Meet Concorde’s Garden Grove Campus President Lisa Rhodes

Where we end up, is not always were we started can be said by many people. When we were kids we had all sorts of dreams of what we would want to become, yet many of us end up in jobs far different than those dreams.

That is a true statement for Concorde Garden Grove Campus President Lisa Rhodes who says, "I wanted to be a fashion designer for Saks 5th Ave and got my degree in fashion marketing".

How she got to Concorde

While starting to work in the fashion industry, Rhodes was approached about getting into the education business as an admission representative and decided to give it a try and it stuck.

After 13 years of working in various positions on the admissions side, she was offered the ability to move into the administration side via an interim position as a Campus President.

"At first I wasn't sure if I wanted to get into the administrative side become a Campus President, but I'm sure glad I did because I ended up loving it" Rhodes explains, "it was challenging and rewarding all at the same time".

Over the last almost 20 years Rhodes has been either a Campus President or Vice President of Operations at several different colleges'. "There was a short period where I needed to take a step back and get a clear picture of my life. I stopped working and focused on my family", she says.

When she was approached about taking the job at Concorde Garden Grove, it did not take her long to decide, "my heart was still in it and I wanted to grow the school". Rhodes starting in March of 2018 and she took over as the Campus President of Garden Grove in California.

What's it like being a campus president?

"Being a Campus President, every day is different, I start with an agenda yet need to be flexible" she states, "and my most important part of the day is engaging with students and faculty because I want them to know they made the right decision coming to Concorde."

"One of the bigger challenges I face as Campus President, is building the school and its population because Southern California is so large and the competition is very high," Rhodes explains, "we have to prove to the students that they are getting the best education possible or they are going to go somewhere else."

Putting beliefs into action

Rhodes believes, "We (her and her staff) are the leaders of the campus and it's my job to help others understand the why, because if you understand the why, then they are better able to help". The why is centered around the idea "we are here to guide and change lives". This experience starts the first time we meet students and continues throughout their journey, even after graduation.

"I try to remind myself, if it were my son, daughter, sister, etc., how would I want them to be treated?" she explains, "you know the old golden rule, treat others how we want to be treated. This helps me (us) continue to give the best customer service we possible."

We all need to be reminded of this mindset and see how we can exemplify it in our lives more!