Inspiring Women in Hospitality: Recent Episodes

Naureen Ahmed

Naureen Ahmed shares stories of inspiring women from the hospitality industry. Why they got into hospitality, their career journey so far, their learnings and who inspires them.

What was suppose to be a 5 minute conversation, became a 25 minute one. That is how important influence is to Laura.

Get to know Laura Brinkmann, facilitator at the upcoming Inspire Influence Live in London on the 7th of November.

With 20 years of professional experience in the investment and asset management in hospitality.She has like many women found herself as the only woman in the room, but she did have one great example to share from her time at Brookfield as a board director at a boardroom table with both women and men. This is when she felt'we are making a difference.'

Laurashares stories of what she calls both proactive and reactive influence from hercareer. How being naïve and curious early on in your career is your path to influence. And how working together collectively you can influence thematernity policy.

Find out more here: https://www.inspiringwomeninhospitality.com/events

Register your interest here: https://subscribepage.io/RXANly

Introducing Jane Lees, facilitator at the upcoming Inspire Influence Live in London on the 7th of November.

With a career in operating real estate valuation in both Hong Kong and the UK, Jane not only is a well recognised and respected professional in our industry, but someone whowill always invest in her team. Every person who has had the privilege to work with her has said the same thing.

And on the 7th of November, you might be that lucky person who gets a seat at her table and learn from her career.

Find out more here: https://www.inspiringwomeninhospitality.com/events

Register your interest here: https://subscribepage.io/RXANly

On this episode we hear from Delnaz. And at her core she describes herself as someone who is drawn to the idea of creating experiences that people remember. This isalso how she chose hospitality because she wanted to be part od an industry that is about creating things for people that stay with them emotionally, rather than selling a product. In the past five year within the same organisation she has been able to move her role several times. It was not easy finding a role during covid, but what was important to her was to get her footin the door, say yes and then once in get noticed and ask for theopportunities. Even if it is daunting, ask.

From podcast to community to global movement — Inspire has been a journey I never could have predicted when I first hit record five years ago.

In this special episode, I reflect on how it all began: the conversations that shaped the Inspiring Women in Hospitalitypodcast, the small roundtables that sparked bigger ideas, and how it grew into a worldwide network of women supporting each other.

It’s a story of growth, connection, and the belief that together, we can change the face of leadership in our industry.

Check out the website for more details: https://www.inspiringwomeninhospitality.com/

On 7 November 2025, we’ll be gathering in Londonfor the inaugural Inspire Influence Live — a fully immersive one-day workshop designed to equip women in hospitality with the skills, confidence, and influence to make a real impact.

With guidance from an incredible advisory board and inspiring facilitators, this closed-door event will give you the chance to:

⛰️ Build and pitch a business case with live feedback

⛰️ Practise self-advocacy through role-play in a safe space

⛰️ Connect across generations, roles, and companies

⛰️ Be mentored by influential leaders in our industry

Seats are limited to keep it intimate and impactful — secure your spot today!

🌍 And if this goes well, we’ll be bringing it to more cities in 2026.

👉Learn more & book your place: https://www.inspiringwomeninhospitality.com/events

On this episode we hear from Iana. Having started her career in education, she then decided to transition to becoming an entrepreneur and training soft skills and English language skills in hospitality based out of Cambodia through herdigital learning start-up LX Labs. She really believes that it is through training that you can have an impact on someone's career. She is on a mission to multiply this impact by making it accessible through all.

You can contact her via LI or email for discovery calls about LX Labs or for women who want to start their own business.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iana-galai/

Email: iana_galai@lxlabs.org

Her inspiration are the young generation, the energy they bring, willing to grow and how fast they learn.

Guest: Sucheta Rawal

On this episode we hear from Sucheta. A multi-passionate in food and travel. She is a writer, founder of a non-profit to travel sustainably and a speaker. But she started her career more traditionally as an investment banker in the US,before she transitioned into what she loves doing today. It was a journey of discovery and identifying the values of her life and leaning fully into them. It was when she was sharing about her inspiration, her grandmother, was whenshe was exposed to travel and how they can be 'windows to the world'.

Sign up to Sucheta's substack here: https://suchetarawal.substack.com/p/the-pr-relationship-rollercoaster

Connect with heron LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/suchetarawal/

Her inspiration is her grandmother.

Guest: Jamie Cooperstein

On this episode we hear from Jamie. Originally wanted to be a journalist, it was a conversation with her cousin who sold her on the joy of service when she pivoted to hospitality and made a career out of it. She started as a concierge thatallowed her to showcase the fabulousness of the city. Later she transitioned into luxury residentials, motivated by a desire to have better working hours socially. After her master and experiencing teaching as an adjunct professor,she learnt her love of providing education. This w as the catalyst for her to start her own business as a consultant.

You can find the link to Jamie's book below:

https://jcoopconsulting.com/book/

Speaking, training, consulting or working on policies and procedure are all reasons you can get in touch with Jamie via her website as well: https://jcoopconsulting.com/contact/

Her inspiration are the front line staff of hospitality.

Guest: Andreea Bodea

Title: Investment Director @ Pygmalion Capital Advisors

She shares her journey in hospitality that started in Romania working with her parents at their vegetable farm where she learnt the talent of customer service. Three phases of her career include operations, advisory and now investment. Turning points in her career are moving abroad to study, moving from operations to advisory and having key mentors in her career to support her journey.

You can contact Andreea for help with the technical side of excel and building models. She is also happy to openup her network to you depending on where you need support.

Connect with her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreea-bodea-01167a83/

Her inspiration is her grandmother.

In this episode, Naureen reflects on the importance of setting boundaries, sharing personal and professional moments that taught her the necessity of caring for herself while pursuing the mission of gender balance. 🌟

She discusses how this theme will continue in upcoming Inspire Community sessions, inviting listeners to join the Q3 2025 cohort by July 10th. 🌸

Listen now:

Apply to join the Inspire Community: https://www.inspiringwomeninhospitality.com/membership

Episode Summary:
In this reflective solo episode, Naureen shares her personal journey over the past five years—from starting the Inspiring Women in Hospitality podcast to building a thriving global community dedicated to gender balance.

She explores:

What it means to be a changemaker
The role of community and mentorship in transforming ideas into movements
Her experience building the Inspire Community and its growing impact
How imposter syndrome and self-doubt often accompany leadership and innovation
An invitation to join a free taster session on June 30th

Whether you're a long-time listener or new to this space, this episode is an invitation to reflect on your own role in creating change—and to consider how you might step into it more fully.

🗓 Join the free taster session on June 30th: subscribepage.io/c7TcY4
🌍 Learn more about the Inspire Community:https://www.inspiringwomeninhospitality.com/membership

Why I Created the Inspire Community – And Why Now Is the Time to Join

🎧 Listen Now

💬 Episode Summary:
In this episode, Naureen, Founder of Inspiring Women in Hospitality, shares the story behind the creation of the Inspire Community—a global space built for connection, visibility, and growth. With Q3 2025 membership applications now open, Naureen reflects on the personal gaps she faced in her own career and how those experiences shaped the structure and purpose of the community today.

She dives into the need for deeper conversations, tailored mentorship, and support that goes beyond surface-level networking. Whether you're growing into your leadership, looking to clarify your identity, or seeking a space where your voice is heard—this episode is for you.

✨ In This Episode, We Cover:

What was missing from traditional networking spaces
How the Inspire Community supports your leadership growth
Why mentorship, visibility, and shared experiences matter
The power of collective growth and giving back
An invitation to apply for Q3 membership

🔗 Links & Resources:

Apply to the Inspire Community: subscribepage.io/9Aqnth
Learn more: https://www.inspiringwomeninhospitality.com/membership
Follow Naureen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/naureen-ahmed-28253a35/

💡 Takeaway Question:
What action will you take today to grow your leadership and expand your visibility?

n this heartfelt solo episode, Naureen explores a deeply personal and universal theme—community. Sparked by conversations, interactions, and her own reflections while preparing to reopen her membership community for Q3, she takes us on a journey through isolation, belonging, and the healing power of human connection.

Naureen shares:

Her experience of fierce independence and the isolation it brought, especially during COVID
How loneliness during lockdown led to the birth of this very podcast
The value of family, friends, and even salsa as communities that brought joy and connection
Why she felt the absence of a professional community during her corporate career—and how it inspired her to create the Inspire Community
The evolution of her events from intimate roundtables to global gatherings
A call to action: show up, engage, and be visible in your community

Whether you find community in your family, your local café, a sports club, or your industry, this episode reminds us that we are not meant to do this alone.

🧭 Questions to reflect on:

Who or what is your community?
Where do you go to feel connected?
What will you do to create or nurture your own community?

💬 Let’s connect: Tag me and share your story of community. I’d love to hear it!

Apply now to be part of the Inspire Community membership here: https://www.inspiringwomeninhospitality.com/membership

How to create an introduction? One that is memorable and impactful. Throughout your career you are going to need to prepare different introductions for difference scenarios.And the question comes up - "Tell me about yourself". This could be for a job interview, networking event, speaker on stage or being a guest on a podcast.

As part of the upcoming changes I am introducing to the podcast, I want to help you craft that strong introduction. We will work on one that we will use for the podcast, butalso several others that you can use in other moments.

In this podcast episode I share a couple of examples of how we can formulate the introduction, taking inspiration from various sources.

Ready to be a guest on the podcast? Sign up here: subscribepage.io/4MxV42

What changes are coming up?

⛰️ 'Live' online broadcast of each episode

⛰️ Multiple guests on different topics

⛰️ Sharing more from my own journey and learnings

⛰️ Strong and solid introduction coaching

On this special podcast episode recorded live at the THAIFEX conference in Bangkok in March, I had a chance to speak with Rachael. On her panel at the conference she sharedhow with technology she was able to save a client's stock take from 4 days to half a day. This is the power of technology and how we can use it to redesign our jobs. Ultimately it is a people business and we need to work with the teamsto change the mindset and not just rely on the technology. We talked about the advantages that women can bring to a leadership role. Her inspiration is her mom, who has always allowed her to be herself.

On this episode we hear from Reneé. Based in South Africa she offers hospitality and tourism academic solutions. She fell in love with hospitality and tourism at a young age when she was travelling with her parents. One of her earliest memories is the view of the Eiffel Tower from a hotel room in Paris. After her education and to pay off the student roles she took a role as a teacher's assistant, which then lead her down the path of learning & development within hospitality and tourism. She then continued working full time and studying part time for the next 15 years till she gained her PhD. This took commitment, resilience and was not always easy, but she wanted to prove to herself that she can take on this challenge and succeed. Throughout the rest of her career learning, education and training continues to be a theme and her curious nature means she will never stop studying.

On this episode we hear from Jeannette. She introduces herself as a woman in travel and media. Driven by a passion to show to others how beautiful this world is. As she grew into her professional career she noticed there was not enough women in these spaces and was looking for more representation in particular for the Latina women in the industry. She shares the story of the positive impact she felt when she saw Jennifer Lopez on the cover of Cosmo Girl at the age of 16. She went onto study broadcast journalism and while she put in her hours in television news, she did not give up her dreams of being in travel and would attend industry conference whenever she could. She has also had some great mentors in her career who have pushed her and made her believe in herself.

On this special podcast episode recorded live at the THAIFEX conference in Bangkok in March, I had a chance to speak with Olesia. On her panel session she had shared that she was afraid of the robots that were going to take over her jobs, until the day came she went to work for one of the robots. All joking aside we bonded on our shared experiences of manual data entry and how technology improves our working life. We agreed there is still work to be done for women representation in the industry, as at another industry conference, she was theonly female panellist on the topic of technology during AHICE in Singapore. Her inspiration is her 55 year old mother, who had to relocate and re-invent her life in Ukraine showing us anything is possible even under the most challenging circumstances.

On this episode we hear from Mara. She put her languages degree to good use with internships in hospitality and that is how she got started. It is how she ended up in London but was not ready for the culture shock when she arrived in the city to start her career. She has always been ambitious and worked hard for her promotions. It was during covid, when we all had to hit reset, that she had time to reflect about where her ambition was going to take her in her career? It was at this point that she found a role with the Hospitality People Group with recruitment and found it to be the right fit for her. Which was also fuelled by a need to contribute more and make an impact in this life.

On this special podcast episode recorded live at the THAIFEX conference in Bangkok in March, I had a chance to speak with Bou, just before she went on stage. We talked aboutdata, in particular how the F&B data shapes the operations of a hotel business. We talked about the evolving landscape of the role of women in F&B. Her inspiration is her inner child and a reminder to us all to enjoy every moment in our lives a way a child would.

On this episode we hear from Shannon. Inspired by her travels she puts together experiential dining experiences in Tulsa. Her first career was that of a custom seamstress, she came into hospitality later in her career after learning culinary. On her travels she will spend most of her time in the local markets, meeting people and learning their recipes. It is from these travels that she has now written a recipe book called The Hidden Table. She is curious, finds people who love to cook as much as she does, ask them questions and when they see her passion they are willing to share. Besides her own career, she has taken her skills to empower women in different part of the world to provide a source of living to their families.

On this episode we hear from Maya. She studied to be a lawyer before coming into hospitality, which started in Dubai in 2002. She studied law to please her family, but she chose hospitality for herself as she knew this is where she would excel in her career. Beauty of hospitality is that you can have a creative career. She started as a hostess at a Lebanese restaurant at the JW Marriott in Deira and now she is in a CDO role with Accor for the middle east region. She credits a mentor she had early on in her career and her own desire for learning that has guided her path. She has had a few "battle scars" along the way, but it was also what pushed her to get to where she is today. When asked about the evolution of women in leadership in hospitality of what she has seen over her 20 years career, she said there has been changes and there is still some work to be done. And for those women who want those roles in a male dominated environment is not to be deterred and go for it, it is possible. When it comes to men and women working together, instead of competition she invites us to look at it as complementing each other. Another invitation she has for us is to embrace vulnerability and be authentic to ourselves.

On this episode we hear from Hala. We immediately start the conversation around 'who we are' and we agree that who we are does not drastically change after a certain point, but our perspective changes. She had to hide from her parents that she as working in hotel operations when she chose to follow hospitality instead of choosing to be a lawyer, but happy to share that they eventually came around. After completing an MBA where could focus more on strategy and finance, she went into consulting, advisory and now has had a 21-year career with HVS which start in London and now past 15 years based in Dubai. We shared our experiences of being the only woman in the room or having no female role models to look up to. How it is encouraging that things have certainly changed during our careers, but still a lot more to be done. More than being a woman in the workforce, what Hala has found working in hospitality and in a global environment is embracing the cultural diversity and being sensitive to it. When it comes to attracting talent, it is the employers that have to do more to communicate their values that align with the applicants they want to employ.

