A Day in a New York Life: Alexa Pao.

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I have been with New York Life for over ten years. I help my clients with holistic financial planning, which include the areas of tax planning strategies, cash flow planning, investments, insurances, retirement, social security, and estate planning. Typically, people have a CPA, an estate planning attorney, a life insurance agent, and a financial advisor, and nobody talks to each other. Our goal is to bring together and coordinate all those pieces.

My husband and I are the two advisors, and we have two staff members: Alisha is our Director of Operations, and Talia is our Director of Client Services. Our dog, Bella, is our mascot and our Director of Puplick Relations. If I could, I would take her everywhere.

Getting rolling

Not every day is the same, but I love going to Pilates in the morning. Starting my day doing that wakes my body up and my mind up. If I don't make it to Pilates, I make sure to do some exercise in the evening. On Wednesday nights, I play in a kickball league with a friend.

During the pandemic, I turned a giant closet at home into my office. So, I either work there or, most of the time, I will sit on our balcony. It's more energizing. I'm happier being out there, and I get more, and better work done. I get coffee, get the dog set, and, by eight or 8:30, I get out there.

Finding a flow

Mondays are my office days. I use them to get prepared for the week. My assistant and I look through all we did in the past week, and we look ahead to the current week. Then we have our team meeting to ensure we know where we are and our goals.

I'm the worst cook. But my husband, on the other hand, loves to cook. So, it's a perfect balance. When we have team meetings, sometimes he'll cook breakfast for us. 

Tuesday through Thursday, I could be in meetings from 9 am to 8 pm. Unfortunately, there's no separation because of the pandemic and working from home. So now I've put a line in the sand: I picked only one night a week when I make late appointments.

Pushing boundaries

I served on the Technology Committee of the Agent's Advisory Council for New York Life for three years, in 2017, 2018, and 2019. The Council is a group of 24 agents from across the entire company, which our peers elect to help in the areas of service, technology, and marketing. We relay the thoughts and feelings of agents and what is going on in the field to New York Life management to help improve our situations and keep processes moving forward.

The position is usually a one-year stint. But a hurricane that happened after my first year meant there were no elections, so we served for a second year. And then, I was elected to be on the Executive Committee, so I was the third secretary. It was such a great experience. And as one of the youngest people in the group—I'm 33—it's exciting to know that company executives listen to you.

A passion for process

My nickname is "Authentic Alexa" because I'm very techie, like Amazon's Alexa. If something can make me more productive and efficient, I'm all about it. Even as a financial adviser, I break down our process and build it back up in the best way possible. I love learning new things, especially about technology, and being able to share it with people. I'm always bringing new technologies to my company.

Signing off

I try not to work late, but I also end up with the computer on my lap all night, and my husband usually rips it out of my hands. That's what you do as a business owner. You never really stop.

While it can be hard to turn off, it's so important—to regenerate for the next day so you can be productive. We like to go on lots of adventures, like kayaking, camping, or just golf carting around. We'll float down the Rainbow River in tubes when we need a break!