Ms. Bianca DeSouza - Life comes full circle

My association with Bianca goes back to more than 24 years, we have been batch mates at IHM Mumbai and then Batch mates at the Taj Management Training Program, we worked as colleagues there for over 3 years. Then we got  the offer from our alma mater to join onboard as faculty, we both deliberated over that, she decided to move to Australia for higher studies and then ultimately settle there and I chose to take the offer and get into teaching, learning and development. We moved organizations and job profiles but have been in touch all through. What I have seen about Bianca is her affable nature and very pleasant personality.

She connects with all at equal levels, making friends and associations wherever she goes. She is a role model to many, a thorough professional, a doting wife and a loving mother to her two children. She is a great leader who motivates her teams to give their very best- Always! She works with many nationalities but manages her work and teams very well. She is a training school in herself, her extremely supporting husband Andre and two children complete her world. I thought it would be great to hear her inspiring story and she obliged. Here’s Bianca’s story.

Having grown up in Dahanu, India , as a little girl I was always fascinated by hotels whenever we visited Bombay and I think I was 10 or 11 when mum and dad took us to Gateway of India. That’s when I saw the Taj Mahal Hotel and said to myself “one day I could work here.”

Back then it was only a dream….

At the age of 7, I left for boarding school in Panchgani and spent 8 years in this beautiful hill station and completed year 10. Then moved on to Mumbai and as most parents always push their kids to do science as “it has more scope” I ended up at Sophia college doing Science but never really enjoyed it.

That’s when I started exploring the possibility of studying hotel management and applied to the Institute of hotel management and catering technology. Was fortunate enough to get into the “Dadar catering college” as it was fondly called and since then there has been no looking back.

Those 3 wonderful years were when I not only met the wonderful founder of IWH and my friend Laxmi, but also lo and behold my now husband! My stint in Mumbai only lasted 8 years during which I completed my diploma in hotel management, worked at my dream hotel Taj Mumbai in various capacities and also completed my degree in Arts.

However, I still felt the need to do more so left for Perth, Australia in 2001 and completed my MBA in hospitality management and started tutoring at Edith Cowan University whilst looking for my ideal job. Within 3 months of completing my MBA I landed myself a role as Duty manager at the iconic Esplanade hotel in Fremantle. Putting theory to practice was fun and I loved meeting all kinds of people. I still continued teaching at university for another year until the time came for me to make my next big step- this time when my General Manager approached me and requested I manage the Housekeeping department. I clearly remember calling my brother who was then in Burj, Dubai and saying to him “wow that’s the only department I haven’t worked in” and he said “just do it, it will look good on your CV that you’ve then worked in all operational departments”. So, I took my younger brothers advice and am so glad I did.

Fourteen years later, I’ve been privileged to work with people from over 16 different cultures, build a team I’m proud of and with their support achieved 2 manager of the year awards, was nominated and won Australian housekeeper of the year at the Australian hotels association in 2010 and more recently won manager as well as team of the year in the same year which was so humbling.

I’ve always taken my team as my 2nd family and get this rush when I can keep them motivated to do the best they can. We enjoy bed making competitions, Christmas’s in July, team events, and treasure hunts, celebrate milestone birthdays at work and of course we work hard too! But I live true to my belief of work hard, party harder!!

Being an executive housekeeper and recruiter of my own staff is something I thoroughly enjoy. It’s a joy to see young hospitality professionals flourish. I am always respectful of the fact that hospitality is sometimes a thankless industry as we are always working when others are celebrating and so try to make the work environment lighter and have some fun.

It’s also a joy to be part of this venture IWH,  and so to all you hard working men and women in hospitality, I say… you go people!!!

Her message to the young professionals:

She says, ” Never give up as hard and as tempting it may be sometimes to try an easier option… Perseverance is the key! Follow your dreams as dreams do come true.”

http://www.theiwh.com/life-comes-full-circle-ms-bianca-desouza/

Website:

http://www.theiwh.com

Food Technologist-Ms. Chetali Shah

Being from a kutchi-gujarati community, it was difficult for a girl to even think about working post-graduation as they were expected to marry guys who have family businesses and limit themselves to kitchens. This was about more than a decade ago, obviously the scenario has changed now but I am glad my parents thought differently. While bringing up all the three daughters and a son, they did not differentiate based on our gender; we were all treated equally and provided with equal opportunity to become independent. I was the lucky one to have two elder sisters who guided me on my career front. Learning from their experience, they advised me against taking the Commerce stream and opt for a professional course, which will help me develop a career.

Being good with studies and scoring well in SSC led me to choose the science stream. Like every other student, I was in dilemma what to choose post HSC, given the plethora of career options available. At that time, I had seen my neighbour work in a five star hotel as a hygiene manager and the kind of work she did in hygiene and food safety excited me a lot and I followed her footsteps of choosing food technology as a specialisation course to pursue my career in.

I remember being asked by one of the professors during my college days, “Where do you see yourself five years down the line?” and my answer was “working in a five star hotel as a hygiene manager”. The naïve answer that I gave at that time had become a dream without even having the  slightest idea on how I was going to turn it into reality. Since then I knew I belonged to the hospitality industry although in a different field altogether. I worked very hard throughout my college days and topped my college too as I wanted the best internship. Being the topper, in 2004, I was given an option to choose from Cadburys (the organisation which every topper would aspire to join) and Hyatt Hotels (the firm which was taking food technologists as interns for their in-house hygiene lab, for the very first time). My heart knew what I wanted and it led me to choose Hyatt Regency for my internship. I worked hard during the internship to prove my mettle and that resulted in an offer to join their their Management Trainee Program post my graduation.

At that time, the Hygiene Manager of the hotel was Ms. Rupali Saxena, who eventually became my mentor, giving me guidance and helping me develop the necessary skills to succeed in the field.

Just when I was feeling happy with the way my career and life were shaping up, a personal loss struck me hard, four months after joining Hyatt. My father passed away. This put the financial responsibility of the house coupled with the responsibility of taking care of my mother and younger brother (who was still studying) on my shoulders (Since my sisters were already married by then)

The hardships that I faced in my life only made me stronger and mature as an individual. I completed the Management Trainee Program and graduated to becoming the Hygiene Officer. I could not move out of Mumbai, as I had a family here to take care of. So, although moving to a different city would have accelerated my career growth within the industry, I had to choose the more difficult option. But my perseverance paid off and I went on to become Assistant Manager- Hygiene and to finally heading the Hygiene function of the hotel as the Hygiene Manager of the hotel. I spent close to 12 years with the same organisation, which shocked a lot of people, given the high attrition rate in the industry, But I really enjoyed what I did – every bit of it. And this passion for my work was instrumental in the success that I achieved in this organisation.

