Nadia Gelmo

First hospitality job:

Front Desk agent for the Holiday Inn Yorkdale

​

Age you started working in hospitality:

24, it was my second career.

​

Your inspiration to begin working in hospitality:

I was working in another, small city, 3 hrs from home, and I was Marketing Director, for the Shopping Center, and I was homesick.  At a business event one evening, I met the Regional General Manager for the Holiday Inn Yorkdale and he told me that I should work for him, in Hotel Sales.  So, when I decided that I wanted to come back to Toronto, my current employer did not have anywhere to transfer me, so I quit.  Once I moved to Toronto, I looked up this GM, was hired immediately to work at Front Desk, and the journey began.

​

My hospitality mentor:

Patricia (Michaels) Brusha, she gave me my first job as a Hotel Sales Consultant, and trained me for 2 weeks.  She taught me to ask all the right questions, listen to the answers, and look for the “true answers”.  Know that what I was selling, was to the right customer and not every customer is the right one for my product.  She also taught me to “mingle/network”.  When entering a room, smile, make eye contact and be myself.  Authenticity and efficiency.  Hard work and keeping my ear to the ground, finger on the pulse and staying on top of what is happening.  Industry news, colleagues, customers, competitors, global news, listen, learn and use it to my advantage.

​

What are your favourite aspects of your job?

Doing the research, connecting the right people with the right place, and making the sales.  Later on when I became a leader, I loved working with my sales team and working together to achieve their goals.  Seeing their faces when they were rewarded that extra bonus at the end of a quarter, or being given an extra day with pay, for working hard and recognizing when they needed a break, helping others succeed is my success.

​

What has inspired you to continue your career path in hospitality?

The people, my passion for the industry, and my belief that I can make a difference and affect positive change in people’s lives.

​

Advice for students interested in a career in hospitality:

If you are excited about helping others, and making other people feel comfortable in your place (home, restaurant, hotel) then hospitality is the right place for you.  It is not the money that should motivate you, it should be the opportunity to make people’s experience the best that it can be.