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Creating Community and Building On Opportunities – LaRon & Thamar Rogers
Community is a guiding principle for LaRon and Thamar Rogers. That is what drew them to start a business (and a life) together even while coming from different backgrounds.
Their path to creating a cherished community began with unique challenges, which LaRon and Thamar each met with purpose and resilience. As a child, LaRon lost his parents in a tragic house fire, sending him and his twin brother into Chicago’s foster care system. LaRon’s early loss taught him that community is everything.
“Everybody wants community. Everyone longs to be a part of [a community] or accepted,” LaRon says.
Thamar’s journey was equally defining. Growing up, she heard stories from her mother who lost her parents at a young age and had to raise herself. Thamar also had to leave her native Haiti as a young girl while her sister remained behind. Both of these experiences fueled Thamar’s desire to build a community.
“Even if it is in different locations, I like the idea of growing together,” says Thamar as she reminisces about part of her family being in a completely different country than her.
Today, as Amway Independent Business Owners (IBOs), LaRon and Thamar are weaving that determination and energy into a vibrant community and a brighter future for their two children, Legacy and Daniel. Amway has helped build the foundation for their vision in a number of ways.
Amway provides LaRon and Thamar an opportunity to explore a community-based approach to entrepreneurship – whether it is by connecting to customers or other business owners.
When a customer buys from Amway, they are generally buying from a familiar face – a neighbor, a friend, someone in their local area. Because LaRon and Thamar sell directly to their customers, they have the opportunity to build a personal rapport with them.
LaRon and Thamar both get to understand the customer and their family’s needs. They get to share solutions and provide recommendations around specific Amway products based on these needs – all before a transaction even takes place. At the crux of it all, IBOs provide personalized attention to individual customers and their families and the customer gets to support the business of someone they know.
Joining Amway, LaRon and Thamar have become part of a nationwide network of Amway Independent Business Owners who sell directly to consumers in their communities. They also have a smaller support system of IBOs where they live in Des Moines, Iowa.
This network of IBOs encourages each other as they collectively go through their entrepreneurship journey. LaRon and Thamar believe that it has been incredibly helpful to know other people who are in a similar position to them, going through the same triumphs and trials of running their own businesses.
“When you walk through life, and you know you have so many resources, you feel so secure,” says Thamar.
To those around them, these IBOs are not just LaRon and Thamar’s fellow entrepreneurs; they’re aunts and uncles, mentors and friends.
“We literally built a community,” Thamar said. “We want to create an environment where kids can grow up, make memories and feel loved,” LaRon shares.
“Amway gave us the tools to turn our dream of community into reality,” Thamar says. By lowering barriers to entrepreneurship, Amway empowers people like LaRon and Thamar to thrive. Amway’s accessible business model gave them both the flexibility and confidence to build something meaningful.
At the heart of their journey are their children Legacy and Daniel. LaRon and Thamar are determined to ensure that their children never face the hardships they endured.
“We want Legacy and Daniel to leap into whatever level of greatness they dream of,” LaRon says. Through their Amway business, they’re building a foundation for their family, a life where community and opportunity pave the way.