Alexis Teap, a licensed insurance agent with World Financial Group Insurance Agency Canada (WFG), spent much of her early life believing success would come down to one thing: never struggling with money again. 

Growing up between financial extremes — from periods of stability to times when there wasn’t electricity in the house — she learned early that security could disappear quickly. Eventually, she entered the foster care system, carrying with her a deep understanding of instability and an even deeper determination to outrun it.

“I didn’t grow up with very much. I come from a very unique situation. My father is an immigrant from Africa who came here with just the clothes on his back. My mom was born in Canada, but she went through a very difficult upbringing,” Alexis said. “I was always scrambling for money.” 

For years, her plan was law school. Criminal law, specifically. She wanted to help people, but she also wanted a financially secure life. Throughout university, she worked constantly to stay afloat. After Alexis' education funding ended, she balanced classes with restaurant jobs and promotional work just to keep going. 

The harder she worked, though, the more disconnected she became from the future she thought she wanted. As graduation approached, Alexis began spending time in her field of study, meeting with lawyers and law students — searching for proof that the path she was on would eventually feel worth it. Instead, she realized the version of success she had been chasing left her feeling exhausted and unfulfilled. 

“I wasn’t finding any role models,” she said. “I wasn’t like, ‘I can’t wait to have your life.’”

The Invitation That Changed Everything

Alexis decided to take time off from law school and continued working full-time at a restaurant in Vancouver. What followed was less of a career search and more of a personal reckoning. She became deeply curious about how people built careers they loved. 

Then an unexpected invitation came along from someone she met at the restaurant where she worked. They invited her to learn about money through WFG, and Alexis showed up with no expectations. What she found was mentorship, financial education and a completely different way of thinking about her future.

“The best thing he ever did for me was offer the opportunity,” she said of her mentor, Nima Attar, also a licensed WFG agent. 

The momentum came quickly. Within nine months of becoming life insurance-licensed, Alexis had built a business that exceeded her expectations. Within five years, her business grew considerably, giving her the kind of freedom and flexibility that just wasn’t possible in her previous legal career plan. 

From the outside, it looked like the kind of success she had spent her entire life chasing. But internally, something still wasn’t aligned.

Losing It All, and Building It Back Better

“I was always competing, always performing,” Alexis said. The recognition was exciting, but she realized she had unconsciously been building herself around performance rather than purpose and had lost touch with her own voice. 

She calls it an ego death, and she’s grateful it happened. It opened the door for Alexis to build her business, her way. 

“I realized I could quit or I could use this as an opportunity to fuel myself and continue building my business, but with a stronger purpose,” she explained. “This was a chance for me to come back full circle and give others the unexpected opportunity that Nima presented to me when I was working at that restaurant. I wanted that to be my driving force.” 

She chose to rebuild. In doing so, she also rebuilt her understanding of what made her good at this work in the first place. She had spent her early years trying to replicate her mentor’s exact style — his communication, his approach, his cadence. What she realized, eventually, was that borrowing someone else’s authenticity doesn’t work.

“I took the best from all of my mentors and then inserted what is true and authentic to me. That’s really when I started to see the best results within my team,” she said. 

Building People, Not Just a Business

Ask Alexis what she’s most proud of at WFG, and she won’t point to a sales number. She’ll point to the life she’s built and the people she’s brought along with her. 

“Making the money is great. Working with clients is great. But the part I’m really starting to enjoy more than ever is just really building people.”

Alexis is vocal with her team about her own struggles and setbacks, because she’s seen what happens when leaders pretend those don’t exist. Her openness, she says, has given her agents permission to find their own voices too.

For anyone on the fence about joining WFG, her advice is direct: stop mistaking a cost for an investment. “This is more than just a career,” she said. “It’s a legacy that you have the ability to build.”

Alongside growing her business and developing leaders, she’s also pursuing a passion for DJing. It’s a creative outlet that reflects a broader philosophy she’s developed over the years, that success is about creating the freedom to pursue what matters most.

“WFG is such a powerful organization because it builds you into the person who can fulfill whatever your purpose is,” she explained. “It’s why so many leaders within WFG go on to create their own philanthropies or channel it into something they truly care about. They’re able to apply it to something with an even broader community impact.”

From the foster care system to business owner, from three serving jobs to leadership, Alexis Teap is proof of what’s possible when someone bets on themselves and finds an organization willing to bet on them, too.

In the United States World Financial Group and the WFG logo are registered trademarks of Transamerica Corporation. In Canada, World Financial Group is registered trademark of Transamerica Corporation.

WFG consists of:

World Financial Group Insurance Agency, LLC (in California doing business as World Financial Insurance Agency, LLC), World Financial Group Insurance Agency of Hawaii, Inc., World Financial Group Insurance Agency of Massachusetts, Inc., and/or WFG Insurance Agency of Puerto Rico, Inc. (collectively "WFGIA"), which offer life insurance products.

Headquarters: 6400 C Street SW, Cedar Rapids, IA 52499. Phone: 770.453.9300

World Financial Group Insurance Agency of Canada Inc. offers life insurance and segregated funds.

Headquarters: 5000 Yonge Street, Suite 800, Toronto, ON M2N 7E9. Phone: 416.225.2121

People experience various levels of success with World Financial Group Insurance Agency, LLC. These statements do not guarantee or represent that all participants will achieve the same results. Individual results may vary.

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