Inspiring Women in Hospitality

On this episode we hear from MariaPia. From a small town in Italy, it was her early age of summer camps in England that gave her a taste for travel and how she choose tourism and hospitality as her career. She started her career in an architectural firm in London where she discovered her passion lies in hotels specifically. Through her networking she wanted to be a developer for hotels and then realised that it was the investment side that she was most interested in. Went to do a masters in Cornell, which then brought her back to London with roles in Colliers and DTZ to do advisory, feasibility and valuations. She then had an opportunity with CitizenM in investment, which she could not pass on, even though she had just signed the paperwork for her own flat in London. The lesson here is that be prepared for life throwing you curveballs and have faith that you know how to adapt. MariaPia being curious in nature is a master networker and we discussed the importance of it. Her family have always played an important supportive role in her life.

On this episode we hear from Ishwariya. She is the founder of 'Love letters to chefs' a platform to educate and to create social change in hospitality. She started her career as an architect, then her love of baking drew her to a second career as a pastry chef in London and now she is working on education and changing our mindsets of work life balance in the industry. She is also working as a coach with female leaders, as she believes women just need that extra help to become the leaders they are meant to be. We also discussed how appearance and dressing up as an impact on our working life. As long as humans have the need to impress people, it will take a while before we can change the guests expectations in hospitality with the high levels of services that is demanded. Instagram @loveletterstochef

On this episode we hear from Maria Navarro. Born and raised in Mexico, she decided to go to Montreal at 18 to study french, when she didn't know what she wanted to do next. It was during her time there she discovered she wanted to be in hospitality and went back home to start her programme at a local hotel school. From a young age, she always knew she was meant for more than just studies and exams and grades was not the answer to everything. She has a great level of self-awareness and listens to the voice inside of her, that tells her she is capable of so much. When she wanted to go to the luxury hotel in Rhode Island for her internship, everyone told her to have a plan b, but she resisted and got in. She is the eldest of five children and had to figures out a lot on her own, each time she left home for a new country. In the midst of the pandemic, she found a role back in the US, despite all the challenges and went onto have further experiences in F&B. The voice in her head kept telling her that she is great at writing, has amazing ideas and time to do something about it. So she started her own copywriting business and sharing articles that speak to us all in hospitality.

On this episode we hear from Rowena. Shared love of data and understanding the reason why people make decisions inspired me to join me on the podcast. The choices people make are abundant with emotional experiences. She studied astrophysics in university and its her passion for people and psychology that helped co-found her business Starcount. We discussed the important of using data at scale to understand the customer and make strategic business decisions from them. One of the greatest skills you can have in the world of data is to be able to communicate and tell the story behind the data, a skill she learnt that she had. Hospitality business is a people business and a lot of emotions are involved when making decisions. Through Starcount hospitality businesses can understand the reasons why people choose to spend time with them, time being a precious commodity.

On this episode we hear from Emily from Herterlier. She quickly changed her biology degree to hospitality after she started at Cornell. She then found her way into the PR side of things in hospitality, where her self proclaimed news junkie came into good use. She would watch the consumer trends and come up with ideas for hotel campaigns such as the pet programe, metrosexual program etc. Originially from New York, she shared that she moved to London with her family and we went off on a bit of a tangent of our shared love of London. We discussed her inspiration to start Herterlier, with a common purpose of wanting to amplifly the female voice. Trends she was noticing was women taken on bigger roles in the industry, more female GMs, invisible workload, a diverse workforce means a more profitable business, etc all playing towards the message of gender balance.

On this episode we hear from Jinal. She started her career in commercial real estate and a chance project on a hotel brought her into hospitality. She then put her learning skills to good used and soaked up as much knowledge as she could about hotel operations. She calls hotels 'living real estate'. She considers herself a conversationalist, which has helped in her career journey and also to surround herself with good people. Often, still today, she is the only women or one of two women at the table or on the team, she hopes that will continue to change, but when she was starting out it was hard. Which is why finding those good people was so important - build up your support network. She would like to see more balance and opportunities for women, there is change happening but more needs to be done.

On this episode we hear from Nosipho. For her it was fate that brought her to hospitality. She got her start in her career at Disney where she learnt the magic of customer service Upon returning to South Africa, she became assistant GM at a local hotel, but her path was set on going into learning development. It was her earlier experiences that prepared her for this career and a way for her to give back to the industry. We discussed how hospitality is an industry where you can have a career through your work experience or by going into hospitality education. She is there to develop anyone at any stage of their career. Working closely with teams, heads of departments and individuals to identify future talent and put together development plans. What hospitality has taught her is that she can handle any high pressure situation and survive it. Last year she was nominated for the Pyne Rising Star Award and its great to see this recognition for her.