On this episode we hear from Samira. She helps places and brands with development, community engagement, strategy and marketing while travelling full time for the past 8 years. She started her career in tourism and hospitality at an early age, working in hotels to earn money that allowed her to travel. She realised early on in her career that she liked marketing, and after graduating she worked in agencies in both Singapore and Stockholm, before starting her own business. Which came about when she had this sense that something was missing in her life, even though she had everything. She decided to choose a life of freedom, become location independent by starting her own business and helping her clients with their marketing and strategy. She calls it living a life where you feel that you are aligned with who you are. And you do this by spending time on understanding what matters to you.

Special episode with Jane Lees and Sigrid Stelling on the topic of Ageism

Here are some of the key takeaways:

Ageism impacts us at all ages.
Transition not retirement
Have you considered micro-retirement?
Speak up and claim your space at any age
Create your own personality
Adapt your language
Cross generational mindset

On this episode we hear from Saloni. Founder of Paras Corporation which is a PR agency specialising in hospitality and travel sector. When she started, she identified a gap in the market and has continued to grow the business from there and now has two physical offices in India and in Dubai. She describes her work as promoting the soul of the property. We went onto having a great conversation about women in leadership and as entrepreneurs in India. The topic of balance came up, but not in the way we normally speak about. It is actually the balance of culture and tradition, and how women are born to wear multiple hats. We also discussed the evolving Indian traveller who are now looking for the non-conventional travel destinations, one that is worth taking note of.

On this episode we hear from Tely. Born and raised in Mexico, she moved to the US as single mother of two in 2001, where whilst learning the language educated herself to get her real estate licence. With her husband Jim, they bought the Drake Oak Brook hotel in 2013 and from there began her career in hospitality. As you will hear through her story, Tely was always meant to be an entrepreneur, which takes courage and a lot of self-motivation and something she inherited from her family. She has always had the support of her children throughout her journey as she followed her entrepreneurial pursuits and put in the long hours to be successful. She shares one of her core leadership principals is that service is love. Showing their team appreciation, recognition and love and this in turns mean they are showing their customer the best service, anchored in love and appreciation. And if you are ever fortunate enough to have Tely as your mentor, be prepared to answer this question: What do you really love to do in this life?

On this episode we hear from Anne. She knew at the age of 11 she wanted to be a journalist, and it was when she something on TV, she found a way to make it a reality. At the height of her political journalism career, she had a realisation that something was missing in her life and sitting in the meditation room at the Phoenician she began her spiritual journey. She translated her career into that of an advisor in tourism for governments. in 2006 she then went on to found Healing Hotels of the World, a brand for people who are looking for something deeper. It was not an easy journey, but she was determined to change the world. She wanted to show that hospitality, luxury and healing can be one. Took her guts, trust and standing up to the naysayers. And to anyone else who is thinking of changing the world, do not give up. You may just need to make a few tweaks along the way.

On this episode we hear from Sofia. It was a female alumnus from her hotel school that inspired her to get into hospitality, because she wanted to be just like her. Her education was impacted by covid and had an interesting time entering the workforce, but as we will hear in her story, it all worked out. What started as a LinkedIn reach out because she was curious about how you run a pop-up hotel ended up her becoming co-founder of this business. And as a young co-founder she has recognised that she will need help and so she has created her own advisory board, which now also includes that same alumnus who inspired her to get into hospitality int he first place. While it has been a steep learning curve, what she has learnt is to embrace the unknow and be proud of what you are already capable of.

On this episode we hear from Victoria, who is a hospitality wellness consultant based in Bangkok. Her love of hospitality came from a young age when she was playing the restaurant game with her childhood friends. Her love of wellness also started at a young age with her family and that grew as she was studying. After graduating, recognising she did not want a corporate career she started her own business that combined her two loves. She has pivoted her business twice, once during covid and second when she moved to Thailand. She adapts according to what is happening in her life and finds new opportunities. She is also a believer of personal development leads to business success. We also talked about wellness when it was not trendy and now to where we have too much information.

On this episode we hear from Khun Natty. She studied engineering for university and was inspired by her family's textile business to pursue this education. It was when her family started building their second hotel in Thailand, she joined the hospitality business and was able to put her engineering skills to use during the construction. She then turned to sales, marketing and revenue management to understand the financials of the hotel. She is continuously learning because now she is now involved in solar roof projects. She shares the balancing act she faces when both operating and owning the hotel, especially when you are reporting up to your Dad. She add that when it comes to working with your family you have to do a lot of communicating and trust. When it comes to her own leadership style, she believes in listening to her team and encouraging them to speak up.

On this episode we hear from Ankita, one of the co-founders of StayVista. A short-term rentals brands in India that she has been a part of the past 9 years. She started her career in human resources and always had a passion for travel, till she found a way to make it her profession too. And Ankita was always meant to be an entrepreneur, as this is now her second business she started, first one being in recruitment. She believes that when you have passion you can succeed in what you pursue. When starting StayVista, along with her co-founders, they identified a gap in the short-term rental market and travel trends of India. Traveling in groups and wanting the luxury experience with an Airbnb flavour. What led to their success was they were not afraid to try, experiment and learn from those experiences. Her advice for other future co-founders is to be aligned and agile at the same time. And she had some very positive insights to share of women in the leadership in the start-up, travel and hospitality space in India.

🎙 Yesterday I streamed my first live podcast episodeof @inspiring women in hospitality. This was a new experience for me and I enjoyed it! Gave me some new ideas for content in 2025! :)

🤩 The purpose of this live stream was to offer 3ways to transform your 2025. To offer inspiration on how to engage with the Inspire Community next year.

On this special episode I shared what you will gain across the three membership levels that I have introduced for 2025:

🏔 Grow your professional network and learn about thetopics that impact women in the workplace

🏔 Develop your professional brand (I am rebranding personal brand)

🏔 Take the next step in your leadership journey byidentifying what habits are holding you back

And as I am also looking to constantly develop myself, here is what I learnt about myself from this new experience:

🍁 Stop saying 'you know'

🍁 Prepare a stronger closing

🙋‍♀️ Apply today to be part of the Q12025 cohort of theInspire Community: subscribepage.io/myqu3v

🙏 As this will be my last podcast episode for 2024 Iwould like to end with gratitude to say thank you to everyone who has been part of my journey this year.

Here is what we discussed on this special episode:

Frustrations we face when we are physically limited as women
How do we want to be communicated to
How we can be more vocal about our needs and career ambitions.
Lets change the language. Time to speak about parental responsibilities.
Let us challenge ourselves to not become invisible when we take time out of work

This podcast episode came about when both my guests had to pull out last minute from the EquipHotel panel on gender balance due to pregnancy related health issues.

We decided to take this opportunity to create this special episode to explore what this meant and how we can challenge ourselves not to make assumptions about a woman's career choices.

On this episode we hear from Aditi. She calls herself a food entrepreneur who is building a legacy of brands. Inspired by her mom, she likes to cook intuitively and find the process of cooking therapeutic when the dishes come together. But her first "real" career was in finance and even became a CFA spending several years in banking. It was after marrying into a foodie family and wanting to have a healthy diet for her family, that she turned her attention back to cooking. With her mom she started a catering business, a supper club to experiential dining. She recognised a gap in the market and went for it, and she says it takes some luck and risk-taking to take action. She also shares the importance of big ideas, visioning, writing, journaling to manifest your ideas and how being an athlete helps her to have a winning attitude.

On this episode we hear from Caroline. During he studies she met someone working at the Ibis Hotel near the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the rest as they say is history. She has made a now nearly 20 years career with Accor and in this podcast, we hear her journey. She spent a decade in operations across properties of Ibis and Novotel, in the UK and France. She held general manager roles and loved the diversity of her days in hospitality. After she transitioned in marketing at the Accor headquarters in Paris. One thing she noticed of female leaders in her career is that we behave kindly and do not dare to ask. Behaving well is rewarded in an academic setting, but this is not the case in a corporate environment. For her own career growth, she says it was about relationship and knowing the right people, and she did this through internal networking which was outside of her comfort zone. This eventually got her role on the shadow executive committee of Accor. As a mother now, combining her executive and personal life, she compares it to a military operation. Especially on days when she must leave the office at 5pm, to be with her family. She leaves with confidence and is setting an example for other parents in the office to not feel guilty or any shame for leaving on time.

On this episode we hear from Katrin. At her essence she is a hotelier and it was an industry she knew she belonged to right away. One of her earliest career guidance was to take opportunities when it comes, being open to explore things that perhaps you didn’t plan, yet nevertheless pursuing your goals. She was following a career in rooms, when she was approached by HR for training, which then took her along the HR career path and later DE&I. She looks at her career journey in phases and shares with us the key moments of shifts in that journey. She is dedicated to having balance in leadership and what motivated to work in the space she is now in to make a difference. She also shares with us some of her best practices for diversity and inclusion in a corporate environment, which includes knowing yourself and respecting every individual.

A few weeks ago I shared Seema's story on the podcast on Inspiring women in hospitality

🎙 What I did not share was at the end of our conversation, she turned the mic on me to ask me a few questions. Practise forthe launch of her own podcast.

This is what she asked me:

🏔 Any misconception you would like to debunk for women's careers in hospitality

🏔 Memorable feedback someone has given you after being on the podcast

🏔 Brother podcast called 'Inspiring Men in Hospitality'?

On this episode we hear from Caroline and she introduces herself as a communications consultant. She has worked across several industries, but it was through her work with Hyatt that exposed her to the hospitality world and she realised that it was the first consumer sector she had worked in that focused on how you make people feel. And it was not just about selling the product. While growing up in a household with two brothers she was not exposed to the gender differences, but she had a different experience when she came into her professional career. For career development she shares that its about knowing yourself, understanding what motivates you, are you learning, developing and perhaps even challenge yourself in a gentle way. And always leave on good terms, watch out for red flags and know when to let go. She now has her own consultancy/agency and said being an entrepreneur was always in the genes, it is just very scary to begin with and we all need to work through those fears. Whether working in a corporate environment or as a consultant, her one advice is to protect your downtime. Taking the dog for the walk is as important as that big presentation at work.

Authenticity in the workplace What does this mean to you?

🎙 On this podcast episode from @Inspiring women in hospitality I share my experiences of when I was NOT being authentic and what impact that had on me, both professionally and personally. So many myths and untruths that I had to learn or shall I say unlearn.

And why do we need to be authentic?

🏔 It builds trust and more meaningful relationship

🏔 Diversity of thought in leadership impacts thebottom line

🏔 Bringing your unique ideas to the table

🏔 Enhances your confidence

On this episode we hear from Seema. She knew that she was always going to be very liberal about her career choices and she wanted to be in the commercial realm of different industries. She started in FMCG, then banking before coming into her forever home of hospitality. She has several mentors who have inspired her hospitality career journey and helped shape the course of her life. She has an interesting take in her our leadership and has identified individuals she calls 'silent achievers'. People who are doing exceptional work and perhaps not getting the recognition that they need. For herself at a very young age, even as an introvert, she recognised that you had to take action, or you will be left behind. One of her learnings that really resonated with me was 'I will always live in this state of displacement.' At the end she turned the mic on me and asked me questions, where we spoke about #womensupportingwomen, safe space and including men in the conversation. I thought she did a great job with her questions, and I know she will be great when she released her own podcast - 'Anatomy of a Friendship'. You heard it here first!

On this episode we hear from Michelle. This recording was done 25 years to the day she started in hospitality. She originally wanted to be on stage and following an advert she found herself at a pre-opening in Mayfair and loved it. To her it was like a performance every night. Her career then took her around the world opening restaurants. Whilst she did move around across several roles, reflecting on her career path she felt sometimes she stayed too long in a role and would now tell her younger self to be more curious of what was out there or create more opportunities through networking. Life circumstances created an opportunity to set up on her own as a leadership coach for women in hospitality to tackle recruitment and retention issues in the industry. From her 25-year career her main lesson to us all is to: Listen.

🎙 Today I share with you a special segment from thepodcast where I share some of my own personal journey and share some tips from my learnings

🤩 In this episode I talk about 'How to get your next promotion' or effectively how to progress in your career.

🙋‍♀️ I talk about what did not work for me, what then later did work and lessons learnt that I applied as I grew in my own leadership journey.

Know what I know today, here are some things I would have done differently and share with you in the episode:

⛰️ Being intentional with your career

⛰️ Be proactive with asking for feedback

⛰️ Not do any of the office housework

⛰️ External networking to build my profile

⛰️ Online visibility

🚀 This conversation lines incredibly well with the launch of version 2.0 of the Inspire Community membership where I have introduced two additional levels that includes such topics to help progress your career, with the support of a community.

All details can be found on my website: https://www.inspiringwomeninhospitality.com/membership

⏳ Deadline to sign up is the 20th of October 2024.

On this episode we hear from Ashleigh. She is the co-founder of Halo Business Consulting, and they work with the hospitality industry to drive guest loyalty and guest retention. She started in hospitality at a young age and found it to be character building for her, developing social skills and dealing with conflict. It was during her management trainee program that she found her passion in marketing, especially at a time when marketing was going digital. Over her career Ashleigh has moved roles, companies and countries before starting her own business. When asked what inspired her moves she says that when she was younger she was more of a risk-taker. Now she applies visualisation when thinkings about her business and how they want to take it forward. One of which includes to committing to donating 1% of profits to charity every year. One of her key learnings that she shared was to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

https://www.gohalo.co.uk/

On this episode we hear from Emily. She calls herself a connector. Love of languages and travel eventually got her a role in travel. She started her career with Travco and whilst initially based in London, she did eventually start travelling with her job. She credits learning to 'speak up' from her mum, who taught that you have to 'squeeze all the juice out of life'. She moved across several wholesaler companies as she progressed in her career and what she also wanted to share was the failed interviews that she also had along the way. She spent a few years in Singapore where she also had her first experiences of managing a team and explains what went well and what didn’t, and what she learnt along the way. Upon returning to the UK she started the next phase of her career, where she is working with people in commercial roles in hotels who feel stuck at work.

On this episode we hear from Frauke. Her opening included 'living out my passion in hospitality' and she shares with us how. Educated in Germany she worked in Switzerland and then London, where she met someone working in Bahrain. And that conversation initiated her career in the Middle East, which included Bahrain, Qatar and now in the UAE. She shares with us the culture shock she experiences when she first arrived from shared accommodation, where she can walk, how to dress and the transientness of the destination. She has spent most of her career in operations, spent some time in learning and development, owner relations, even EXPO 2020 but her heart is in operations. She took on her first GM role when she moved to Dubai. Throughout her career she has been motivated by how she can learn more and develop further, and saying yes to the opportunities that came her way. She talks about finding her tribe, support network for your career and especially for women struggling with imposter syndrome.

Time and time again as I do my podcasts interview, the advise women share for career progression is work on your visibility. Yet it appears to be an area that we struggle with. It is what motivated me to start this podcast, the events and the Inspire Community. To provide a platform to increase our visibility.

