Joyce Turchetti

I attribute my success to resilience - never quitting even when you get knocked down. Every time life whacks you, you just keep going, because you never know what the next moment will bring, much less the next day. When I went to New York with only $200 in my pocket, I slept at Penn Station because I had nowhere to go. I walked around getting a job, found a cocktail waitress who let me sleep on her couch, and before I knew it I had my own apartment and became the youngest general manager in New York City at 25. That journey taught me that if you don't quit every time you get knocked down, you can achieve things you never imagined. It's about taking the blows and still going, even though you got whacked. That resilience has carried me through 43 years in this industry and through every challenge I've faced.

The best career advice I ever received was from someone I consulted with outside the hospitality industry. After we had a big success together, he told me, 'Don't lock yourself into hospitality, because what you share is valuable to other industries.' That advice opened my eyes to the fact that the principles of serving others and creating great customer experiences apply everywhere, not just in hotels and restaurants. It helped me realize that my expertise in developing talent and understanding what makes people successful transcends any single industry. That's why I now work with anyone who has a heart to serve and wants to learn, whether they're in a park serving food and beverage or any other business where the experience of the customer matters.

The biggest challenge in hospitality right now is that the industry has taken a nosedive and lost the original meaning of what it means to be hospitable. Too many hotels and restaurants have become more focused on profits rather than on serving others with heart. They're throwing people at the front desk with no training and no heart to serve, and it shows. The industry is turning over to an era who hasn't been trained and hasn't developed the key aspects of what it means to be in hospitality. The opportunity is for veterans like me to stand up and say no, let's get these veterans out there with young professionals who are entering hospitality, and let's teach them and share our experiences - both the faceplant failures and the successes. We need to give oxygen back to an industry that's practically dying by teaching people what true hospitality means: having a heart to serve others. Baron Hilton understood this - he hired people with a heart to serve and taught them the rest, saying 'I don't care if you don't know anything. You have a heart to serve, you've got a job with Hilton.' That's what we need to get back to.

The most important value to me is having a heart to serve others. In hospitality especially, you're serving others, and you have to have a specific trait to do that well. Some people are born with it, and others just don't care to do that, but if you don't have a heart to serve, you're really not going to do well in this industry. I also deeply value giving back and sharing knowledge with the next generation. Now that I'm in a position where I can choose my clients, it's more about giving back and saving and giving oxygen to an industry that has practically raised me. I feel passionate about teaching people what I learned before I leave this world and keeping them from having to make the same faceplants that I did. When I share my knowledge with other people and watch them succeed, it gives me such a great feeling. That's what drives me now - not just making money, but making an impact and ensuring that true hospitality survives.