Inspiring Women in Hospitality

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 c...

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 rebrande...

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, bec...

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...

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 dr...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 car...

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 kee...

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. Sh...

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...

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 didn't 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 t...

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....

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 p...

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 the...

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 th...

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...

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 t...

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 conversati...

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 brandi...