On this episode we hear from Cristina. She was attracted to languages from a young age and she thought the best place she could put her language skills to good use was in hospitality. Which took her to Boston, London and back in Florence, where she has now been for the past 15 years.We discussed what the Italian job market is like and the impact of its history and politics. She was very open about her own professional and presonal experiences. As a woman, mother, daughter she recognises that there is no such thing as superwoman and that we are all different and at some point in our lives we need to become the adult. Professionally she has learnt to ask for help, work on her confidence and have faith in her experience.  She wants to be a mentor someday and hearing her story I know she will inspire many others.

On this episode we hear from Lucie. She knew from the age of 15 that she wanted to be in hospitality and tourism. An Erasmus in Barcelona meant that she never wanted to return to the Czech Republic and has been on the move ever since across three continents. Lucie knows herself well and describes herself as someone who never likes to stay still. With the help of a very supportive partner, she has been able to change jobs and move countries every few years when she knew it was time for her next challenge. She is very creative, likes asking questions, coming up with new ideas and solutions. She also shared with us her journey and learnings to becoming a leader, being a team players and letting your team shine.

On this episode we hear from Ambika. She wanted to be a chef, but then realised she did not want to work those hours in the kitchen and transitioned into a career in broader hospitality through education, which was always important in her family. After a few years in operations, she then went into development and then consulting. She is now running her own business in Canada as hotel real estate consultant. She helps her clients to look at hotels as a real estate business, not only from an investment perspective but also operationally. Every holiday for her is like a site visit, where she drags her husband with her to check out the construction. She has had some great male mentors who taught her differnet aspects of the job along the way from hotels, real estate and finance. We discussed how there is still a lack of women in the real estate sector, which is especially visible when she goes to conferences and there is ver low representation from women in the sector.

On this episode we hear from April. She opened her first restaurant after being a participant on the show The Apprentice, with zero restaurant experience. But it was her time on the show and media that ensured thta her restaurant was full when she opened. Prior to having her own restaurant she ran events in Jamaica. Covid gave her and her partner the time to rethink their concept, so they rebranded and opened as Wood and Water, modern english cuisine with Jamaican soul. April is using her voice and her position to elevate the perception of Jamaican food, cause its not all just jerk chicken. Some of the things she has learned is that she doesn't have to be a perfectionist, 70% will do just fine too and just giving yourself some downtime does not mean you are not being productive. https://woodandwater.uk/

On this episode we hear from Viviana. She started her education as bio-chemist, but realised that she did not want a career in it as much as she loved science. She found hospitality at a career fair and she found her place. After taking a year out to go backpacking across Europe, she came back to the US to work on front desk and then had several roles in HR. She went on to do a masters degree, because she was looking for a career change and after what she thought was her dream job with Four Seasons covid hit. During her masters she also participated in SheHasADeal competition, that exposed her to Tracy and eventually a role with that organisation. She has ambition of owning her own hotel someday and inspiring other women to do the same. Throughout her life she has had her support systems in place, that she took time to build, but have proved invaluable throughout her life.

On this episode we hear from Regitse. To her hospitality is like being part of a big family in a universal versatile industry. After working in operations for a couple of years, she went down the route of creating her own life and become self-employed. She is now a consultant in marketing, communications and PR as she wanted to tap into her creative side and apply it to the industry. This path was fraught with ups and down, learnings and allowing herself to fail. However she never gave up, she was fighter, ambitious and after having her son it gave her greater clarity and direction. One of her life lessons is importance of networking and that we must invest in it all throughout our career. https://regitserosenvinge.com

On this episode we hear from Bharti. She started her career as an accountant. She had her first experience with hospitality when she joined the finance team with Jamie Oliver and she never looked back. Any future opportunities that were presented to her had to always be in hospitality. She worked in several companies and made it to CFO level. During COVID she took the opportunity to realise her dream of having her own business in hospitality and in September 2020 she opened her first Bloomsyard cafe and by 2022 she had three sights. It was through her networking in her career that she got to know suppliers and landlords, who were prepared to give her the opportunity to realise her vision. She trained to be a barista herself and sends all her team members on trainings as well. She has found the flexibility in life through running her own business, which she did not have when working a corporate role and found that she had mores time in fact. And we both agreed, that making mistakes is part of the journey and that we learn from them. https://www.bloomsyard.com/

