I’ve got a bunch of ‘em… Goals! How to Get Everything You Want—Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible by Brian Tracy; Mind Shift: It Doesn’t Take a Genius to Think Like One by Erwin Raphael McManus.
Dead or alive, who would you like to see perform in concert?
Tina Turner. Tina was unapologetically free, strong, and inspirational.
What’s your favorite local restaurant?
Double Musky Inn.
What’s the first thing you do when you get home after a long day at work?
I take a shower and change my clothes.
If you could domesticate a wild animal, what animal would it be?
A lion because I consider myself to be a lioness… Having it around and showing the strength and courage it represents.
I’ve got a bunch of ‘em… Goals! How to Get Everything You Want—Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible by Brian Tracy; Mind Shift: It Doesn’t Take a Genius to Think Like One by Erwin Raphael McManus.
Dead or alive, who would you like to see perform in concert?
Tina Turner. Tina was unapologetically free, strong, and inspirational.
What’s your favorite local restaurant?
Double Musky Inn.
What’s the first thing you do when you get home after a long day at work?
I take a shower and change my clothes.
If you could domesticate a wild animal, what animal would it be?
A lion because I consider myself to be a lioness… Having it around and showing the strength and courage it represents.
Off the Cuff
ational insurance agencies extend their services into Alaska, yet Tracey Parrish stretches her insurance services from Alaska across the Lower 48. As owner and principal at Alaska Pacific Insurance Agency (APIA), Parrish counts twenty-seven other states, from Georgia to Arizona, where she and her team of eight full-time professionals provide services. However, 80 percent of APIA’s business is in Alaska, serving as a multi-offering agency. “High risk, low risk, no risk: we do it,” she says. “We do everything everybody does, and we do everything that nobody wants to do.”
Originally from Omaha, Nebraska, a visit to Alaska when she was 11 convinced her to stay. Parrish pursued a career in teaching, but she was working at a bank when a customer invited her to join Nationwide Insurance. After a couple of years, she struck out on her own, and she seized the opportunity to buy APIA in the late ‘90s.
“I clearly know who I am, which I didn’t always,” she admits. “I’m very secure in myself. I operate in confidence, and I also operate when I’m in fear.”
Tracey Parrish: Purchasing my business under [the age of] 30 in twelve days.
AB: Is there a skill you’re currently developing or have always wanted to learn?
Parrish: Social media. I’m trying to keep up with the times and stay relevant.
AB: What do you do in your free time?
Parrish: I do nothing; my free time consists of “mental magic.” What that looks like for me is not thinking about work, not thinking about family, not thinking about issues. I just sit in my living room, and I watch the planes from my house.
AB: What’s your best attribute and worst attribute?
Parrish: My best attribute would be my connection to people. I find that I’m able to communicate with people of all types… My worst attribute, to me, would have to be: I can be defensive.
AB: What charity or cause are you passionate about?
Parrish: BRIX Foundation [Build, Revive, Inspire, Express]. It’s my organization, a nonprofit [started in 2010 originally for young women but later expanded]… I have a strong focus on elderly people, keeping them connected with their family.
AB: What’s your greatest extravagance?
Parrish: Planning events and birthdays for people I love. The best one was the event I gave [in 2023], APIA 25. That’s what we called twenty-five years in business. We sold the [Hotel] Captain Cook out three times!
AB: What vacation spot is on your bucket list?
Parrish: I have gone everywhere that I want to go. I just came from Greece, so I don’t have one. I just did all my bucket list things.
AB: What are you superstitious about?
Parrish: I don’t observe any superstitions; I believe everything is already predestined, and it’s going to be what it is. So I have to deal with stuff as it comes.
