Where Hospitality Meets Heart: Janet Ruggeri — by Diana Davis
A wonderful afternoon began with one of those little moments that makes you smile because it feels almost too perfect to be accidental. I walked into BiCE for lunch with my fabulous friend Janet Ruggeri, and we both stopped in our tracks. My top matched her pants, and my pants matched her top. We looked at each other and laughed. It was, in a way, the perfect visual representation of our simpatico energies. Janet and I immediately gravitated toward each other when we first met. There was an ease to the friendship that felt almost surprising. Sometimes you meet someone and spend months getting to
know them. Other times, there is an immediate recognition—as if you see a little bit of yourself in theotherperson.ThatwasJanet.Asourfriendship has grown, so has our partnership. What excites me most is that it isn’t simply beneficial to either of us individually. We have discovered that our talents, experiences and passions complement each other in ways that make me believe we can accomplish so much more together than either of us could alone. Over lunch, we shared food, stories and plenty of laughter. Janet ordered the salmon pizza she always gets, which I had somehow never tasted. I ordered my favorite shrimp and asparagus pasta, which she had never tried. Naturally, we ended up loving each other’s choices. But then, it was BiCE. Who doesn’t love everything on the menu? I had come with a question for Janet: What is the one thing she would want people to know about her? Her answer came without hesitation. “I have never really been motivated by money.” Of course, she understands that you have to make a living. But money has never been what gets her out of bed in the morning.
Janet Ruggeri and Diana Davis
“For me, the reward has always been the outcome,” she told me. “I want to be able to put my head on my pillow at night and know that I did something for the right reason. That I helped somebody. That I made something better. That I took care of someone when they needed it.” Suddenly, so many pieces of Janet’s life made sense. She has spent much of her career in hospitality, but to Janet, hospitality has never simply meant taking a reservation or putting food on a table. It is noticing. Anticipating. Understanding what someone needs before they have to ask. Making people feel welcome, respected and remembered. That philosophy followed her into real estate, where she became a successful Realtor. Even there, she never thought of herself as a salesperson. “I wasn’t interested in selling someone a house. I wanted to find them their perfect first home.” She wanted the buyer to get a good deal, the seller to feel good about the transaction and everyone involved to feel taken care of. Perhaps that instinct goes all the way back to where she started. Janet grew up in Huntington Beach, California. At 18, she went to Europe to pursue modeling, spending years primarily in Barcelona and Milan and eventually traveling throughout Europe. From the outside, modeling can look glamorous. From the inside, it can be extraordinarily hard work.
Diana Davis and Janet Ruggeri
Ra aele Ruggeri, Janet Ruggeri, Diana Davis, Annekatrin Weber and Glen Fetzner
Ra aele Ruggeri and Janet Ruggeri
24A VOL. 652 YA
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