On this episode we hear from Fatima. A queer mixed race migrant chef and sustainability & diversity champion. Before she became a chef, we was an occupational therapist with the NHS and it was her love of cooking that she later turned into a career. Before she made it a career, cooking has always been a big part of life, from helping her with her depression to working with her patients in the kitchen during her time at the NHS. She is also a champion of fermentation and zero waste in our personal and professional lives. She has produced two cookbooks one called 'Kitchen Cultures' and the other 'Kinspiration' where she explores how different cultures, stories, people influence our food and with a focus on waste minimisation. She shares a lot of personal experiences that gives us a real insight into her life. @foodventures_with_fatti

On this episode we hear from Rachel. A lawyer by profession, she started her career as a trial lawyer, but then entered the hospitality industry by representing franchise owners and helping negotiate contracts. She began her second career as association executive with AAHOA. The opportunity came at a time where they needed exactly the skills sets that she had to offer and she also took on several c-suite roles during her tenure. It was during this time that she realised that female representation at the c-suite level was very sparse. After her retirement she formed the Women in Hospitality Leadership Alliance to bring together various organisations that are doing great work in increase gender diversity at all levels and amplify our messages. We also discussed how women need to get better at advocating for themselves and not being afraid to acknowledge their leadership roles.

On this episode we hear from Lindsay. She started travelling from the age of 21 with a career in hospitality and warmer weather. It was in the Caribbean where her career in spa started, which we now more commonly refer to wellbeing. She moved to the middle east, where she spent several years building her career in spa and wellbeing with various corporate brands. Then in 2020 she moved to the South of France, a place that has always been special for her, to start her own wellbeing consultancy - Meraki, working on concept development. We discussed how the younger generations are changing the way we think, live and work. Why can't we have several homes and why do we have to work 9 to 5. Importance of listening to yourself, often you will find the answers within. Throughout her career she has worked with coaches to help her navigate through various stages of her life, asking her the question to help her find the answers within. Once she was clear on her values, everything fell into place

On this episode we hear from Tea. She got into hospitality because she wanted to work with people. Early on she knew she did not want to become a GM and after a few years of working in operations, she found her way into consulting. Tapping into her inner nerd, she loves working with numbers, spreadsheets and being analytical. A car accident in Dubai propelled her into a career in hospitality, then she moved to Singapore and then back to Switzerland to open her own consultancy. She opened her own consultancy out of necessity, because she wanted a life where she could have the flexibility to move around the world with her partner who works for F1 and still do the work she loves in hospitality. Some of her biggest learnings in life, is that everyday you are learning, trust the process and putting things into bigger perspective.

On this episode we hear from Claire. Her journey to finding hospitality was by process of elimination. By trying everything - working construction, on a boat, english teacher, pubs, etc. She then did her MBA in hospitality and went into asset management and investment. It was her attitude and not her lack of 'traditional' hotel experience that helped land her first role after graduation. We talked about her time in Vietnam as an english teacher taught her to 'feel the fear and do it anyways' a quote that she still gains experience today. We both shared our experiences of how this fear grips us and the gremlin often tells us to shut up. But it is working through this fear, where the good stuff lies at the other end. It is about creating new neural pathways until it becomes natural. Technical skills vs Interpersonal skills - which do you need to grow your career? What qualities do leaders have? For Claire, everyone inspires her in different ways.

On this episode we hear from Heidi. When she realised she could work and travel with a hospitality career, there was no turning back for her. She started with an apprenticeship program in Germany, that gave her hands on experience of the industry and one of her first roles took her to England to help improve her english. A short stint in Dubai that was a life learning moment for her, before moving to the Far East where she started her revenue management career, when this side of the industry was still in its infancy. She was able to be part of the foundational team of revenue management during her career. She then started her own revenue management consultancy in Singapore. Her husband joining her business and they expanded their offering into design thinking and innovation work. During covid she expanded her offering to coaching with executives and especially with female leaders. One aspect I admired in part of her coaching work, she is helping women leaders not lose their femininity.

On this episode we hear from Eljesa. She came into hospitality, like many others, by chance, taking up work during uni. Unlike others, she dropped out of uni to pursue a full time career in hospitality. She has done every possible role, starting from bar back to now General Manager at the Zetter Town House in Marylebone. Some early negative experiences with mentors, shaped her own leadership style. She demands and commands her space, and is not apologising for her, for her voice deserves to be heard. She believes in investing in your teams development, in fact she encourages them to go after her job. Each one of us has a different perspective to share, and its diversity where change will happen. She challenges women to not see each other as competition, but rather supporting one another to bring each other up, together. Learn who you are, own it and bring your whole self everyday.