There was a time when I was told to be mentally prepared to quit the job in case I don’t get married in a family that would allow me to work post marriage. I am grateful to God that I got married into a family who, along with my husband, were modern in their thinking and were supportive of me continuing to work even after marriage.

But it was an uphill task, trying to strike the balance between my personal and professional life. And when I became a mother, I thought it was an end to my career. Again, my mother-in-law came forward to support me and I joined back work, struggling with the guilt of leaving my baby at home. Career growth was not a priority at that point in my life , but the flexibility which this organisation offered to me, in term of work timings, helped me immensely to sail through this challenging phase of my life.

By this time, the food safety and hygiene function had become my passion and I was craving to do something for the betterment of the society. As a part of ‘green team’ of the hotel, I worked for quite a few projects related to environment sustainability and was also awarded the Hyinnovators award for suggesting and implementing the green concept of converting used vegetable oil into an eco-friendly product – Biodiesel.

I also became a part of hotel’s Global Hand Washing Day celebrations along with ‘Sundara Project’(which recycles used soaps obtained from Hotels) where in I was given an opportunity to a conduct training session on Hand Washing and Hand Hygiene for the children living in  slum areas. I got a chance to conduct hygiene sessions for various other children’s home too. I was the one who lead the project of ISO 22000 certification for the hotel and our hard work of almost three years lead to the final certification of the hotel. Being a part of this project, I worked very closely with different teams of the hotel – be it engineering, housekeeping, culinary, service, purchasing etc and integrating the concept of ISO 22000 into the system was not only challenging but also a great learning experience for me.

Being a part of Human Resources Team (surprisingly as I reported to the Director of Human Resources), again for which I need to be thankful to God , gave me an exposure to training, recruitment, payroll, employee engagement activities too  apart from my core Hygiene related work. My thirst for learning was always there which led me take up projects on my own and I kept learning something new every time. I could have moved to HR or Training but my true passion was for Hygiene and Food Safety. I knew that this field will have a great potential for growth in the near future and hence it made me stick to the same career field. As of today, I work with the Reliance Industries Ltd. whose next venture is into hospitality sector with one of the largest convention centre coming up, helping them set up food safety management systems is quite exciting and I look forward to growing in this field.

With the launch of food safety regulations in India, the food safety culture is changing in the country and the scope of growth for professionals like me is very high. It gives you an opportunity in training, auditing, consulting, R& D, Analysis and lot more. I really believe in the adage “If you want to be successful in this world, follow your passion not your paycheck”.

For all the women out there, who are struggling to be a super – woman, I only have one piece of advice, “It’s okay to not be perfect sometimes. You are doing a great job. Don’t give up on your dreams. Who says it’s going to be easy! But you have to keep going! A positive attitude can really make your dreams come true – it did for me”

http://www.theiwh.com/the-journey-of-a-food-technologist-ms-chetali-shah/

Website:

http://www.theiwh.com

The inspirational story of Ms. Keerti Nambiar

We have many common friends and she was introduced to me by one of them. She was also invited to be a part of the IWH, which is now an incredible platform that all of us are proud of; where we have reached and all the possibilities that lie in front of us. I discovered that we share many things quite similar and our professional journeys have similar nuances too. She has had a great career in the hospitality industry; presenting the inspirational story of Ms. Keerti Nambiar. She is an alumna of the reputed Oberoi Centre of Learning and Development (OCLD 1999-2001)and has over 18 years of extensive experience in the hospitality sector. She has worked in operations with Oberoi Hotels in Kolkata and Mumbai and later with the Taj Hotels (Luxury Division) in the Learning & Development function at Mumbai, Hyderabad & New Delhi. Her last assignment was with The Leela Mumbai as the Training Manager. She is also a post graduate in HRM from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and her core competencies include Training & Development, HRM, Employee Engagement, Business Excellence, Coaching and Recruitment. She can be described as a strategic Leader who has shaped high-performing cultures with robust development frameworks; indelible reputation for delivering best-in-class trainings with a focus on building a strong corporate culture for organizational development.

Her upbringing in a defence background has instilled in her values of discipline, professionalism and a strong moral character.  She is married to a banker with Reserve Bank of India; in whom she finds her best critic and well-wisher. They are blessed with two daughters, Shamita and Kimaya . She is a feminist who is a strong believer in ‘Karma’, the work life balance and is a wildlife enthusiast as well as a baking aficionado.

Currently on a career rejuvenation; she wishes to become an academician and contribute to the fraternity as well as the budding hospitality professionals. Having had an illustrious career working with some of the best hospitality brands in the country; makes her a great resource.

The Early Life

Keerti Nambiar was born into a family with a Defence background; her father and his brother were Infantry Officers and so was their father before them. The early upbringing hence, was extremely regimented and disciplined. She strongly believes that it helped to instill the values of discipline, professionalism and a strong moral character in her early formative years.

By the time she and her brother were 10 (they are fraternal twins), they had already moved 4 cities and roughly the same number of schools. So, change, she learned early on was her constant companion whereas flexibility and adaptability were her best friends. Her mother was always very particular about their academic pursuits and kept a strong vigil on her children’s grades at school. As for extra curricular interests, she was almost always spoilt for choice. Living in Army cantonments across the country exposed her to limitless indulgence when it came to sports, libraries, clubs and olympic sized swimming pools! All these and more contributed to a well-rounded development of character and physical stamina to take on challenges ahead of her.

Ironically, Hospitality as a career featured nowhere in her aspirational list in high school. Being an above average student all through, she felt reasonably confident to crack the Armed Forces Medical College exam. But, fate obviously had other plans for her, as she failed to secure a good rank not once but twice! It then dawned upon her that she had no back up plan if this didn’t work. Her mother was keen to see that she pursued a professional course and one of the options available to her was a Diploma in Hospitality. After a brief research and counseling with a few industry insiders, she went along with her gut and decided to take the plunge. After 2 decades ; she now proudly says  that it was one of the soundest decisions of her life. She had stumbled upon her new reckoning for life as a Hotelier!

