This article was originally published in the Arts Co-op Newsletter in Spring 2014.

I had a great experience during my work term at TFG Global Insurance, a global insurance brokerage, working as a marketing assistant and creative writer. TFG Global Insurance manages the insurance plans of many different expatriates and companies as their employees travel abroad. My employer needed a full overhaul on his marketing content. The majority of my work focused on TFG Global Insurance and its two main subgroup companies, Expat Financial and Travel Insurance Now!com. Expat Financial is able to source insurance plans for high risk areas of the world.

I filled many roles, including web design, graphic design, brochure design and writing articles for website content and the blog. I also filmed, animated and edited several informative videos for advertising on the web. I was able to work with a professional recording company and voice actors for the audio content of the videos. Coincidentally, the voice actor we ended up recording for our videos was also a professor at SFU - small world! I redesigned and updated the TFG Global Insurance, Expat Financial and Travel Insurance Now!com websites and logos.

While working on these projects, my employer showed me the inner workings of the global insurance business. There were many meetings with clients from varying companies so I got to quickly learn how dozens of different businesses functioned. Doing extensive research, I learned more about the insurance business in order to write better articles. I became much more informed on global news as is necessary to be knowledgeable about current insurance conditions. I wrote many informative articles about traveling abroad and the status of high risk countries for web content. I enjoyed my work and the experience I gained on the job immensely. Working as a technical designer has allowed me to gain experience in many different businesses during my coop terms and I look forward to seeing where I will end up next.