In this podcast episode I talk about my own journey of transforming my visibility.

Three key moments in my life:

Arriving at hotel school
Starting at STR
Building the brand 'Inspiring Women in Hospitality'

I myself have not always been visible and I have learnt the hard way what happens when I was not and learnt the benefits of what happens when I am. I have created this amazing community in less than a year because I was visible and put myself out there. I share insights from this journey and lessons learnt in this podcast. With the hope to inspire you to start your own visibility journey.

inspiration #inspiringwomen #empowerment #hospitality #passion #stories #sharing #inspiringwomeninhospitality #learnings #experience #courage #group #podcast #global #diverse #genderbalance #learning #life #career #fulfilment #visibility #transformation #guide #mission #uplevel #coaching #leadership #feedback #share #giveback

On this episode we hear from Michaela. She believes that the school of life is travelling and as soon as she could, that is exactly what she did. She worked to travel and eventually she made travel her career as well. She stared this career with the Flight Centre and found something that was aligned with what she was passionate about and help people explore the world. This then transitioned to helping people in her team to succeed when she moved into learning and development. In 2018 she moved to Asia and is now based in Phuket with Discova as People and Culture Leader. She shared her journey to becoming a leader and how she progressed in her career, learning new skills along the way such as adapting your communication style in different cultures. She shares a beautiful and vulnerable story of finding herself outside of her roles of leader, mother, wife during what she calls her midlife crisis. It was in Laos that helped her find herself, find her feet and find her passion again.

On this episode we hear from Marta. She calls herself a career expat and a digerati. The original digital nomad from the late 90s. She has made her career in corporate communications and brand strategist. While she has worked across 15 industry, travel and hospitality was a theme throughout her career, along with luxury and tech. She talks about how she was managing teams in the late 90s remotely and learnt early on the skills of remote working. Her career expat life has moved her 16 different times, either for love or career. She is unique in the sense that she has transitioned both between corporate and entrepreneurial roles, taking up the opportunities that presented themselves to her or she created for herself. From her lessons she shares not to limit yourself

Time for Naureen to put herself in the spotlight.

This new segment from the podcast Naureen will be sharing from her life experiences and learning, to inspire you to take action, as your 'Inspiring Activator'

Today she is talking about feeling unfulfilled. Something she keenly felt several years ago. She talks about what was happening for her then and what she did next. How she carved her own path to find her fulfillment.

It was not always easy and the journey will be different for all, but she hopes that you will be inspired by her story and be inspired to take action.

Link to TedTalk on the power of visualisation: https://www.ted.com/talks/ashanti_johnson_the_power_of_visualization?subtitle=en&geo=fr

Link to Naureen's website:

https://www.inspiringwomeninhospitality.com/

To book your 1-2-1 free session with Naureen, contact her on hello@inspiringwomeninhospitality.com

On this episode we hear from Selin. She credits studying in an international school while she was growing up as a path to hospitality, due to the multi-cultural environment. She shares how coming 'home' to Thailand was a reverse culture shock after having lived and worked abroad. Her career in hospitality, started in Chicago and then spent six years in the Middle East, where she held roles in sales and business development. And of all her experiences in hospitality it was in sales that she found her energy, also influenced by her mother's career in sales. She found several role models who inspired her, and she took action to identify key people that she admired and asked them for mentorship, so she could learn and grow. She trusts her intuition to guide her when making decisions for her career. And when it comes to making choices for her career, she chooses the boss over the job. Who is the person who is going to help her grow and she can learn from.

On this episode we hear from Candice. She calls herself a true-blue hotelier and someone that is very rooted in luxury brands. She started in product and moved into service, which started her career in hospitality, and she grew to have a deep appreciation for what is takes to deliver a truly luxury hotel experience, which is truly extraordinary. She started her career in PR, then marketing and branding and talks to us about her journey in luxury brands. She shares that her career progression happened because she had her hand raised. Coming into luxury as a brown woman she had to break a lot of cliches. She also reminds us to pause, appreciate, recognise and acknowledge ourselves for the work we do. Sometimes we take ourselves for granted, yet we sometimes forget to recognise how far we have come.

On this episode we hear from Alexandra. She is the founder of Velvenoir, an international art consultancy which she started 10 years ago specialising in private and hospitality collections. She started her career in hospitality in London and worked across several properties. It was during this time she realised that she was always inspired by art. She pursued further studies in Sydney while working at the same time, she noticed as I did, that women are more empowered there. When she returned to Austria, she decided to follow her dream of starting her own business as an art consultant, she started with getting to know the artists, networking with different business until she started landing projects with hotels. Latest project she has worked on was the Mandarin Oriental, which has 90% female artists works on display now. From her career learnings she says that do not let the business/company become your identity.

Link to her website: https://velvenoir.com/

On this episode we hear from Eve. Founder of Brand Journey working with SMEs to build their brand and customer experience in service businesses. She is also educating young marketers to develop their knowledge and skillset in branding through Meraki Marketing Learning Studio. When she was 10 years old, her parents took the family on around the world tour for three months and that instilled in her a passion for travel. And she carried this on into her career travelling and living in multiple countries around the world, which became more important as she came into marketing and needed to understand the customers in the different markets she was working in. She took a career break to pursue a doctorate and it was during that time she decided that she wanted to start her own business. And the people who inspire her the most are the young professionals who have the courage to start their own business right out of uni or even on the side while they are studying.

On this episode we hear from Cindy. She always knew that she wanted to work in the aviation industry and one of her dream roles was to be a flight attendant. Shortly after starting her career, she also began training and this is where her love of learning and development started. 10 years into her career she moved back to Belgium for her kid’s education. That only lasted a year and then they came back with the family to Hong Kong, which is the place that has her heart. She has worked for some very big commercial airlines throughout her career and now she is in the private jet industry. Besides her day job on the weekends, she conducts butler and etiquette trainings at universities and for young people. This has also expanded to business etiquette training from meet and greets to public speaking. Two learnings that she shares is that of resilience and to take every opportunity with both hands.

On this episode we hear from Charline. She is the founder of Cote, inspired by her time living along the coast and which means coast in French. She helps SME hotel owners to do good or better for people and planet. She helps them look beyond the walls of their hotel to the surrounding communities, what their needs are and ensure the hospitality business serves their wellbeing. After her studies she worked in hospitality across various departments but found that none really resonated with her. She took a detour and studied fashion management in London. After spending a few years in London, she was still searching for her purpose. Missing travel and doing social work, she decided to set up her own business and eventually found her own path working in communications for a small artisan hotel in Sri Lanka. It took her a few years and one pivotal experience, that helped her to creating her own path and being comfortable with it, and not following the path that often is laid out for you.

On this episode we hear from Charlotte. She is the Hotel Manager at the Grand Hotel in Birmingham, and she shares with us her journey in hospitality. She loves the industry and is a great advocate for Birmingham as a destination. Her career in hospitality started organically, with both parents working in the industry and that she recognised in herself that she enjoyed the work. She says if anyone i struggling to find their feet, hospitality is a great place to explore to find out what you are meant to be doing. Added bonus is that you made some great friendships. In her 20s she applied for the Acorn Scholarship and in her application, she said she was going to be a strong female general manager and through some ups and downs, 12 years later she is a strong female leader. And now she is paving the way for future female leaders. One of her learnings she shared is that when you look after your people, the profit will look after itself.

On this episode we hear from Irene. The founder of a leadership development called Light Path Leadership based in Saigon, after a career in leadership development across four continents. And she has become known for women in leadership and even wrote a book about the stories of Vietnamese women in 2016. Going back to her origin story she is Austrian and because she loves the unknown, she decided to study sinology at university. Which then took her to China in the early 2000s and made her career in adult education, at a time when executive coaching was unknown in China. When she came to Vietnam and started working with women, she was approached to design a leadership program for women in hospitality, which they called HER TURN. In this program one important thing that she introduced was including sponsors, both male and female, for the program participants, because they will be the ones who have the power to advance your career.

On this episode we hear from Debbie. She has been in the travel industry since she was 16 years old and that was with British Airways. In 1995 she started her own PR agency in hospitality and travel, which she then sold to FINN Partners six years ago. She now heads up the travel team for FINN Partners globally. Reflecting on her first business she started as a promotion’s agency, she recalls that she really had no fear, one of the benefits of being young. She talks about how when she started her PR agency, it was all about the relationships you had with the media and now with great content and the right channels there is so much more you can do. What I also particularly admired from her story is her transition from entrepreneur back to employee, when she sold her business and her reasoning behind it as she went into this next phase of her life. One of her biggest learnings she shared was protecting your network and being kind to people.

On this episode we hear from Rosina. An intercultural trainer and DEI consultant with a focus on the hospitality industry. She started in hospitality at a young age and all throughout her uni years. She says that it taught her so much about problem solving, thinking on your feet and social skills which she then used later in her PR career. During this time, she worked at an agency where the CEO was of Indian heritage and it was the first time she had a person of colour as her boss, which she was extremely proud of. She then went onto spend a few years in the charity sector working in the UK. She then moved to Berlin, where she spent the next 12 years, where she has had her two kids, career with Design Hotels and then starter her own business. During her time at Design Hotels the one thing she is very proud of is creating cross-departmental campaigns for newly opened hotels. When it comes to intercultural communication, she says it’s a combination of intention and being aware of it, that helps you to understand other people and then how to communicate in that environment.

On this episode we hear from Tabatha. Grown up in Adelaide Australia, it was studying tourism that took her to work in seven different countries, across a wide range of companies and roles. A career in hotels that started in the UK, took her to Japan, Australia and then a long stint in Asia. She has worked in big organisations like Starwood to smaller independently owned hotel companies like Vihn Group in Vietnam, which then tapped into her tourism experiences. A wide range of experience in commercial roles in a wide range of types of businesses in our industry. She had different learnings across these companies, like Starwood was great for people, skills and branding and her time at IHG taught her about revenue and technology. Tabatha says that it was her curiosity and desire to experience new things and new cultures that took her on this career journey.

On this episode we hear from Jeannette. She started her career as an economist for the government and then turned to the travel industry, where she spent 30 years of her career, which lead up to a CEO role with Saga. She now has her own portfolio of business advising travel leisure hospitality businesses and a podcast 'Brave, Bold, Brilliant'. She shares her experience and advise on growing your career and that you must be proactive about it. Speak up, put your hand up, volunteer for projects, work hard, network internally and externally and do not let your career progression up to chance or anyone else. In her mid 40s, she decided it was time for a change in her life and started her own entrepreneurial journey in search of more freedom, choice and flexibility. Her podcast which started in July 2020 has become her personal brand with her work with leadership and executive strategy. She also credits the support of her partner, another 'hospitality husband' with the success that she has experienced in her career and someone to believe in her, when she would not. Some of the key learnings she had to share were around not being afraid to fail, do not let fear hold you back and self-belief.

On this episode we hear from Stephanie. It was french toast in New York city and Home Alone 2 that got her hooked into hospitality. From a young age she loved to travel and so she started working to be able to make the money to travel. This theme carried on in her career, she chose destinations based on where she could learn a language, learn culture or work for organisations she admired. She ended up moving across to seven countries during her 20 year career thus far. Even though she is not a risk taker, she shares with us two experiences when she took the risk to leave jobs without having a new one lined up. She did this knowing two things, in hospitality you will always find a job and second, she believed in herself.

On this episode we hear from Kseniia. She has made marketing her profession in hospitality and has worked across Fiji, Samoa and Australia. She studied law for her degree, but then got into hospitality as a student when they were recruiting for the big stadiums in Ukraine around the time of the Euro Cup. She saw this as an opportunity to practise her English and meet people from different countries. She then found herself in Fiji, pursuing a hospitality career fulltime and it was the people that she admired. They were so warm and welcoming, gave her a sense of belonging. She came into marketing by volunteering her time at the hotels she was working at and then eventually made it her career, where she found her passion. Her time in Fiji gave her a great admiration and respect for the Fijian people and their sense of hospitality. She spoke of them with the highest regard. Four years ago she moved to Australia, still with hotels and then recently with a desire to grow she joined a dmc to promote Brisbane

On this episode we hear from Heide. From a young age she always had the feeling of wanting to be a host and that is what then drew her into hospitality. I loved how she said that when she first went looking for some work experience, she applied to the five Michelin starred restaurants in Germany, and only them, because she wanted the best experience. She went onto to focus on marketing during her education and that is where she started her career after graduating. She worked for LVMH, then after a PR education in Germany, worked at a PR agency before coming back to hospitality with Kempinski. You will hear throughout the conversation is that career changes came to her when she started asking herself the questions, whether this was the right role for her and what kind of lifestyle she wanted for herself. After four years at Soho House in Berlin she took on her next transformation and started her own business, an Italian deli. We also discussed the importance of taking a break, even if it means you do not have another job to go. It is super scary, as I have experienced myself, but we both agreed that without it it would never give us the mental space that we needed. She has recently sold her deli and taking that break to reflect on what comes next.

On this episode we hear from Rachael. She was born and raised in hospitality and her very first job was an ice cream scooper. It was when she moved to New York City where she learnt about the world of hospitality and work at every possible food and beverage service type that you could find in the city, from tourist traps to fine dining. Throughout her working career, she found the only way she could grow was to leave her current job and find another one. After several years, she was burn out and took some time out, learnt to teach English as a second language and that somehow drew her back to hospitality, but with her own business this time. After five years, this transitioned into her second business, Opus, a training software for frontline employees. When it comes to gender changes in the workplace, she raised an interesting point on greater pay transparency.

On this episode we hear from Cheila. My second back-to-back podcast episode with a Portuguese. Before she found herself in hospitality, she wanted to be a judge After completing her education in Switzerland and Austria, she moved to London and started her hospitality career with Firmdale Hotels and many others after. She talks about her mistakes as lessons learnt. She talks about the differences of opening a business vs running it. Opening a business is all about the drama and running a business is about numbers and working with your team to get the best out of them. She also talks about how to make your customer your best asset in your marketing strategy. Plus, how to make sure that any space you design is female friendly, from heels getting stuck in the floorboards to where to put your handbag. She talks about how she likes to hire mothers because they are great at task management. We also spent some time talking about menopause and perimenopause, something that does not get talked about enough yet and she does not want anyone to have to struggle in silence.

On this episode we hear from Cidalia. She introduces herself as Portuguese and passionate about hospitality. She talks about hospitality as selling dreams, not the hotel room. Having started in hospitality 20 years ago, she shares with us how she got started in revenue management when it first came to Portugal. This career has taken her from her home town of Porto, Geneva, Paris, London, Hong Kong and now Copenhagen. When asked how she moved around so much, she said it was in two ways. First was through head-hunters and second through recommendations. So that means networking and staying open to opportunities. We talked about leadership and to her it’s about being authentic, having a learning mindset and shining the spotlight on your team. The one learning that she has to part to us is 'trust yourself', you know yourself better than anyone else. And at the end she shares that her inspirations are her nieces, Polar Preet and Courtney Dauwalter.

