the insurance industry for 10 years but has been operating her own agency over the last three years and says: “I believe Africans should patronize us because I’m well versed in my industry and I do a really good job of educating my clients. I also give back to my community and the goal is to give more to the community and Africa as a whole as we grow in the future.

Giving an insight into the nature of insurance business in the US, she says “It’s a very lucrative business. It’s a multi billion or trillion dollars industry but being an agency owner is hard work. Most insurance agency owners quit or sell their business within 6 months to 5 years. There are multiple sides to the insurance industry. Being an agency owner is just a fraction of it.”

A woman of substance, higher  Education

The ex-Miss Liberia has over the years, worked hard to prepare herself for life beyond beauty pageant, doing everything she can to build herself into a woman of substance.

Beginning her career life in a beauty pageant industry so dependent on looks, she opted to go the extra mile, pursuing a higher education, and staying focused on her entrepreneurial projects. Ms. Noah is absolutely a beauty with brains, a positive and bubbly woman.

She has a Bachelor degree in Marketing from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and plans on going back to school to get her masters in the near  future and possibly pursue a PhD someday.

“Right now all I do is serve on board of organizations such as SkillUSA Massachusetts, an organization that provides leadership tools to career technical / vocational students across Massachusetts , The African Community Education Program ( ACE). It’s a community program in Worcester Massachusetts that helps African immigrants assimilate into the community once they arrive. I’m serving on the board because I want the young Africans that are

just coming into the US to know that they too can be anything they want to be someday if they work hard and stay focused. My family and I came to the US back in 2003. The part of the town we were in wasn’t the best but I had wonderful teachers and I ran track and played basketball which kept me out of trouble and gave me something to strive for,” she added.

Advice to young Beauty  Queens

Ms. Noah believes young beauty queens must look beyond their physical beauty and build a better future for themselves.

She says “My transition was very easy because I’ve always been level headed and I never let any title get to my head. I also always knew that some day I was going to have my own business but I never knew exactly what type of business I wanted to have. I also knew that getting an education would broaden my way of thinking so I took my education seriously. The truth is, when all the hype fades away, who really are you at the core? That’s something you need to know so that after your reign you can focus on your other goals and passions in life. My advice to other queens is that being a beauty queen is only a season in your life and once that season is over life goes on so find what you love to do and focus on that before or after your reign as a queen”.

She advised: “Every queen utilizes their title differently. Again, it’s only a platform that you can use to promote your agenda and projects. With what has happened the last few years, it would be unfair to say that any industry can do better or not. There’s always room for improvement and I believe the Liberian pageant industry be it in Liberia or the diaspora could use some improvements and I’m pretty confident they will figure it out as time goes on.”

 

Author: The writer, Melvin Tarlue, is a Ghana-based Liberian journalist,  media consultant and marketer . Writer’s email: [email protected]