Rock-star style
Poverty, tragedy didn’t stop Anna Reger from making her way
The mantra “Never give up” plays over and over in Anna Reger’s head.
With her Christian Louboutin heels, Louis Vuitton bags and lush lashes, Reger, who co-owns Rockstar Property with husband John Reger, knows her life could have turned out so differently.
“It doesn’t matter where you start; it’s really where you end,” she said, standing in front of a large painting of red lips at their northwest Houston office building.
Reger’s life began humbly in a poor neighborhood on Houston’s north side. She was the oldest of six children. Her father lost his eyesight to a rare illness and couldn’t work; her mother worked multiple jobs to keep the family’s lights on. There were many times they didn’t
have enough money to buy clothes. Reger was charged with taking care of her younger siblings, which meant she never attended high school. Their poverty hurt so deeply, Reger swore she would make a different life for herself.
By age 14, she had moved in with her teenage boyfriend, taking a job caring for children with disabilities in a nearby foster home. Eventually, she went to work for an agency that provided assistance for children with disabilities.
“I loved the children,” said Reger, who is in her early 40s. “Many of them couldn’t talk, but they showed me love. They felt like my family.”
Her life took a tragic turn at age 21, when she was involved in a car accident. Her boyfriend was driving after a night out drinking; a backseat passenger was killed, another passenger was left in a wheelchair. Reger, who was in the front passenger seat, ended up in a hospital intensive-care unit for a week, then in a wheelchair before she could walk again. After she recovered a few months later, Reger fell asleep at the wheel after a long shift at work. She crashed. This time, her face was crushed, requiring multiple reconstructive surgeries that left a scar from ear to ear. Her nose was put back together using cartilage from one of her ribs.
Reger felt like giving up and sank into a depression, she said, but a client’s mother encouraged her to complete her education. And she did, earning her GED, an associate’s degree in science from Houston Community College and later a bachelor of science from the University of Houston.
She married at age 24 and was divorced by her early 30s but continued to mother two stepdaughters from the relationship. She has a daughter, Leilani, 8, with husband John, and he has five more children.
Reger’s stepdaughter, Mariah Fausett, 28, met Anna when she was 9. “Anna always had this hustle that I admired,” she said. “She instilled in me to be independent, to work hard and be safe. Anna is one of a kind. She easily became my second mom and will always be.”
Reger and her husband have amassed a rock-star fortune with their investment properties, which she manages, and their Rockstar Wig company, which offers fun costume wigs for cosplay, anime and Halloween; they are sold at Party City. They also own Rock a Lash, which specializes in costume lashes that can be paired with the wigs, and the Don’t Kiss the Baby bib line, which was started when their daughter was an infant as a tongue-in-cheek warning to adults to keep germs away.
Like her life, her style has evolved, too.
“Even when we were poor, I was always a jeans girl and wore high heels everywhere,” she said. “When I started making a little money, I bought Michael Kors, and then I treated myself to a pair of Louboutins.”
More than anything, Reger hopes her story will inspire young women who feel trapped by poverty and tragedy.
“Just because you don’t make the right decisions when you’re young or you come from nothing doesn’t mean you should give up,” Reger said.
“I’m still alive. I’m still here. I’m never giving up.”