As young women starting out in the hospitality industry, Rachel Vandenberg and Ntxhi Song didn't always feel they were part of a community of professionals with like minds and experiences.
Realizing early on how important that is to grow in their careers, and also help other women excel, they have forged their own communities.
Vandenberg, a fourth-generation hotelier, said her family has always been supportive of her, but as she moved up in the industry, she didn't find a lot of other women to relate to.
"I started at 8 years old ringing the dinner bell at our first family hotel and have come a long way since then, have become very passionate about hospitality travel and tourism over the years," she said. With her family, she owns a 39-room hotel with a bowling alley and miniature golf course in Stowe, Vermont.
"I ran our hotel for 12 years as a general manager up until last year when we passed it over to a management company and that allowed me to really lean into my passion for leadership development," she said.
Vandenberg has since founded a networking group and event called Accelerate Women Leaders in Travel.
"Within my family, I had a lot of support; both mother and father with their own strengths supported me in different ways and never set any limits on what I could do," she said.
It was when she joined the board of directors of her local destination tourism organization when she began to face some obstacles, Vandenberg said.
As one of the few women on the board, Vandenberg "worked very hard over time to change that face of leadership," she said, adding that since she's been on the board, it's had two female executive directors.
"It helps when you have women in leadership who identify other women to be in leadership positions," she said.
Song, a Hmong-American whose first name in her language means "smile," got her real estate license in college and knew that she wanted to sell hotels as a broker, but it took her seven years "to truly break in" to the profession. There were not a lot of female brokers, nor a lot of female brokers of Asian descent.
"Women have definitely been there for me and I've made a lot of relationships,
but in the hotel brokerage space, it's predominantly men," she said, adding that persistence and networking were key.
"In the last 10 years alone, there's definitely been an increase of women in the hotel space," she said, adding that as a result it's easier to feel like a part of a community.
"I'm southeast Asian. ... The hotel space is predominantly Indian Asians. It's been a challenge for me as well; there's not really a community for that," she said. "For myself, it's definitely been a challenge to find someone who looks like me or with a similar background to build a community with. ... It's something I've been thinking about, how do I build a community?"
In this episode of the Next Gen in Lodging podcast, host Davonne Reaves talks with guests Song and Vandenberg about their unique journeys, challenges and triumphs as women in hospitality. Listen below for more of their insights.
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