Follow your passion.
Forget passion, find your purpose.
Well-meaning advice, even contradictory, is never in short supply, especially when offered to a woman striking out as a solopreneur. For women, our social conditioning and familial pressures have always made it more difficult to succeed in business. But that hasn’t stopped three amazing women from forging unique paths in senior living as solopreneurs. Recently, we chatted with Morgan Lamphere, Natalie Groeger and Natasha Drake about their careers and new adventures.
Passion for Senior Living
Morgan Lamphere has been working to support senior living communities for 20 years. She began working in sales and marketing for an individual community before transitioning to overseeing sales and marketing efforts for multiple communities in various stages of development. As a vice president of new development, she was responsible for marketing strategies for 15+ separate communities.
Natalie Groeger majored in art and business as a college student. While creating bronze sculptures was a passion, her practical side also pursued the business degree. As part of that degree work, she interned at a senior living community. Her career path includes being part of a community and then a regional health system marketing team and account work with two national agencies. Throughout her 13-year career, she has developed a deep appreciation for the value of smart data.
Natasha Drake has followed a unique path in her senior living career. She began as concierge and activity director for a single community before moving to the sales team. She led tours, planned events and developed sales initiatives for the marketing team. With years of boots-on-the-ground community experience, she then moved to the agency level, overseeing marketing and sales strategy in various roles, most recently as a vice president of marketing. For 17 years, she focused on building deep relationships at each stage of her career.
But every career eventually reaches a crossroads.
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
Natasha was focused on the birth of her third child when her agency abruptly ceased operations in the summer of 2023. Her maternity leave and an unrelated health issue propelled her to begin an immediate job hunt. She quickly found a terrific position with a major agency. But after two months, her husband was the one to push her to “follow your passion.” The very idea of leaving her new job was daunting. She doubled down by founding Drake Strategic and a podcast.
Morgan loved her job but spent a tremendous amount of time traveling across the country and Canada. During the 2023 Christmas holidays, she had a lightbulb moment when she realized how much she was missing in her family’s life. Her absence meant her partnership with her husband was out of balance. His response to her concerns was to tell her to “do what you love.” The result is Lauren Rose Senior Advisors named for her beloved mother.
Natalie is the mother of two toddlers. Growing up on a working farm, she’s been working hard since she was a little girl. So the demands of her agency work mean she’s an expert at juggling all the demands on her time. But she’s also a believer in taking a step back in order to see all her options when things feel overwhelming. Because there are always options. No opportunity is the last opportunity. And her new opportunity is in the process of founding Headlamp Group.
Each had a moment of clarity when they realized that what they had wasn’t what they really wanted. They wanted more.
Optimistic Realists
Unlike most people who only dream, Natasha, Natalie and Morgan have embraced the whirlwind of striking out on their own. Working with complex processes and challenging materials like bronze taught Natalie patience and perspective. She’s a master at looking at situations and seeing a wide range of choices for the next step forward. Her mantra? “Let’s try it, and if it doesn’t work, we’ll try something else. Because there’s always another choice.”
Morgan realized that her life has taught her to value deep meaningful relationships. Those relationships are the reason she goes to work every day. She sees her work as being capable of making a real difference in the lives of seniors.
Natasha’s moment of truth came when she realized her passion for seniors matters as much as her passion for her roles as wife, mother, and member of her community. She sees this as a way to answer what she is called to do and to make her family her number one priority, while still pursuing her passion and helping others thrive in the senior living industry.
The Future is Bright
Establishing their own companies is proving to be as challenging and rewarding as they expected. And it’s not been without moments of doubt. In Part 2, we’ll explore the lessons they’re learning and teaching, the impact of sisterhood and what success looks like for the new companies they’ve founded. If you’d like to learn more about Maribeth’s path to success and how the right data can lead to your success, give her a call!
Natasha Drake is the founder and CEO of Drake Strategic. She brings 17 years of expertise in community branding, positioning and lead generation strategies to a full slate of strategic services in senior living. Connect with her on LinkedIn or catch an episode of her podcast, The Drake Insights.
Natalie Groeger is in the process of founding Headlamp Group. Her goal is to bring AI and technology to create data that is more actionable for the senior living industry. Her vision is to use technology to improve the lives of residents. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
Morgan Lamphere is the founder and president of Lauren Rose Senior Advisors. She brings 20 years of experience in sales and marketing to a full set of services to help communities drive sustainable sales and growth. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
