From Survival Mode to CEO:You Don't Have to Be Polished to Be Powerful

Oct 1
2 min read

By Brittany Rogars

I didn’t grow up thinking I was unstoppable. I grew up thinking I had to survive.

My dad was in and out of prison. My mom was battling alcoholism. I moved 19 times before I graduated high school. By the time I was a teenager, I had mastered the art of disappearing into whatever version of myself people needed me to be. That was survival. That was “strength.” Perform. Perfect. Push through. Repeat.

By 22, I was newly pregnant, broke, and spiraling. I’d just lost my best friend to addiction, and nothing made sense anymore. That grief cracked something open in me. Not into clarity, into chaos. But it was the first time I realized I couldn’t hustle my way into healing.

The truth? My story isn’t clean. It’s not a single pivot point or lightbulb moment. It’s a long, crooked path filled with burnout, breakdowns, and belief systems I had to burn to the ground.

I worked my way up from gas station clerk to dental receptionist, from operations manager to founder and CEO of SKF Practice Solutions, a multi-six-figure consulting firm helping dental practices get out of survival mode too. I built it while raising babies, healing trauma, and unlearning every lie that told me I had to earn my worth.

Now I get to teach other women how to scale businesses rooted in clarity, confidence, and core values. I host The Dental Decoders podcast. I wrote Pivot With Purpose. I speak on stages to women who are building six-figure lives their way.

But none of that means I’ve “arrived.” It just means I finally stopped pretending and started leading from a place of alignment.

For a long time, I thought being unstoppable meant being invincible, no cracks, no needs, no breakdowns. Now I know better.

Being unstoppable means being vulnerable enough to ask for help. Smart enough to hire a team that’s strong where I’m not. Brave enough to rest when I need to, without guilt. And bold enough to say, “I’m not sure what comes next,” and still bet on myself anyway.

The biggest lie we’re fed as women is that we need to be perfect to lead. But power doesn’t come from polish. It comes from presence. It comes from honoring your story, all of it, and choosing to rise anyway.

So here’s what I know:

Unstoppable isn’t a vibe. It’s a decision. It’s the moment you stop outsourcing your worth.

It’s the first “no” you say that costs you comfort but buys you freedom. It’s the decision to keep going, even when your voice shakes. Especially when your voice shakes.