Rose Zilinskas

What is the biggest challenge you had to overcome to get to where you are now professionally? How did you overcome it?

The biggest challenge that I had to deal with while growing up was that my dad moved our family from the United States to Mexico back and forth a few times. I am Mexican American and Spanish was my first language. Every few years I resumed my education in a different country which was very difficult. However, because of my upbringing I know 2 cultures and I am 100% fluent in Spanish. I always had to study more than my peers just to catch up to where everyone else was. Therefore, I have excellent writing skills. I also had to figure out how things worked every time I moved. That just made me independent and resourceful. My experience growing up made me passionate about learning and that has translated into career development passion. Every 3 to 5 years I am looking for the next opportunity to move up the corporate ladder. I'm not happy unless I am growing. Today I am an executive vice president at AIG which is a multi-billion dollar corporation. I am the Home Office Underwriting head. I am responsible for Underwriting Operations, Communication, Training and a few other big ticket items. I love helping my team. My job is to make their jobs easier which is pretty cool. I will continue to grow professionally until I retire which is in about 15 years! :)