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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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....

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...

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....

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...

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...

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...

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...