Born in Wuhan, China, Ying Juan Rogers has since traveled the world in her position as executive vice president for the Kentucky World Trade Center.
She has led groups of coal operators to South Africa, China and Australia to investigate alternative energy sources, including turning coal to liquid.
She has also led leadership groups of government representatives, educators and business owners to Japan, Australia, Dubai, China and India in her work promoting Kentucky businesses. Each group, consisting of 15 or so people, is welcomed by the country's world trade officers, who have scheduled appointments with appropriate country representatives and businesses.
"Our trips are tightly scheduled, but we also try to have special side trips for the groups if we're in the country on weekends," Rogers said.
"In Australia, for example, we took the group on a safari where we were surrounded by wild animals. It also happened that it was mating season for the lions, and that provided a lot of embarrassment and laughter."
One of the challenges of these trips, she said, is the food.
"The Chinese always make a big banquet for the group, and it is customary to serve the most important person of the group either a cooked duck head or duck feet. One time, nobody wanted to try it until I explained that if they did, it made them the most important person in the group.
Then, of course, everyone was willing," Rogers said. "In Australia, we had to eat kangaroo and that was pretty exotic."
Rogers explained that sometimes people on the trip have never been outside Kentucky, so part of the preparation often includes securing passports and a good briefing on what to expect.
On April 12, the Kentucky World Trade Center was involved in preparing for a formal banquet in Louisville honoring Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the 11th president of India. Rogers said she loves the diversity of her work at the World Trade Center and wishes there were more staff and funding to get done what needs to be done.
"We have so much to be proud of in KentucKy. We need to put ourselves on the national and world stage more than we can do currently," she said.
"We have so many wonderful business opportunities that the world needs to know about."
Such a heady, exciting life Rogers has, and yet, her favorite weekend activity is Sunday breakfast with her family, eating homemade waffles made by her husband, John Rogers, a federal judge.
Weekends also include teaching at the Lexington Chinese Saturday School.
A music lover, Ying Juan tries to attend as many of the UK Philharmonic performances and operas as possible.
"We are very lucky to have a wonderful orchestra and (Lexington Opera Society Director Everett McCorvey and singer Alicia Helm McCorvey) here in Lexington,"
she said. She admits that her guilty pleasure goes well beyond opera: Every night at 8 p.m., she tunes in to Chinese soap operas, broadcast by satellite.