Influential Woman · Hospitality

Karissa Langley

Food And Beverage Operations Manager, AC Hotel Waco Downtown

Waco, TX

2Awards received

Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Degree Bachelor's in Business Management (in progress) - Southern New Hampshire University Online Cert Food Handler Certification Cert TABC Certification Cert Marriott Training Programs

Her Story

About Karissa

I've been working in food and beverage for most of my career, starting as a server and working my way up to front of house manager. I spent about four years working in behavioral health for a non-profit before moving to Texas, where I got back into the hospitality industry. For a little over two years now, I've been the operations manager at a Marriott property in Waco, where I oversee our three outlets - breakfast, a lounge, and banquets. My typical day involves checking emails, working on schedules, checking in with all the teams to make sure everything's running smoothly, and doing a lot of paperwork. What I'm most proud of is really getting the food and beverage program here up and running and being a part of that. Marriott gives you some guidance, but then a lot of it you build to your hotel, so making a name for us here in Waco has been great. I've always been drawn to working with people and interacting with the public, which is why I love this industry. I'm currently pursuing a Bachelor's in Business Management from Southern New Hampshire University Online while working full-time and being a mom.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Karissa

01What do you attribute your success to?

I attribute my success to hard work, showing up every day, and dedication. It doesn't matter if you want to do it - sometimes we have to do things we don't want to do, you just have to keep going, got to keep swimming, keep pushing. Being in the industry so long pushed me to want to do better and do better for myself and my daughter. Being successful for my daughter so that I can give her a good life is always a big, important thing for me.

02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?

Just keep swimming. I know it's from Finding Nemo, but my mom always used to say that to me, and I think it is important that you just keep going no matter what. Doesn't matter if you want to do it - sometimes we have to do things we don't want to do, you just have to keep going, got to keep swimming, keep pushing. I use that all the time in my personal and professional life. If you don't like where you are, change your direction, but keep going.

03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

Be prepared to work a lot of hours. It's a great industry to be in, but you do have to be prepared to do a lot. I wear a lot of hats in my role, so I do work a lot, and I work with a lot of different personalities, so just being ready to work with everyone and anyone is important.

04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?

I think finding employees that are reliable is a big challenge. I don't know if it's post-COVID or if it's just the city, because I'm fairly new to the city, but that seems to be an ongoing issue that I have here. Unreliableness has been way higher than any other place I've ever managed before. When I put in a post on Indeed, I get tons of applicants, and then I do interviews, and like 90% of the people don't show up. I mostly hire people that are my age or older, and I have issues with them not being reliable. I'm not sure what it is, but it's one of the biggest challenges I would say.

05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?

Definitely hard work in both my work and personal life. Dedication, reliability, and honesty are all very important to me. I also think empathy is super important these days. These values guide how I approach everything I do, both professionally and personally.

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