On this episode we hear from Elsa. While she was studying politics at university she worked as a steak house to pay the bills. It was during this experience she got into hospitality and never looked back. She believes that everyone should work in hospitality at least once in their life for the lessons it teaches you in resilience and empathy. She had some great mentors at the very start of her career, that helped shape her and taught her lessons that she took with her to every role she did. Lessons such as - ability to reac people, empathy, being prepraed, show up, work ethics etc. We talked about Danny Myers 51 vs 49 rule : you need 51% of the attitude and 49% of the skills. Skills can be taught, but not the attitude. With her focus on people in her professional career, she now has a role in People and Culture. Culture is the foundation you build your business on and a strong brand will attract and retain good people.

On this episode we hear from Lue. We start the conversation by talking about the 'art of hospitality' which remains a theme throughout the recording. She has a near 20 year experience at TGIFridays where she worked her way up and through various roles to head of people and culture, which is where she honed her skills in culture in organisations and leadership training. She always had a keen interest in languages (she speaks 8 languages) which helped her get a role in the international side of the business and got her travelling and living in several countries around the world. During the pandemic she started her own consultancy that helps businesses with culture, wtih hospitaltiy being the core theme that runs throughout her work. In her words "Culture is the glue that holds humanity together, hospitality is the ultimate example of it". Let's all help her in securing the anthem for hospitality ' Maybe there is a place that feels good' - who knows Harry Styles?

On this episode we hear from Michele. Originally from Buenos Aires when she moved to the US, she found herself in hospitality. She was the most enthusiastic barista who make your first cup of coffee in the morning. She has this saying of 'creating opportunity doors' to knock on and going for it. Which is how she progressed in her career to become VP of operations with 2000 people to look after. She then embarked on her entrepreneurial journey to follow her values to help businesses with leadership and organisational behaviour. For her team to work together they needed not to work in silos, communicate and treat each other as humans. Whilst she had no female mentors to guide her, she wants to be the female mentor for any woman coming through her career now and reminded us that we have to not be afraid to seek out those mentors we want. Finally, don't forget that we are all inspiring.

On this episode we hear from Khristina. She has a masters in mathematics and toxicology and was meant to do a phd in Sweden. To pay for her education she started working in hotels, and that completely changed her career path. She went onto becoming one of the youngest GM's in Ireland. She shared that in Ireland, she was surrounded by great female leaders and role models, whom she learnt a lot from. She has also had several male mentors, who have taught her how to express herself differently. Her true love lies in hospitality teach, where she is now, and she brings with her all her experience and relationship. She loves that she can still work with her friends on a daily basis. One point we both agree on is that the pandemic helped us foster better connections and build meaningful relationships. On the topic of why women struggle in the workplace, she shares some of her own struggles and believes that we collectively need to support all women along our careers.

On this episode we hear from Linda. Travelling with her Dad from a young age exposed her to the hospitality world. The crazy shifts of her early career didnt scare her away but she had the vision to be working in sales and be the lady travelling with the suitcase and the high heels. Which she did go on to achieve and now she has her own representation company, assisting hotel companies with their sales. She is thankful to have have mentors and the proper training when she first started out, however she does regret not making the most of her travels. We are always so busy moving from one appointment to the next, that we often fail to take a moment to stop and appreciate where we are and get to know where we are. Hoping pandemic has helped change this mindset for many.

On this episode we hear from Idoia. She represents that next generation that inspires me. At a young age she decided she wanted to go into hospitality and made a deal with her parents to get good grades in high school to get into the university of her choice in Barcelona. During her internships, she had some great female role models that inspired her to champion the cause of gender and diversity. From a young age she was always involved in social justice causes and that has stayed with her ever since. She understands the value of empathy, kindness and being yourself as good leadership qualities to have. Taking care of your mental health being equally important too and to make the time to reflect for personal growth. She is working in hospitality tech and working with organisations that are focusing on tech as an opportunity to augment the guest experience.