We had a few questions for Ms. Nambiar and she graciously answered them. IWH in conversation with her.

IWH:  How has your hospitality journey been so far? Pros, cons etc?

Keerti Nambiar: In the past 2 decades, I have had the good fortune of being associated with India’s top 3 indigenous hospitality chains namely, Oberoi, Taj and Leela. Each has its own unique take on the Indian service dharma – ‘Athithi Devo Bhave’ or Guest is God. Their approach may differ but they all have one common goal- guest delight. Exploring and understanding this fine nuance has made this journey albeit, an interesting one.

There is a flip side to this too- a thin line between standardization and customization.And more often than not, there is overlap with disastrous outcomes. It’s fashionable these days for Hotel companies go to great extremes and deploy expensive resources to analyze trends and capture guest data. The entire service philosophy shifts from being guest centric to data-centric and loops into a vicious repetitive cycle.

Another aspect worth mentioning here is the ‘Inertia to Change’. The past decade has seen stupendous growth in room capacity in all major markets to the extent of saturation. Simply put, more people are hungry for the pie and the pieces are getting smaller now! Change in strategy of doing business is painfully slow but the guests and travellers are moving ahead in their expectations and definitions of ‘Luxury’. Unless hotel companies learn to react fast, they will fall way behind the new breed of young, agile and daring start-ups and consolidators.

IWH:  Who has been your mentor or a role model? In what way has that person helped you?

Keerti Nambiar: There have been countless generous souls who have contributed in making me what I am today. I feel a deep and enduring sense of gratitude to those who have given me opportunities and support. But, if asked to single out one then, that would be Mr. Veer Vijay Singh. An exceptional hotelier (Ex-Taj)an industry stalwart, a compassionate human being and visionary is how I would describe him.  One management lesson of his that I swear by is – ‘take care of your people and they will take care of your guests’. With his work and words he has touched many lives and continues to do so till date.

IWH:  What have been the high points of your career? Highlight at least 3.

Keerti Nambiar:

1.    Graduating from India’s most premier hospitality training program – The Oberoi Centre for Learning and Development.

2.    Designing and Executing developmental workshops for the Leela Management Training Program.

3.    Secured a Gold level in the Business Excellence Leadership Program at Taj and qualified as an External Assessor for TBEM.

And of course… every moment in time is a high point when you have positively influenced or touched the life of a person who has reached out to you.

IWH:  What challenges have you faced as a woman in the industry? How did you deal with them?

Keerti Nambiar: Women@work like myself are posed with many ambitious challenges day-in and day-out of their lives: to create the lives we want, to be leaders in our work, to be partners in our homes and to be champions of other women. Learning to deal with them have come through experiences of trials and error over the years. My key takeaways have been;

·         I have learnt to be never pressured into muting my accomplishments. Owning one’s success is key to achieving more success.

·         My desire to be liked by everyone was holding me back from making progress. You can’t please everyone when you want to change things.

·         In order to grow and challenge myself, I have learnt to believe in my capabilities. Never find yourself spoken over or discounted for amongst your peers.

·         Negotiate without inhibition, whether it is a raise or promotion or a recognition rightly deserved.

IWH:  If there was anything that you could change about your life or career what would that be?

Keerti Nambiar: If I could change one thing, that would be my mobility factor. Once you have a family you become rooted down to a place with responsibilities and develop ‘homing’ tendencies. For most women this happens when she is usually at the peak of her career. If you are not mobile, one inadvertently misses out on career growth opportunities offered by the company. I wish I had the conviction and risk appetite to see beyond and take the plunge, throwing caution to the wind!

IWH:  What do you think of IWH?

Keerti Nambiar: I see it as one of its kind; a fantastic initiative to connect and grow as a fraternity. An all women interactive platform to share industry experiences and learn from each other along the way. The younger budding hoteliers who seek inspiration and motivation to break traditional ceilings at work will never be disappointed here. Happy learning and sharing!

IWH:  Your advice to the young professionals and students.

Keerti Nambiar:

·         Be open to different experiences and be on lookout for diverse opportunities that present themselves as ‘challenges’

·         Never stop learning

·         Patience and perseverance towards your goals

·         Be a visionary and always try and see the ‘bigger’ picture, and…

While doing all the above STAY Humble and grounded.

IWH:  Anything else you wish to share with our readers?

Keerti Nambiar: Stay inquisitive to new experiences and learning’s, share without inhibitions, compliment successes without restraint and grow as a force to reckon with.

Link to the story:

http://www.theiwh.com/ms-keerti-nambiar/

Website:

http://www.theiwh.com

The Uncommon People by Benaifer Kapadia

They say to grow one needs support and bandwidth, Benaifer has been that in the journey of the IWH, Indian Women in hospitality. She brings in a lot of positivity, enthusiasm and energy on the board. The lady who has worked her way and contributed immensely to the growth of the organizations that she has been a part of.  She heads sales and marketing in her current role, travelling is a passion for her. I can say that a lot of her wisdom comes from that passion. IWH in conversation with Ms. Benaifer Kapadia.

IWH:  Tell us something about you, your growing up years, life through school, college etc
They say “learning is not a spectator sport”. I am a learner till date. I believe “Experience” is the most brutal of all teachers. But you learn & that’s how you grow as a better individual. I have always been an above average student (academically). Coming from an all girls convent alma mater, where rolling your socks down was considered offensive, to the much forward thinking college phase, where bunking was my mandatory right (I did not exercise that much though!) to the hustle and bustle of corporate life... it has been a semi circle! Each phase is and was a learning curve. And it is here where I quote my favourite learning which is “To Be Old and Wise, You must be Young & Stupid!”... I trust I am over being stupid (it’s a habit hard to break for most individuals) and continue being Young!! Old and Wise is yet to come!


IWH:  What made you select Hospitality as a career? Was it easy making that decision?
My inclination to be a part of the hospitality industry started from college. By education I am a Bachelor of Commerce with Honors in Travel & Tourism Management. To be honest, I wanted to avoid a subject that is dear to most of us - “taxation”! Enrolling for travel and tourism was not all hunky dory! Like any other subject I had to prove my eligibility for it. I was always intrigued to educate myself on & about Indian tourism, world socio-economics in hospitality, diverse cultures, languages, maps, people engagement and food and beverage. It is inspiring to note that inspite of the vast disparity in economy, tourism sector contributes 4.6% to the GDP growth of India and successfully continues to grow in near future.

