Q: What will you be speaking about at DisruptHR?
Personal lives and professional lives, no matter how hard we try to keep separate, have a way of impacting each other. What does your inner circle know about your career and where you work? When the going gets tough, lots of times people turn to their closest personal confidant to talk things through. What can companies do to get an employee’s most trusted people to help with retention?
Q: Tell us about yourself.
A: I’m a full-time working wifey to an amazing husband and mother of two great humans and one dogchild. My job as area director of sales at the Holiday Inn Fargo and Holiday Inn Express – West Acres, under S&L Hospitality Management, has afforded me many opportunities in this community through connections, including this crazy moment to speak at DisruptHR.
Q: Why are you passionate about your topic?
A: I’ve learned from personal experience how much impact my family’s opinion on where I work matters. I also know that I have had the same impact on my spouse. We are each other’s inner circle. As time has gone on, I’ve noticed some major differences in what a timeline looks like leading up to a breaking point. This insight may help as a new perspective of employee retention efforts for certain people, so I’m excited to share key examples in front of a crowd.
Q: What general business advice do you have for readers out there?
A: Marketing to accounting, you never know when you need someone with skills you don’t possess to be willing to help you immediately and like they actually care about helping. Be willing to return favors.
Q: Can you share a specific experience that has significantly shaped your career?
A: In 2012, I was astonished to find out that I had won the national brand Hilton Garden Inn Director of Sales of the Year Award. It put my name on the radar for recruitment firms, which led me to my next position in 2013 as opening sales director of Hyatt Place Minneapolis/ Downtown.
The big deal about that job was that it was the first hotel to open in downtown Minneapolis since the 2008 recession, meaning an opportunity like it hadn’t been available for five years to anyone and I was who they selected.
A few years into that stellar role, a marriage, another baby, and a Super Bowl project later, it made sense to head north to the Holiday Inn Fargo, where I am today, still forming that career shape as we speak.
Q: How do you stay motivated and inspired in your professional journey?
A: Travel and hospitality are known as “big, giant industry and small, connected world.” There are so many things to learn about how different areas and different brands approach travelers and tourists.
Q: What do you think are the key traits of successful leaders today?
A: A successful leader knows how to make themselves accessible to all levels of their company, while still relying heavily on all levels of management in the grand picture. One of the biggest key traits is fluidity, as this world has proven that nothing stays the same for long, and knowing how to pivot with grace is something few do well, but those who do, prevail.
Q: How do you handle setbacks and challenges in your career?
A: One day, one challenge at a time. Due to the many changes above my position in the last few years, I’ve had some setbacks that I wasn’t expecting that were beyond the control of my own job performance. I’ve learned to swallow my pride and fine wine on days when bitching and moaning won’t do anything. Then I wake up and choose to carry on the next day. Continuously operating in a positive mindset can do wonders for being able to move forward. When my glass isn’t half full, I find a way to refill it.
Q: What advice would you give to young professionals looking to make an impact in their field?
A: Be more than just your job title. Be a part of your community in as many ways as you can. Volunteer, give back, join a hobby club, whatever you can do to be involved. Is your company big enough to have committees inside your organization like the holiday party or volunteer projects committee? Get on that thing. You’d be amazed at what this can do for people’s perceptions of you, including your leaders.
Also, make sure you give yourself credit for the work that you do, and don’t be the jerk who takes credit for other people’s work just to try to get ahead in life faster. You will be found out and you will crumble.
Q: How do you maintain a healthy work-life balance?
A: There’s no such thing as work-life balance. I watch people drive themselves nuts trying to keep that scale. It’s work-life preference and knowing when to focus on the things that need you the most at that moment in time. This also goes against the notion that professional lives and personal lives don’t collide, or overlap.
Q: Can you share an example of a project or initiative that you’re particularly proud of?
A: Any chance I get, like this one, I’d like to tell you about the initiative going on right now to open the Fargo Moorhead Science Museum. This is my third year on the Board of Directors. I’ve learned so much and am fascinated at the entire process of bringing a ‘Regionally focused, Globally relevant’ concept to life for the betterment of our entire community. We’ve made leaps and bounds in the past year, but it is going to take some transformational contributions to get shovels in the ground. Our whole team is hopeful to see doors open in 2027 with the way current conversations are going. Personally, I joined this project that has developed me in so many professional ways because I thought it would make me look cool in front of my kids.
Q: What qualities do you believe are essential for fostering a positive workplace culture?
A: For leaders, managers, and staff to all see each other as people. Whether you are looking at the highest possible position in the building or all the way down to a starting role, every single one of us has a life to live and does something with it when we’re not on the clock. When that is not only acknowledged but appreciated in a variety of ways, you grow a workplace culture worth talking about, which brings in the humans as resources you need to succeed.
