Black History Month is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing their role in U.S. history. As a part of our mission statement, “Our Foundation”, we strive to foster a culture that recognizes and celebrates the value of everyone’s contributions. This month, we partnered with our newest Team Member Resource Group, BRIDGE (Black Resources Inspiring Diversity, Growth & Excellence), to spotlight a few of the many influential African American team members within our organization. Join us each week in February to learn about the inspiring stories and achievements of these dynamic members of our team!
This week, we learn about Mollie McGee, General Adjuster.
Growing up in rural Mississippi during the early 60’s taught Mollie the importance of faith, family, and hard work. Mollie was born into a sharecropper family, and at an early age, worked on the farm with her parents and siblings. Waking up at 3:00 AM to milk the cows while still making it to the school bus stop by 7:00 AM shows that Mollie has always been a woman of determination and discipline.
While growing up, most of her days consisted of school and church. Some of the things that Mollie enjoyed during those times involved singing in the church choir and in school. Mollie was quite the track star, with dreams of going to the Olympics.
Fast forward to today, Mollie holds the role of Claims Administrator and has been with Engle Martin since 2015. One thing that motivates her is simply being thankful for everything that she has accomplished thus far. As her father taught her, “whatever job you have, do it to the best of your ability, treat people how you’d want to be treated and the pitfalls in life will be fewer”.
As a younger girl, Mollie imagined traveling to many different places through the books that she read. Today, Mollie has turned this dream into a reality. She has traveled to Greece, Spain, Sweden, and Mexico (several times). Mollie also has lived in Norway and the U.S. Virgin Islands and plans to continue her travel adventures with many more trips in her future.
When thinking of Black History Month and what it means to Mollie, she stated that this month highlights some of the accomplishments of our culture. However, she also feels that this should be a yearlong highlight and reflection. Promoting the culture and showing pride in all of our accomplishments should be of great importance to all.
Mollie draws her inspiration from leaders like Harriet Tubman and Barack Obama for daring to accomplish the impossible. She lives by the guiding principle that no matter how life started, if you keep going and have faith, you can always make it better with just a little determination, hard work and kindness in your heart.