On this episode we hear from Bettina. Her first career was in advertising, second as a mother and third as a chef. She married and had children very young and what I admired about her own reflections on this time is how she grew as a person and built a family. She became a chef because culinary was her first passion, but being an Asian kid, she was not allowed to follow her passion at the time. With the support of her husband, another 'hospitality husband' she found the opportunity to study in culinary school in Singapore. Whilst she was trained in the classic French style, she was also taught the Asian cooking techniques, which she believes gave her an advantage. She shares an amazing story of a time she went to New York and knocked on Daniel Boulud's kitchen doors and asked for a couple of days of work experience. She describes this as a pivotal moment for her that changed her world. Today she is the Executive Chef at the Sofitel in Manila. She shares with us the joy she is experiencing today to be able to spend time with her kids as adults, going out, borrowing clothes and it is because she had her kids young. And as she reflects on her journey on this podcast, she shares that there is not a single thing that she would change.

On this episode we hear form Bianca. Whilst she was not traditionally academic, she loved talking to people and that made her a great candidate for hospitality. Her career in the industry started as a door girl at a night club in Brisbane and has taken her to Sydney, London and back. Her early career developed into a pattern of opening venues across various locations. Her second career has led her to recruitment and talent management. One difference she pointed out of people working in hospitality in Sydney vs London, was that in London it was a long-term career, not something one does just part time through uni. She shared the challenges that she faced being a woman in a male dominated hospitality industry was 'using her voice' and battling imposter syndrome. In terms of her own leadership style, I love how she describes as leading with compassion and bringing people up with you. It was after having children, she had to refocus her career which then drew her to recruitment, and which ended up being everything that she loved in terms of building teams and finding great talent. Also, we have another great example of hospitality husband who encouraged her to take the lead in her career.

On this episode we hear from Sherry. She starts her story by sharing that she grew up on a farm in Iowa and how inspired she was by her mother who started a catering business on the side. She started her career in hotels working in the corporate office of Hilton and Intercontinental. Then went on to start a business intelligence company with her husband, which they have just sold 29 years later. Now she is advocating to encourage more women into STEM. A theme that you will hear throughout her story is the people she met and the friends that she made around the world that kept her in hospitality. And now with a group of friends they make an annual trip together. She shares with us what motivated her to start her own business, and how the company evolved over the years and what strategy they applied. Growing the business globally and running a business with your partner. For her own career growths, she calls out some of the women who have supported her growth and sometimes they created roles together. One thing that she hopes for women to do is to acknowledge their accomplishments, and I could not agree more.

On this episode we hear from Marion. Fourth generation hotelier, hospitality was in her veins but initially she thought it was too easy to follow the family. During her studies her first internship ended up being in hospitality and went on to becoming a full-time role in London after graduating. And she shares how she was able to progress her career from executive in marketing to being part of the commercial team. She has now been a part of the Mr&Mrs Smith for the past 8 years and to her it’s like family. She shares that to progress your career is to take risks, put yourself out there and know your values. More recently she created her own new department and talks about the experience in putting this together, supported by the inspiring female leaders and peers of the organisation. And this new opportunity would not have been possible if she had not spoken up and shared her passions. She shares how trust comes hand in hand with empowering your teams. When it comes to leadership she draws on two strengths - empathy and self-reflection. Thank you for putting yourself outside of your comfort zone and sharing your story with us all.

On this episode we hear from Gemma. Editor and director of Content Inc, providing a range of content and communication solutions to the travel and hospitality industry. She happens to be a fitness instructor, which has come in handy when she needs to motivate an audience at a conference. Also, a mum of two, which she says is her most difficult and rewarding job. She tells us of her journey brining publications like Arabian Travel News and Hotelier Middle East to life. In this role she got to know so many people in the industry, and they are the ones who helped her fall in love with the industry. She went freelance when she had her kids and transitioned into communications for the hotel companies she had been interviewing in the past. When I asked her how she got started in the world of media, it was because she was a good at writing. One of her earlier jobs during her media career was being a fake contestant on the show 'Play your cards right.' Skills that she picked up during her time in media, like shorthand, still come to use today, although can sometimes be confused for Arabic. Her time in journalism once helped jail a prisoner because of the investigative report she wrote in a local newspaper. Her father used to say to her, always meet someone once because you don’t know what might come of it, is one of the many tips that Gemma has on networking.

On this episode we hear from Jenn. My second guest from the short term rental space and she tells us of her experience coming into hospitality. She is focused on helping owners in this space to get direct bookings rather than relying on the large online travel agents. Her father was a hotel manager, so her first work experiences was in hotels and she learnt first-hand how hard the work can be, but she did like the sales and marketing side of things. So, she went into publishing in London after graduating from university and at one point was working at British Vogue. Her first foray into short term rental was putting a flat in France on Airbnb. It was through the chalet she had in Austria is where she leant into her previous marketing skills to build a brand and get direct bookings. Some of the key things she shares to attract direct booking are - start with a website and then comes the marketing (social, email, content etc). Her motivation for starting her own business has a lot to do with being a role model for her daughter and showing that you can do anything. In fact, she says that some of the changes that are coming into the short term rental space are being led by young women. She wants women to believe that you can be the CEO of your business and she is using her voice to lift them up.

On this episode we hear from Haley. Originally from the UK, she went on holiday to South Africa and fell in love and found her way back and has now been there for 15 years. She now lives in Kruger National Park, as part of the management team of a five star luxury lodge and that is only one of her jobs. She is also founder of Wild Dreams which focuses on recruiting and consulting for tourism and hospitality. And she is the COO of Vegan Hospitality. In her 'free' time she is rehabilitating animals, which has been a big part of her journey. Some of her key learnings that she has shared is around knowing your purpose, use hospitality to live the life you want and recognise all the transferable skills you can gain from this industry. She also talks about how a job should make you feel and aligning it with your values.

On this episode we hear from Anita. I have admired Anita for many years and so I am honoured to be able to share her story with you all today. Thank you, Debbie, for the introduction. Like me, she was raised in an environment where she viewed the world without boundaries, not just geographically but also socially, culturally, and economically. She started her corporate career within FMCG and then she started her own firm 22 years ago in tourism and development. Throughout our conversation we bonded on our shared experiences as Asian daughters growing up in different countries, that is not our own and learning to be adaptable and respectful. She shares with us her experiences during covid, which then inspired her to write the book 'The Call to Leadership: Unlocking the Leader Within in Times of Crisis' about the leaders that stepped up. She wanted to write this book to recognise and acknowledge those leaders and ensure they do not get forgotten. She shares one of the things she learnt from writing this book is that everyone is human. I am in complete alignment for her vision of gender balance, and she is one of the first persons who understood the double entendre of Inspiring Women.

https://thecalltoleadership.com

https://anitamendiratta.com

On this episode we hear from Sue. With a passion for hospitality, during her career she at one point spent 29 years with Marriott. She then moved over to the convention centre industry where she applied her hospitality experience. And then she went onto start her own business consulting with hospitality professionals to help modernise, streamline, identify more streams of revenue and improve the guest experience. She has an employee first approach, which I can get on board with. Take care of your staff first, and they will deliver a great customer experience. She shares that by stepping up and working at a higher level, allowed her to be viewed as a leader, at a time was a mostly male dominated environment. There were also moments in her career that she did not always grow vertically, she also chose strategic horizontal moves. She has a wealth of knowledge to share from her experience and would love to connect with other female leaders in the industry, please do not hesitate to reach out to her.

On this episode we hear from Tamina. She came into hospitality because she needed money. She stayed because it also allowed her to travel and have a freelance career on the side. She left university to work on a project that converted old military bases into resorts. She has spent time in Germany, Switzerland, New Zealand, Australia, and the US, as she says herself, she got around a lot. She spent a lot of time travelling solo, which she loves as she gets to meet great people this way. Throughout her career, she was freelancing as web designer, marketer, and several other skills. She put all of this to use when she decided to start her own business in tech to implement AI in hotels. With her knowledge of the hospitality industry and experience with AI, she built a service that aims to help hoteliers work through problems, like automating mundane tasks for employees.

On this episode we hear from Caitlin. Fourth generation hotelier, which is all we need to know about why she is in hospitality. Her first experience in hotels was the Steigenberger in Dusseldorf followed by an internship with the Starwood North American Operations. She then went to work at Montage a luxury hotel company which she got by calling everyone she knew at the organisation to pitch herself to get a job there. She had a great mentor when she started out there and allowed her to learn and flourish. She then decided in order to advance her career towards development she needed to educate herself on real estate and finance and decided to go to business school. A thread that she identified in her career is around, impact, loyalty passion and good people who are invested in your career. She found this again at McKinsey, the firm she joined after business school and who taught her how to think. She was later approached by Champagne Hospitality in a strategy role, and she found her way back to hotels. She shares with us her views on mentorship, which is a two-way street and great tips on how to maximise the relationship.

On this episode we hear from Susan. She is the founder of b2b marketing consultancy Hive Marketing and fellow podcast host of Top Floor podcast. When she was a kid, she played at being the boss and we will see how this then materialised in her career. During college she had been working part time with a catering company and when she graduated, they offered her a full-time position, which she accepted as she was still not sure about what she wanted to do, and this was meant to be temporary. She then got stuck in hospitality. She spent a lot of her hotels career working in pre-openings. She realised through this experience that she enjoyed the full autonomy she would have at the start of any opening. Which then inspired her to start her entrepreneurial journey in 2009. She shares how she started out, how her business evolved and some of her own hurdles that she had to overcome, like the 'chip on her shoulder' of being the youngest. She overcome this feeling by her strong work ethic and knowing that all her efforts would come back to her.

On this episode we hear from Melissa. She started in hospitality straight out of school and never left. She loved the buzz, enjoyed the work and the great people. Early on in her career she was encouraged to learn about revenue management, and she fell in love. After several years in hotel revenue management, she applied for a role at Qantas when they were hiring external candidates. When she started having children and there were no flexible work options available such as WFH, she left Qantas and started her own music school. She tapped into one of her resources to give her the flexibility she needed for her family. This business helped her build the capital that she needed to found the Australian Revenue Manager Association.

On this episode we hear from Kim. Born and raised in New York, with a French parent, which explains her energy and what she brings to the table. She is a leadership coach and teacher, teaching hospitality professionals to create sustainable careers. From a young age she was immersed in hospitality and grew up wanting to have her own restaurant. She studies in the French school system all her life and she shares that she experienced quite the culture shock when she went to university in Boston. Her passion for hospitality comes from loving the dance of service. She started her working career in New York and spent most of her time there, with a brief nine-month stint in Miami. She talks about how running became a big part of her life, both for physical and mental fitness and it eventually became a thread throughout her career. What she realised during her experiences is her ability to create a sense of calm, in a chaotic environment, like opening restaurants. After her last restaurant opening during the pandemic, giving it her all, she was inspired to start her own business to help others with the skill sets she had.

On this episode we hear from Jennifer. She has what she calls a meandering path to hospitality. First with stops in banking and technology, before opening her own restaurant. And now she has a tech company that connects trusted talent with flexible work opportunities in the hospitality industry. Each role she went into, across the different sectors involved her convincing someone to give her a chance and she tells us how she did that. For her career she had a plan, but as she says herself life kind of laughed at her and she realised she had to let go. One exercise that she has gone back to over the years is 'perfect on paper', which is ask yourself what you want in life, go for it and do not apologise for it. The two businesses that she started was born from something she saw was missing in the space. First was the restaurant serving healthy food. Second was the tech company to provide work to top talent, especially woman who needed flexible hours and providing businesses with staff to help run their businesses.

On this episode we hear from Meredith. Founder and CEO of Vegan Hospitality that helps hotels, restaurants and food service business caters to vegan guests. Lives on the island of Aruba with her family and is originally from New York. While she did not start in hospitality, after her masters in social work she worked in public health with a focus on food justice. It was when she went vegan herself is when she ran into issues when dining out, especially in Aruba. What started out as conversations with chefs and restaurants owners to try and get a decent meal, then eventually turned into a business where she was consulting with these establishments to cater to wider dietary needs. Which in reality often helped flex the creativity muscles of the chefs. She has continued to grow her business and now she trains other vegans on how to start their own consultancy business to have a global reach and impact. She sees the work that she is doing now as blending her experiences from social work and hospitality into her business.

On this episode we hear from Isabell. Based in Munich, she is leading Ruby's expansion efforts. As you will hear from her story, she was destined to work in hospitality. She gravitated towards hospitality real estate because she wanted to be part of the space that is creating memories and moments for the guests. Her first role in hospitality after graduating was within development in Accor where she stayed for one and half year. When she started looking for a new role, she connected with the Founder of Ruby, at the start of its journey and believed in its vision to come on board as employee number four. Where she has now been for 10 years, so clearly it was a good match. She shares how it was all new at the beginning to where her role has evolved now to be more strategic, leading the team, being there for the team, troubleshooting and getting involved in the new products lines for the brand and asset management.

On this episode we hear from Chef Ahu. Originally from Turkey, but now runs a restaurant in Hawaii. She shares with us her journey to becoming a restaurant owner. She first came to the US for her education and unfortunately, she faced several immigration challenges, which led her down a path of depression. It was her mother and her home cooking that revived her, and then inspire her to open a restaurant. I love how she describes food as being the connection to her heritage. I have always believed the best way to know a culture is through the food. After testing the market with at a farmer's market, together with her family and a bank loan, they put all their investments into opening a restaurant. Now when she looks back on her period of suffering, she looks at it with gratitude, as it got her to where she is today. When it comes to confidence and belief in herself, which she believes to be the secret recipe of her success, she says the most valuable ingredient is time.

On this episode we hear from Federica. Her passion for hospitality started quite young being exposed to the various B&B's of her home country of Italy. What she experienced was feeling of home, belonging and warmth and she knew she wanted to re-create this for all her future guests. After graduating from EHL, she started an Airbnb business with her mother in Italy. It was right during the pandemic and not a lot of jobs were going around, however the family identified this opportunity and Federica was able to put her creative interests to work. During her education she was always drawn towards marketing, so upon her return to Switzerland she took on a social media role. She continued to upskill herself in graphic design, brandings etc and now she has set herself up as freelancer running the Creative Identity Studio. We also talked about how the Airbnb business has taken off in Italy. To discussing the importance of branding and how its evolved, from an economy of mass production to mass customisation. She defines her purpose as helping hospitality businesses support them in creating impact.

