■ Special advertising section: Professional Women of Tehachapi,

With the pending retirement of longtime Farmers agent Marty Pay, the face of the agency in Tehachapi will definitely be changing. Ginger Patz, who is the office manager and has been with the agency for more than 17 years, will be taking over the reins as the new owner. She has specialized in homeowners, complicated commercial and work comp policies. She is surrounded by a talented staff of women agents.

Ginger’s daughter Amber will take over her duties as well as her own! Amber does an incredible job of handling the difficult homeowners’ policies, whether it be outside markets for hard-to-place risks in brush areas or just the simple homeowners and auto policies, making sure all the discounts and proper placing of the policies occurs.

Lisa Waddell has a complete background in auto and homeowners here at Farmers and at one time for another agency. Her friendly and fun personality is a great asset to any business working with the public.

Sandra Higareda is newly licensed and enthusiastic about her job. She brings the added advantage of being bilingual to assist Spanish-speaking clients.

Dena Thomas brings a wealth of business and retail experience to the agency. She’s excellent at getting to the root of a problem and finding a solution for the clients.

Sue Wonacott has a specific role in the agency dealing with Medicare and Medicare supplements. Sue has been doing this for several years and represents many different companies to obtain the best plan for our clients.

While women are more than 61 percent of the workforce in insurance, only 31 percent are agency owners! Welcome our newest one here in Tehachapi, Ginger Patz!