Rosa Whitehead

My father was a very, very, very hard worker, and he instilled in me morals and values and work ethic, accountability, and being on time. I learned to do those things at an early age. Those early lessons from my father about accountability, being present, and maintaining a strong work ethic have been the foundation of everything I've accomplished in my career.

I honestly think there's two pieces of advice that have shaped my career. One person always told me if you stay ready, you don't have to get ready. The other was to stop looking for problems and always find solutions. Mindset can hinder you in any profession, so instead of looking at things as problems, I always try to find a solution.

Don't give up. I entered the restaurant industry at a time when there was not a lot of women in upper restaurant management. Just continue to learn, continue to develop, and find a very good mentor - that was very key for me. I had a mentor that I could lean on for everything, emotional support, business support, whatever. Don't let anyone doubt you. You're going to go into places sometimes and people are going to try to minimize your role or even just try to minimize you. Just stay true to yourself, know your craft, learn your craft, and just be good at it.

Locally, there's a lot of restaurants that are closing, and that can be a challenge. But there's also an awful lot of expansion going on as well. There are ebbs and flows in the business - recently I've noticed it's chain restaurants or franchises closing, and a couple of months back it was mom-and-pop stores. For example, Froyo closed its Jacksonville market recently, and Ruby Tuesday is closing, but down at the riverfront here in Jacksonville they're expanding and building up. My biggest advice would be to try to find a job where you can grow with and stick it out, because the ebbs and flows can change. Restaurants can be here today and gone tomorrow, and they're not always giving everybody notice either. I know folks who literally worked at Froyo and they felt something was coming, saw a truck pull up, and then literally sent everybody home and put signs on the windows.

Honesty, accountability, integrity, work ethic, and being present are the values most important to me. One of my biggest personal mantras is set the example, don't be the example - I kind of live like that and I work like that. Sometimes you're there but you're just not maybe mentally there, so you have to be present. These values guide everything I do both professionally and personally.