by Blake Herzog
Bea Lueck has had a huge hand in shaping ROX Media and its parent company ROX Group over the past 13 years. As vice president of operations she oversees many of the behind the-scenes details in ROX Group’s various companies, which also include ventures in residential and commercial real estate, a travel agency and a portable sanitation service.
Bea is the Designated Broker for Coldwell Banker ROX Realty and has won the Coldwell Banker International Presidential Circle Award for sales associates, placing her in the top 6% of agents globally.
In addition, she has more than 30 years of experience in multiple advertising media, including print, direct mail, television and web. She was the founding editor-in-chief of CG|ROX Magazine in 2012, which was rebranded as Grande LIVING in 2022, and launched numerous other publications in the Pinal and Yavapai county markets, which together have won several awards.
Bea has lived in Maricopa for more than 40 years, raising her family with her husband, Rick, and witnessing its transformation from a rural burg into a burgeoning city.
Grande LIVING: Tell us a little bit about where you were born and raised and your family life growing up.
Bea Lueck: I was born and raised on Long Island, New York, specifically in East Northport and then Northport and lastly Central Islip. I have two younger brothers and my grandmother always lived with us as far back as I remember. Our family always joked we summered in the Hamptons every year — except back then, there was a state-operated campground. Montauk Point was our playground for many summers.
Grande LIVING: Where else did you live before coming to Arizona?
Bea Lueck: We left New York when I was 13, briefly moving to Phoenix and then a few months later to a small town called Eustis in central Florida. I had a couple of jobs during high school. One was working helping to set up a plant nursery called Better Plant Enterprises, and then in my senior year, McDonalds.
Grande LIVING: What brought you out here?
Bea Lueck: My mom moved our family from Florida back to Arizona the summer of my junior year. I stayed in Florida with a friend’s family and moved to Arizona after I graduated. She had lived in Arizona with my dad, her first husband, in the mid-‘60s, and she always remembered it fondly and decided, “I’m going to move back to Arizona.” She remarried after she moved here.
Grande LIVING: How long did it take before it started feeling like home?
Bea Lueck: My mom lived in Maricopa, right behind the original high school. It was a very small town then and it was home immediately. I went to work at Associated Grocers in Phoenix and that’s where I met my husband Rick. We just celebrated our 40th anniversary. We have two children, Jonathan and Christina. We are fortunate both live in Casa Grande. This means we get to see our grandchildren, Zoe (10) and Austin (5), frequently.
Funny story that will make you think, huh … Technically, I’m married to my stepbrother. Rick and I were married in 1983. My divorced mother and his widowed father were always invited to every family event. They got married a few years after us. The jokes are endless. I’m mother to my niece and nephew. My mother-in-law is a pain but my mother is an angel. It’s a great conversation starter.
Grande LIVING: What was your first job?
Bea Lueck: My very first job was in New York when I was 13. I worked as a telephone solicitor selling carpet cleaning services. It taught me how to accept rejection and make the next call!
Over the years I’ve had a few “odd” jobs such as egg collection at an egg farm (chicken lice are miserable) or working as a flagger for a crop duster (yes, you are the target).
Grande LIVING: How many jobs have you had since?
Bea Lueck: Not many since I was an adult. I change roles within the company but don’t change companies.
Grande LIVING: How long did you work at the local TV station?
Bea Lueck: That was KCAB — Central Arizona Broadcasting. I was with them from Day One in 1999 to 2012 when we officially went off the air.
Grande LIVING: What did you learn most from your time there?
Bea Lueck: I did a bit of everything along the way. I was hired to run the sales department. I taught myself how to edit and run the broadcast equipment. It was very exciting, the people I got to meet over the years.
Grande LIVING: How did you first meet Rock Earle, chairman of ROX Group, and then Elaine Earle, ROX Group CEO and publisher of Grande LIVING?
Bea Lueck: I first met Rock in the ‘80s. He was working on developing what is now the Ak-Chin Regional Airport back when it was known as Phoenix Regional Airport. He was selling the parcels to various industrial users. I live nearby and would be included in the meetings. Sometimes we were in agreement and sometimes not so much. We reconnected when Brett Eisele from KCAB talked Rock into hosting a travel TV show. Rock taught himself how to edit and did very well!
On December 23rd, 2009, when things were winding down at the TV station, Rock, Brett and their significant others were out with Rick and me looking at Christmas lights. I needed to find a new job soon; due to the recession the station could no longer afford to pay my salary.
