Four Inane Questions with Training Umbrella’s Christy and Jason Rogers

Photo Courtesy of Christy and Jason Rogers

Back in 2010, Christy Rogers saw an opportunity and ran with it. She was determined to create a comfortable space where companies could throw corporate conferences and/or training seminars in style. And that’s how Training Umbrella in Overland Park came to fruition.

Along with her husband Jason, the duo has helped revolutionize how to make productive learning just that much more productive. If you’ve been to their festive JoCo digs, you know they put the fun in functionality.  

Whether you’ve got your own trainer or need an instructor, Training Umbrella has your back. “We offer live instructor-led courses, whether it be at your facility or our own,” Christy mentions on their website. “We believe there is a difference between knowing the technology and teaching the technology.”

From user-friendly workspaces to swanky break rooms, they have areas that can accommodate even the most finicky of groups. Don’t worry about setup or tear-down either; They do it all. Heck, they’ll even cater in gourmet lunch. “That way your focus can be on your people and their needs and success,” Christy says. 

We caught up with the husband/wife team before a busy day to hit them up with our questionable query. We made sure we brought a stopwatch to keep them on task. Bless.

The Pitch: Be honest—What do you consider the most annoying sound in the world?

Photo Courtesy of Christy and Jason Rogers

Christy: The “You Rule” song from the Burger King commercials. When I hear the “Whopper, Whopper, Whopper, Whopper, Junior, Double, Triple Whopper,” I cringe and then leap for the remote to hit the mute button! I love to eat a good burger and fries, but for some reason this jingle makes me jangle. 

Jason: The screech of nails on a chalkboard might make some people cringe, but for me, the most grating and intrusive sound in the world is the incessant ping of notifications on my phone. It’s a constant barrage of digital noises—each chime, buzz, or ding wanting my attention. Whether it’s a device alert, a text message, or an email, these little noises chip away at my peace of mind sometimes. 

In theory, which game show would you win more money—Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy?

Jason: While I appreciate the fast-paced nature of Wheel, and it’s watched almost every evening in my house, my Achilles’ heel would be those moments of utter brain freeze when staring at a nearly complete puzzle, drawing a blank on even the most common phrases. Jeopardy!‘s trivia-based format, however, plays to my strengths. I’m a bit of a knowledge sponge, soaking up random facts across a wide range of subjects. Now, if only they had a Jeopardy! with Spouses edition.

Christy: Hands down, Wheel of Fortune. If you are at our house in the evening and 6:30 p.m. rolls around, we are watching Wheel. It’s known in my house. My husband knows. The kids know. It’s known. 

I am such a fan of the show; I even created a poster-sized puzzle for my kids to solve: “Where are we going for vacation?” I played the part of Pat and Vanna while my kids called for letters trying to guess the puzzle. 

What Oscar category would you most like to be nominated for? 

Christy: Best Adapted Screenplay. I have a habit of reading the book first, then I can watch the movie. Over the years this has included: Gone Girl, The Help, Unbroken, The Color Purple, The Pillars of the Earth, and The Third Twin. I’m currently working on The Boys in the Boat. Books make the best movies, and I’d like to think it would be fun to help make a book come to life on the big screen.

Name a music video that you wish you were in. 

Jason: A-ha’s “Take On Me” reigns supreme. That was the coolest video. It was live-action and the rotoscope animation was something different then. It was unlike anything I’d ever seen, and the story, however simple, captivated me. It wasn’t just a performance; It was like a mini-movie, a real-life comic book world.

Imagine being part of that iconic sequence, leaping between dimensions and dodging villains. That’s the kind of music video experience I could show my kids later on. If it was a hair band video, I probably would need to hide that one and deny it for eternity. 

Christy: It was 1988. I was about 12 years old, and I remember sitting crisscross applesauce on my living room floor watching MTV. From the speakers came, “How can it be permissible? Simply irresistible.” 

At that age, I was in awe of the sleek look and fire-red lipstick the women wore. They. Looked. Cool. The girls in that Robert Palmer music video were mesmerizing, especially to a girl at age 12.  

Bonus 5th Question: What’s your biggest guilty pleasure? 

Jason: Homemade melt-away cookies are my kryptonite. Those buttery, crumbly little discs of heaven are the bane of my existence. I simply cannot be trusted with an entire tub of these. The moment that lid comes off, all self-control vanishes. It’s a feeding frenzy—a race against myself to see how many I can eat.

And I have zero guilt after eating all of them, either.