On this episode we hear from Harsha. She is Founder and CEO of Saira Hospitality. A non-profit hospitality organisation where they partner with hotels and launch pop-up hotel schools with undiscovered talent and offer employment in the hospitality industry. After an early career in operations, during her masters she pitched and won a business plan for Saira Hospitality, which was inspired by the philanthropic upbringing she had. We also talked about how travel and culture has influenced both of our lives, especially when it comes to being women and our confidence. She explains how she came up with the name 'Saira Hospitality' and the beautiful meaning behind it and not giving up on her vision to realise her business plan. https://www.sairahospitality.com/

On this episode we hear from Milica, whom I know as Mili for nearly 20 years when we first started university in Switzerland. Her first exposure to hospitality was during an exchange program to the US when she was 14 and the host family also ran an inn, where all the children would help out in. After graduating she wanted to learn her fifth language, Russian, which took her to Moscow where she then stayed for several years working with JLL She shares her experiences of the Russian culture and the people she met. Eventually, she felt the pull for home and moved back to Vienna where she lives today with her family. She started her second career  in finance with several hotel companies both large and small. Like me, she likes the numbers and the stories they tell. Most importantly she values the connections she has with her team, inspiring female role models who have supported her career and a supportive partner that has given her the confidence when she needed it.

On this episode we hear from Alison. She has a career in finance working on hospitality businesses. But she studied politics at university, which actually did come to good use for reporting writing and communication skills. It was during her time at Deloitte on their graduate trainee program where she learnt her craft and her love of understanding how businesses operate profitably. We discussed the importance of how all teams and departments with hospitality need to collaborate for a successful business. Everyone is different and everyone has a different skillset and experience to bring to the table. She is using her experiences to educate, consult and guide hospitality businesses in finance. Whilst we both love a spreadsheet, when interacting with hospitality business owners, its important to remember that whatever you want to communicate needs to be readable on your phone. https://www.whitedoe.co.uk

On this episode we hear from Kathy. She started her career in hospitality as a chef in New York. She then moved to front of house, where being a bar tender helped her overcome her shyness. She shares some great stories from her time in New York working with chefs and guests and creating memorable moments. During a career break she discovered coaching, which then moved her to the other side of the US and beginng a new chapter as a career coach. She started @ladiesagainstthegrain to help women in hospitality focus on their careers and the career of their choice. It was so refreshing to hear her take on career, where you start with yourself first, understand your own values first before starting the job search. We spend so many hours as our place of work, its important that we give it the right amount of attention and be intentional about our career choices.

Chiara shares her journey to co-founding Heroomies. A platform designed for women to help them find their ideal accommodation. Putting 'Her' front and centre of the design of the platform and what her requirements may be, finding someplace safe and with a community of like minded women. She started her hospitality journey in events in Dubai, running festivals, building communities. She then took the time out during Covid to really reflect on what she wanted to do. Heroomies was born out of a personal experience that she had when trying to find accommodation in Barcelona. I wish something like Heroomies had existed when I first moved to London We also discussed how its so important to take care of your mental health and look after yourself. Focus on the things that you are passionate about. https://herroomies.com/en/

On this episode we hear from Cat. She started her hospitality journey as a chef and like many of us her journey took her on a circuitous route to sales and with a pandemic in between to disrupt it. She always wanted to travel, so she first left Vancouver for the Rocky Mountains. Then a desire to work in Europe brought her to London, which is where her career in sales started. During the conversation, she 'nerded out' on the Danesfield hotel and when you listen to her, you will understand why. Her passion and positivity is infection. And it helped her during the pandemic, she sees every situation as an opportunity and how to make the best of it. She volunteered, up-skilled, networked, freelanced and did various initiatives to keep her busy. She loves the diversity of the industry, not only from a career perspective, but also from cultures and people you meet. @thenerdyhotelier

On this episode we hear from Maria and special guest, her dog, who also contributed to the conversation :) It was her desire to want to work with people that translated for her to have a career in hospitality. She was fascinated by all the possible careers you can have in tourism and hospitality. An internship with IHG translated into a five year career with them where she was introduced to branding. And this is where she found her place in the industry. She loves the creativity that comes with branding and how it translates into both the physical space and the guest experience. She has now become a freelance brand manager and is applying all her experiences with her clients. As a freelancer she has also had to teach herself sales, which was not something she thought she would do, but she reminds us that anything is possible. She also has a channel The Savvy Hotelier, where she imparts her knowledge from the industry and help graduates with their careers. We talked a lot about branding, a topic that we both enjoy and found ways to weave it throughout the conversation. It was her answer to my final question 'Who Inspires you?' that inspired me. Yourself. We are each out own inspiration, take time to take stock of your lives and recognise all that you have achieved.

On this episode we hear from Eva Chan. Even though she had a real passion for hotels from a young age, her parents wanted her to have a 'real professional' career. So to satisfy her parents she trained to be an accountant and spent a few years in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Japan. Then she decided that it was time to follow her own passion and went for a masters in hospitality at Oxford Brooks. It was pure determination that got her into an event to help build her connections to get contacts for her thesis. She then transitioned her career into hospitality with roles at Michels and Taylor, JLL and now with Wyndham. She shared the importance of staying curious, keep your mind open to different opportunities. One such opportunity took her to Peru to present a paper she worked on with her colleague. She shares how she balances motherhood with work, which was especially challenging during the pandemic and having supportive employer was a real blessing. Use listening skills to make connections, is her key to her success and just go for it.

