Plymouth's own Renee Craft serves as Washington County's Farm Bureau's dedicated Senior Associate Agent, where she provides all manner of expert guidance with confidence and a smile.

The daughter of David Craft and Gail Smith, Renee originally grew up with the dream of becoming an educator.

“To be honest, when I was really young, I wanted to become a teacher. But I realized pretty early on in life that that was not where I wanted to go,” she laughs.

After that realization, Craft says that she would eventually set her sights on the medical industry instead.

So much so that after graduating from Plymouth High School in 2008, she attended Pitt Community College, where she initially took up nursing. Much like with education, she quickly realized that the profession might not be all she hoped.

“When I first started off in college, it was actually for nursing. But it was incredibly demanding at the time so I just wasn’t able to stay the course,” Craft admitted.

With this realization she made the switch to the path of a paralegal, obtaining her associates degree for the discipline soon after.

“I had always had a lingering interest in law so when I found out that Pitt had a paralegal program, it really drew me in and got me interested,” she recalls.

However after graduation, Craft would fall into the role of a pharmacy technician at Washington’s CVS Pharmacy, something she says came about from a simple internet search.

“It actually took me a little while to get into insurance because I ended up becoming a pharmacy tech for a few years after I graduated,” she explains. “Honestly, it was something that I just found online. I went in, interviewed for it, and they took me aboard. It’s really one of those ‘learn on the job’ positions, but only if you don’t plan on moving up into some of the higher responsibilities.”

After five years behind the counter of the pharmacy, Craft stumbled upon an opening for an insurance agent courtesy of the NC Farm Bureau Company. This would prove to be an opportune move for a new relatively new mother looking for a solid place to ply her skills and provide for her growing family.

“It was a 9 to 5, it had benefits, paid holidays and weekends off so it worked out well for my situation… and it was something where I didn’t have to get home super late at night,” she says. “I started with Farm Bureau in 2019 and I’ve been there and have loved it ever since.”

These days Craft serves as the agency’s Senior Associate Agent. Here she serves as the right hand of Matt Little, the agency's manager, aiding in the day-to-day toil of running the business and keeping the Bureau’s many customers happy...