We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Zarrette Rogers a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Zarrette, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

The biggest risk I’ve taken would be leaving the corporate world to pursue my passion for music, modeling and acting. After graduating college, I began working with a finance consulting firm where I rose through the ranks to become a Principal Contractor, overseeing and managing trade processes and operations for financial institutions. Through the years though, I found this high-stress and corporate structure wasn’t fulfilling. To feed my creative passions, I began a self-proclaimed “hustle” era, working finance by day and music by night. Taking that risk paid off, as one of my modeling jobs ultimately led me to my current role as the Advocacy and Key Accounts Manager for Martingale Cognac in New York.

Zarrette, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I like to describe myself as a modern Renaissance man with a passion for both corporate success and creative expression. I’ve worn many hats throughout my journey, from playing NCAA basketball to climbing the ranks in the finance industry. Playing on an NCAA team was a significant part of my life, as it taught me the importance of commitment, teamwork, and time management. Despite the rigorous schedule of practices, games, and team commitments, I also had to balance academic responsibilities and personal interests, such as making music and pursuing a barber’s license. This experience instilled in me the ability to prioritize and carve out my own identity within a structured environment.

Although I’ve always been inspired by the challenge of balancing multiple passions—acting, modeling, music, now luxury spirits – there was always a yearning to shift. In a way I felt I was sort of at a standstill in my career. It’s in those times when you don’t know where you are going that life gives you subtle signs on where to go next.

Eventually, that passion to find what was missing led me to a unique opportunity in the luxury spirits industry with Martingale Cognac, where I now serve as the Advocacy and Key Accounts Manager for New York. Discovering Martingale Cognac was a game-changing moment for me. Not only was I able to see cognac in a new and unique light – something fresh, new, and built – but it also quite literally and unexpectedly changed the trajectory of my life journey. I credit Martingale as the type of luxury spirit to pull me and my friends back into brown sprits as we were drifting away from Cognac to spirits like whisky.

Overall, I’m particularly proud of my work with Martingale Cognac because it allows me to be part of something fresh and exciting while honoring my personal connection to Cognac. I see my role as helping to create a more inclusive definition of luxury, where everyone can enjoy the best of what life has to offer.

In terms of my artistic work, I’ve appeared in several films, TV shows, and Off-Broadway productions, including Waiting, The Past Three Years, The Meeting, and more. Commercially, I’ve worked with big brands like Rolex, Tiffany & Co., Remy Martin, and the NBA.

My journey has been diverse and multi-faceted, but everything I do is driven by a sense of purpose: to merge corporate and creative, luxury and unity, and always stay true to the hustle.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Resilience has always been a defining part of my journey and helped mold me into the man I am today. Growing up, my passion for basketball fueled me to work hard, eventually earning a full scholarship to college. Wins or losses, those two decades on the court gave me invaluable lessons in bouncing back from setbacks and maintaining a positive mindset.

While sports has always been a huge part of my life, my creativity has always been at the core of who I am. After college, I balanced a career in finance with my love for music and the arts. I never fit into the “traditional career” box, and when I tried to express this to those close to me, they tried to convince me to focus solely on my “serious” job and that a creative career was not meant for me. Words like that can often hurt, especially if they are spoken from loved ones but I learned that resilience is about pushing forward despite the doubts others cast on you. It’s about overcoming obstacles, embracing the process, continually evolving, and staying true to your passions, no matter what.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

One of the biggest lessons I had to unlearn was the idea that success follows a straight, linear path. Early in my career, I thought that if I worked hard in finance, success would come in predictable ways: climbing the corporate ladder, achieving financial goals, and moving up the ranks. When I decided to leave finance after 14 years, initially, I thought I was giving up security, but I had to unlearn the idea that I was “starting over” from scratch. Instead, I saw how the skills I gained in finance—discipline, organization, and networking—helped me succeed in my creative pursuits.

Through my shifts from finance to music, acting, and modeling, I realized that success is much more fluid and can come from unexpected places. If I had stayed with the mindset that there is no room to divert from the expected path, I would never have been led to discover and welcomed to be part of such a visionary team – Martingale Cognac.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.zjrogers.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/toastmakerz/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zarrette-j-rogers-000040134
• Other: https://martingalecognac.com/
  https://www.instagram.com/martingalecognac/
  https://www.instagram.com/zeyisays/

Image Credits

N/A