On this episode we hear from Shona. She had her first role in hospitality at 13 and much to her parents dismay she was inspired to pursue a career in hospitality. At 17 she was in Glasgow to work for a year, which solidified her interest in hospitality and then went onto study it. She worked at various hospitality companies throughout her career in the UK, found herself in revenue management in the 90s and made that her area of expertise. 13 years ago, she decided to take all her knowledge, experience and network to start her own business as a commercial consultant within hospitality. During this time her own consultancy has evolved as the industry as evolved and now take on project management and technology transformation. She thought she wanted to be a GM when she started her career in hospitality, but we discussed the importance of keeping in an open mind to different opportunities, understand what you enjoy and what your skillsets are. She has been a big fan of the stories shared on 'Inspiring Women in Hospitality' and she especially appreciates the variety of the women who are interviewed. https://www.cogentblue.co.uk

On this episode we hear from Krystal. She prefers not to have titles, to allow herself to be more creative and involved in all areas of her business, The Slate Hotel in Phuket. We discuss the journey and transformation of this hotel from the family business to what it has become today. They honour the family's tin mining history for four generations and incorporated it into the designed on the hotel. From a young age she knew she was going to be in the hospitality business, she went away to learn French and was determined to study at the hotel school in Lausanne. Like me, adjusting to European culture and food, did take its time, but we both grew to love and appreciate all that food and culture can bring to us. Which is also an important part of her brand the Slate. Krystal used food to bring the local culture to the guests. She was prepared to be different, have faith in herself and go after what she believed in. She says to be bold, commit yourself and it is worth taking the risk. https://www.theslatephuket.com

On this episode we hear from Jennifer. What I admired the most about her journey is that she had a plan for her career, something I could learn to be better at. Plans for her MBA, when to be a GM, to have international experience and she went on to achieve them all. She utilised education to help leap frog her career and its what she needed to do to level up. She shared that its good to have to have the courage to make mistakes and combat your imposter syndrome by owning the role and making it your own. She went on to do her PHD in crisis leadership and she created what she called the living manual. Before she took on her first CEO role, she joined the company knowing that this was her career path and she had her mentor supporting her. Throughout your career she says that its important to be transparent of your ambitions so that you can work together with your employer. She believes in the gift in education and has helped her throughout her career journey.

On this episode we hear from Celine. She has been an inspiration to me from the moment I met her. When it came to networking, she worked the room like a pro. When I complimented her on this, it turns out it's the thing she likes the least. She shares how she finds the motivation to network. Her journey into hospitality started with an interest in tourism and how it can help the economy of a destination. She went into consulting, then a stint in STR with me, then in development and hotel operations for pre-openings. She has now started her own consultant focusing on wellness and sustainability. It is her interest in constant learning and asking questions, that helped expand her knowledge and experience. One of her biggest learnings has been that no matter the situation, it is so important to stay true to yourself and not give up on your values. Even when it comes to dressing, ditch the black suit if it is not your style. And did i mention she managed to have her career while being a single mom. She says she is inspired by her daughter, but I think it is her daughter, myself and others who are inspired by Celine. https://www.wei-think.com

On this episode we hear from Lorraine. Lorraine wears many hats, honestly I do not know how she does it all. With a background in procurement she is a part time consultant, life coach and also the founder of Be Inclusive Hospitality. When we first spoke she was at the beginning of starting her social enterprise and I am so proud of how much she has grown to amplify voices and increase visibility for people of colour within hospitality. She was compelled to drive this cause forward and I am inspired by the work she is doing. What I also took away from this conversation is her learning to be your true and authentic self. We both agreed that learning who we are takes time, and at a young age when you first enter the workforce it cane be daunting and be swept up within the culture of the brand. Authenticity is the core of everything that Lorraine stands for.

