At L&P, we’re inspired by our colleagues who go above and beyond to enhance our businesses. In honor of Women’s History Month, we’re sharing stories of women at L&P who have improved our products and processes with their creativity and leadership.

We’d like to recognize Roseann Chester, Production Manager for L&P Flooring Products – Sponge Cushion in Morris, Illinois!

Early Determination and Career Growth

Roseann began her career with Leggett & Platt 36 years ago. Prior to joining Leggett, she was a single teenage mom working three jobs trying to provide for her children. Her mother, an employee at Sponge Cushion, encouraged her to apply for a position. Despite not having any job experience, Roseann was persistent and called Human Resources every day for two months, requesting an interview. Her persistence paid off.

“I am a very determined individual and when I put my mind to something – I’m going to make it happen.”

Over the years, Roseann has worked every position on the production line and was promoted to Production Manager last month, overseeing all three shifts of employees at Sponge Cushion. She takes great pride in her role, always prioritizing customer satisfaction.

“I am old school and appreciate my job every day. I wouldn’t be here if we didn’t have our customers, so making them happy is my priority.”

Leadership and Teamwork

In her new leadership role, Roseann has already demonstrated her problem-solving skills. When faced with recent machine issues, she and her team successfully manufactured 14 different products that previously couldn’t run on the line. She credits her management team for fostering an environment where she can be creative and experiment without fear of failure.

“With the support of my current management team, I feel confident in my abilities and know that I can tackle any challenge and figure it out.”

Roseann has always faced challenges head-on. During the pandemic, the branch was facing staffing issues. Roseann spearheaded a cross-training initiative to ensure the production line could continue running. Her ability to adapt has also helped the business meet tight deadlines. Faced with a surge in orders and tight deadlines, Roseann sped up the machine, enabling the team to output more rubber pad and complete the orders on time.

“I love a challenge. When things get tricky, we just roll up our sleeves and find a way to get it done for our customers.”

Beyond production goals, Roseann fosters a culture of teamwork and mutual respect.

“I never ask my team to do anything I wouldn’t do myself. By working alongside them, I’ve shown that we’re all in this together, and they’ve shown me the same commitment in return.”

Thank you, Roseann, for your commitment to your team and Leggett & Platt. We are better because of you!

At L&P, we’re inspired by our colleagues who go above and beyond to enhance our businesses. In honor of Women’s History Month, we’re sharing stories of women at L&P who have improved our products and processes with their creativity and leadership.

We’d like to recognize Alex Lazarchik, Social Media Strategist!

Alex has progressed L&P’s influencer marketing efforts over the past year. We talked to Alex about her work and how L&P businesses can drive sales via influencer marketing.

What’s a day at work like for you?

I work with our business units to create and oversee their social media marketing strategies. Kayleigh Logan, Social Media Coordinator, creates a lot of the beautiful content you see on L&P’s social. She is an amazing asset to our team!

Every day is different, but that’s why I love what I do. There are always new opportunities, challenges, ideas, and conversations that come with each task in social media. Outside of creating social media strategies and developing new partnerships, here are some other projects I’m involved with:

• I worked with the Corporate Communications team to create an evolving manual of L&P’s social media program.
• I create and offer content creation training to any of our employees who need it.
• Quarterly and annually, I prepare analytical reports for our business partners and adjust our strategies as needed.
• I meet with our business partners as often as necessary when projects come up, but we always touch base at least once per month.
• We are working with many of our business partners on content creation, including developing fresh content and improving what we do. We get to collaborate with other groups like L&P Creative Services.

What are influencer marketing partnerships and why are they beneficial?

Consumers spend a lot of time on social media and often follow influencers – people who can influence other people to make purchases. However, there are so many businesses that aren’t utilizing social media. Businesses must meet customers where they are if they want them to discover and purchase their products. Relying on organic (non-paid) social media efforts limits customer reach, so that’s where influencer marketing comes in.

Influencer marketing partnerships are beneficial for L&P brands that sell directly to consumers because they can help increase brand awareness and drive sales. If you aren’t familiar with how influencer marketing works, a brand partners with an influencer by sending them their product or supplying their service often in conjunction with payment. The influencer posts about the product or service on social media as an advertisement to their followers.

When you work with an influencer, you are reaching an entire audience of people who are likely interested in your product. We have incredible opportunities to do this, and we’re already doing it in our Flooring Products business!  

What challenges did you run into with influencer partnerships and how did you overcome them? 

Since L&P didn’t have an influencer marketing program, I faced a lot of unknowns. I had to troubleshoot every step of creating the program, which required collaboration with many departments. I created a document to standardize our influencer marketing process and incorporated influencer marketing strategies into each business units’ social media strategies. I was determined to be successful because I know the power of influencer marketing, and now, we have a thorough process for helping our business units navigate influencer marketing partnerships!   

I couldn’t have done this work without the patience and collaboration from colleagues. Everyone I worked with at L&P took time to understand influencer marketing, why it’s important for our business units, and how they can be supportive. Because of their help, we were able to successfully build this program.