IWH:  What is your current role?
I am currently employed with General Hotels Management Limited (GHM) as Director of Sales & Marketing for The Chedi Mumbai, India. The Chedi Mumbai will be India & the city’s newest and most highly anticipated luxury hotel opening its doors to guests in 2018. Set to transform the Powai region in Mumbai into an epicentre of style and indulgence, the hotel is strategically located in close proximity to the international & domestic airports, to IIT Powai, to commercial business districts established in North Mumbai and Bandra Kurla Complex. The hotel will feature 312 luxurious guestrooms and suites, a Club Lounge for exclusive use by club & suite guests, seven exceptional and innovative dining and entertainment offerings, extensive meeting facilities with state-of-the-art equipment and technology, a holistic spa and wellness facilities. For more information about The Chedi Mumbai, please visit www.GHMhotels.com


IWH:  How has your hospitality journey been so far? Pros, cons etc?
I think I am still too young to say I have started my journey yet as such. Or at least I like to think so. Hospitality is an evolving industry where no one day is similar or routine to another. That is the beauty of this sector. Don't take one day at a time and live out your life. Wake up every morning, and live your life right, your way - not the way anyone else would. Make mistakes, learn when you do and treat others (be that guests or employees) like you would like to be treated. There are no set pros and cons for this sector. I see more opportunities arising for an evolving and fast moving industry such as ours.


IWH:  Who has been your mentor or a role model? In what way has that person helped you?
My parents have and always continue to be my biggest mentors. They instilled in me the value of hard work and dedication.
IWH: What have been the high points of your career? Highlight at least 3.
I would highlight the best of 3 to be:
(1) Working with Hyatt International as a pre-opening team member to open the prestigious flag-ship hotel in South Asia, Grand Hyatt Mumbai. This hotel strengthened my foundation of the 4 Ps of sales and marketing
(2) Working with Carlson Rezidor (now Radisson Hotel Group) that excelled my career growth thru the ranks & exposed me to business development and global sales
(3) Now working with GHM Hotels as a pre-opening executive committee member to open The Chedi Mumbai, India that shall dominate Mumbai's dynamic skyline with its sophisticated and thoughtful offerings & prove to be a game-changing luxury hotel for Mumbai

IWH:  What challenges have you faced as a woman in the industry? How did you deal with them?
Statistics from a recent HR report suggest that departments that have been less than successful at promoting women into leadership positions are also unsuccessful at recruiting women. I personally do not support this regressive thought. My sister, Shehrezad Kapadia, Chef De Cuisine, Four Seasons Mumbai is a young, successful, senior lady chef managing and co-working with a team of female and mostly male chefs. I strongly believe that there are many more noted companies in the hospitality world that are doing a good job & creating more diversity in the industry with no or minimal gender inequality
IWH:  If there was anything that you could change about your life or career what would that be?
‘Gardens without dead leaves are not beautiful. Even the Moon has black spots on it’. So while I have a list of to-do’s that I would like to amend and hope that I will be able to do it in my onward and present journey, I am currently satisfied with who and where I am with a hope to be a better version of who and where I want to be!
IWH:  What do you think of IWH?
We have diverse team strength of ladies that bring together years of experience & hard work. It is a great platform to connect and collaborate, to bring new ideas to the world of travel and hospitality, that not only benefit the industry and also the individual(s) associated with this sector

IWH:  Your advice to the young professionals and students
Our industry is well known for its long and rigorous hours of work. My advice to young professionals will be that time is one of your most valuable resources. You use time to make money, but the time will come when you will need to start using money to buy yourself time to do the things you want to do. We have to learn the art of time management.
IWH:  Anything else you wish to share with our readers?
I would like to share the below quote from the great JRD Tata who is the founder of hospitality in India. He says and I quote “Common people have an appetite for food; uncommon people have an appetite for service”!  Athiti Devo Bhava!
We couldn’t thank her enough for her time and having a great conversation. We look forward to another coffee break with her. As we leave we wish her many more fulfilling travels around the globe and meaningful journeys in her professional and personal lives.

http://www.theiwh.com/the-uncommon-people-ms-benaifer-kapadia/
http://www.theiwh.com/

My remarkable journey by Priyanka Teli

You meet a few people who are self motivated and self driven, Priyanka is one such young professional. My association with her is very recent, in fact we connected through the IWH, she also showed keen interest in all activities and was forever ready to chip in wherever required. I found that she is a person with the right mindset,  attitude and the drive. When I approached her to share her story for the Rear View Mirror, she was very forthcoming. As a founder of the IWH, its a pleasure to share with you Priyanka's story of grit and focus.

My remarkable journey from being regarded just a pretty face to someone who speaks serious business.
Coming from a Middle class family with our own financial struggles, difficult situation or criticism was always taught to me, to be taken as an opportunity to achieve higher.

From the very beginning as a child I was always motivated and encouraged to take up what I believed in – and hospitality was my childhood love affair. Having  lived  in Goa, Pune and Mumbai, exposure to various cultures only boosted my passion to explore, and hospitality was undoubtedly the best platform to achieve that. I have earned my bachelor’s degree in 2014 - International Marketing under Business Studies from South Indian Education Society, Nerul as one of the best institutions in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Followed by the very first break with one of the biggest hotel brands in the world – the Marriott group!

 I was often asked a question by college mates and friends, why did I choose 'being a hotelier' as a career than working in any FMGC firm that would pay me nothing less than 3 times more than any hotel in India, however it was the passion to serve that was rooted deep within and had no excuse to give up. Initially was difficult to get into sales department without knowing about what is hotel as a product and its service operations. Having said that, I had no hotel management degree and no hotel background to support my interest, however JW Marriott Juhu Mumbai, the iconic flagship property for JW Marriott in India had offered me a position as a coordinator in Training and Development to get into the hospitality and letting me find my way into the system.

Being said that, the best company and brand in this industry had not only allowed me to train and develop others, but also developed my personality as a hardcore hotelier.

Struggles of  living in Mumbai were there, travelling in local trains gushed with hundreds of people travelling 2 hours daily to just reach the hotel for work every morning, followed by work and head back with another 2 hours journey with nothing less than 13-14 hours calculated in total. But the experience was life changing. JW Marriott had provided me a place in the industry and now it was my turn to grow further.

