Monika Arends is not new to the Webster City area, however August is the first month her business, AKP Insurance, had an office in Webster City.

Arends previously operated out of offices in West Des Moines and Fort Dodge. She closed those locations in 2024, working out of her home until now. Her new offices are now open at 1527 Superior Street, Business Suite D.

Monika is originally from Chicago, Illinois, but moved to Iowa in 2009, with a job working for the Minnesota Valley testing lab in Nevada.

This is where she met her husband, Jeremy, who was living in Stratford.

Monika Arends

Arends began working on her insurance license, which she received in 2015, the same year she married Jeremy. Jeremy was from Stanhope originally, but was living in Stratford when they first met.

The Arends continued to live in Stratford for six years, then found an acreage near Williams.

“I had an office in Fort Dodge and in Des Moines and decided I wanted to work closer to my community and children,” she said.

The adjustment to living in a rural area has been very positive, she said.

“I love the fact that the community comes together. Chicago doesn’t really have that,” she said, “I do a lot more highway miles now than city. Two miles in Chicago is 15 minutes, two miles here is like 5 minutes.”

Her inlaws, Peggy and Randy Arends live in Webster City, while her parents, Heinz and Yolanda Kirstein, are first generation immigrants living in Chicago. They still speak fluent German, she confided.

Arends, with her husband and two daughters, Olivia – 8 years, and Emily — 6 years old, raise a number of animals. “We have a small farm and breed Boer goats, and we have a farm, Maria Lynn farms. We raise bobwhite quail and a donkey named Xander.”

Her business, AKP Insurance, is still growing and she wants to meet more people,

“I want people to know that I work with health and life insurance and really want to provide insurance and service for individuals.” she said, “I really care that my customers have the coverage that they like and want.”

There are always lots of things to do on the acreage, she explained but she is active in not only her family life, but her business life.

She is a member of the Webster City Area Chamber of Commerce, part of the National Association of Insurance Financial Advisors, Business Networking International, and the Central North Iowa Healthcare Provider Network, a new organization located in Webster City.