De 'Zhane' Jenkins

I would say a lot of my success definitely comes from my relationship with God, but also just the simple fact of having a great support system around me. I also have a lot of determination and don't let life circumstances and situations get in the way of what I feel like I'm supposed to be doing, which is training and development and really making an impact within others' lives. Having people around me who support me and staying focused on my purpose has been key to everything I've accomplished.

The best career advice I've probably ever received is that people will not remember what you say, or they might not remember what you say, they might not remember what was on a presentation board, but they will always remember how you make them feel. This has really shaped how I approach my work, especially in training and development where connecting with people and making them feel valued is so important.

I would say be flexible, be willing to learn, and really understand that it takes a special person to be in food services and in training and development, because you really do have to have a passion for people and wanting to see results and wanting to see an organization grow. The biggest thing is being flexible, being able to adjust as different things come about and different needs arise, and really focusing on having a guest-focused mindset and applying empathy with everything that you're doing. A lot of times training and development involves change management, so making sure you have a lot of empathy and really being flexible to the needs of the organization is crucial.

The biggest challenge is the continuous evolving state of food service and how trends are always changing. It can be very hard to catch up with the trend and implement that throughout the organization, because by the time you implement it throughout the entire organization, there's a new trend. Social media has definitely helped to speed that up. So we're constantly trying to make sure we stay on top of all the different things that are coming out consistently and making sure we're giving our guests what they need and what they want as well.

For my personal and professional life, the first value is always operating in the spirit of excellence. I make sure that when I'm putting something out, when I'm meeting with senior leaders, or when I'm in an account actually facilitating a training, I'm operating in excellence and doing the best of my ability, presenting the best information, and making sure that the way I engage with associates makes them feel warm and welcome and important to the organization. I also value integrity, doing the right thing even when nobody's watching. That's very important to me. And really just being someone that is making an impact, whether it's something as small as making a frontline associate feel like they have a place within the organization, or something as significant as having a 20% increase in sales after completing a training program. No matter what it is, just making people feel like I'm having an impact.