On this episode we hear from Mona. The first Emirati woman I have interviewed whom, as you will hear through the episode, chose to work in hospitality, which is very rare in the UAE as a woman. One of her first roles was at the Burj Al Arab in training, where she worked with one of my previous podcast hosts, Caroline Stevens. With the desire to help people and make maximum impact, she went onto having a career in HR across various hotels in Dubai. She talks about her ambition and how she wanted to be the best. She took the time to educate herself, work on her self-development and something she invests in always is lifelong learning. One of her professional learnings is, if you want to create real impact, you have to do things out of the normal. She also real about her experiences of speaking up, you may come across people who will not appreciate it. Moments like this, turn to your internal compass and believe in what you did. She shares more of her journey in her book 'Beat the odds'.

On this episode we hear from Jane Mack. A holiday-let coach and consultant, where she is sharing her knowledge of 10 years of her own experience of running a holiday let business. She always worked in hospitality throughout her school and uni years. She went onto study hospitality management with the vision to run and manager a big five-star hotels, but after her placement year in a boutique hotel she shifted her focus. Then while trying out different experiences and roles, she discovered HR, which is where she went onto develop her career. She was made redundant during her maternity and when an opportunity arose for her and her husband to buy a holiday-let business, they went for it. Being unfamiliar with the holiday let industry, I asked her to share her experiences and what changes she has seen during her time. Another point she raised was a motivation behind running her own business was to be a mother who was present for her kids’ school activities, whilst it was not an easy juggling act, she found a way to make it work.

On this episode we hear from Megan. She has a tour company for women with a sustainable and ethical lens on tourism and tells us the story of how she got started. When it comes to hospitality, she feels that this is all she has known, having started working in it from the age of 15. Throughout her hospitality career, she tried lots of different things, moved roles, moved to various parts of the industry, but nothing ever seemed to stick because she felt she was not contributing in a purposeful or impactful way. Having started her business 3 years ago, it is now the longest career that she has had. One of the takeaways she wants women to hear is that you are not failing by trying many things. She started her business around travel as its one of the things that she loves most and supporting women through travels. She also believes that we can all learn about ourselves through women of all ages. One of the skills she learnt from her time in hospitality is saying no in a nice way.

On this episode we hear from Komal. She first became a tour guide at the age of 19, in India, where it was very uncommon for women to be tour guides. So, in many ways she was a trail blazer in her field. From the beginning of her career, she was determined to have greater diversity in her teams and at one point she had a 60% female team. In 2020, covid was the catalyst to take her drive and purpose to start her own business. She shares with us the challenges she faced in the past ten years, especially when it came to breaking stereotypes and safety. She is happy to see the progress that’s been made in the past years and that is primarily all the work she has done in talking about the industry. And when it comes to hiring, not only do you talk to the candidates you also have the convince the family in India. It’s a family affair. Even when it comes to travelling, women are expected to travel either with their family or their husbands. She shares with us how she came up with the name of her company, sitting on the banks of the Ganges. Women for world, owned by women but open to everyone.

On this episode we hear from Eliane. She has been in the industry for 20 years and loves this industry because of the different people she gets to meet. After education in Switzerland, she started her hospitality career in the US and then love brought her to France. Where in many ways she had to start her career over while she was learning the language. She speaks four languages and shares with us her experiences of learning. Being exposed to so many cultures, she says to be yourself, take the best of each culture, blend them, and create your own culture. And then how we use it to better understand others and their cultures. Communication is key. She shares the mentors who have helped develop her career and gave her the opportunities to grow. When it comes to team development, she believes in surrounding yourself with talented people and giving them the space to learn. Her advice to women to take a chance on yourself, give yourself the opportunity, you will be surprised by your own capacity and have confidence in yourself. Don’t wait to be 100% ready, because that is not possible.

On this episode we hear from Lisa. Self-taught chef she is now the owner of six restaurants on Sedona and has been in the industry for 27 years. She started in the fashion industry, but after an unexpected tragedy in her life she found herself in hospitality with the opening of her first restaurant. Whilst it was not easy, she took a chance for herself and paved the path to freedom to be tje kind of chef she wanted to be and do it on her own, especially as a woman. In 2010, she wrote her book 'Elixir of Life' which helped her get recognised as a chef in her own right. We both recognise that its still a very male dominated industry and she admires many of the men she has worked with, she tries to get more balance. Today she has one third women working across her restaurant company. She sees herself as a visionary and that is where the growth of her business came from as she wanted to create and design new place, new menus and have a diversity of restaurants. Throughout the conversation she shares with us inspirating taglines/mantras to live by, the spiritual journey both her personal and professional life has taken her on and how philanthropy plays an important role in her life.

On this episode we hear from Karima. Through her desire to bridge industry and academia she has taken her 15 years of operational experience and taken it back to the classroom and is now a professor. My favourite part of this episode is that it was actually her husband who reached out and asked to have Karima on the show, so this is a shout out to all the 'hospitality husbands' out there advocating for the women in their lives. One of the things she loved about working at front desk during her time was being able to tie the circle with the guest from their arrival to departure. And it was actually her mom who predicted that she was going to be in hospitality. We both agreed that the management trainee programmes that the industry offers are a great way to get started and try out so many different departments and be exposed to so many different career options. When it comes to mentors, she shares that it takes a village to inspire us all. In addition to being a professor now she has her own consulting and training company to develop employees in the industry. Focus less on the guest and focus more on our people. Something that I can get on board with.

On this episode we hear from Alison. She got sucked in both into hospitality and London. She went to Cornell to study hotel management, came to London after graduating and basically never left. She was fascinated by the multi-cultural people that are drawn into this industry. She started with IHG, few years with consulting before joining ownership group Archer Hotel Capital, where she has been 16 years now. And this might have come to pass had her boss at the time not shown her some flexibility when she felt she needed to take a step back after having children. This is the positive kind of examples I hope to see more of across our industry. Throughout the rest of her career, she adjusted her role not only based on her personal circumstances but also with the cycles of the industry. We both agreed that a lot of our learnings come from time and experience, and we just must go through them.

Coming....On this episode we hear from Kerry. Growing up her family moved and travel around a lot, which exposed her to various cultures and taught her to adapt and learn what makes people tick. After working a couple of years in operations, she moved into sales at property level before moving onto above-property positions, which then eventually led her to her commercial role that she oversees today. When it comes to growing your career Kerry says that you must show willingness and also be vocal about what it is that you want. She also talks about building relationship with people within your organisation and identify those supporters who will speak up for you, even when you are not in the room. She also shares her thoughts with how she notices that women often tend to start with 'I am sorry' and sadly it’s an overused word by women in the business. She also shares with us her journey and the mindset she had to position herself for the chief commercial role. And she says it best - ultimately it’s a fun business to be in.

On this episode we hear from Emma. She says hospitality was in her DNA, having travelled and moved around a lot growing up, she knew this was going to be a part of her life. She made a career for herself in marketing and PR working for various brands in different parts of the world, like IHG, Starwood, Raffles, TFE and more, before she decided to start her own business. For her business she has focused on brand strategy, and we have an interesting conversation around branding, what it means and for someone who is looking into a career in branding what they should be looking into. Her one piece of advice is when it comes to marketing, dream big. She shares a fun story of a PR stunt she did on the helipad of the Burj al Arab in Dubai. The key learning that she has taken away from her career is to be present and show up.

On this episode we hear from Monika. She came into hospitality because of the people and wanting to know what makes them tick. The focus of her career has been to fee and anticipate her client needs and help them find a solution for them. When it comes to her journey, she has always followed her gut, without realising it was her strategy she chose and now she allows herself the luxury to follow her happiness. When she started her own business, she looks at what she could contribute with all that she had in her rucksack. It was and is a bumpy ride, but she was always listening to her soul compass. Her latest focus is on sustainability and how to incorporate it into everything that we do.

On this episode we hear from Lucia. She started working in hotels while studying at university and when she graduated, she had the choice to stay in hotels or go down a corporate career. She chose hotels and the plan was to stay one year, 9 years later she was still there. She enjoyed the variety, new challenges, and the people she was working with. After her first GM role she realised that operations was not meant for her future and after a conversation with the asset manager, she found an opportunity in investment. She didn’t know if she was going to sink or swim, but after three months she realised she was swimming and has continued to do so for 13 years. Her operational plus investment experience allows to speak both languages and communicate each perspective clearly to bring about collaboration. She and I both agree, to advance in your career you have to express your ambitions and do the work.

On this episode we hear from Gunjan. Inspired by the history and culture of Rajasthan, she came into hospitality and tourism. She focused her career in sales and worked at several of the resort hotels in Jaipur, before moving to New Delhi. First time she was away from home, but she was in for a bigger shock a few years later when she not only moved countries but continents. She initially struggled when she arrived in Canada to find a job. What she missed the most was her financial independence. While she had to take a step back to restart her career, she realised it was the best thing that happened. But Gunjan, as you will hear in this episode was determined and ambition and she shares how she grew in her career to now a VP position within Wyndham. She also loves the coffee culture downtown Toronto lifestyle and grateful to be an immigrant success story.

On this episode we hear from Naina. She is born and raised in Holland to Indian immigrant parents, who taught her and her three sisters to integrate. She went to the UK to study, but it wasn’t until she moved to New York that she found her vibe. She started her career in fashion, because she didn’t know what she wanted to do and just followed her father into the business. We both agreed that when we are young how are we supposed to know what we are supposed to do and we need the time to explore and figure things out. As she was discovering things she went into real estate and then also a jewellery business with her sister. Seven years ago, inspired by her mother, who had a tea for every occasion she started her own business in the tea industry and now sells them online. She believes that everyone is interesting, we all have a story to share and that we are all individuals.

Website: https://www.madn77.com/

On this episode we hear from Marion. She was born into hospitality, quite literally. Her earliest memories are from the restaurant her family ran and they used to live above. She went onto have an extensive career in hospitality at many of the brands that I have grown to love and admire - Relais Chateaux, Laduree, Ping Pong, Harvey Nichols, citizenM and more. Each time she took on a new role, the business scaled with her. International expansions allowed her to experience new cultures and understand how business models needed to be adapted according to your location. She talks about how being a woman in business we need to speak up more, which takes courage and comes with maturity. Taking care of yourself and making yourself a priority, while its hard sometimes makes a big difference in her mental wellbeing. Have the courage to say no and ask yourself what do you want?

On this episode we hear from Carmen. She fell into hospitality accidentally, because one day she heard how much tips her friend was making working at the bar. She has worked in Australia, Croatia and now in Singapore. She always wanted to travel and knew that hospitality would be the avenue to this. She has had various roles and in different companies, but the one theme she has had throughout her career is knowing herself and what makes her happy and making the career fit around her lifestyle. Very early on in her career she had a mentor who recognised the potential in her, even when she had a long list of everything she did not know. Having someone believe in her was pivotal to her career development. When it comes to being a woman working in hospitality, her view is to embrace your authentic self and be yourself.

On this episode we hear from Bettina. She just knew that she was meant to be in hospitality, no question about it. She was also very single minded about going to hotel school in Lausanne. She shares her career journey that started in operations, some time in London before moving into consulting in the search of more "normal" working hours. Then returning home to Switzerland she joined PWC for 8 years. After which she took a sabbatical, spent some time with Migros before starting her own consultancy with her business partner. Some of the learnings she has shared were about learning to trust the process, not put too much pressure on herself and have a better balance between achieving and kindness to herself.

On this episode we hear from Zoe. I do not know even where to begin, but probably the best place is enthusiasm, finding the gap in the market and doing something about it. She went into retail initially, but after attending 13 weddings in one year and many more after, including her own, she realised there was a gap in the market for good wedding planners in Wales offering a well-rounded service. She did that for 10 years, before moving onto consulting and training, venues, coordinators, and other wedding planners. She started her own wedding catering business because she wanted to offer good quality, eco-friendly and dietary suitable options for the guests. She pivoted this business to focus on corporates during the pandemic and did not go back. She has also launched a plastic free. sustainable wedding favours and gifts online shop because she wants to do her part to reduce waste at weddings. You can still have a beautiful instagrammable wedding and be sustainable. She is a force to be reckoned with.

On this episode we hear from Heather. Passion for technology and diversity are the two themes that came out for me during this conversation. She has a background in management consulting in various other industries, first working for other firms and then starting her own consultancy. She is now in hospitality technology through an opportunity where the stars aligned. She sees technology as a way of adding onto the customer and employee experience for hospitality businesses. When it comes to diversity, a real advocate for hearing different voices and believes that those businesses that can harness this will benefit the most. With her passion she is here to accelerate change in the industry.

On this episode we hear from Vivien. She decided to follow her father into hospitality, making her a third generation hotelier in her family. She went in and out of hospitality and dipped her toe into other industries, but they are all opportunities for learning and growth. She is curious by nature and education has always been a big part of her life, an area she also felt it important to learn from other industries. Her career journey has taken her around the globe and each move was when an opportunity presented itself, at the right time for her professionally and personally. While she has been moving around, it always brought her back to Paris, which has been her home, on and off for the past 20 years. She has weaved a network of women and male peers to stay connected with, learn from and they are the people who have supported her career journey thus far.

On this episode we hear from Claire. Her Dad opened and ran a restaurant in the south of France, which meant she was going to either love or hate hospitality. Fortunately, it was love. She started her career in hospitality working the seasons across Europe and then ended up as a GM in a hotel in Jersey. When she became a single mother, she could not keep up with the hotel working hours anymore and decided to open her own mystery shopping business, after identifying a gap in the market. Post pandemic, she has reinvented herself and is now a speaker and champion for customer experience. She talks about perseverance, not giving up, not to lose faith in yourself and bring the positive energy.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claireboscq/

On this episode we hear from Khun Lak. Being a diplomat's daughter meant that the first 25 years of her life she was constantly moving around the world but coming back to Thailand in between. She has lived what she calls a blended life- western efficiency with Thai smile and warmth. When she became a single mother, she returned to Thailand and made a commitment to her family for a good life. So, she decided to start her own business in manufacturing crystals. Then she went into education and opened an international pre-school. She was not done yet; on property she inherited in Hua Hin she opened a boutique hotel. She did not have any experience in any of these industries, but it did not deter her. She researched, learnt, asked questions, networked and most importantly she had belief in herself that she could do it.

