Kyri King

I would say my leaders. The position that I'm in right now, I wasn't even looking for it. They saw something in me that I didn't necessarily see in myself, or maybe I didn't think I was ready for it, and they kind of pushed me. They said, no, you are ready for it. There were definitely moments of trials and tribulations, for sure, but my leaders believed in me. And then, of course, God. God has been with me through it all on a daily basis, and he continues to be a light every single day as I travel this journey of career. Without that spiritual foundation and the leaders who saw my potential, I wouldn't be where I am today.

The best advice I actually got from a guest. There was a day I had to come in and help out because one of my team members got sick, and I was mopping in the lobby. One of our regular guests comes in, looks at me kind of funny, and says, 'Miss Kyrie, what are you doing mopping?' I told him I was being a team player. He starts laughing and asks if I like football. When I said yes, he said, 'So, when is the last time you've ever seen a coach go in when a quarterback gets hurt?' That just hit me. I still mopped and finished the day, but it reminded me that the coach has a position for a reason, and the team has their positions for a reason. It's very important to kind of stay in your lane. Not to say that I'm better than anybody, and I still go upstairs and help out, but there is a place and time for everything. That changed my perspective of how I lead.

I would say pause on purpose. Take a moment to take it all in and be intentional. Whatever role that you're in, play it to perfection. No matter what role you're in, whether you're a housekeeper or a front desk agent, play that role to perfection. Whatever God has for you, it will come in the right time. Just trust the process, trust the journey. Don't rush ahead or think you need to be somewhere you're not yet. Excellence in your current position will open the doors when the time is right.

The biggest challenge is people. My job itself is so easy, but dealing with people is really hard because everybody is so different. You have different people with different values and different cultures. I remember when I first got here, I noticed everybody would greet themselves by kissing on the cheek, and I was like, whoa, HR issues! But then I realized that's their culture, that's how they greet each other. I've learned to pause on purpose and understand that people are different, and it's okay. You have to keep an open ear, not an ear to reply, but an ear to really, truly listen and understand. You have to figure out how you can communicate with that person because it's not going to be the same for everybody. That's been the most challenging, but also the most rewarding, being able to communicate effectively with different people. As for opportunities, there are so many. I'm a creature of wanting to learn more. I'm continuing to do what I'm doing and really, truly learning the business. I've got operations and the systems down pat, but I want to understand the why behind things, getting deeper into the numbers and understanding what affects what. I'm taking different trainings to learn what the systems really mean and how I can use the data to get more revenue in the future.

We have 5 values that we go by. The first one is integrity, which is kind of just a given. The second is professional. We want to, no matter which position you're in, whether you're a housekeeper or a front desk agent, be a professional housekeeper, a professional front desk agent. We always want to remain professional. The third one is people. We believe that whether you're a guest or an employee, you treat everybody with respect. Then there's love and accountability, which is a new one for me. We don't just like what we do, we love what we do. And we hold each other and ourselves accountable. Whenever things go wrong and when things go right, we make sure that we're giving care to every single thing that we do. And then one team. We work as a team. We're not just in it for ourselves. I always say team success over individual success is what we want to accomplish on a daily basis.