Alexandria Rogers didn’t grow up dreaming about a career in restaurants. A University of Miami graduate who studied sports administration and Spanish, she spent more than a year teaching English in the Dominican Republic before returning to Atlanta with a sensible plan: pick up a quick job to get through October, November and December, then pivot to something in her field come the new year. So, when Minero opened in Ponce City Market in the fall of 2015, she walked in and became one of the restaurant’s very first hires.
That was ten years ago.
“I literally was just supposed to be here for three months,” she laughs. “If you’d asked me back then whether I’d still be at Minero ten years later, my answer would have been absolutely not.”
What started as a short-term hostess gig quickly snowballed. Management kept asking if she wanted to take on a little more. It started with small tasks, and before long, she had a key. Then she was managing shifts. Then, almost without realizing it, she was the General Manager.
“It just kept falling into place,” she says. When the role was first officially offered to her, her gut reaction was pure disbelief. “I was like, absolutely not, y’all are crazy. What do you think you’re doing? But it turned out to be a great decision.”
Part of what makes Rogers’ story so compelling is that her path to leadership ran parallel to Minero’s own evolution. The restaurant that once operated on a strict no-takeout, no-reservations, no-catering philosophy was upended by COVID and emerged on the other side: more flexible, more expansive and better equipped to serve the wide range of guests who pass through Ponce City Market every day. “We get some of everybody here,” she says. “If we can attract all of them, that’s the goal.”
That welcoming spirit is something Rogers takes seriously heading into what promises to be a landmark summer. With Atlanta hosting World Cup matches, she’s already preparing her team, many of whom are bilingual in English and Spanish, with informal language sessions in French and other languages spoken by visiting nations. The goal is to accommodate guests better and create a more welcoming environment.
She’s also planning cocktail features tied to each competing country. “We want to make sure people feel welcome,” she says. “That’s what we’re here for.”
The people, she’ll tell you, are what she loves most about this industry. Not just the guests, but the community behind the scenes: the cooks, servers and hosts who come from every background imaginable yet somehow find a shared language in the rhythm of a busy service.
“You can have people from all walks of life, and we all come together with one goal,” she says. “I think everybody should work in the industry at some point. It gives you a different perspective on others.”
For anyone just starting out, maybe standing at a host stand, wondering how long they’ll stay, Rogers’ advice is simple: “Be open to opportunity, and be open to what other people see in you, even if you don’t see it in yourself yet,” she says. “That’s what happened to me.”
Read More About the Other 2026 Rising Stars
Michaela Finlayson
Frank Fodor
Austin Goetzman
Remy Loet
Sebastián Montero-Hernández
Richard Wilson
Thank you to our presenting sponsor, Georgia Natural Gas, and table sponsors, Society Insurance and Savannah Distributing, for making this event possible:
Presenting Sponsor
Table Sponsors
Savannah Distributing and Society Insurance