On this episode we hear from Fiona. We both agreed that the travelling we did in our early years helped us to be adaptable and she is now doing the same with her children. They live between Berlin, South Africa, and Italy. She has had a varied career journey across various industries and countries, but she always came back to wine. Wine being in her family for three generations and now she is running the Saxenburg Wine Estate. We talked about what is like to be a woman in wine and how its slowly starting to change. She also shared while her branding and messaging stays on point, her packaging will change in different parts of the world. Which is also something she learnt from her previous career experiences. No matter what we do in life, we are learning, and we take that with us forward.

https://saxenburg.co.za/

On this episode we hear from Emma. She always knew from a young age that she was destined for something different. Never enjoyed school that much, and surrounded by a big entrepreneurial family she started her first business at 16. It was thanks to the help of a mentor, who spotted her early in her career, that she was able to build up her first company to sell by the age of 18. Originally from Australia she moved in Hong Kong and here she set up two business, one in website design and the other as an online butcher. She is now based in Singapore where she has now started an alcohol-free beverage supplier in Asia. She identifies gaps in the market and goes for it. She sees the potential, networks, asks for help, collaborates, identify the end game, and finds a way. Inspirational conversation for any aspiring entrepreneur.

https://www.freespirit.com.sg/

On this episode we hear from Ling. One of her key learnings was to be able to voice out your concerns, do not hold that negative energy and be vocal of your needs to your organisation. A lesson all women, including myself can learn from. During her time at JLL she had the opportunity to move to Shanghai to set up their hotel brokerage team, which was her time to shine, come out of her shell and she was inspired by the strong female role models she came across in Shanghai. One she feels is different upon her return to Singapore and she is now actively getting involved in various initiatives to support women empowerment. We also talked about networking, which is important for our careers but how the networking culture is. Often in the evening, with drinks and not every woman or man wants to drink. To making that ok that we do not have to drink to enjoy ourselves or build our careers.

On this episode we hear from Amanda. She was always curious by nature and would ask loads of questions as a child growing up, which got her into media as a BBC broadcaster in the arts space. With the advent of social media, NDAs, publicists she started seeing a shift and decided it was time for a change. She knew that with whatever she did in life, she wanted to make a difference and rip up the rule book in that space. One of her obsessions was fine wine and champagne and so her first career change was to train in making champagne and she moved with her family to Paris to do exactly that. While she was successful with her own champagne and prosecco business, she recognised that there was not going to be much commercial success for her. Being the journalist she inherently was, she picked up on a trend of healthy drinking within leader, industry and legislation. With the same obsession for fine, she put that towards producing non-alcoholic sparkling wine that was not filled with sugar and chemicals and make a real premium alternative for those who did not want to drink. She has same great insights of what we can do to bring more women into this space, such as amplifying the female voice, visibility, speaking up, male allies, hiring women where possible, outreach programmes and much more. She is a true inspiration and was quite moved when she shared her inspiration.

https://noughtyaf.com/

On this episode we hear from Tatiana. She chose hospitality because she wanted to have an international career and she sure did. She has worked at hotel brands, bagel shops, airline catering, executive search, investment consulting, asset management, ownership groups and she is still reinventing herself. She talks about how every 3 to 7 years we need redefine what our goals are and work towards it. When it comes to career change think from the positive motivation and what are we going to learn from the next experience and where the opportunities lie. She shares with us her experience when she called up Steve Rushmore to pitch to him to open an executive search business in Moscow, where she knew no one else was doing it and could make a great impact. Those of us working in hospitality know what it takes to be constantly switch on, be an extrovert and for Tatiana, she is all these things, but a liberating discovery for her in her 40s was that big conferences are exhausting for her and now she does not hesitate to leave at 6pm to recuperate her energy. We are constantly learning about ourselves, and we should never stop to take inventory regularly.

On this episode we hear from Viona. She has been an independent thinker and making decisions for her life since the age of 9, when her parents sent her to boarding school. Her Dad would give her a budget for clothes, and she would shop for herself. At the age of 17 she was already asking herself why she was on this earth, but it’s this thinking that made her realise that she wanted to explore the world and brought her to hospitality. Her first internship was at Disneyland Paris and six internships later she knew she wanted to go into consulting. Which she did for five years in hospitality real estate. She is now the co-founder of Saijai based out of Bangkok bringing work to the informal workers who are not protected by social benefits, as is very common in Asia. She is driven by purpose and impact, and not just money and climbing the corporate ladder. Throughout the conversation she shares some great insights from her life experiences e.g. self-love comes constant reflection, we have our greatest learnings from failure, questioning whether we are doing things we want to or just because society says and so much more. I think we could have carried on for a long time. One final thought from Viona I will share is to view life like a river.

https://saijai.io/en

On this episode we hear from Lee and Lauren, sisters, running high end hostels. A special episode where we hear about their journey of being entrepreneurs. Travel played an important part in their lives and then eventually for this business. After careers in finance, they decided they wanted something else. Whilst travelling in Barcelona they bought their first hostel and their thoughts were now is the time to do it when they have less risk and responsibilities and great learning platform. Having stayed in several hostels whilst travelling, they knew they could do it better and they did. They opened two in fact before returning to the US, after completing their respective MBAs. Back in the US, they opened their first hostel in New York and second now in Portland. When it comes to their business, they do everything together, the sister duo, from planning, development, designing, finances etc. As they have grown, they have teams in place to run the operations, but it’s still just the two of them owning and running their business. We go into some interesting details about being a women in real estate and how learning finance speak was harder than learning Catalan. Learning the nuances that come along with it and the gender biases that come along with it. One thing they both shared whether it was dealing with investors or guests is to be honest in your communication.

On this episode we hear from Felicity. Her mother wanted her to be a schoolteacher, but she knew that she did not want a role that her stuck behind a desk all day. So, she trained to be a chartered surveyor. But coming into the workforce in the 90s during a recession meant a property role was hard to come by and she found herself in a company that focused on hospitality real estate. Then she spent a few years with Forte Hotels before making an odd move to charity. Maybe odd on paper, but Felicity had a specific objective in mind, to get experience of managing a team and this is how she got it. She came back into hospitality real estate representing PE owners, before switching back to brands. This experience allowed her to see things from both sides and come up with a solution when negotiating a deal. We talked about how feedback is important and how it’s played a role in her own development. Being a good manager means spending time with your team. Working in a multi-generational workplace means we learn from one another and be ready to embrace change. It took her a while to get comfortable in her own skin and she has learnt that it’s better to listen, assess the room, gather intelligence and then speak with meaningful contributions.

On this episode we hear from Isabel. She was inspired be her Dad to come into real estate. It was through her rotational programme at JLL where the focus was more on investment side of real estate that she found her opportunity in hospitality and then decided to stay in it. To her hospitality is a 'sexy' asset class, more interesting than the others and she likes the social aspect of hospitality. Upon reflection on her journey thus far, she wishes she had asked more questions when she stated out as analyst. Over the years, with the support of her team and mentors, she has grown not only in her technical skills but her confidence too. As you progress in your career the focus is more on client relationship and negotiation, whilst she is still learning she feels that is in a good environment to grow her career. She has also seen the change in the sector with more gender balance and inclusion for women.

On this episode we hear from Monika. Growing up in South America, she came to Germany for her education, but it was her desire to learn French that brought her to France and where she has now been for 26 years. Impressive career across various hotels in France in front office roles, with some breaks in between for studies in Cornell and Essec. She is all about continuous learning and allowing yourself the time and space for new ideas. She never wanted to be a GM because she saw how the role was changing to be more focused on finances and away from the floor, where she wanted to be. She took all her skills she had gained in hospitality to open an interior design firm in Paris, which reminds us of our valuable transferable skills. We talked about the importance of empathy and how its needed to build a strong team. When we know our employees, trust them and care for them, they pay it back to us. Her firm she has now is run on the principals of trust and flexibility to allow everyone to do their best work.

On this episode we hear from Caroline. What an impressive career and its good thing she answered that phone call every time it rang, as you will hear that it’s a running theme throughout her career. She once wanted to be an air traffic controller, but her first role in hospitality was as a cocktail waitress and she shares her career journey in HR that took her to Chief People Officer at Minor International. She has worked in Australia, Dubai and most recently in Bangkok, before taking a sabbatical. Why she chose to follow her career in HR was the ability to change people's lives that inspired her. 'People, power, profit' is the magic formula to make any organisation soar. Two gender differences she has noticed in her career is that men network better than women, and men also negotiate better than woman. Actually, men negotiate, women do not do it at all. How do we work together to change this?

On this episode we hear from Hulya. Her name in Turkish means 'daydreamer' and she has always had the biggest dreams for her life. The overarching theme of her journey thus far has been connection through food. Food brings us together, cultures together, learning from one another and respect. It helps people relax and open up and she has found ways to incorporate cooking with her coaching practise. She has been a chef, a teacher, on radio, marketing and now coach and taken different career paths based on what she needed for her life at that moment in time. She found being in hospitality gave her the flexibility she needs, and she believes than any hospitality business can offer this to their employees eg hiring two people for the same job. Growing up neither of us liked being told what to do, but we have found some areas of our lives that need structure and other areas where we do not follow the recipe.

On this episode we hear from Catherine. A newbie to the hospitality industry, but welcome with open arms. She brings her real estate experience to branded residences with Accor and bridges the communication with the owners, developers, buyers, and brands. Born in Hong Kong, she immigrated with her family to the US as the age of four, with her three other siblings and mother. Listen till the end to what an inspiration her mother was to move with her children on her own. Catherine started her career in the US, but then moved to Shanghai on the guidance of her father to understand that she would have more opportunities as an Asian woman. In fact in Shanghai, she did not feel her gender hindered her in anyway and her US experience was seen as a bonus. She shares the highs and lows of her career, what kind of leader she is and utilising kindness, patience and empathy with her team. All throughout her career she had to ask for her promotions or go elsewhere, which is a good reminder to us all women to ask for what we want and deserve, don’t wait for your company to do so.

On this episode we hear from Marit. Originally from the Netherlands, she came to London for a five-month internship and basically never left. She stayed for 12 years working in various hotels across London in different operations roles in front desk. Each role she got through her networking and connections. She also took time for travelling in between roles for a reset. Due to her own interest in revenue management, she took the time to education herself in this field with the help of one of her colleagues. Then when a role became available, she jumped on it. When she moved to Australia, where she has now been for 15 years, she joined TFE hotels in revenue management. She and another colleague laid the foundations for revenue management in the organisation. We also discussed how her leadership has developed over the years and we both agreed that our styles adapt and change depending on who we are interacting with. She encourages her team to take time to self-reflect and also get feedback from her team on her leadership to continue to grow and develop.

On this episode we hear from Pyn. She started working in hotels from the age of 15 through various internships and her interest in hospitality just grew from there. Having graduated in 2020 in the middle of covid, she took any and all opportunities for work experience, always asking questions, being willing to learn and being open. She is now in a feasibility and development role with Radisson. She does often find herself being the youngest person in the room, so that does mean she feels she has to prove herself, but at the same time she sees it as a luxury. Its ok to make mistakes and learn from them, now is the time to learn and soak up as much knowledge as possible and be inspired by the people around you. She has an incredible amount of self-awareness and confidence that I admired throughout our conversation. I love how she describes confidence. It’s about loving yourself and having the courage to try. She may be young in her experiences, but we all have a lot to learn from her.

On this episode we hear from Sandunie. She has taken her love of travel, hospitality, ocean conversation to find herself a career in sustainable tourism. From Sri Lanka, she knows first-hand the importance tourism has on a country's economy and the risk we can face on the environment with over tourism. One of the values that guide her is to have diversity and to have an interdisciplinary mindset towards sustainability. She is new to the hospitality industry and one thing that she noticed immediately was the lack of diversity in senior roles across the sector. We all need to do our bit by acknowledging it and by speaking up. Whenever she finds a new topic that interests her, she immerses herself into it, attending events, webinar etc and not being afraid to "cold call" ie reaching out to experts in their field and asking for their time and insights.

On this episode we hear from Samantha. She came to Thailand for her internship and basically got stuck. She did do a pre-opening on an island in the Maldives, which she advises all her students to do, something I regret not doing, but during the conversation she reminded me that there are no wrong moves in your life. She spent some time in events, loyalty and now in education all with Minor Hotels for the past 13 years. we talked about culture and the impact on speaking up, how we have both experienced it. She encourages her students to always try asking questions because it will benefit your peers. She has great example where she gets the students involved using post it notes and practicing. Same goes with public speaking, start small before you move onto larger audiences. Find what works for you, whether in work or your personal life. Try different things till you know which techniques work for you. I also love how she approached networking with kindness and a view to paying it forward.

On this episode we hear from Catherine. It’s her father who made inspired her to be a tough business women. After high school she spent a few years working across different hotels and restaurants across Europe learning the different styles of F&B. Then after completing her diploma at EHL she moved back to Barcelona, where she grew up, and after a short detour in a kindergarten she moved back into restaurants. And at the age of 27, with our common friend, opened her first restaurant, which was one of her life goals to open her own establishment by the time she was 28. After a couple of years, she moved to Thailand, where she has now been for the past 10 years. The last 7 years with event company Shloka, doing both corporate events and weddings. What has made this company work is the relationship with her business partners and how they level each other out. And relationships in general, it’s important to cultivate them, both professionally and personal and put the effort in to maintain them. This is how you build your support system.

On this episode we hear from Anita. On the advice of her father, she chose to be an interior designer rather than an architect as he felt that it would be easier to do business in this area as a woman, and in school she was always drawn to subjects like art so it suited her skill set as well. After completing her master she opened her own firm in Bangkok and one of her first projects was the Dream Hotel, which she then went on to win an award for. She has grown her business through word-of-mouth since then, being very practical and honest with her clients. She herself will say that there is no such thing as 100% perfection, but they will deliver on the project. We talked about the challenges that women face, and in particular Asian women face when it comes to speaking up. It’s hard, and she learnt this the hard way, but we just have to do it, to be noticed and for our own sanity. She challenges her team to criticise and accept criticism so that they are well prepared for defending their projects. And as their leaders she always reassures them that she is there to back them up.

On this episode we hear from Khun May. She studied political science, international relations, computer science and English. She has worked for OTAs and Thai immigration before she came into hospitality when she joined ONYX 13 years ago. She has been in marketing and has grown her career impressively to become VP of marketing. Whilst she is humble, she was also very clear that she had to speak up and fight for what she wanted and what she believed that she deserved. Advise she has for other women when it comes to speaking up, is just do it, if you don’t speak up, they will not know what you want, no one can read your mind. We also discussed how digital marketing has evolved in hospitality, importance of branding and looking at the entire customer journey. What is also changing is the people working in hospitality in Thailand and in what positions and roles, the benefits of being a foreigner or Thai. She was very nervous doing this podcast, but it was her way of setting an example of what she advises. Do what scares you, get out of your comfort zone and be heard.

On this episode we hear from Khun Yuwadee. She wanted to be a medical student and after a work experience at a hospital she realised that it was the engaging with patients that she enjoyed more, than giving out the medicine. So, despite her parents’ reservations, she switched to hospitality, and they respected her decision. She started her career in 2002 and since then Thailand has seen many turbulent years. She started her career at a time when OTAs were coming into the market, and she was eager to learn and be useful. So she took it upon herself to educate herself and become an expert, which allowed her career to grow from sales, e-commerce and revenue management. I love the way she describes the hotel industries adoption of technology: 'we are not behind, but we have time to adapt and learn'. After a prolonged maternity leave, she joined D-Edge solutions as country manager and works closely with local hoteliers to provide support on business performance.