Moved to ITC Fortune Group, where my interest into Sales & Marketing was considered and trusted with by the General Manager of the property Mr. Chetan Bhatnagar: Fortune Select Exotica Navi Mumbai. Entitled with responsibility for MICE business including rooms and banquet spaces, he believed in my passion when applied for this role without a doubt; considering my training background. This is has been my foundation for Sales & Marketing with high exposure into the corporate segment.  I was given the opportunity to structure the MICE brochure for Fortune Group of Hotels, India; which was accepted and appreciated by the head office representatives. This motivation which was initiated by Mr. Bhatnagar and continued by the other industry colleagues kept the spark growing into the next major step I took towards my career- Fushifaru Maldives !

Fushifaru Maldives, this beautiful 5 star luxury property in the Maldives had accepted my application for looking after their Sales & Marketing through LinkedIn. Culture, exposure, experience was best offered along with the sense of responsibility for a new brand. General Manager Mr. Ahmed Siaar and Resort Manager Mr. Abdulla Malaaz, had offered me the life changing opportunity and support that has gotten me to where I am today, on a global platform. With such huge sense of responsibility however entrusted with the passion of being a successful hotelier, Mr. Siaar has been the motivating force regardless the difficulties has encouraged me to keep my head always held high with pride and generosity at the very same time. With exposures at various trade conference and international visits for business today they have entrusted this 26 year old with international markets to nourish.

Living an island life but undertaking global responsibility in today’s date, from the girl who travelled hours just to get to work – it has been a journey I’d take pride in for being able to grow with the  support of my people at various stages.

For the success I hold today, it was possible with the support and encouragement of mentors at different stages of my career that brought me from being a Business graduate – to a successful hotelier. That’s exactly what I try to give back to the society, empowerment to enter hospitality as a career and to maintain the belief in the profession you hold.

Today this 26 year old is known globally for talking about figures and revenue, it wasn’t easy getting here, because of investing money to come aboard,  meeting needs back home but the statement “ you get business because you are pretty “ discounts all the hard work. One gets business because one works hard for it.

Today, I actively promote “hospitality career” also I would love to develop and nourish the community.

Letting others also experience the remarkable journey that I have had by such platforms like IWH which is set up to motivate and empower self and others.

Thanking IHW and Ms. Laxmi Todiwan for promoting and encouraging this 3 year journey, it is empowering to me and reaching out to others the young professionals to achieve their goals and dreams that they have set for themselves. Telling them that nothing is impossible.

Ms. Ujwala Sonawane- Academic Dean

We met in 2007 when I had come to visit the Hotel School, it didn't have the current name then. She took me for a show around and we struck a great conversation.  I was working at my alma mater,  was doing well, had a great job and the security of it being government and pensionable. I was a young mother and the hotel school was going to be closer home; being the only reason for the job change. I had many doubts in my mind if it was the right decision for me. She was one of the factors in me deciding to join the organisation as a pre opening member; that explains the rapport we have shared. We had a great experience working together building our departments and the institution. She was the 'go to' person for me as she had walked the similar path a bit earlier than me and her advice came in very handy. She helped me not just cope but make my personal firsts as the best. More than colleagues we became great friends. In fact the whole team was an incredible one - each one of us had a role and we did the best we could. I have enjoyed working with that team, I was the representative for most of the things as they all wanted me to be the face and handle events, PR or be the emcee; none of them would trade that role. They encouraged me to move from being good to better. In fact each member of the team felt the same I guess; we all grew as professionals. It was  truly a 'Wonder team' and we all achieved many milestones and rejoiced in each one of them. But a small hotel school could not sustain so much of awesomeness; keeping the jokes apart the team had to branch out and thus we had some of them leaving us. In fact it was a personal loss that I felt when she left the organisation, though I was happy for the decision she took. It gives me immense pleasure to write about a very dynamic person, a thorough professional and a great human being Ms. Ujwala Sonawane, Associate Dean, ITM Institute of Hotel Management.

The Early Life
Ms. Ujwala Sonawane grew up in a service class family. She says that, “Growing up in an Army background, discipline, timely routine, setting goals and achieving them, watching dad doing the same, Value for money, idealistic thoughts, doing what seems right, and always going by my own instinct is what I learnt from Dad”. Her mother was a  homemaker and took care of the family, but once her two children- Ujwala and her  brother were done with their schooling,  she decided to work even though she was in her mid 40s then. Ms. Sonawane says that has always been a big motivation for her.  There were times when she had  thoughts of quitting her job but her mother motivated her to move forward. Her mother was an inspiration as well as a cheerleader for her.
Her father was in the Army and she wanted to pursue a course which would give her job opportunity immediately after studies, she felt it as her morally responsibility to support her father financially after his retirement. Hotel Management happened to be one such course. She was happy to get a seat at IHM Mumbai easily, not knowing how tough others found it. Living in the Hostel then wasn’t easy for her but she happily sailed through the three years of Hotel Management course.


Currently she is working at ITM IHM as the Associate Dean, responsible for academics of their Mumbai and Navi Mumbai campuses. Churning an updated syllabus is the need of the hour as she feels that hospitality studies is a skill oriented and a technical course which needs to be updated from time to time to guide students in the right direction and in sync with the Industry. Imparting education through varied pedagogy keeps the young generation students interested as they would in a game of pubG.
She has about 25 years of experience in the industry; she has motivated and inspired generations of hospitality professionals. She is a mentor and a role model to many others, IWH had a few questions for her which she graciously answered.

IWH:  How has your professional journey been so far? Pros, cons etc?
Ms. Sonawane: My professional journey has been a combination of Industry and Academia. Starting off as  a professional in the Food and Beverage Service department from campus placement, growing up to Banquet Manager. I took to academics to maintain a balance in my personal and professional life almost for a decade. Then moved back to the Industry as Manager Training and Development, then joined Apeejay Institute of Hospitality as a member of the pre opening team at the Hotel School, this experience has been different as it’s tagline goes Leadership Through Differentiation. Further worked in the Industry to challenge myself and self check if I would be able to sustain an Industry Job and I did it very well in the capacity of Manager Training pan India at a Chain of Hotels, further a challenging opportunity came up at ITM Institutions. I have enjoyed the journey till date by redoing syllabus, setting systems and processes, to make the work environment system driven rather than person driven.

