LISA ROGERS SHARES HER EARLY TRIBULATIONS ON THE PATH
TO SUCCESS BY GINA VEAZY
to share their stories “and hopefully inspire others to do the same.” To start her talk, Rogers reflected on a past that included a trial by fire but started with the guidance of her own family. “I was blessed to have a mother who’s a nurse. I had the opportunity at a very
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young age to see my mother in action,” recalled Rogers. As a child, she watched as her mother sprang into action to provide first aid to three men badly hurt in a car accident near the hotel her parents operated. “It was at that point in time, I said, that’s what I’m going to do when I grow up.” Later, as a teenager, Rogers worked as a waitress in her parents’ supper club
“The restaurant world also taught me how to care for people,” she said. “I enjoyed it, enhancing their experience. And it just was one of the finest jobs I ever had.” It was lucrative, but the teen was not welcomed by her colleagues. “Unfor-
tunately, my dad had to fire me. I was making more money than the other waitresses, and they literally came to my father and said, ‘Either Lisa goes or we’re all walking off the job.’ Everything always happens for a reason. I had a car payment to make, and I understood my father's position. And these women had families to take care of.”
The Big Test In a moment of levity, Rogers said, “I always tell people I became a CNA before the C was actually required.” After losing her job at her parents’ supper club, Rogers says, “I marched myself down to our local hospital and skilled unit. I applied for a job, and I literally started at $3.10 an hour and taught myself the skills necessary to give good care. That was my first real job, caring for people and understanding truly what their needs were.” Sharing how she had turned a difficult professional setback into a life lesson,
Rogers forewarned participants that she had “only spoken about this once,” adding, “I tend to have a little PTSD over it. If it brings tears, forgive me, but it is an experience in my life that impacted me.” The date, she said, was July 19, 1989. Rogers, an ICU nurse in Sioux City,
Iowa, at the time, had worked the night shift. “We had been completing train- ing. Our unit was going through renovations, new monitors, and just getting an upgrade, so everything was cleared out of our unit. I finished my tray work, my shift, finished my training, went home to get some sleep.”
36 SENIOR LIVING EXECUTIVE JULY/AUGUST 2023
peaking to an audience on a recent Women in Leadership (WIL) Zoom call, Lisa Rogers, president and CEO of Distinctive Living, began by offering her gratitude for the WIL platform, applauding the forum for giving women leaders in senior living the opportunity
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