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| Orieta Kristo in an interview to VOA (video screenshot) |
Today, she is the head of a successful insurance company she founded 5 years ago, called "Horizon Insurance."
Kristo was selected by the Uster Business Journal in Massachusetts as one of the 40 successful professionals under the age of 40 in 2019.
In an interview with Voice of America, Mrs. Kristo talked about her career, balancing personal life, and her dedication to the Albanian-American community in her city and in Massachusetts.
For Orieta Kristo, the decision to open her own business was not easy. She had a stable career at one of the largest insurance companies, "Liberty Mutual."
"If intuition tells me that this is a good thing, that it's right, and that I can make it work, I dive in headfirst. I liked the idea that I could create something of my own, create a kind of culture or people around me who are like-minded, positive, and want to help the Albanian community," Kristo said.
She founded "Horizon Insurance" in 2014.
Today, the company serves 3,500 clients in the state of Massachusetts, fulfilling their needs for auto, home, life, and business insurance.
Her company has generated approximately $5 million in sales.
60% of the company's clientele comes from the Albanian community in the Uster and Boston areas of Massachusetts.
"This community is close to my heart because when I first came with my family, I was only 14 years old, and it was a very small community. There were only 10 or 15 newly arrived families from Albania, and I'm not talking about Albanian-Americans," she said, referring to the second wave of Albanian immigration that came to Uster after the 1990s.
The first wave came at the beginning of the last century.
"The insurance branch, especially for newly arrived Albanians, is very complicated, and we try to explain it to them in a way that they can understand and choose the product they want, whether it's for car coverage or home coverage," she said.
Another unique aspect of "Horizon Insurance" is the youth of the team, with an average age of 33.
Almost the entire team consists of women, where the atmosphere, full of bright colors, an open plan, cheerful decor, and inspiring expressions, reflects the team's spirit and mindset.
"I always look at things with a lot of optimism, and life is like that when you have both downs and ups. And always, even if I've been in the downs, so to speak, I haven't seen myself as a victim, but I've seen it as, 'OK, what is this part of life teaching me,' and sometimes I say, 'I can't wait to get out of this situation, and I want to see how strong I'll come out'," she said.
In work and life, she starts from the premise that everyone ultimately wants to be as happy as possible, and everything she does comes from a desire for life.
"Relationships with people, especially in this business, are very important. Clients come here with a kind of worry, and we always welcome them with an open mind, knowing that this person needs some help, and we make them feel very comfortable when they come here and ask questions," Kristo said.
Although most employees in the insurance industry in the United States are women, the majority of executive leaders are men.
Kristo says that at work, she does not see herself as a woman or a man but as a businessperson.
"Women are very strong, not only at home or in raising children, or helping the family, but women are also very strong in business. We have a kind of intuition, and it's not that we're downplaying men at all, but we have that intuition, maybe because we're also mothers, and when a child is sick or hurt, we feel it, and in business, this helps tremendously in many decisions," Kristo said.
She founded the company when her children were young, but today, she says she has found the key to balance.
"When I'm at work, I'm at work; I'm someone who's directing the company and not a mom. I'm not a wife, daughter, or sister, and this makes me very focused without thinking about what's happening on the other side. And when I'm at home, I'm Mom Ori, I'm a wife, a sister, a daughter, and I don't bring work home. I decided from the beginning that I wouldn't mix business with my family life because at the same time, I wouldn't be the right mom. I didn't want to have a phone in my hands that my child would remember me with a phone in my hand. This decision made me move forward both in family life and in business," she said.
Part of the balance in her life is also taking care of herself, not only physically but also mentally and emotionally, by choosing positivity.
"At the same time, I allow myself to have bad days, and I never say, 'Orieta, why,' or speak badly to myself. We have bad days full of them, but we also have good days because a flower that grows needs both the sun and rain," Kristo emphasized.
She helps the Albanian-American community through volunteer work or by providing funds for various activities, not only in Uster but also in Boston.