On this episode Yvonne shares with us her journey into hospitality. From her teens she knew she wanted to be in hospitality, very much drawn to it by the architecture of the buildings. After realising that an architectural career was not for her, she decided to work in hotels. After hotel school she started working with the Capella Hotel Group in Singapore in operations and moved up thanks to the support of some great mentors. Then she went to Cornell to do a masters, which helped her get a role in development back at Capella. After a few years she went to work at a co-working start-up. Which eventually inspired her to start her own business - Relogo. They are the relocation experts and also have a booking platform for co-living accommodation. Having a child did not deter her from continuing her own start up journey. Yvonne and her co-found spent time analysing the market to understand what would be the best offering and what was missing in the market. She has been inspired by other  founders, such as from The Great Room in Singapore and Cappella Hotel Group. She credits her experiences and learnings form hospitality to help her start her business. She reminds us not to be scared of the skills we do not have, but focus on what we do and what we can bring to the table. https://relogo.sg/ https://coliving.relogo.sg/

On this episode we hear from Emma in Singapore.She realised in her teens that she wanted to work in hospitality. It was during her time at hotel school in Lausanne, that she realised that there are more career paths available to you other than operations. We agreed that in hospitality you can have a variety of different career paths open up to you. After graduating she started a role in sales and marketing, as she wanted to understand how to bring the business into the hotels, what are the various channels and sources of business. She then had an opportunity in revenue management to learn more about the data and financial side to the hotel business. She then took her sales, marketing and revenue experience and transferred that into a consulting role. Where she applied her operational knowledge to financial projections. She has always worked in a pre-dominantly female led team and has had many mentors and allies that have helped her and encourages her to pursue her career. She does feel things are changing within the industry for more senior female representation and hope that it will continue. One of her learnings throughout her career has been that she is curious and always asking questions to help understand the why. An invaluable skillset to have.

On this episode we hear from Anchalika and her story and journey into hospitality. Her story starts with education, where every Asian family wants the best education for their children and she had finished with her masters by her early 20s. Then was invited to join GE leadership development program and her career journey started there. She stayed with them for several years, based in US, Singapore, London and with lots of travel. She was in compliance, auditing and travelled the world with her job staying at many hotels. For her holidays, when she could choose where to stay she would look for cute B&Bs, unique hotels for a different experience. One day she woke up in London, thinking to herself, what she was still doing there when all her family were in Thailand. Which is when she decided to convert their family beach home in Pran Buri into a hotel. She instilled in the hotel all the things that she loved and enjoyed and six months before they even opened they were already fully booked. One of the building blocks for her hotels was driven by a social cause at its heart. She set up the Pure Blue Foundation to protect the environment and work with the local community. She has gone on to opening more hotels in Thailand, with the same ethos in mind. While she may not have always known what she was doing, she did what felt right, went with her emotions, justified it with analytics and has created a beautiful brand. Link to the Aleenta website: https://www.aleenta.com

On this episide Cyndy shares with us her experiences from hospitlatiy. For her going into hospitality was like a vocation, a calling, she just knew she wanted to be in this industry. And it was also a way to make a name for herself, outside of the family who were in construction. Started her career in Cebu in sales and moved around a lot to various properties in various positions. Every time she moved to a new hotel, she would reach out to all her clients personally with handwritten postcards to inform them of her move. The art of building your network and contacts before Linkedin. She then decided to start a business with her brother in consulting for hotels and also developing hotels within the Philippines. With his background in construction and hers in hospitality they made a great team. Cyndy always recognised the importance of learning about your clients, your markets, speakigng to the local, building relationships and understanding the wider economic implications and how it may affect the development of hotels. Alongside her hotels career, Cyndy had a passion to support women's health in the Philippines and is part of several non-profits. During the pandemic she started a support group for hotel owners in the Phillpines with an effort to focus on sustainable practises. She is constantly learning, evolving and changing the work that she does. At the same time recognising that change doesnt happen overnight and if you want change to happen, you need to be the one to plant that seed.

On this episode Elizabeth shares her journey into hospitality which actually started with a psychology degree because she wanted to work with people. She quickly realised she didn't want to go down the academic route and on her guidance counsellors suggestion she went on to do the Disney college program for a year and that got her into hospitality. After graduation, she opened up a restaurant with her father as a first time entrepreneur. A few years later she joined Loews at front desk. After a masters program, she had the opportunity to do the opening of the JW Marquis in Dubai which then took her onto an opportunity in China. It is her time in China, where she discovered her true passion for learning, inspiring, educating and she started Inspire Hospitality. Through Inspire Hospitality she consults with business who want to put customer service at the core of their offering, education of the upcoming generations and hotel ownership. I love how she describes hospitality - its noble work. And it's this noble work where we learn the skill of human connections, which she predicts will be the new luxury.

