How Did I Get Here?

Desirée Rogers

Chief executive officer, Johnson Publishing; chair, Choose Chicago
from
  • Education
  • Academy of the Sacred Heart, New Orleans, class of 1977
  • Wellesley College, Massachusetts, class of 1981
  • Harvard Business School, class of 1985
  • Work Experience
  • 1987–90
    Director, Levy Organization
  • 1990–96
    Director, Illinois Lottery
  • 1996–2003
    Vice president for corporate communications, chief marketing officer, senior VP for customer service, Peoples Energy
  • 2003–07
    President, Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas
  • 2008–09
    President of social networking, Allstate Financial
  • 2009
    Special assistant to the president, social secretary, White House
  • 2010–Present
    CEO, Johnson Publishing
  • 2012–Present
    Chair, tourism bureau Choose Chicago
  • Life Lessons
  • “Life is a continuous journey; only you can let it get you down.”
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  • “The only failure is failing to try.”
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  • As a child in New Orleans, early 1960s
    “Imagine a tall, lanky girl with an Afro at a predominantly white school. I was inquisitive and outspoken.”
  • Was a sales trainee at Xerox in 1981. “I was a miserable salesperson. They’d hang up these big signs with our names and where we stood every month. Horrible.”
  • As director of the Illinois Lottery, 1993
    “I launched the first Mega Millions with five other larger states and overhauled instant-ticket games. We took the business from $300 million to $600 million. I left when I couldn’t think of any more games.”
  • “The company was acquired. The next move would have been to learn electricity, and I was like, I’ve learned gas. I’m good.”
  • With Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, 2015
  • “It was intense. Participation was a big chunk of our grades, so I constantly had a burning in my stomach that, Oh my God, it’s day 10, and I still haven’t said anything.”
  • With President Obama, 2009
  • “The hours were approximately 7:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. We did 350 events in a year, and I wanted it to be magical for everyone. The whole scandal with the Salahis coming into the White House was a distraction. So, you know, time to go.”
  • At the 2015 Ebony Power 100 gala, with Zendaya, the December issue’s cover star
    “I said, ‘You know what? It’s OK to be in a business with a little glamour to it.’ We publish Ebony and Jet and own Fashion Fair cosmetics, which is department-store products for women of color.”