Joni Rogers-Kante
Founder, Chief Executive
SeneGence International
Foothill Ranch
Born in Sapulpa, Okla.
Age: 60
Lives in Irvine
WHY: Oversees more than 500 employees at personal care products and skincare company, with a network of 500,000-plus independent distributors.
HOW: Oklahoma native moved to California at 15, shortly after working for now-defunct Sav-On Drugs before joining Mary Kay, even earning the famous pink Cadillac. Newly single mother then decided to launch SeneGence in 1999 after partnering with a chemist to develop its hero product LipSense, a waterproof liquid lipstick designed to last up to 18 hours. Company has since grown out of a Newport Beach mobile home into its 200,000-square-foot distribution and office space in Foothill Ranch. Also operates a 255,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Corona.
RECENT: Building out a 744,448-square-foot corporate campus on 225 acres in her hometown of Sapulpa, Okla. Celebrated company’s 20th anniversary last month in Tulsa, Okla. holding a private concert by Gwen Stefani for distributors.
FAST FACT: Husband, Ben Kante, serves as chief strategy officer; son, Alan Rogers-Kante, is chief experience officer.
QUOTABLE: “God willing, it will be a very, very old direct-selling company,” she said. “We’re setting it up for that.”
PERSONAL: Founder of nonprofit The Make Sense Foundation, which assists women and children in crisis. Author of “Million Dollar Lips: A Journey Into the Hearts of Women in Business.” Married with two children.
