I remember the first day I started to work at a Hotel. It was in Barcelona, at the Hilton Diagonal Hotel. I was also studying the first year of a Tourism degree, dreaming to be a Hotel Manager one day. After finishing my master's degree, back in 2014, I decided to leave the city. I send my "cv" to a Hotel in London where I got hired by two amazing professionals, the FOM and AFOM. I still remember every single one of the team members. I grew and learned very much from my colleagues as well as from business procedures. After almost four years working for Marriott, I left for a more boutique hotel in Soho, London, serving the UHNWI market. Where I learned what truly the most personalized, bespoke, and excellent customer-centric service is. It was a rewarding feeling of being a team leader and I love the fact that I learned from mistakes and celebrated our team milestones.
After a while, in FOH (2009-2015), I thought it was time to explore other business areas and learn about strategy. Then I started in 2016, as part of a Regional Sales Office opening in London, I transitioned from B2C to B2B, for a fabulous family own business with properties in Europe, where I learned about the team spirit, I was free to bring more inputs and to create. An experience that allowed me to expand my connections and establish new business with amazing professionals. This leads me the same year to start exploring ways to have my project and eventually to figure out how to be a full-time entrepreneur.
And then the journey started. After studying for the Hotel Management Master Degree, I wanted to expand my knowledge about the Corporate Social Responsibility subject. My degree thesis (2012) was a research paper about CSR in Hospitality, therefore I decided to study more about the subject. I did, back in 2017, a Certification Course about Leadership Skills for Change Agents to manage boomeranging Social, Environmental, and Governance challenges for businesses.
I decided to start my Consultancy project, which I had for three years, and I learned that it was not for me. I was missing the most important thing, which is better aligned with my personality. The relationship with other human beings. The relationship with colleagues and the guests was what made my work worth it at the end of the day.
However in this journey, I had the pleasure to learn from smart forward-thinking, and visionary mentors, I read amazing books and I attended conferences that helped to organize ideas and actions to keep up with this adventure.
Later, I decided to change the business model and to think about who I was and how I could serve others with the expertise and knowledge I have got. (I still was missing the hotel operations craziness, that for all we work in the industry, we know is bittersweet but appealing in a way and that no other job can fulfill alike).
Now, having this new business model and combined with being a part-time teacher of students in their early 20's, which are deciding where they want to work and what they would like their professional careers to look like, I tell them that things will change. I encourage them to try as many things as possible while they can, be flexible with situations, and believe in themselves. Having in mind that the intention is what matters, start the journey to find their purpose in life and to be self-aware, so they can bring their best self to work every day.
This almost 1500 days into my entrepreneur journey made me learn many things not only about business but about people. And most importantly, about myself. Now, I know my personality better, I am in my journey to know my purpose and do all I can to serve others in a way that fulfills my soul. The rollercoaster is real but the lessons are greater than the challenges.
We many times take things for granted, and I am writing this because I am grateful for all the amazing human beings I have met these past years in NY, London, Dublin, Madrid, Italy, and Barcelona.
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