Rock told me I needed to get my real estate license and come work for him. I asked, “Ummm, really? Doesn’t the real estate market suck right now??” Rock told me it won’t always be bad. I thought about it for 15 seconds and decided to get my real estate license. I got my license in February of 2010 and have been with Rock since then. Linda Pixler was the broker at ROX Real Estate then; I always appreciated her attention to detail, and I thank her for training me to be the broker I am today.
I met Elaine when Rock hired her to be a part-time accountant at ROX. A few months later in 2013 they got married. Rock calls us Thelma and Louise. I’m never sure who is who. I think it changes according to the day and situation.
Grande LIVING: How many hats have you worn at ROX Group over the years?
Bea Lueck: It is never a dull moment. Let’s see … real estate agent and now designated broker, advertising account manager, general manager of (pick a company), associate publisher, insurance agent (I had my license but never actually sold a single policy), construction project manager, operations manager and currently vice president of operations.
You can throw in a few odd jobs along the way like the day Rock and I were elbow deep in fixing the leak in the men’s bathroom urinal. Clean water was spraying everywhere and we’re in there with our wrenches replacing the valve. Good times!
As VP of operations I have my hands in the real estate businesses, plural, and we’ve got some exciting things coming up as we work to grow that side of the business. And of course there are the magazines, and I’m very heavily involved in the Rent A Can business. I’m handling all of the routing and oversee different elements of things. I’m very thankful for the various company teams who make my job so much easier.
I love working here for so many reasons, but the diversity and day-to-day challenges, opportunities, the oddness of what you’re doing from day to day, it’s a constant beehive of activity. You never know what’s going to transpire that day, but it’s never boring.
It’s crazy from one day to the next. “Well, what are you working on today?” “Well, I’m planning on doing this,” and then you walk in and, “OK, I’m not even thinking of doing that today. That’ll be another day.”
Grande LIVING: What do you like to do in your spare time?
Bea Lueck: I love spending time with my two grandchildren. I still have the paint on the garage floor from when we were painting pictures. My current hobby revolves around my garden. I tend to go a bit overboard on everything and gardening is no different.
I just finished the shell on my greenhouse. The inner building is just over 750 square feet with the beginnings of an orchard outside. The roof and some plumbing will be done this fall or winter when it isn’t blazing hot outside.
I started gardening on a smallscale, and then it grew and grew and grew, and just a wide variety of things. I’ve been keeping everything alive despite rabbits and rodents and birds eating things and the heat attempting to kill what wasn’t eaten. I have a plethora of zucchini to harvest each day. Maybe next year I will plant a few less. The watermelon vines are taking over and spreading beyond their bed to adjacent beds.
Someone joked that, “Oh, everything you grow just looks so healthy.” It’s like, “No. No, not really. There are dead things out there. I just don’t post photos of the dead things regularly.”
Then I have an ongoing hate, hate relationship with ants and getting bit. One will crawl up my leg and I inevitably get bit in places that require me to drop my pants in the front yard. It’s a good thing I live in a rural area with minimal traffic going past!
We have no pets right now, our last dog died earlier this year, but I’m ready for another one. Still trying to convince my husband that he’s ready. We do have five chickens in the yard, but they’re not exactly pets. I use large feeders, so you only have to feed them every couple days. It’s just, “Yeah. You got water, you’re good,” as I gather the eggs.
Grande LIVING: You have traveled to a few interesting places. Where have you gone?
Bea Lueck: Elaine and Rock love to travel, and Elaine wanted to take her sons to see London. Rock has been several times and didn’t want to visit the same museums and places again, so Elaine invited me to go. So far, we’ve visited the UK, Australia and Spain. We had a trip planned to China in 2020 but COVID derailed that.
We’ve got some plans in the coming year or two that may include another trip across the Pacific. We’ve also talked about Germany. So far, on each trip, it’s very easy to take a thousand photographs. Just very, very interesting to see the different cultures and history. I love the history part of it. Going into the museums and art galleries and even the street vendors. So unique to each country. It isn’t 100% set yet where the next trip is planned but everyone will enjoy the 1,000-odd photos we post on Facebook!
Grande LIVING: OK, so what’s in your future? What about retirement, is that anywhere on your horizon?
Bea Lueck: No, not for a few years. I just turned 60 this year, so I’ve still got a few years to put in before I think of retiring. There will be a big announcement around the end of the year that I’m very excited to share. There are a few more regulatory elements to complete. More to come!
I’m not sure retirement is in my blood. I enjoy the craziness I call work.
