Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristin Perry.
Hi Kristin, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I have been a part of the Hospitality Industry for over 12 years. I began my career at the age of 18 as General Manager for Purohit Holdings Hospitality Company. As a General Manager of a small management company, I worked directly with the owner receiving hands on training and knowledge, of developing and managing business plans, budget and revenue management. 4 years later I took an opportunity to work for Hilton corporate focused service division hotels as Dual Director of sales, for brands such as Homewood suites by Hilton, Home2 suites by Hilton and Hilton Garden Inn, planning grand openings for new hotels, planning successful conferences and meetings, maximizing company’s profits and improving guest satisfaction. As of today, I am working with ROHM hotels as area general manager for aloft hotels and Holiday Inn Express Columbia South Carolina- Harbison area. As a hospitality professional my career has been focused on providing a full circle experience to guests, team members, hotel ownership, property investors, and the local community that surrounds my hotels…
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Many struggles along the way. As I stated prior, I started my career at 18 years old, which was the same year my son Dallas was born. Becoming a single parent lead to major financial strain. Budgets were stretched thin, balancing work and child care was very challenging, and the thought of saving for the future was daunting when you’re struggling to make ends meet. But despite these added obstacles, numerous single mothers have gone on to be successful entrepreneurs and business leaders. As a single mother I found balancing my time between parenting and working was very difficult. Having an important role at the hotel such as a general manager position required your full immediate attention. With the help of my support system from my mother Jackie I was able to navigate my role without the stress of someone attending to him. I had to succeed for Dallas and myself.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I specialize on growing new talent in the hospitality industry. Tourism and hospitality continue to be one of the world’s fastest-growing sectors, reaching about $1.6 trillion in 2017, and supporting about 7.6 million jobs in the U.S. Even better for students, hospitality is expected to expand even more, with 10 percent growth predicted by 2028
Having spent a significant amount of my time over the last 10 years as a Hospitality professional I just realized that the one thing that I loved the most during the years was the people dimension. In fact, we hear very often people describing themselves as manager. This term is overly used for many different things (managing a customer’s relationship, a project, a process …) and the activity of managing people. For me, being a manager is, before anything else, the activity of helping the people who are in your team to succeed in what they do.
Being a people manager, in my opinion, means that you bring together people with different background, culture, age, gender, experience, …, and make them work together to deliver whatever the team should. This teamwork is not natural for most people as everyone of us, human being, have our opinion about how to do our stuff.
The art of managing a team is to make every member still doing what they are good at in a way that will make them feel fulfilled and at the same time make every one of them understanding what their peers are doing and how their combined work delivers the planned outcome. I have been doing this for many years, at all level of management: as a manager of individual contributors or as a manager of managers. It works in all situations. Not only do you deliver success for your team members and you but you also leave behind, the day you take on another challenge, a very solid team that will continue to deliver even without you.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I was an only child; very kind to others. I went to a public school and learned how to interact with other children and adults. I was frequently chided for being a ‘spoiled only child.’ It bothered me for years until I finally realized they were jealous of the advantages my parents provided for me (education, my own car, etc.). I do not believe I was hindered in life by being an only child. In fact, I think I really was privileged.” I was the apple of both my parents’ eyes and encouraged to communicate at a more adult level from a young age. As a result, I was well educated, confident and independent.
Contact Info:
- Email: kperry@rohmhotels.com
