What initially inspired you to get into the hospitality business? Hilton is an iconic brand and the vitality, complexity, and community surrounding hospitality are unique to this industry and continue to inspire me. Now that I am in hospitality, the team members, owners, and suppliers—the community I have the pleasure of working with—are why I will probably never leave this business!
Who were some of your mentors or role models, male or female, and what were their most valuable lessons? An incredible advantage of being in hospitality is that our industry has a deep bench of talented mentors. I have been very vocal about the impact my mentors have had and continue to have in my journey, both women and men. I am still learning from them at every stage of my career—with that fact being my most valuable lesson—as leaders, our learning journey is never done.
In your opinion, how is the lodging industry doing in terms of getting women into leadership positions? I see tremendous advancement both here at Hilton and throughout our industry, and more and more incredibly talented women are finding their way into executive roles than ever before. The AHLA Foundation’s ForWard program plays a big role in this, and I’m excited to see its success. Across our company, women serve as key leaders at both the corporate level and in our hotels around the world, where they provide mentorship and inspirational examples for their teams and where they all play a role in inspiring the next generation of women leaders.
