Her Story
About Joanna
My journey in hospitality started 17 years ago when I was fresh out of high school and began as a breakfast attendant at a Best Western. I loved talking to guests, and the GM noticed my communication skills and gave me my first opportunity at the front desk as night audit. After 5 years there, I realized if I could do Best Western, I could do more. I applied to the Beverly Hills Wilshire, and even though they didn't have a front desk position, the GM saw my customer service background and asked if I'd try housekeeping. I said why not, and learned to clean rooms from the ground up. I really liked it and stayed in housekeeping for two years. I've been very fortunate that every two years, something better comes up. I've learned a lot from everything, and doing both front desk and housekeeping has made me understand the entire process better. When you do both, you understand that it doesn't take 15 minutes to clean a room, and it helps with the check-in process with guests. I mainly stuck with overnights because of my daughters, as it gives me the opportunity to do both - to be a full-time mom but also stay within the field and do what I like to do. I love the fact that working overnight, I can welcome tired guests and give them that comfort. Eventually I moved to daytime because I wanted to expand and learn more and grow. If I had stuck to just night audit, I wouldn't have been where I am now. I had that opportunity in Austin, which is why I moved from California to Texas. Now I'm an overnight hotel manager at Proper Hospitality, and I didn't think I'd ever have that title if I'm being honest. Without a college degree, my experience throughout the years has helped me shape who I am now and helped me grow to where I am today.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Joanna
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would attribute my success to my strong work ethic and my commitment. I'm very committed. I'm consistently trying, always wanting better. Even though things have been rough, the hard work I've been putting in has paid off. I've always felt like it's never going to get better, that it never stops, but it just gets better. I've learned to overcome and survive on my own, and I feel like that has helped me a lot.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
When you feel like giving up, don't. Even though it's rough, that hard work that you're putting in will pay off. I can be a perfect example with no college degree. I graduated, and I'm in my thirties, and now I have the privilege to have and be under a great title, overnight hotel manager, from a breakfast attendant to an overnight hotel manager. It will always be rough, but like they say, there's always light at the end of the tunnel. I've always felt like it's never going to get better, it never stops, but it just gets better.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest opportunity in my field, in my position, is providing the guests the experience at night that they can get in the daytime. For example, when they check in and they want coffee or they're hungry, although hotels run 24 hours, not every hotel provides coffee services 24 hours. It's not the same as your in-room coffee as getting a latte. So it's been a challenge getting that service to the guest at night. But when I do it, it's a great feeling, because they see that I try and that I'm there for them. Even though there's times where I'm not able to provide certain things, me trying at night and them being like, oh well, thank you, you tried, it's a great feeling. It's saying, okay, I did my job, I'm doing my job right, because the guest is seeing that I'm trying.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
For both work and personal life, I would say empathy and honesty. They align together for both.
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