About Rise
Prepare. Equip. Inspire
Meet Karilee
FOUNDER OF RISE SENIOR LIVING INSTITUTE
I've spent close to twenty years in senior living, in assisted living and memory care, leading operations across multiple states and supporting the directors and managers responsible for the daily care of residents. Over those years I built the training, tools, and systems that helped those teams do their work well, and I learned what holds up in a real community and what doesn't.
I started Rise to share that experience more widely. My goal is simple: to put what I've learned into the hands of the people doing this work, so they can grow, develop the people around them, and ultimately improve the care and the experience that residents and families receive. Good training isn't a box to check. It's how a community becomes a place where people are genuinely well cared for.
I've been fortunate to have mentors who saw something in me, gave me opportunities, and helped me become more than I would have on my own. Some of the deepest satisfaction of my career has come from doing the same for others, taking people from frontline roles and helping them grow into managers, directors, and leaders. I've always believed in developing the people I have rather than looking elsewhere, and time after time, that belief has proven right.
The name Rise comes from a story that has always stayed with me: the story of Gideon, an ordinary person called to rise to something greater, and prepared and equipped to meet it. That idea shapes how I see this work. I've spent my career looking for people with the character and the potential to rise, and helping them get there. Rise exists to do that on a larger scale, to prepare, equip, and inspire the people who care for our seniors, wherever they are.
I've found that people succeed when a few things come together: strong character, the grit to do hard things and keep going, good training, the right tools to do the work well, and real mentorship along the way. The first two are who a person is. The rest is what Rise is here to provide: training to prepare, tools to equip, and mentorship to inspire.
Why I built Rise.
“I believe people rise when they’re prepared, equipped, and supported, and that better care follows.”
What Rise Offers Today
Rise is starting with what Arizona communities need most right now: ADHS-approved memory care training and practical compliance tools, built from real operational experience and designed to actually get used. Everything we create is meant to make a manager's job clearer and a team's work more consistent.
Where Rise is Going
We're growing steadily. Alongside our memory care training, we're developing assisted living caregiver, medication management, and manager training, along with a library of policies, toolkits, and forms that communities can put to work and adapt to fit how they run. The catalog will keep expanding, with the same standard behind everything we add.
Let’s Build Better Together.
Whether you're training a team, developing managers, or looking for tools that hold up in a real community, I'd be glad to help.