Daughter follows mom’s steps

When Lori Wright Rogers opened the Lori Rogers Agency, Farmers Insurance, in Pea Ridge in October 2004, she was one of two female agents in the district. Now, there are four women of 30 agents in the district in Northwest Arkansas.

Running her business from the building built by her parents 32 years ago, she recognizes that

the work ethic of both of her parents drives her, too.

Rogers worked at Glad Manufacturing for 23 years in various positions.

“For the first 17 years, I worked on the floor in every different capacity. I wore steel-toed boots, wore a tool belt,” she said. In 1997, she was offered the Human Resources position and learned more about office experience, retirement, benefits, insurance. “It kind of led me to this.”

She said she did not originally plan to open an insurance agency, but after Glad was sold to Clorox, there were lay-offs and she spoke to someone at Farmer’s District Office about becoming an agent. “First, I said ‘no.’”

“I will say, owning a business was kind of in my blood because my dad did — he always owned service stations, then built this. Mom was right there beside him,” she said.

“It didn’t surprise me, although it probably surprised people in town, who didn’t know how involved she was for so long, even after Dad died.

Rogers said for many years, people thought her brother, who had worked with their dad, owned the business. “People just assumed.”

“Mom is quiet and unassuming. She’s the classic story of she just got up everyday and plugged along. She just knew what had to be done,” she said.

“She wanted to defy the odds.”