Telling the stories of women taking on leadership and ownership roles in the hospitality industry helps to inspire and motivate others to do so.
In this month's episode of the Next Gen in Lodging podcast, presented by Hotel News Now, host Davonne Reaves talks with Wyndham Hotel & Resorts' CJ Carr, who was one of only a few women directors at the company when she started there six years ago; and Amina Gilyard James, who with her husband started Duke Ventures and now owns three hotels, including one in Memphis that she says is the only Black-owned hotel in the market.
Reaves herself is a co-owner of three hotels in two states, founder of hotel ownership consultancy The Vonne Group and recently launched crowd-funding platform Vesterr for investing in commercial real estate, including hotels.
"I wouldn't be lying if I said it was kind of difficult at the beginning because I felt like I had a major challenge ahead of me. That I wasn't like the rest of the room. But I think it can be a challenge or it can be a pro," said Carr, Wyndham's senior director of new construction for the Southeast.
"It's totally changed. And now we have, gosh, I forget the total number, maybe six directors, which still is nothing close to the amount of men that we have on the team but we're growing, and it's not as intimidating for women to come in this role anymore."
James said buying her first hotel was also "a daunting task."
"Even though we had invested in hotel properties as limited partners, obviously we never had the responsibility of raising all the capital and getting the debt for the purchase," she said.
For more of the conversation, listen to the episode at the top of this article, and connect with Davonne Reaves, CJ Carr and Amina Gilyard James on LinkedIn.
The Next Gen in Lodging Podcast is also available to download on Apple or Spotify, where you can also subscribe to future podcast content.
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