Meet the Rio Graduate Behind Our New Campaign
By Mira Radovich, Senior Contributing Writer
When Amy Gentry started taking classes at Rio Salado College, she was a working single mother in her 20s trying to figure out what came next.
Today, she is director of customer contact operations at Salt River Project (SRP), leading the company’s residential contact center. Her career has come a long way since she began as a frontline contact center agent nearly three decades ago — and Rio Salado has been part of that journey.
Now, Gentry is sharing her story again as the face of Rio Salado College’s latest marketing campaign, highlighting what is possible when students have the flexibility and support to pursue an education while balancing work and family.
Gentry’s Rio journey began through SRP’s longstanding educational partnership with the college. When she began working in the company’s contact center, she earned 18 college credits from Rio Salado through training provided by SRP.
When she decided it was time to return to school, those credits gave her a head start.
“I was very happy that SRP offered that opportunity to me,” Gentry said. “It made a huge difference in knowing that I had months less of school that I was going to have to complete in order to get to an associate degree.”
But getting back to school was not easy. Gentry was working full time and raising her children. She had to find a way to fit college into an already busy life.
The flexibility of online learning made that possible.
“Sometimes I was doing a class a year and that’s just what worked for me at that time,” she said. “But for me, it was all about just forward progress.”
Gentry kept a printed list of the classes she needed to complete her degree. Each time she finished a class, she crossed it off the list.
That approach helped her reach an important milestone: earning her associate degree in leadership. It also gave her children an opportunity to see the result of years of hard work when they attended her graduation ceremony.
“I was so proud that I was showing my kids that when you start something, you finish it,” Gentry said.
Her education didn’t stop there. Gentry went on to earn a bachelor’s degree, which opened the door to leadership opportunities at SRP. She progressed from frontline agent to leadership positions to her senior manager. Over this past summer, she was promoted to her current director role, overseeing a contact center with about 550 employees.
The lessons she learned along the way have also shaped the leader she has become.
“I have proven to myself that I can do hard things,” Gentry said. “And as a leader, I challenge my people to do hard things.”
Today, Gentry encourages others at SRP to step outside their comfort zones and pursue goals they may not think are possible. She knows firsthand that the journey doesn’t have to happen all at once.
“I was in my 40s by the time I finished my bachelor’s degree,” she said. “This was not a short journey for me. It took me many years to get to that finish line.”
Gentry’s story has also become a family legacy. Her children are now adults pursuing their own careers. Her daughter and her 7-year-old son live with Gentry and her husband, providing the third generation with living examples of the power of perseverance.
“My grandson is watching all of us work hard to find fulfillment professionally,” Gentry said. “I am hoping that as he grows older, he will look back on these examples and it helps drive him forward in his success.”
For Gentry, the impact of her Rio Salado experience goes beyond career advancement.
“Rio Salado to me means accomplishment,” she said. “I feel like without Rio, I would have been content in my career, but I wouldn't have felt accomplished. I always knew there was more that I had more in me, and I am able to now reach for those things.”