IWH:  Who has been your mentor or a role model? In what way has that person helped you?
Ms. Sonawane: I have been lucky to be working under best bosses at every stage, I have tried to inhale positives of them and exhale negativity. Mr. Arunesh Maiyer and Mr. Lemuel Herbert, have taught me a very professional approach towards education. I learn a lot of system and process driven work in a positive workplace with my present boss.

IWH:  What have been the high points of your career? Highlight at least 3.
Ms. Sonawane: Updating and imparting value education to young students and professionals. Driving a varied workforce with calmness and with a lot of dignity to bring about positive change. Also, undoing old school of leadership, setting an example of being the best through doing things differently- happy faces make a happy workplace.


IWH:  What challenges have you faced as a woman? How did you deal with them?
Ms. Sonawane: It is difficult working in a male dominated workforce, I have had best friends and mentors as women, Laxmi Todiwan being one of them as we have worked together for around 7 years.  I have experienced both how women can help each other in their growing careers and have also seen some being quite the opposite! As a woman I believe we must help each other than create competition amongst us, more than women try to be more human first.

IWH:  If there was anything that you could change about your life or career what would that be?
Ms. Sonawane: I have enjoyed all phases of my career; it has been an enriching experience till today. Hope to do much more creative work and impart value to the Academic and Operational Hospitality Management.

IWH:  What do you think of IWH?
Ms. Sonawane: IWH is a great platform to exchange views, interact with women from hospitality at all levels. This platform should be used to bring in change and value to women in the hospitality sector. Laxmi Todiwan has created a wonderful platform respected by the industry. It is continuing to garner support and is growing phenomenally.

IWH:  Your advice to the young professionals and students.
Ms. Sonawane: Today information is available at the top of a fingertip to young professionals, while doing so a good research on superficial versus original is required. Popularity needs to be measured with good work not just the number of followers on social media. Information should not be misleading but must provide facts and knowledge.

IWH:  Anything else you wish to share with our readers.
Ms. Sonawane: With a huge talent base at IWH, we must come together to create the hospitality sector the world would look up to. We are always there and would support in all ways possible.
As always it was a pleasure to connect with Ms. Ujwala Sonawane; this time the purpose being formal and getting to know more of her professional side. She is much respected among her colleagues, contemporaries and the students alike as an academician par excellence.

Read more at http://www.theiwh.com/ms-ujwala-sonawane/
Website: http://www.theiwh.com/

Ashrafi Matcheswala - Growth story

I first saw her during my internship at the Taj Mahal Hotel Mumbai in the year 1995. In Fact it was the dressing room and I was wearing my uniform saree, struggling a bit with it and in the mirror I saw a lady in business suit looking really smart and I felt that awe for her. One- she looked so comfortable and two; she didn't typically fit into the Taj mould that had saree clad lady staff members. We just smiled at each other, she was occupied in her thoughts; probably was making the day's plan in her mind. I found out about her and learnt that she was the  Manager in the Food and Beverage department.  Many of us looked up to her as a role model. Met her again recently at the Taj Reunion; it was great to catch up after ages, filling in the gaps and learning about the updates. I also used the opportunity to request her if I could feature her story on this platform. Hers has been more than incredible. She has had a very rewarding and illustrious career with the Taj. It is my honour to share with the readers the inspiring story of Ms. Ashrafi Matcheswala, General Manager  at President – IHCL SeleQtions.

She embarked on her professional journey with the Taj Group of Hotels, starting her career as a Catering Assistant in 1981 at the flagship property the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower. During this association with the Taj Group, she has held numerous key positions for over 35 years. She worked her way through the supervisory and managerial ranks, eventually heading the Food and Beverage department at the Taj President. She was a part of the 1991 pre- opening team for Taj Exotica Goa;  then she returned to the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower before taking her first Resident Manager position at the Taj Lands End in Mumbai.

She was promoted as the General Manager at the Taj Lake Palace in Udaipur in 2005. She created awareness and enhanced the  brand image of Lake Palace  in the international market as well as launched their holistic Ayurveda Jiva Grand Spa. At Taj Wellington Mews, Ms. Matcheswala oversaw the construction of the only helipad atop a residential building in Mumbai.
She has worked at Vivanta by Taj- President as Food and Beverage Manager,  Taj Lake Palace, Udaipur and Taj Wellington News Mumbai as General Manager, before moving to San Francisco to helm the Taj Campton Place.
Ms. Matcheswala has an MBA from Swiss Hotel Association’s Les Roches School of Hotel Management in Switzerland and has attended a Cornell University sponsored Hotel Management Program in Mumbai.

In her illustrious  career, Ms. Ashrafi Matcheswala has emerged as a goal oriented leader with excellent customer relations. She is loved for her qualities in supporting and inspiring her team to carry out their responsibilities with passion and flair. Her allegiance towards the Taj Group has made her an indispensable part of the Taj success story.

A true believer in fitness, she follows a strict regime of running and participating in marathons with an aim to outdo her own records. She is passionate about healthy work-life balance. An avid explorer, she likes to dine in new places and visit new destinations that help her connect with different cultures. She is also an ardent philatelist. Her favourite holiday destination is Maui, Hawaii and her favourite cuisine is Chinese. She says if she was a spice, she’d be ‘tamarind’ – familiar, yet unexpected!

The Early Life
Ashrafi is a Bombay girl. Her family comprises of her parents who have been a strong support for her. They always encouraged her to follow her heart and give her best in whatever she took up.  And she has done just that; in fact a lot more!
She did her schooling from the Alexandra Girls School, Mumbai and her Higher Secondary from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai. As a child, she was fascinated by hotels.  Her cousin had completed the program from IHM Mumbai, and then joined the Taj Mahal Hotel; she decided to follow her footsteps and pursued Hotel Management from the prestigious Institute of Hotel Management, Catering Technology and Applied Nutrition, Mumbai. Taking it further she too embarked on her professional journey with the Taj.
Later in her career she got an opportunity to study at  Les Roches in Switzerland;  Her organization the  Taj Group sponsored her for the  Masters program in Hotel Management.

