105: Hospitality Family with Cerissa Miller

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Today we have the pleasure of speaking to Cerissa Miller! Cerissa is a leader in our industry. She started the Hospitality Family Facebook Group two years ago during the pandemic, and it now has over 60,000 members! </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Cerissa has a very inspiring story to share! In this episode, she talks about mentorship, networking, finding her niche in teaching, and the Hospitality Family Group she started, on Facebook.</span></p> <p><strong>Cerissa’s story</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When she was twenty-one years old, Cerissa moved from Santa Cruz, California, to Austin, Texas, looking for a career. She applied for many different positions and was finally offered a job at an Embassy Suites hotel in Austin as a social catering sales manager. After experiencing the back-of-house environment, realized her passion for the industry and wanted to make a career of it. </span></p> <p><strong>Mentors</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">She had some kind and wonderful mentors who taught her a lot and pushed her to be successful. Cerissa loved her job, even though it demanded a lot of her time.</span></p> <p><strong>Sales</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Cerissa later developed an interest in the sales side and became a successful hotel sales manager. After working in several different markets and hotels, she moved back to California and stepped into her first Director of Sales role. After that, she fell in love with leading and teaching. She felt like she knew what she was selling because of her catering experience in the hotel industry.</span></p> <p><strong>Learning</strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Cerissa feels blessed to have had the opportunity to work with and learn from all the different hotel directors who took the time to answer all her questions and help her understand how the various wheels turn to make one successful product. She also loved teaching those who followed behind her.</spa