Angelina Pistone

I attribute my success to the way that I was raised, really. I grew up with my dad who loved cooking all the time, and we would host parties for family and friends and do huge cookouts. I fell in love with hosting and taking care of people, and I never realized that that is a career. I didn't even know what hospitality management was till I was a senior in high school. Once I figured it out, I could kind of take that and go anywhere with that. That's how I knew what I wanted to do. Seeing that gratification in people's faces when someone tells you how they feel when they taste the food, when they react to the service, when they see the atmosphere that you create - that is the most satisfying part for me.

The best career advice I've received is to always apply yourself more than 100% in anything that you do, and then always create connections everywhere you go. I really wouldn't be where I'm at without creating connections and building a name for myself. That's what has helped me - I'm only in my twenties, but I've already had three management positions so far. Making connections and building a name is the most important thing that you can do, and just keep on growing. You know, just take new opportunities, even though it might be hard in the moment, in the long run it'll help.

Don't feel like you're being pushed down. Surprisingly, I didn't think hospitality was gonna be a very male-dominated career, but everywhere I have gone, it's pretty much male-dominated, especially when I was working at the Ritz-Carlton. I was one of the only female servers over there, so it was a struggle, and I did have managers doubt me. But I ended up proving that I was one of the best ones there, just because I kept working just as hard, and even harder than most people, just to prove my name. And I'm more than capable of doing it.

Some challenges I definitely faced were being part of, working places that they don't want to give you that chance to grow, even when you are proving that you are more than capable. I think you have to fight and show, but when it comes to a point where they don't want to move you, you have to take that step and go somewhere else and grow with something else if they're giving you the opportunity. And I think that was hard because it almost felt like I was taking a step back, but at the end of the day, it actually helped me grow further than I thought I could grow. As for opportunities, I'm located in the Orlando and Melbourne area, and I think being in Orlando, there's so many high-end restaurants, high-end hotels that you can really just start working at one of those and get that name on your resume. Anywhere else you go, just having Ritz-Carlton on my resume has brought me so many different places, but not only the name, the training - such valuable information, more than it is from going to school. I went to school, and I do appreciate it, and I think that it is definitely worth it, but getting work experience is so much different. It's easy to read something, but then when you have to deal with the guest in person, it's a completely different scenario. You can't predict that. But once you're trained properly, and they really put in the work for you, and they help you, and they want you to grow, and they'll train you, it really makes a difference.

I think always do what you're passionate in. As long as you have that passion, you can really build and grow infinitely, just because if you care, and you have that interest, and you grow deeper and deeper into that, you can achieve anything you want, really. I think as long as you're passionate, and then you work on it, and you always want to learn more, you can really do anything.