Michael Shadeed is a senior director with Franklin Street Insurance Services and a 2021 40 Under 40 honoree. Get to know Franklin Street’s very own below:
Education: Bachelor’s degree, risk management and insurance, University of Georgia
What was your first paid job? Working at a BBQ restaurant north of Atlanta called Slope’s BBQ, started when I was 14.
If you were not in your current field, what would you be doing? Sales of some sort. Building a business via sales.
What is the most valuable lesson you have learned so far in your career? Consistency and effort are all you can control — give it your all every day, push yourself and things will come together. Also, relationships are vital to growing as a person and a professional, you can’t do it alone.
What advice would you give to high school students as they look toward their future? Try to expose yourself to as many things as possible to see what you like to do. There will be constants in the world, real estate, insurance, finance and banking, etc., as well as new avenues to make a living. Try to build a network of people willing to help you and find what you like, then work as hard as you can at it.
What do you do to have fun or relax? I am very social so I enjoy having fun and relaxing with friends and family; i.e. dinners, traveling, concerts and some form of outdoor exercise. I love the weather in Tampa and try to take advantage of being outside whenever I am not working.
- Favorite movie of all time? “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”
- Favorite podcast? “Pardon My Take”
- What book had a significant impact on you? “Into the Wild” by John Krakauer
- If you were a professional baseball player, what would your walk-up music be? “So Fresh, So Clean” by Outkast
