#198 Shannon Smith: My love language is feeding people

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 retirementHave you considered micro-retirement?Speak up and claim your space at any ageCreate your own personalityAdapt your languageCross 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?