Rachel Sapoznik knows how to turn lemons into lemonade. Once a star agent for John Hancock, who earned awards for both production and customer service, Sapoznik was let go after having her second child. But she didn’t let that stop her from doing what she loves, as she went on to found her own company. Now president and CEO of Sapoznik Insurance, a full-service insurance agency that specializes in developing employee benefits programs, she has established herself not only as one who perseveres, but as a pioneer. “We believe in people, and that creates loyalty,” she says. With no quotas of any kind, her company has become the fifth-largest employee benefits firm in South Florida, and what she began out of her home in 1987 now employs more than 50 people. Outside of the firm, she is also a community champion, working closely with the Greater Miami Jewish Federation to help raise $200,000 for the March of the Living, a program designed to teach teenagers about the Holocaust, and has also worked on the Defy It anti-drug campaigns and with hospice of Palm Beach County.