Some know her as an insurance agent, some as a car saleswoman, and some as a waitress. No matter what Traci Brubaker is doing, at the center of it all is a passion for her community. Born and raised in Portage and now a Valparaiso resident, Brubaker is known for how awesome she is.
After moving back to Portage after some time in Indianapolis, Brubaker started a job selling insurance with State Farm. She ended up making this her career for over 8 years.
“I loved helping people and I learned so much about how to help people protect their homes and families,” Brubaker said. “I just loved it. It helped me grow a ton.”
But it wasn’t until she entered a contest to sell life insurance, that she found her true calling. This came in the form of working with her brother as a car saleswoman at Team Chevrolet in Valparaiso.
“I took the big leap of faith to go to a commission-only job,” Brubaker said. “Now, I look at it like I’m there to simply help people make the best decisions.”
From helping customers restore credit to helping first-time buyers prepare a budget, it’s never just been about sales for Brubaker. Each job she’s had has helped prepare her for a higher level of serving her community.
“I don’t know where sales came from or how I ended up here,” Brubaker said. “I just know that each level has given me more opportunities to help people.”
In addition to serving the community through sales for most of her life, Brubaker has served faithfully in her church as well. In 2002, she helped start a contemporary service at her church in Portage which has grown to a few hundred attendees.
“That was an amazing time,” Brubaker said. “I got a praise team put together, which is probably the best thing I’ve ever done, and we gained so many new families from it.”
At First United Methodist Church in Portage, Brubaker helped start the backpack program. The program provides a bag with food inside to children in need to keep them fed over the weekend.
“After finding out that there was a relatively large number of children who didn’t have access to food over the weekend that would come to school starving, we joined forces with the local food pantry and raised money to make sure the kids had the food they need," Brubaker said.
Brubaker is always looking for ways she can help her community, whether it is through work, her faith, or something else.