If there is one thing that society can agree on, it’s that insurance is hard to understand. The terminology is even more complicated when it’s in a language you are learning.

Anna Moriconi McCaulley, a licensed producer at Debbie Aragon’s State Farm office in Steamboat Springs, is bilingual and uses her language skills and knowledge of insurance to help make at least one thing less scary for immigrants moving to the Yampa Valley. 

“I love what I do. I get to help people every day,” she said. “Insurance is very complex, so I can only imagine when people call us or how they feel when they’re buying a house or buying a car and have a driver’s license from out of the country. I feel that I am making that change. I am helping other people like I wanted to be helped when I came to this country.”

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Moriconi McCaulley, a third-generation immigrant, came to Steamboat Springs in 2015 from her home of Paraguay. She was pursuing a paralegal degree while working on her immigration paperwork. Both were difficult, but the paperwork took  the cake in complexity.

“It was really hard because we had bad advice in the beginning,” she said. “I had such a bad experience and there are so many people out there trying to make a difference, trying to make a living, who do not receive good help from other people, so I want to be that change some day.”

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Aragon hired Moriconi McCaulley about two and a half years ago and said she’s filled a void in the office with her translation skills, but is also a great addition because of her attitude. 

“She is so positive, energetic, and everybody loves her,” Aragon said. “She’s got a personality that everybody loves. I know she’s such a good ambassador for people that are moving in from other countries.”

Helping people navigate insurance is just the most recent way the 29-year-old is helping others. While earning her paralegal degree, she worked with asylum seekers. She’s also served as a translator with Integrated Community. In early 2020, she was one of many who established the Yampa Valley Latinx Network.

“We organized that with the intent of giving the Latin community a little more presence in the community,” she said. “We Latin people, immigrants, sometimes we’re scared when we come to a new country. We’re scared to do what we want to do or raise our voice. At least, that’s how I felt. I know a lot of people feel like that.”

With COVID, the purpose of the group shifted to ensure Latin people had the resources and translation services needed to get testing, masks and vaccines during the pandemic.

Moriconi McCaulley is hoping to find more ways to help people through the challenges of integrating into a new country and a new community.

“The world needs more empathy and I just try to be that,” she said.

Shelby Reardon is the assistant editor at the Steamboat Pilot & Today. To reach her, call 970-871-4253, email sreardon@SteamboatPilot.com or follow her on Twitter @ByShelbyReardon.