On this episode we hear from Michelle. She shares with us her incredible journey in hospitality, from working in operations to starting her own business. She started her business, not only because she had a horrific interview, but also because she was looking for flexibility and to choose the kind of life she wanted to live and deserved. She did this during a time well before zoom and social media and worked hard to become and incredible role model for her children. She believes in intentional leadership, and she brings this heart centred approach to her training and business. She loves research and set up her own software and focuses on multi-generational data. We have four generations in the workforce and six generations as customers. Michelle shares how these various groups have been impacted by life and how they behave both in the workplace and as customers. Our shared interested in women in hospitality we discussed what was needed to close the leadership gap and how we can support one another on this journey.

https://www.michellepascoe.com/

On this episode we hear from Lada. She studied to be a lawyer, but very specifically a lawyer in hospitality. At the start of her career, she spoke up about her interest an asked for every hospitality project. Her career has taken her from Ukraine to Dubai and now Singapore and now works on projects in 27 countries. She has learnt that she has resilience and courage, with every move she made, and she can be successful. We discuss the changes that we have both witnessed in the hospitality market and how she has seen negotiation change to more healthy discussion with in-depth knowledge of the market. She shares the advice her mentor gave her very early on, 'treat every project as if it were your own' and she has taken that fundamental principal throughout her journey, Another learning she shares is take the moment to reflect and recognise yourself for the effort you have put in, and when it gets tough, take the time for yourself and treat yourself. Find what gives you the energy you need.

On this episode we hear from Radhika. She is an entrepreneur with sustainable impact solutions for the hospitality and travel market. This was her intro statement, succinct, with enough information to want me to ask her more. She has been in and out of hospitality throughout her career, but she came back to it in the end, like a boomerang. Throughout her life she always had curiosity and concern in nature, alongside a love of data. So she focused her early career in econometrics and that is also how her career in hospitality developed. But then she started asking the sustainability questions and was not finding the answers she was looking for. A forced change in her career due to covid gave her the time to focus this next part of her education on environmental topics and armed with this knowledge she went on to set up her own business, The Sustainability Kiosk. It is a platform for hospitality businesses for their sustainability needs. They are the bridge and the catalyst to make change happen.

Link to website: https://sustainabilitykiosk.com/

Link to podcast: https://sustainabilitykiosk.com/podcasts/

Link to book: https://www.routledge.com/Sustainability-in-the-Hospitality-Industry-Principles-of-sustainable-operations/Legrand-Sloan-Chen/p/book/9781138915367

On this episode we hear from Maysun. She runs an architectural firm and hospitality business in Dhaka simultaneously. For her school project she built a hotel, inspired by her family business and wanting to build something. She studied architecture in LA for seven years before returning to Bangladesh to start her own firm, her first project was a garage and through word of mouth she has gone on to designing a variety of projects, even a town. She got into hospitality through the family business when her father needed her support to run one of their hotels. She learnt the hotel business on the job and learnt that it is more than just check ins/check outs, cleaning the rooms and feeding the guests. She came to find her own leadership style and found that she enjoyed interacting with the guests to understand their needs. Inspired by her family their philosophy is to make their hotels a home away from home, they are one of the only local brands that exist in Dhaka, with plans to expand across the rest of the country. We both agreed with the challenges of having your own identity in Bangladesh and what a different working culture it is from the western world.

On this episode we hear from Apichaya. Her love of backpacking led her to open her own hostel in Koh Tao. She loved the community, the people and identified a gap for a nice hostel in Koh Tao and with the support of her family she just went for it. Along her travels she would always ask to speak to the managers to learn more about the operations and the rest she learnt along the way. After two years of operations, she decided to do her masters in hospitality and when she returned to Thailand, she took on corporate roles, first in HVS and then JLL. During the time she was away, she had a great team and manager to run the operations. Her advice to everyone is to do one solo trip in your life, you learn so much about yourself and how big the world is. She herself learnt to be a lot more independent. Together with her friend she has learnt that there is no such thing as something bad happening to you. #anotherdayanothertradegy It does not have to ruin your day, but can become a funny story to share.

On this episode we hear from Eva. She takes us on her career journey that spans across the UK, Germany and Switzerland. Having graduated in the midst of the GFC it was hard to find a role, and once she did find her ideal role, she then had to have the very brave conversation with her then current employers she was leaving, which is hard to have at the start of your career and during an economic crisis. She had a great mentor early on that showed her the ropes and was very happy to impart his knowledge with her, which was foundational for her. Her next role was extremely challenging full of long hours and lots of travel, and when she looks back, she would do the same but would put in more boundaries and push back. All these experiences helped build her confidence and her career journey has now led her to become Managing Director of Ariv Coliving. Which then got us talking about this accommodation type within hospitality and how it differs and what we can learn from it.

On this episode we hear from Catherine. She started her career as a business journalist, and she was drawn towards travel and hospitality after she moved in Thailand and immersing herself in each destination. She then joined Quo, a creative branding agency and her career just grew organically from content to now Chief Branding Officer. She shares with us her journey, which grew alongside the company's growth. We spent some time talking about branding and what it means, and how its plays a role in so many areas. Not only the external branding for clients, but internal to attract top talent and your own personal brand that will assist you with your career progression. One of the hurdles that Catherine had to overcome was public speaking. As her role grew she was asked to present to clients and she had to build her courage and confidence to do so. What she found was once she did it, the clients were response and she was not so bad afterall. With the support and push from her mentor and CEO of Quo, she has now been presenting on larger stages in conferences and in doing increasing female representation at these events, which while improving is still male dominated. We ended the conversation with admiration for her team, her leadership style and pride in the development of team members ability to shine.

https://www.quo-global.com/about/

On this episode we hear from Karin. She knew at the age of 10 that she wanted to go into hotels, and she ended up going to Hotel School de Hague to study hospitality. She takes us on a journey of her impressive career across several continents with different brands and different roles. She now finds herself at the Le Meridien in Dhaka, my father's home and one of my homes. I am so proud to bring this story to you, cause not only is it in Bangladesh but also a female hotel manager. While Karin has looked at each of her career moves to different countries as an adventure, she recognises for other women in the industry with a family in particular, may not always be easy. It is improving, but hospitality is still very male dominated especially in senior roles. One advise she has is around networking and relationship building. Its a small industry and its important to start fostering those relationships from the start of your career and throughout. She says that we should all set aside at least 1 hour per week to invest in our network and utilise LinkedIn.

On this episode we hear from Emily. She fell into hospitality by accident because she needed a job when she was a teenager and there was a hotel nearby. However, she did realise through the experiences she created that there was a a career here. She went onto study at the University of Surrey, which included a placement year at CBRE and that eventually led to her first role after graduating in marketing, PR and events. She then started her own consultancy for a few years working with a variety of different companies and now she has started her own PR agency together with Katherine Doggrell called NewDogPR focused on B2B hotel investors. She shared that one of her learnings is that you are always learning, every experience is a learning opportunity and how we react to each situation is within our control. We need to get better at not saying 'I am fine' when we are not and just be honest. Find moments in your life when you can be bored, cause that’s when you also find moments of creativity. Her final message is that while we can get all the help we need for our careers and lives, ultimately, we are each individually responsible.

https://newdogpr.co.uk/

On this episode we hear from Katherine. She likes long walks in the country and the hospitality industry. Its full of good and welcoming people. She originally started in the music industry but realised that it wasn’t good to combine your hobby with your work. She worked as a paparazzi at one point, to help fund her education. She then found herself in the hospitality industry and stayed. She has seen a lot of changes during her career, rise of the brands, hotels being seen as a viable asset class, lease back, etc and now she is interested to see if hotels could become a consumer brand and not just a brand for the owner. If you are considering becoming a journalist Katherine's advice is to go to a well-known university with a broad network and just do the work. She was very shy when she was a child and so networking did not come easy to her. She has developed the confidence over time by until it becomes natural to you. She now has her own business with Emily Newman, where they offer PR services to the B2B hotel investment sector.

https://newdogpr.co.uk/

On this episode we hear from Sophie. From a young age she was fascinated, or as she called it conned into the glamour of hotels. Every school vacation spent staying in different hotels in Penang, she turned to her mother one day and said that she want to be sitting behind that desk in the hotel lobby one day. Whilst she did go into hotels, her career path took her into F&B. Several years in Malaysia in restaurant operations, a short stint in hotel sales and marketing and then as a teacher, imparting her knowledge to the next generation. She was lured to Macau when the first casinos opened and stayed for nearly 14 years. Moved to Singapore two years ago and wanted a new challenge, so she started her own coaching business working primarily with women. She was drawn to work with women for very similar reasons to myself, as we need more support. It is challenging to be a women and Sophie want to provide the framework for women to be successful.

https://www.leapwithsophiechen.com/

On this episode we hear from Nina. She takes us on her career journey that started with event planning, before moving into hotels. In hotels she got into digital marketing where she worked closely with the sales team to support their goals. After completing business school, she joined Amex in Hong Kong and was exposed to so many different countries, cultures, and languages during her three years there. After Amex, she joined Wyndham where she stayed for a few more years before embarking on her own entrepreneurial journey. She shares how here time in business school and education in general has helped boost her confidence and build her network. For her business, she identified a real pain point and developed a solution to meet the needs in corporate housing on a different budget. She also started Female Founder in Hospitality to provide a supportive community to other female founders.

https://lanyardstays.com

https://www.linkedin.com/company/female-founders-in-hospitality/

On this episode we hear from Giada. She wanted to be anuclear engineer, but she found herself in interior design and in hospitalityand never looked back. She loves the diversity of space you can design in hospitality,whether it’s the room, restaurant, bar or wellness area. Each project is newand you adapt to the space, location, property, client or strategy. Herchallenge is to make the space liked by 99% of the people visiting. She beganher career in Toronto, when she hardly spoke any English, but that did not stopher from being creative or being able to communicate. She then went onto Londonfor several years, before moving back to her home country, Italy where she hasnow opened her own interior design studio in Milan. We also discussed howthings change when you become a team lead for the first time, you become amentor. She talks about the mentors who have helped her, both female and malealong the way and how they have inspired her. One of her learnings is to beauthentic and be true to who you are.

On this episode we hear from Noelle. While she may have a masters in architecture and engineering, her true love was hospitality. To her hospitality is making people happy. She recognised that being in an environment where we are creating these happy experiences, was good for her mental health too. During her career she has used education every 3 to 4 years as an opportunity to learn, self reflect and progress at the same time. AFter her MBA she went after her desire to being in hospitality and after covid she took another chance on herself to becoming an entrepreneur. She started ENVI lodges with her co-founder Chris in Dubai. These eco-lodges are designed to connect people with nature, be part of the community and take care of the environment. She shares her views on negotiation and the outcome you want is that both parties win. The two learnings she shared is not to be afraid to learn and also be adaptable.

https://envilodges.com/

On this episode we hear from Judith. Early travel experience made her want to have a career that was international. She shares her journey across three different continents with a focus on revenue optimisation. We talked about the importance of mentors and how they have inspired her and helped guide her throughout her career. She has also played the role of mentor in her career and empowered the next generation of leaders within the industry. Two years ago she started her own business because she wanted more flexibility in her life and wanted to work for herself. She wanted to travel less and spend more time with her family, and her advise to women who want families is that there is never a right time. We also discussed flexibility at the workplace and how many women decide to start their own businesses, because they are not getting what they need at the corporate jobs.

https://www.blackcoralconsulting.com/

On this episode we hear from Sowon. Instilled by her family and culture, she has always been passionate about education. After a few years in private sector, she did her phD which then led her to her academic career. The topic of her thesis was around career strategy and networking. Some of her findings were that men understand faster the importance of networking at the start of their career compared to women. The art of networking is building your social capital and being visible. It takes time and effort and we need to take a 360 degree approach to network with people at all levels within the industry. When it comes to family life, there is no magic formula and is very honest about the fact that she is still figuring it out. She started to the 'Women in Leadership' initiative at EHL to provide students more female role models to be inspired by and provide faculty with a safe space for open and honest conversations. She has had many learnings in her life and the one thing she will say is that she would not change a thing.

On this episode we hear from Erika. She was determined to come into hospitality, driven by a desire to travel, no matter what obstacles the universe threw at her. Her early career years in London were most in events and sales and then she made a move towards hospitality technology and did not look back. She feels that still today there is a disconnect between hotels and technology companies and more needs to be done to bridge the gap. Two important learnings she shared with us. First be ready to speak up and ask for what you want. Just working hard and delivering good results will not get you noticed or get you that promotion you want. You have to express what you want from your career. Second is not to judge others by your own standards. Everyone has their own life experiences that makes them unique and bring their own perspectives with them.

On this episode we hear from Domenica. She shares her career journey that has taken her in hospitality, real estate, retail, commercial, concept and lifestyle brands and now her own coffee business. She says it herself she 'never says no to an opportunity' and that is part of her experience. She has faced challenges along the way, each time proving herself successfully and with finding the right ally, partnership, support and team. She shared what it is like to work across the different Swiss cultures that is influenced by the various languages. It is important to keep an open mind, ask questions and provide context. Some of her learnings from her career journey has been to learn to be more patient, stay calm, be consistent, trust yourself, learn to say no and also know when you need to say yes.

https://www.cosmo-coffee.ch/en

On this episode we hear from Huilin. She shares her experiences of working in a family business for the past 17 years, where she is now Group CEO. The business was started by her mother 35 years ago with very humble beginnings to becoming an internationally recognised brand, from whom Huilin draws a lot of inspiration. Her and her brother were handed the keys to the business just before COVID, which turned out to be blessing in disguise as they were able to push through a lot of changes faster than planned. Working for your family certainly has its ups and downs and she was very candid about her experiences. Some of her learnings has been around being kinder to yourself, asking for help, valuing truly genuine and honest relationships, and finally getting better at 'stop, think and then do'.

On this episode we hear from Shell. Her family, of Italian heritage has always been in hospitality, working for the royal families, and now she is the chosen one of her generation to carry on the tradition. She has worked at some incredible hosptialtiy businesses in the UK and shares with us her learnings. She shares with us what the industry can do to encourage more to come into the industry and stay, which is mostly around taking care of your employees and what managers can do to support their team. Losing team members is a high cost to any business, the constant change with changing team members takes an incredible amount of time and energy from everyone. When you take care of your team you take care of your industry. Through her career she felt she had to emulate a more masculine energy, its only later she learnt the benefits of being true to herself. We had an honest conversation about the impact of alcohol and drugs in our industry and her own challenges with addiction. She has recently started her own podcast to have more meaningful conversations around mental health in our industry.