Anne shared her journey into hospitality that started by reading books by Agathie Christie. It was either going to be a career criminal or a travel career, I am very happy to say that she chose the latter. She has worked with some great brands such as Regent, Mondiran and Four Seasons, where she spent over 20 years and is now working with a independent Thai hotel owner with two properties. Her family and friends have helped steady her and give her perspective. On one occasion steering her towards making a career decision that aligned with her values and commitments which was ready to give up for her dream job. Her colleagues in Thailand have said that 'Khun Anne, you think too loud' and although she was timid as a child, her life experiences taught her to speak up and use her voice.

Juriana shared her journey and career in hospitality. Having always worked in hotels and restaurants from a young age she knew she didnt want a desk job, however her parents wanted to ensure she got a good business degree as well and thats how she ended up in Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne. After graduating her first role took her to Miami where she learnt how not to handle a crisis, this was around 2008/9 and then she moved to Malaysia where she learnt the better way of handing a crisis is through transparency and honesty. She shared the importance of knowing your values and that it lines with the company that you are working with. And more than just the company, you have to be aligned with the people you are working with, rather than just the company. My favourite part of her story was that from the very beginning she always made it a point to have lunch with different people everyday to get to know them and learn their jobs. She is the kind of leader that we should all aspire to be like. She kept a flexible and open approach to her career development that led her to work across four different continents. She reminded me the importance of our own inspiration and how we inspire others around us.

Michelle shared her journey into hospitality. From a young age she always wanted to know how it all worked together behind the scenes at hotel. After graduation she was drawn towards revenue management and found her love of data and analysis that helped her to be successful in this area. At the time of this recording, she was on furlough and took that time to do a masters in business analytics, further cementing her interest in data. She also shared with us the inspirations that she found from other women who had shared their stories before. Her takeaways from the stories were to follow your passions, the variety of career paths available to us in hospitality and to take ownership of your own career.

Ali shares her hospitality journey. Starting with HIlton's Elevate program, which still runs today, she found hers expertise in sales and marketing roles, which eventually developed into what we now know as commercial roles. With an affinity for numbers, she focused on the data to take a customer centrice approach. She left hospitality briefly to work at the Royal Mail, experts in customer data, but missed the 'sexiness' of hospitality and came back. She now runs her own commercial consultancy where she helps business grow their profits. She shared with us the importance of continuous learning and to never stop, there is always something new to learn. Ali's website: https://comaccel.co.uk/

Kym was so generous with her time and her stories. From thinking she would have a career as a policewoman she found herself in hospitality by accident. Then went on to have long careers with HIlton, IHG, etc. She was always good with numbers and found her niche in the commercial side of hospitality, which when she started wasn't a role they way it is defined today. She cares greatly about being fair, standing up for whats important and looking out for your people. Having worked in many parts of the world, she is very aware of the multiculturalism and diversity in our industry and it shaped her.

We talked about how she was born into a life of hospitality. Not only the operational side, but design as well. She went to work at properties designed by creatives such as Ian Schrager, Starck, Andrew Balasz etc. Whilst she loved beautiful buildings, she quickly realised architecture and design were not to her liking and went back into hospitality. After studying at hotel school she spent time between the US and London working at various hotels and eventually to the role of GM at the Nomad Hotel in New York. Incredible opportunities coming through her networks. We discussed passion for the industry, challenges of work life balance, lack of female role models and in the end you can figure it out.

Today's recording comes to you from Guatemala! And what an inspiring story that Noemi has to share of following her passion of food and through food how to make an impact in someone else's life. She went to Guatemala to work with chefs from Noma and then the virus hit the world and she decided to stay and make the most of it and opened a wild bakery popup. Which is in line with her brand wild daughter ( you can find more details here: ) a wild card to play with new ideas and concept. You can follow her on instagram @wild.daughter and @wild_bakery_ Website: www.wild-daughter.com

A super conversation, talking about building standards, hotels wanting to be more environmenatally conscious, to being brave. Samantha has a background in public health and environmental science and she is bringing her knowledge to the hospitality industry to help support them in their environmental and sustainability efforts. And we went on to talk about a variety of topics from women and their collective empathy, importance of sleep, how one economics class makes you more likely to cheat etc

Laura shared how she translated her love of hosting into her professional life by focusing on a career in hospitality. Transitioning to a landscape business with her husband still taking care of the people around her with plants and greenary, which is ever so important in our lives. As she made her transition, she went through a period of imposter syndrome, which she then overcome by recognising that being the 'newbiw' has its advantages as well. And she transitioned easily into the role of full time entreprenear, as she has always had that independent mindset. website: https://www.clgardening.co.uk instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clgardeningco/ My favourite on their instagram account is their nursery visit with Frankie :)