Inspiring Women in Hospitality – Details, episodes & analysis

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 the podcast 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 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 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 a nuclear engineer, but she found herself in interior design and in hospitality and 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 new and you adapt to the space, location, property, client or strategy. Her challenge is to make the space liked by 99% of the people visiting. She began her career in Toronto, when she hardly spoke any English, but that did not stop her from being creative or being able to communicate. She then went onto London for several years, before moving back to her home country, Italy where she has now opened her own interior design studio in Milan. We also discussed how things change when you become a team lead for the first time, you become a mentor. She talks about the mentors who have helped her, both female and male along the way and how they have inspired her. One of her learnings is to be authentic 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