Rita Davenport
Rita Davenport is an internationally recognized expert in the principles of success, time management, goal-setting, creative thinking, and self-esteem and confidence. Her unique background as an entrepreneur, corporate executive, author, speaker, humorist, and broadcaster sets her apart and has made her one of the most beloved and widely admired role models on the speaking circuit.
She produced and hosted her own award-winning television shows in Phoenix, Arizona, for 15 years. The Arizona Broadcasters Association inducted her into their Hall of Fame. She has also appeared as a guest on more than 200 radio and television shows, including ABC's Good Morning America, NBC's The Today Show, Lifestyles with Regis Philbin, and The Sally Jesse Raphael Show.
As a speaker, Rita has been called motivational, challenging, humorous, personal, and powerful. She is a charter member of the National Speakers Association and is listed in the NSA Hall of Fame, and has shared the speakers' platform with such notables as Erma Bombeck, Les Brown, Jack Canfield, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Mark Victor Hansen, Tom Hopkins, John Maxwell, Og Mandino, Denis Waitley, and Zig Ziglar. She has presented over 1,000 seminars globally and been retained as a management consultant to Fortune 500 companies.
Rita has written three books that have sold over one million copies, including the bestseller Making Time, Making Money and two cookbooks, Sourdough Cookery and De Grazia & Mexican Cookery, with famed Southwestern artist Ted De Grazia.
An accomplished entrepreneur, promoting Success Strategies, Rita was a pioneer in the field of personal development infomercials, producing two highly successful programs in the late eighties based on her audio programs, It's Time for You and Laugh Your Way to Success, which were viewed in over 32 million homes. In 1991 she was named president of Arbonne International, a personal care products company. Under her twenty-year leadership, Arbonne experienced tremendous growth and recognition in the direct sales industry, growing from a $5 million company to nearly $1 billion in annual sales and well more than a million independent representatives. Her story has been featured in many national magazines, such as SUCCESS, People, Networking Times, and Working at Home.
The first person in her family ever to graduate from high school, Rita went on to earn a B.S. degree from Middle Tennessee State University and in 1984 was honored with its Distinguished Alumnus Award. She has been named an Outstanding Young Woman in America and been honored as Arizona's Woman of the Year. She has taught at both high school and graduate levels in Daytona Beach, Florida, and Phoenix, Arizona. Rita has also been involved in many professional organizations including the Direct Selling Association, Platform Professionals, American Women in Radio and Television, Arizona Press Women, and Women in Communications, and has been an active philanthropist, especially in her work to support Sojourner Center and Faces In The Mirror in Phoenix, Arizona.
Rita feels that her most outstanding accomplishments have been as wife to her high school sweetheart, David, and mother to her two sons, Michael and Scott. She resides in Scottsdale, Arizona, with her husband.