Aubrey is a Director of Sales at Holiday Inn, hoping to use her experience to start a military care package business.
Roadmap.
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"Research and try different things. You never truly know what you like and don’t like until you try. College and high school are platforms to explore."
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MILESTONES
My career roadmap has been all over the place.
Going to College of the Canyons for one-year post AOC grad to decide what I wanted to do for my undergrad and where I wanted to attend a 4 year college.
Choosing to leave California to attend The University of Iowa. Here I was able to learn more about different majors and look into different programs.
Changing my major from business to enterprise leadership was a pivotal time in my college career. I was able to attend more classes I felt catered to my leadership attributes and gave me more hands-on experience of how to create, operate, and cultivate a successful enterprise in today’s world.
Sold over a million dollars during my 3 year journey working retail for Victoria Secret during college as well obtaining “platinum wings” for the company. From here I found my passion within sales.
After leaving in 2018 from U of Iowa I was still a little unsure what I wanted to do with my new skills. I knew my end goal was to start a care package company for those deployed overseas but didn’t truly feel as though I was ready to take the leap of starting a business yet.
Post college I tried real estate/property management but didn’t feel like I was being challenged in the way I wanted too or truly was passionate about the
type of work I was doing. I left that field and started my journey in Hospitality.
In 2019 I was hired as a sales manager without any hospitality background except from my mom who has a long background in events and hospitality.
I really had no idea what I was doing but I wanted to do well and wanted to prove I was worth taking a chance on.
I worked hard to learn the ins and out of the industry and produced productive numbers for the hotel. Within a year I was promoted to Director of Sales.
EXPERIENCE
Here are my extracurriculars relevant to this pathway
DURING MY HIGH SCHOOL CAREER
I played club soccer pretty much all of HS so that took up most of my free time. From playing competitive sports it instilled a never give up mentality that has truly never left. I am extremely competitive in everything I do and I think it is something that can set you apart in a saturated work force.
DURING MY COLLEGE CAREER
Participated in Career Leadership Academy which is a program offered my U of Iowa to cultivate hands on leadership skills along with the ability to truly uncover what leadership style works best for not only yourself but others.
Became a Brand Rep/ Regional Instagram holder for Victoria’s Secret PINK.Traveled to the VS Corporate office in Columbus Ohio to learn more about brand marketing and social media strategies. Also hosted university related events on and off campus to promote the brand.
CAREER
What I'm currently doing/hope to do
I currently work as the Director of Sales for the Holiday Inn. I gained interest in the hospitality world as my mom plans wedding in Carlsbad for the Hyatt. I started as Sales Manager and within a year I was promoted to Director. As a Director of Sales, I am responsible for ensuring their facility meets revenue goals in areas such as food & beverage, guest rooms, and event spaces along with planning and directing my sales force with activities and resources to maximize profit from all segments of the market. My end goal is to use all of the sales, management, and education experience I have and continue to gain to create a military care package company. This companies concept is to creates an online website to send care packages to those serving overseas in a convenient way for everyone to use.
ADVICE
How to maximize my time in high school?
Advice #1: Research and try different things. You never truly know what you like and don’t like until you try. College and high school are platforms to explore.
Advice #2: Be confident in yourself and your abilities you’d be surprised how important that is in all job field.
Advice #3: Never be embarrassed to ask questions.
Advice #4: Become well rounded in experience from sales to admin work any opportunity you have can be molded into something productive to add to your resume.
Advice #5: Anything in sales can be challenging. It’s a cut throat industry and there are a lot of “sharks”. Stay true to yourself and find what separates you from the pack and run with it.
