Approaching her sixtieth birthday, Ana Hernandez realized the story of her life was exactly that: a story worth telling. Her three children, eight grandchildren, and great-grandchild may all know the story of a woman who grew up in a privileged home in Colombia but for whom the challenges began early.
Hernandez moved to New York City as a single teenage mother not knowing English and worked in a factory, a restaurant kitchen, and a healthcare facility as a janitor to begin earning her way in a new country.
“Every trial has been a stepping stone,” says Hernandez, who is currently the managing director at Grupo Latinoamericano de Seguros. “My story isn’t about trying to get attention. It’s just a testament to the fact that if you have the gift of life, you can make your own life happen. I want others to know that their struggles will help define them.
“I want to be vulnerable at this point of my life to let others know how difficult life can be and encourage them to keep moving forward,” she continues. “It’s why I’m writing a book, but for now, this interview will have to do.”
The Enduring Benefits of Early Learning
One skill would be the first bridge to a better life for Hernandez in the US. Her mother, who ran a successful school for secretaries in Colombia, taught Hernandez how to type when she was seven years old. By the age of nine, she was typing ninety words per minute.
Hernandez’s mother fell ill in Colombia and was confined to a long-term care facility. The young Hernandez suddenly found herself a caretaker for her grandmother and living with her two older brothers. Her father had moved to the US years prior to work as a pharmacist and was in the process of bringing his family to the States.
But before that was possible, Hernandez, then fourteen, was sexually assaulted by a twenty-one-year-old. She had her first child at fifteen and moved to the US a year later, a new mother in a new country.
It should have been a time of healing and family reunion. But one harsh reality turned into another when her father’s new wife did not welcome her with open arms.
“My father’s wife—a woman I refuse to call my stepmother—told me that she had been supporting my father while he was working to get certified as a pharmacist,” Hernandez remembers. “She said it was time that I start paying her back, and I had to get a job immediately.”
Hernandez lied about her age to get her first job and was believed because she was already a mother. After working through hard manual labor jobs that barely afforded her to pay day care, the young mother got her first lifeline. But she almost lost her child.
A neighbor who had been babysitting for Hernandez accidentally burned her child in the kitchen. The police were called, and the neighbor, afraid of being prosecuted, claimed the child had been left unattended. The Office of Children and Family Services was waiting for Hernandez when she got home. This is where the narrative veers away from the expected.
“The caseworker was amazing,” Hernandez explains. “She told me about a work training event where I didn’t need to know English. All I had to do was pass a typing test. Me, who had been typing since I was seven. It was the first miracle that happened to me in the US.”
A Degree in Wall Street
This was the job that would launch Hernandez’s wide and expansive future. Over the next four years, Hernandez excelled in her role, taking on new tasks and slowing building out a very deep well of competencies. She was working on Wall Street and getting more and more opportunities. She married and had two more children by the time she was twenty-two.
“Wall Street was my college,” Hernandez explains. “My family taught me work ethic, but on Wall Street, I became fearless. I’m still fearless; I’m not afraid of anything. That doesn’t mean I won’t screw up, but I will take accountability and keep moving forward.”
During that time, Hernandez says every manager she worked under was a migrant, and in New York City, that was considered something to be proud of. They cared where Hernandez came from but didn’t judge her, opting instead to learn more about her. Mostly they just saw a hard worker capable of doing great things.
Hernandez worked on Wall Street for sixteen years, traveling to seven countries for work. By the time she was thirty, she was already a veteran, and she’d outgrown her career, her city, and her marriage.
“I wanted to quit the rat race,” the managing director remembers. “I was reinventing myself every six months. I wanted to change the pace of my life and give my children a more peaceful and stable life.”
The Sunshine Era
In 1999, Hernandez and her children moved to Florida. She spent over five years as a life, variable, and mutual funds internal wholesaler at INVEST Financial Corporation before moving to Universal Financial Consultants for the next decade.
She moved to Puerto Rico for love and a new job in 2013. It’s where she was introduced to AmeriLife, the organization that would help her rise to her truest potential. But first she had to prove herself.
“I was asked if I would be interested in opening a brick-and-mortar operation for AmeriLife in Puerto Rico,” Hernandez remembers. “And so I did.”
“So I did” is a bit of an undersell. Hernandez hired a team that grew from 4 carriers to 14 and from 100 agents to over 250. She relocated to Tampa to consolidate the USA and Puerto Rican divisions—now Grupo Latinoamericano de Seguros—that have grown from 100 to over 300 producing agents. Recruiting numbers have grown 300 percent, and those teams have produced steady growth between 10 percent to 15 percent year-over-year. In 2024, that growth is expected at 25 percent.
