Everyone has a story.
Each week, the Shreveport-Bossier Journal’s Tony Taglavore takes to lunch a local person — someone well-known, influential, or successful — and asks, “What’s Your Story?”
By TONY TAGLAVORE, Journal Services
Professionally, I’ve known Lisa Janes a long time.
I trust her, but I don’t believe her, when she says her days are not always good days.
I’ve never, ever seen Lisa without a cheek-to-cheek smile. I’ve never, ever heard her without a hearty laugh. I’ve never, ever been around anyone with a more positive attitude.
But she insists there are those days.
“Sometimes my cup gets empty. It sucks a lot of energy out of me to be angry. It sucks a lot of energy out of me to be negative. I’m just wired a little more to be up and positive…For me to get really, really angry, or really, really upset, it really, really zaps me. It affects me personally.”
With her blonde hair spiked a bit, and wearing a comfortable-looking, sleeveless black outfit, Lisa told me her story over lunch at The Oyster Bar & Grille on Line Avenue in Shreveport. “I haven’t been here in a long time,” Lisa said loudly, which wasn’t a surprise. She had a Puffy Taco, telling the server, “I’m a puffy taco kinda girl.”
I had a grilled chicken salad, but didn’t tell our server I’m a grilled chicken kinda guy.
For 30 years and counting, Lisa has enjoyed a highly successful career in media sales. She is Director of Sales for Townsquare Media—a national company which owns a cluster of local radio stations. Lisa has won numerous awards, including a spot in Townsquare’s President’s Club, for her job performance. She is also active in several business and civic organizations. Lisa has been a Virginia K. Shehee Most Influential Woman nominee, and an Athena Leadership nominee.
But hard as it is to believe, the sun hasn’t always shined on Lisa.
1993 had all the makings of a very dark year. She was finishing her fourth year of teaching. Lisa enjoyed her students but realized that $1,010 a month paycheck wasn’t going to get her through what was around the corner.
“I knew I had a really, really, really bad divorce coming. I was driving home after dance line (she was the group’s sponsor) one day. I heard an ad on the radio that said, ‘Is it really easy for you to talk to people? Do you enjoy a challenge? Are you ready to make more money? Call me.”
Lisa called – a call which prompted Lisa to change her life.
“In one year, I got a divorce, lost 60 pounds, converted from Baptist to Catholic, and cut my hair.”
She also got a new career. More on that, later.
Lisa enjoyed a happy childhood in north Shreveport. Her mother worked some and stayed home some. Lisa’s father was in both the banking and insurance business.
But the real fun came when it was time for Lisa, at a very young age, to go to work. Her parents owned the concession stands at Municipal Auditorium.
“I was at wrestling when it was on Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday night, Monday night, and Thursday night — whenever Mid-South Wrestling was there. Cowboy Bill Watts, Dick Murdock, Skandor Akbar. All those people I grew up watching.”
But that wasn’t enough to interest Lisa in becoming a professional wrestler. After graduating from Trinity Heights Christian Academy — she was one of just 38 people in her class — Lisa went to Baton Rouge to make her dreams come true.
“All of my life, I was going to LSU. I was going into the Pre-Law program. I wanted to be in corporate or business law. I was very interested in politics. I wanted to be the first female governor of Louisiana.”
She lasted two weeks.
“These people all wanted to argue about something, and that’s not my thing. I couldn’t do that for 12 years before I would begin my career path.”
Lisa had been a student teacher in high school, so her advisor suggested Lisa switch to Education. Ironically, in a field where sometimes you have to discipline others, Lisa disciplined herself.
“I had a phenomenal time in Baton Rouge. I was 18, therefore I could legally go and do anything. I had such a great time there. I came home to graduate.”
Coming home was completely her choice. Lisa knew she wasn’t applying herself to her classwork. So, Lisa finished her undergraduate and master’s degree at LSUS while maintaining a 4.0 grade point average.
She got a job teaching second graders. But being an only child, she wasn’t used to, well, everything which comes with a room full of second graders.
“I cried every night…Fun fact: Everything you learn in four or five years of undergraduate, when you’re in your classroom the first day, in about 10 minutes, that’s gone.”
Lisa found happiness when she began teaching older kids. But life forced a new career, one she never dreamed would bring so much success.
“I started out making $2,000 a month in radio.”
Remember, she was making just over $1,000 a month teaching.
“I thought, ‘What am I going to do with this money? How am I going to spend all of this money?’”
Years later, it’s safe to assume Lisa makes more than $2,000 a month. These days, she spends her money on LSU season football tickets, trips to the beach where she “thinks, prays, and ponders”, and on bedsheets.
That’s right. Bedsheets, which Lisa says she slides under around 7pm.
“I go to bed earlier than anybody you know…My most favorite place on earth is my bed. I have great bedding. I like high-end sheets. My bedroom is my sanctuary and my calming space.”
But Lisa’s most important expenditure came almost four years ago. Planning for the future of two aging parents, Lisa did something very selfless. She gave up a significant amount of personal space. Lisa, along with her parents, sold their homes, bought two side-by-side lots in a Bossier City subdivision, and built two connecting houses. Lisa lives in one, mom and dad in the other. They all live together, except they don’t.
“There are days I know they do not like being that close to me. There are days I know I need a break. But you know what? We’re exactly where we’re supposed to be, doing exactly what we’re supposed to be doing. We will never get this time back. 10 years from now, I’m not going to say, ‘I wish I had more time with my parents.’”
Nor will Lisa say she wished she had spent more time serving her hometown area. A few years ago, Lisa’s plate of volunteerism was overflowing. Now, her portfolio includes fewer organizations, but ones in which she feels she is making a difference:
-President of 2024 Mudbug Madness
-Board member of the Commission for Women of Bossier City
-Board member of Goodwill Industries
-Board member of the Louisiana Association of Broadcasters
Not to mention Past Chair of Better Business Bureau, and a Krewe of Centaur member.
“I think we all need to leave it better than we found it,” Lisa says of why she is so giving of her time. “Be it our relationships, be it our communities, be it our marketplaces, be it our co-workers. We’ve got to leave it better than we found it.”
My final question, as always: “What is it about your story that can be an inspiration to others?”
“You have to do the work, no matter the situation. Be it spiritual, financial, or personal. You have to put in the work to get the product you want.”
Do you know someone who has a story to tell? Contact Tony at: SBJTonyT@gmail.com