Awards/ Accolades/ Recognition
Accolades and Achievements as the General Manager, President, Mumbai.
Awards in 2018

• Conde Nast Award for the 26th best restaurant in India – Thai Pavilion
• Awarded the Hotels.com most loved hotel
• SATA Awards for the best business hotel in Western India
• Goibibo – Traveler’s choice award 2018
• Best Thai Premium Dining restaurant – Thai Pavilion

Awards in 2017

• Two  restaurants  won  an  award  each  from  Food  Food  Awards  Namely  –  Thai Pavilion for best Thai food in India and Konkan Café for the best coastal food in India.
• President, Mumbai won the highest booked hotel on Expedia.
• Awarded the Hotels.com certificate of excellence award.

Key Highlights in Taj Campton Place San Francisco

• Achieved a Two- Michelin star for the Campton Place restaurant and retained the same for five years.
• Revpar leaders amongst its primary competition set.

Key Highlights at Taj Wellington Mews
General Manager of the 80 room Luxury Service Apartments in June 2006.

• Worked on a strategy of applying the real estate market rates and thus increased the
• ARR from 225 USD to 450 USD in a period of 18 months.
• Special  assignment:  Completed  the  Helipad,  which  is  the  only  Helipad  to  have  been given permission by Deputy General of Civil Aviation, India, to operate atop a Residential building.
• Worked on a Public Relations strategy in order to sustain relationships of all the guests in order to build a sense of community amongst the Residents.
• Worked  on  a  plan  to  refurbish  the  Taj  Spa  with  Good  Earth  as  the  consultants  to completely change the look and feel of the spa.
• Revamped the retail products at the Delicatessen, thus increasing sale by 35%.

Key Highlights at Taj Lake Palace Udaipur
General Manager of the 83 room palace hotel in April 2005.

• Increasing the awareness of Taj Lake Palace in the international market and helped in leveraging the Taj internationally.
• Achieved an increase in the Average Room Rate of the hotel from US$ 265 to US$ 390 for the year 2005-2006.
• Special  assignment-Launched  the  trendy  Jiva  Grand  Spa,  the  holistic   Ayurveda  and state-of-the-art branded Spa.
• Creating high value for money even with a $700 upwards price tag during winters

Conceptualizing and creating the the following signature Restaurant of the Taj –

• The Zodiac Grill
• The Nightclub of the Taj – Insomnia,
• The lifestyle bar, Starboard,
• Souk - an open interactive kitchen and restaurant, serving middle-eastern cuisine,
• Masala Art, the trendy new Indian restaurant.

Strategic Management :

• Applied  Revenue  Management  to  maximize  profits  in  Food  and  Beverage  operations,  and achieved the projected turnover of Rs 80 crores (Rs 800 million or 17.33 million USD)
• Helped in reinforcing the Total Quality Management processes in the Food and Beverage Department, using the Tata Business Excellence.

Model guidelines and criteria.

• Special assignment-Visited the finest restaurants in Europe to study the  latest trends in fine dining prior to the opening of the Taj Signature Restaurant  -  Zodiac  Grill.
• Helped  in  creating  and  tracking  revenue  forecasts  and  review  of operations.

We had a few questions for Ms. Matcheswala which she graciously answered. A career spanning almost four decades encompasses so much knowledge and valuable experiences, we feel really privileged to have got some insights from her.

IWH: What have been the high points of your career?
Ms. Ashrafi Matcheswala: Various Key F&B Management roles at Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Mumbai , Taj Exotica, Goa and the Taj President, Mumbai.

IWH:  Who have been your mentors?
Ms. Matcheswala:  I count Mr. Farhat Jamal and Ms. Shirin Batliwala among my top mentors. Have learnt from many all along my professional journey.

IWH:  What challenges have you faced as a woman in the industry?
Ms. Matcheswala:  None, IHCL lives by Tata values that is complete non tolerance towards any prejudice and non-discriminative and hence my loyalty for the last 36 years.


IWH:  What do you think of IWH?
Ms. Matcheswala:   IWH is an excellent platform for Indian women in the hospitality industry which is a common belief – “purpose with performance”

IWH:  Your advice to the young professionals and students.
Ms. Matcheswala:  Hospitality Industry involves passion and only if you are passionate and care for people you will be able to surpass initial challenges in the hospitality industry there after you would groom to become a leader.

IWH:  Anything else that you'd like to share.
Ms. Matcheswala:  It's been almost four decades in the hospitality industry and IHCL, I have had the fortune to work at flag ships and across geographies. But there is one thing I have carried in my life and that is to be humble. Humility will get you to where ever you want and being compassionate to people is the key.

Ms. Ashrafi Matcheswala exudes the Taj hospitality- She has contributed so much to the Tajness that the world celebrates.


Read more at : http://www.theiwh.com/ms-ashrafi-matcheswala/
Website: http://www.theiwh.com

Journey of Ruchita Verma

We were coursemates at the CHE (Certified Hospitality Educator) training program; that's the first time I met her. She came across as a level headed, matured and a through professional; I had just started my teaching career then. We were together for a short duration and interaction was limited to group activities and assignments.  Met her later when I visited her institute as an external examiner for the University exams and have kept in touch since then. We also have a common group of friends that got me to know more about this extremely dynamic educator and hospitality leader. Her professional journey has been diligently planned and can see the hard work that she put through each role she played and position she held.  It gives me immense pleasure to have on IWH, the incredible story of  Dr. Ruchita Verma, Dean at the NMIMS's School of Hospitality Management, Navi Mumbai, India. She has been a mentor to many hospitality professionals and an inspiration the others.
Dr. Verma is a results-oriented professional with a solid academic presentation holding a Doctorate in Management and over 26 years of  experience of working in hospitality & design academics in various positions. She says that she had a humble beginning as a lecturer and has worked her way up to a position of a Director/Dean.

During her illustrious career, she has held many portfolios. She was the Campus Director for Pearl Academy, Mumbai.  Ms. Verma  has also held the position of a Group Director for ITM Group of Institutions where she headed four hospitality schools and one fashion & design school from their conception to successfully operational institutions.
In her  past two assignments her overall responsibility included spearheading the entire gamut of academic and administrative functions, driving strategic functions for ensuring institutional profitability and growth.  She also led the business development function with contributions in improving institutional visibility and brand development. Ms. Verma played a major role in managing the end to end requirements for getting the validations by engaging in negotiation with the Deans, Presidents  & Vice Chancellors of renowned   universities in USA, UK, Australia, Canada, France and was instrumental in facilitating collaborative relationship with them. She is familiar with regulatory and statutory requirements and managed the end to end requirements of the accrediting bodies and local government agencies.
As a Researcher she has contributed insightful research papers and articles and has organized conferences, seminars workshops, study tours and talk invitations.