Link to her podcast, 'We recover loudly': https://open.spotify.com/show/24OFDBpIuItcOScVuGUDqg?si=229a9201baf848e2

On this episode we hear from Nathalie. She has worked across five continents and shared that she found it easier to manage a multi-cultural team as its the differences that help gel people together. While many of us may work part of pre-opening teams, she worked at the Savoy as part of the closing team ahead of its multi-millions pound refurbishment. When I asked her how to inspire people to come into she reminded us how hospitality is a great career to develop your personal growth, travel and broad management and leadership skills. In terms of female leadership, one of the things that she has seen change is the view of softer feminine traits that are now desired in leaders. It is also important to identify and nurture the female talent in your company. One of her learnings that she shared was when something bad happens, ask yourself if you are going to remember this in five years or not. Don't sweat it.

On this episode we hear from Caroline Zwierz. She shared her career journey that started in auditing and then took her to revenue management, both underpinned by her capabilities in numbers. She shared her experiences of managing a team in India and Hong Kong, at separate points of her career and her role of giving guidance, direction and offering a different perspective. Whilst she worked in many different parts of the world, in a mostly an english environment, albeit being French, she struggled to adjust to the French working culture when she returned home. We also discussed how to incorporate networking in your life and its not just for when you want something, but something to keep active throughout your career in an authentic manner. The one learning she shared was that anyone can have more than one professional life in their lives, its about asking yourself what makes you happy and going after that.

On this episode we hear from Andrea Belfanti. She took an intro to hospitality course in university and she was hooked. She went onto work in events in clubs, art museum and hotel companies before joining ISHC, where she is now CEO. We discussed how we were both attached to our jobs and associated it with our identity, while its still a learning journey she has learnt to incorporate more boundaries into her life. She talked about the mentors who have supported her along her career and how to look at networking to build genuine relationships. How diversity has evolved in hospitality both across the industry and at ISHC. One of the learnings she shared was how she views leadership from being having to know all the answers to being transparent. And most important, we all need to get better as women to celebrate the wins.

On this episode we hear from Philippa. We bonded on our shared experiences of being a third culture kid, the highs and the lows. In some ways you do not belong anywhere, but then you are lucky to have many homes. Her first experiences in hospitality was when her parents bought a B&B in the english countryside and that became her home. She loved interacting with the guests and meeting new people. She went onto to study languages and her first job was in recruitment. But then she did find her way back into hospitality with a boutique consulting firm. Her advise was to find someone who you want to learn from and that is how she got her role. A common thread throughout her studies and career has been communication. Languages, communicating with clients and across different cultures. She shares how she has had to learn and adapt her communication style both personally and professionally.

On this episode we hear from Cristhian. She chose a career in hospitality because she likes to travel and being exposed to different cultures. Her career journey took her to ten different countries and she has made herself a career in operational excellence. She shared with us some early experiences on being on the executive committee and using data to support her insights, to come across confident. In her career in operational excellence you put the client in the centre to find areas of improvement. We also discussed that keeping your employees happy are the key to achieving your goals. Listening has been an important part of her role to ensure that she hears the point of view of all the departments , being that neutral person to bring the team together.

On this episode we hear from Bousserind. Because of her father's job their family moved every few years and it was one of those roles that brought her to Switzerland, which she loved so much that she decided that she wanted to go back someday. The way she saw of going back was to study hospitality management. Whilst she did not manage to get back to Switzerland, she stuck with her choice of hospitality and studied in Paris. She took on a sales role in the Intercontinental in Paris, which she was apprehensive about, but with the support of a great mentor she was able to learn and settle well into the role and went onto having a career in sales. Her career then took her to Dubai for eight years and now she is back in her home country of Thailand. We discussed how its sometimes hard to make the decisions, especially when we are in our comfort zone, but when we get out of it is when the growth happens. It takes courage to make the decision, but there are good things on the other side.

On this episode we hear from Melissa. Her love of event planning took her to a career in hospitality. After graduating from EHL she went to work from Quintessentially in Singapore. It was here she identified a gap in the market, to connect brides with vendors from the wedding industry via a market place. So together with her co-founder at the age of 25, she started her own business - Delegate. Upon reflection she believes she had more courage to try out her entrepreneurship journey vs when one is older with more responsibilities and higher opportunity costs. Which I likened to my fear of driving as an adult. She shares her journey into the tech space, her learnings and observation of gender balance in this space. Three learnings she shared: start fast, fail fast ; do not forget about your life outside your career ; having an optimistic view on life.

On this episode we hear from Daphne. Being the eldest of four from an African family there was a lot of expectations from her, like going to medical school. Which she did not do, but she has successful career in hospitality which started with Disney and most of her working career in the US. She then moved back home to Ghana to start a new chapter in consulting, educating, training, advocating for tourism and hospitality. She also co founded AAWTH with a goal to up-skill 2500 African women by 2023 for leadership roles. She shares with us the various challenges she faced when she became a mother and combine it with work, which went away once she moved to a more female led executive team. She is inspired by those who have overcome challenges and she hopes to be as courageous.

On this episode we hear from Patrizia. With one parent being in hospitality, she did not think this was the route she was going to take, but eventually it became inevitable. You can have a variety of careers with a hospitality education both within and outside of the industry, our quality of putting people first is highly valued. She shared how it was graduating in the midst of covid. Whilst it was challenging to find any kind of role, it also took the pressure off to find that perfect job, that is often placed on student upon graduation. We talked the importance of your values lining with the values of the company you aspire to work with and how interview cultures are changing with each generation. She got her current role in development, because she was vocal about her aspirations and one day her mentor shared with her a job opening in the area that she wanted to go into.

On this episode we hear from Sophie. She grew up and started her career in Argentina before moving to Europe. After a few years in operations she did an MBA to change the direction of her career and that is when she started her professional life at HVS. First in the Madrid based office before moving to London where she has been for the past 16 years. We both agreed that we appreciated the diversity of hospitality in terms of the careers you can have and the people you get to work with, from all over the world. Over the years she has learnt resilience, perspective and to be kind to yourself. Having a supportive partner is also incredible to the success of your professional and personal life, its all about team work and not necessarily that the woman has to take on the bulk of the responsibilities at home. The real estate finance space is still male dominated, but she is starting to see the changes and hope more women will continue to be attracted to this space.

On this episode we hear from Victoria. She had guidance early on her life to direct her towards a career in hospitality. She greatly values her experience to study abroad as it opened her world view and pushed her outside of her comfort zone. She was inspired to go into consulting as she wanted to work in hospitality real estate. Real estate being a very valued commodity to every Singaporean. She shared some stories of travelling as a woman to various locations, which also further enhanced her cultural view. One of her important learnings is not to be afraid to speak up and share your opinion, it matters and you bring value to the conversation. Yes, we both agreed, that being Asian sometimes finding this confidence is hard, but it is worth pushing yourself. She also shared the value of learning from not only your seniors, but your peers and those junior to you. There is something to be taken out from every interaction.

On this episode we hear from Jane. The root of her career is in real estate and valuation. At that start of her career she spent some time in Hong Kong, where she grew up, before coming back to the UK, where she spent the remainder of her profession. She has worked across different sectors in real estate, but its the operational business such as healthcare and eventually hospitality that she stuck too. She reflect on her time from when she first joined the working world and some of the changes, such as more diversity in entry, more conversations on gender, opportunities for feedback and appraisals. She has had to ask for promotions, which taught her to speak up and ask for what she wants. Not always easy to learn, but takes constant practise to build. We discussed flexibility and how it can play a positive role for both employer and employees such as the four day work week. Working together to identify what works, its more valuable to keep an existing employee than try to find a new resource.

On this episode we hear from Shinn. Her love of hospitality comes from her years of travel with family, where there were moments of magical experiences in hotels. Her first work experience was at the Four Seasons Seychelles, where she learnt the difference between island life and city life. One more fast paced and the other slower. She pushed herself out of her comfort zone by taking her higher education in Switzerland, her first time in Europe ever and learning to adapt accordingly. After graduating her path lead her towards learning and development within hospitality. We discussed the concept of service culture and whether that can be taught or something you have innately within you. Shinn relies on reflection throughout her life, to help her navigate various situations or coming up with ideas, etc. She promotes life long learning to everyone and advocates for us all to invest in ourselves. One of the areas that she has worked on over the past year is her assertiveness.

Please note since this recording in November 2022, Shinn has left EHL Singapore team.

On this episode we hear from Gosia. She started her career in banking, but then quickly realised that she is more of a customer centric service orientated person and would prefer to be in hospitality. This took her from your five star hotels, to coworking and now coliving. She has worked in organisations with an established structure in place, high growth company and also start ups. She shares her different experiences with each organisation and also her personal preference. She has moved country several times, and when you go somewhere where it's completely new, be prepared that it might take you at least two years to really settle in. We also talked about choice and how choice has changed over the generations. We are currently in a generation where we have a lot more choice than our mothers and grandmothers, depending on where you live of course. It can be overwhelming, so we must be mindful of whom we go to for advise and what decisions we make. And own any decisions we make.

On this episode we hear from Sara. She came into hospitality because of love, whilst the romance fizzled out, her relationship with hospitality stayed. She has worked in sales in the middle east and now in Denmark with CitizenM. We talked about the culture differences of working in the middle east vs Denmark, what had to be learnt and unlearnt each time she moved. ME is very fast paced, whereas in Denmark is more relaxed. Working long hours is not seen as a badge of honour and there is a greater respect for your personal life. We shared how we have both worn 'fake' wedding rings in different circumstances. How women make great leaders and we should celebrate that empathy makes us powerful. When it comes to confidence she emulates the abundance of confidence her male colleagues demonstrate and the way they promote themselves. Women need to get better at advocating for themselves. Outside of her work life she does theatre and she gets to bring that in with her into her work life too. Being authentic is key to being one with ourselves.

On this episode we hear from Sumi. Her skill sets are in marketing and business management, which are highly transferable and she has taken it with her to every industry she has worked in. Such as publishing, telecommunication, international education and now tourism and hospitality. Needless to say she has a favourite and said she has met the best people in tourism and hospitality, and had the most fun. She took time off when she had kids, and when she came back to the workforce she returned part time, which gave her that cushioned return. Another key to her success was having a supportive and understanding boss, who understood her needs and gave her the flexibility, provided she met her KPIs. Having this flexibility meant that she was determined to do well and be successful in her career. We discussed how events have evolved, both during and after covid and how our public speaking journey was like. She believes that if you put your mind to it, you can do anything.

On this episode we hear from Virginie. Throughout this conversation she shared her learnings from each stage of her career and there is a lot we can be inspired from this conversation. A chance prize win for a holiday at club med, introduced her to the world of hospitality and she never looked back. Throughout her education she worked part time, like an apprenticeship, which meant she had a good amount of work experience to get her first jobs. The relationships you build this way are different to those on internship. Learning and getting support from your peers was the key to her success in one of her sales roles. She joined CitizenM just when they entered into France, she was the first person to apply for the sales role when it opened up and she instrumental to the success of the launch in France, which is not an easy market to enter into as a new brand. She learnt that once you become a manager and start leading a team, your role becomes more internal focused than externally. She also learnt to build her confidence, which came with time and maturity, learning to say no, which protects your priorities and the service you give.

On this episode we hear from Leah. She is one person who has truly done every role possible in hospitality. Like me she thought she would have a career for life in F&B, like me also discovered revenue management and never went back. After her masters she got into consulting and was with HVS for 14 years. Now she has started her own business as hotel owner. We talked about the lack of female owners in hospitality. There are some family business with Asian American female owners, however outside of this its very sparse. In all her years as a consultant she interacted with maybe one female owner. This needs to change and Leah wants to be that change maker. One of the key learnings she shared was the power of relationships and networking and she wished someone had told her about this at the start of her career. No matter how much it may make you cringe sometimes, it is extremely valuable when you can create those meaningful connections. She also said don't be so hard on your self :'You can only do your best, and your best is different everyday".

On this episode we hear from Valerie. She defines herself as an entrepreneur. She started her first business in import export, after selling it, she went into politics. She left politics to start her own business, start up and think tanks at the age of 59. Never let age be a barrier to what you are capable of. She was inspired to be an entrepreneur because if she saw something was wrong, she knew she had to be the one to fix it rather than wait for someone else to do it. She is the founder of the 'She Travel Club' which is a label that certifies hotels that tailor to the needs of the female traveller. The criteria set by the label are based on regular survey from their 5000 strong member base and as women make up 64% of the global travellers, it's time to take notice and make changes. The hospitality industry has been very receptive to this initiative and are grateful for the information. Valerie noticed, as a newcomer to the hospitality industry that we are still lacking several women in c-suite positions and other industries are starting to catch up. All the research shows that when you have diversity of thought at your senior team, the business is more successful.

https://www.shetravelclub.com/

I love their brand statement: "We make hospitality better for women."

On this episode we hear from Sima. She married into hospitality and never looked back. The most heart warming theme throughout this episode is the support she had from her husband and his family, especially her father-in-law, to have a career, grow, learn, develop herself and most importantly believe in herself. They were the ones who encouraged her to take the board positions, when she first said no. Once her and her husband starting building hotels, she became the driving force to construct and operate more hotels. She would take care of the operations and her husband the development. Now with their son on board, her role has shifted to being more advisory and strategic capacity and that has allowed her to spend time giving back to the hospitality industry that gave her a career. She serves on boards, she is the role model for Indian women businesses leaders across America and still taking an active role in the family business. Her lessons are say 'yes' and speak up.

On this episode we hear from Ike. Like myself, it was her Dad who encouraged her to follow a hospitality career. She chose to go down the F&B path and that eventually got her a role as project manager for 15 F&B outlets for the hotel that she was working for. At the time she knew nothing about F&B concepts and she was really thrown into the deep end. She was open and honest about her experiences, she took one day at a time, she asked the silly questions, cause she would rather look like an idiot for a day, rather than a lifetime and with strong work ethics she was successful. She eventually took on a bigger project of an entire hotel construction. One of her disciplines was when she was working, she was working and didn't mess around, however when she was 'off the clock' she was not contactable. Whilst her colleagues may have been frustrated with her at times, she took her personal time very seriously. She recognised that she needed the rest to perform at her best. During covid she pivoted and now set up her own business in 3D printing to enable local manufactures in Indonesia, where she is from, meet their supply chain requirements more efficiently.

On this episode we hear from Arlett. It was an elective that she took in university in Germany that brought her into hospitality and tourism. After a few work experiences she realised she did not want to be a GM, but did find herself in London and was exposed to another side of the industry in development and investment. Which is where she started her 16 year career with HVS. This role took her to many countries around the world, where you need to visit the sties of the projects you are working on. During her time here she learnt a lot of the technical side of the business, personally she learnt that she cannot control everything, there is no right answer and to learn to ease up as you mature in your career. She has now moved to Switzerland with her family, to start the next chapter of her career.

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 :)