Find out which 20-year Spa Veteran crossed the Molokai Channel in an outrigger canoe and competed in a body building competition!
How many years have you been involved in the spa/hospitality industry?
20 years!
What was the path that led you into the spa industry?
The visitor industry is where I started with the Anaheim Visitor and Convention Bureau as a travel industry sales manager. I traveled internationally putting together sales presentations to travel agents and tour wholesalers about the Anaheim destination – Disneyland, et al. Having always been attracted to the ocean, I decided I wanted to live in Hawaii and contacted Hyatt Resorts Hawaii who happened to be looking for sales managers for their new flagship hotel, Grand Hyatt Wailea Resort and Spa. They hired me to work in pre-opening hotel sales putting “heads in beds”, and the hotel wasn’t even under construction when we started booking groups!
The entire staff of the hotel consisted of 6 fellow sales managers, our DOS, Brian DiMartino, and our GM, Jim Petrus. While we knew we would have the most magnificent Spa with 40 treatment rooms in 50K s.f., we weren’t quite prepared to do spa bookings 2 years out, but then we started getting groups interested in details about the spa and booking confirmations. For some reason (probably because of my gender and my fitness routine), I became the go-to sales manager for any group that included spa bookings. Before opening, Silvia Sepielli, came on board to oversee the opening of the spa, and convinced me to move from sales to spa, and became (and still is to this day) my spa industry mentor!
Having worked in operations for 6 years with Hyatt Resorts in Hawaii and Florida, and then as a spa consultant for 14 years, has prepared me to discover yet one more side of the spa industry-new to me now- launching a new anti-aging skincare brand, SKIN by Nulastin with plant based human replicated DNA doing so much more outside our spa world than just removing wrinkles! So here I am full circle back in sales!
What is your favorite place in the world?
On, in, or near the ocean.
If you could have any profession in the world, other than what you do now, what would you be?
A boat captain running whale watching and scuba diving excursions, which would of course be making me extremely wealthy so that I’d have enough money to donate to our public school system!
What is your motto or concept that you live by?
“Oh, just go for it” (my mom used that all the time); Always write thank you notes (also from Mom); Change is good!; Never build a church for Easter Sunday; You can’t live without your girlfriends; Always add some fun to your day; and, Someday I’m going to learn to surf!
What is your most treasured possession?
Homemade cards from my son and a very personally autographed book from Maya Angelou from 1975.
What’s your go-to spa treatment?
Anything outdoors or indigenous, or if near home, a facial (since someone else is going to do the extractions)!
What is your proudest accomplishment?
Anyone who is a parent would say raising their child, and that has to be my proudest as well. Getting my first degree Black Belt in Taekwondo, while my son tested for his second degree was a huge accomplishment as well!
Cutting loose a few years earlier! Seriously though, I should be more patient and less hyper.
Care to share any details on family life, i.e. spouse, partner, children, pets?
I live back in my home town (after being gone for 17 years) in the Sonoma Valley with my 14 year old son, Adam. Being active as a school volunteer has been a very major part of our lives. Between serving on the board and driving for every field trip possible, we still make time for local biking and hiking. I have lots of family living nearby, and a wonderful boyfriend who is 6’9”! I have many birdfeeders all around my house and two raccoons who make midnight visits (maybe the birdseed has something to do with that!).
Tell us two things about yourself we don’t know.
I crossed the Molokai Channel in an outrigger canoe with the Kihei Canoe Club, and competed in a body building competition.