The Early life 
Ms. Ruchita Verma can be called a proper ‘Bombay born, Bombay bred’ woman! While she was born in South Mumbai, she stayed in Bandra for the better part of her youth. She did her schooling from the famous Jamnabai Narsee School (JNS) where she studied amongst the star kids of Mumbai; who today are among the top Bollywood actors and actresses. Her father was one of the few parents from the working class there ; she and her brother were amongst the children who came from non famous backgrounds. While most of the children were using branded things such as Nike shoes and imported bag packs, the siblings used the brand of the masses, Bata shoes and the traditional khaki bag pack. Growing up in an ultra-rich environment helped rub the sophistication on her; at the same time made her determined that one day she would be able to afford all the 'Nikes of the world' without blinking an eyelid.
After JNS, she studied at SNDT College, Juhu, Mumbai followed by Hotel Management at IHM Mumbai. Studying hotel management was her true calling. From day one she was raring to go and did well in college. However, she came from an era where parents had only one dream for their daughter which was to get her married. So she was her married off when she was barely 20 and was still studying in college.

Career advancements and my mentorship
Since Ruchita was already married, she started her career working as a Management Trainee at the Raheja Group of Hotels way back in 1991. This was followed by a short stint in Sales & Marketing for the Ambassador Hotels. In 1993 many private catering colleges were coming up in Mumbai & Navi Mumbai and there was a dearth of faculty.  By sheer chance she got to know about an opening at the Bharti Vidyapeeth Institute of Hotel Management  and joined them as a lecturer in 1993 at the young age of 23! Some of the students in her first year of teaching were older than her! After a decade in BVHMCT, She was head hunted by a new college opening in the neighbourhood in 2002. Thus started her exciting journey of professional development with ITM Group of Institutions. She started working for ITM’s IHM as a lecturer, went on to become the Vice Principal, Principal, Director and eventually the Group Director heading all their hospitality institutes across the country and additionally their design institute about 2 years before she left.
It was at ITM that she met her life coach, her mentor and role model – Dr. P.V. Ramana. She says, “It was because of his encouragement and direction that I grew professionally. His style of management was to challenge our potential, get us out of our comfort zones and seek the impossible. I truly grew as an individual and as a professional in ITM. It was also during my tenure that I had the opportunity to travel through our country and a good part of world”.
Dr. Verma adds, "Having made myself comfortable at ITM, in 2015 I decided to challenge myself and get out of the comfort zone. It led to a creative disruption phase of my life and I started heading Pearl Academy a Design Institute in Andheri , Mumbai. Here I had the opportunity to work with creative people and the super exciting design community! Pearl also gave me the opportunity for a lot of self-development and leadership development. However, my heart was always in hospitality! So when NMIMS gave me an opportunity to start a school of hospitality management I just couldn’t resist!”
IWH had a few questions for Dr. Verma that she graciously answered.

IWH : What have been the high points of  your career?
Dr. Ruchita Verma: There have been many incidents that I  consider as important or high points of my career.

• Meeting some very important and exciting people.
• The opportunity to open new institutes and nurture them.
• Aligning new teams and making the people in it successful. Putting workable succession plans into place
• Traveling across the country and throughout the world.
• Most important – engaging with different communities of parents and successfully nurturing more than 2000 students over 26 years of academics. The best awards and accolades of my career have been my students being placed in top positions in best hospitality groups of the world.
• Meeting Vice Chancellors, Deans, Directors of various international universities across the world and doing 9 successful validations in 13 years.

IWH : What challenges have you faced as a woman in the industry?
 Dr. Ruchita Verma: Authenticity – I have struggled with being able to be myself in a leadership role where I have had to act against what I held as values close to my heart. For instance, I tend to value compassion more than men, which can be in direct conflict in a highly competitive work environment. Therefore, to be successful in that environment, I have had to sometimes act against my own deeply held values. I feel men, more than women, can succeed merely by ‘being themselves’ because they match other people’s concepts of what leaders are like. Women face more complexity because they may have somewhat different values and attitudes than most of their male counterparts. As a woman leader I have been called emotional when I may just be compassionate.  But it is important not to let one’s personal style get in the way of being heard. So it is important to listen to the cues of others.  I imagine most leaders would characterize authenticity as 'behaving the way you always have' - but for me that equation doesn't quite add-up. To survive in a modern workplace, emotional and political sensitivity must act as filters, which sometimes hold us back from being our authentic selves.
I hold all kinds of hopes, fears and opinions that are entirely authentic to me, but which would undoubtedly damage my leadership effectiveness if shared them all with my team. In order to be the most honest, coherent and value-based leader, I believe that leadership identity should evolve, every time a significant change is made. 

IWH :  What do I think of IWH?
Dr. Ruchita Verma: Women in hospitality are few;  therefore, they are unique. I also believe that all women in the hospitality industry are those who live life on their own terms and conditions. These are the women who have broken the boundaries of societal stereotypes. Therefore, by creating a platform like IWH is liberating in itself. Kudos to Ms. Laxmi Todiwan, IWH will be a force to reckon with. It is a great opportunity for the women to come together as a community of strong women; IWH will surely make a mark not just within the industry but also in the society.
Her advice to the young professionals and students

1. Have goals and nurture them. Fuel them continuously and guard them against storms.
2. Attain a balance in life. Balance means ensuring good health, relationships, professional development and inner peace  and happiness.
3. Deal with disappointments – accept them as a part of your life, challenge them and move on. Think back but move forward!
4. Life is not always fair - so accept that some people are luckier than you are. So be grateful and accept what you have. At the same time have the strength to accept what you don’t have.
5. Enjoy life – As Chetan Bhagat has said, don’t be serious, be sincere. Life is temporary with a limited validity. So it is okay to enjoy life, make mistakes, fall in love etc. As long as you have the sincerity and strength to realize that not all storms come to disrupt your life, some come to clear the paths as well.

What a conversation we had with this inspirational lady. I am sure her story will help the readers especially the ones who want to embark on a teaching career and motivate the ones who are already into the profession to have higher goals.

Read more at http://www.theiwh.com/dr-ruchita-verma/
Website: http://www.theiwh.com