“The people here are so focused and dedicated, you have got to stop by and meet them,” Hernandez says. “We really are a family here. AmeriLife has given me so many opportunities to grow and to give back.”
The Opportunity to Give Back
Hernandez has been a financial advisor, a producer, a manager, a compliance officer, and so much more, but she says the role she’s taken most eagerly is one of community outreach for the people of Puerto Rico.
She was nominated to become part of AmeriLife’s Give Back Foundation. Hernandez and her team have been able to support the people of Puerto Rico through hurricanes, earthquakes, and any other number of natural disasters that have befallen the island nation.
“We’ve worked through four different hurricanes,” Hernandez says. “For a year and a half, there were almost daily earthquakes. People were sleeping on their lawn for literal years. And we were able to stay there and help. We saw so many other companies find the first opportunity to leave the island, but me and my team here kept finding new ways to help.
“That has touched my life I’m sure more than anyone I’ve had the opportunity to help,” she continues. “There’s a phrase we use a lot here: ‘Doing good is all we do.’ I think about it every day and make it a mission to remind everyone around me what our job is.”
In that same vein, Hernandez is a proud leader of AmeriLife’s Distribution Women Leadership Council, which was created to empower and motivate AmeriLife female employees. The group had its first conference in August 2024, and Hernandez says it was a sight to behold. It’s a chance for the leader to seek out women who may be like Hernandez a couple of decades ago, looking for that opportunity to shine and grow into a new role.
The managing director is also a member of the Kennedy Cares Tampa Bay. The nonprofit was founded in 2014 to provide essential resources to individuals and families experiencing economic hardships. That includes distributing supplies like diapers, household goods, appliances, clothing, toiletries, and other items and services. It’s an organization that Hernandez, at age sixteen, could have greatly benefited from and one with a mission that’s close to her heart.
How You Show Up
None of this has been remotely easy. Hernandez has been married three times and is preparing to wed someone she believes “finally checks all the boxes of what I expect out of a partner.” The bride-to-be says there’s nothing wrong with having boxes to check at her age. She’s earned them and understands what she deserves.
Working so hard admittedly made it difficult for the mother to always be there for her three children. It’s made Hernandez more determined than ever to be present for her grandchildren.
“I was working between forty and eighty hours a week for so long, and my children had the brunt of it,” Hernandez says. “I wish I could change that now, but I cannot. So I will be there for my children as they raise their own and help in any way that I can. Being there for them now is my proudest accomplishment.”
And for those that Hernandez hopes can learn from her story? Find solace in her failures, because they didn’t define her.
“They say the failures teach you so much more than the successes, and I truly believe that,” Hernandez says. “Don’t be afraid of making mistakes. As long as you try, as long as you show up, and as long as you do your best, you will learn and be better. Keep your head up. Acknowledge your mistakes. Be vulnerable. And help others without expecting anything in return.”
When Hernandez says to show up, it’s advice she’s lived. The managing director remembers being asked to speak at an event—one where only eight people attended, four of those internal and Hernandez says can’t actually be counted. It could have been a humbling experience, Hernandez could have lashed out at the person who asked her to speak, and the executive could have burned bridges all along the way.
Instead, Hernandez was able to create an online post about the experience that got traction and ultimately landed a significant number of referrals. A moment that some might like to forget is now a high point of her career: “The Night I was Invited to Speak and Four People Showed Up.”
“I met some fantastic business partners that night, and it turned out to be a huge marketing victory for us,” Hernandez says. “It was such a learning experience, and I’m glad that I was outspoken about what had gone wrong because it turned out to be a great thing. And I hope the feedback helped create some change for the future of the event.”
It’s not just about showing up, it’s how you show up.
Leaving a Legacy
Ana Hernandez came to the United States as a mother at sixteen, unable to speak English, and looking for any job that would take her. As she now considers the generations she’s created in her family life, the impact she’s made in her career, and the legacy she hopes to leave, there is so much to say. Every challenge has been a stepping stone.
Hernandez quotes Georgia O’Keeffe’s immortal words for those fighting to stay on their own paths: “I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life—and I’ve never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do.”
Nearing sixty, there is less for her to be terrified of. Hernandez will always continue to face challenges. That’s life. But it’s in how she overcomes those challenges that truly defines her. And that’s the most important lesson she can teach her family.
