It's Personal Stories, A Hospitality Podcast

Melissa Maher, CEO & Founder, Pinnacle Enterprises Group, interviewed by Rachel Humphrey

• David Kong

Share episode

Melissa Maher, who has spent over three decades in the hospitality industry, including serving as Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Inclusion Officer for Fortune 500 Expedia Group, shares her personal journey to leadership and lessons she’s learned along the way.  Melissa discusses the importance of asking for what you want, seeking out new challenges to advance your career, and staying positive and asking for help to overcome challenges.  She also shares her tips for networking, maintaining a trustworthy support system, and developing a personal brand.

Rachel Humphrey:

I am Rachel Humphrey on behalf of D E I advisors, and our mission is to empower personal success, and I can think of no greater guests to start off than to welcome Melissa Maher.

Melissa Maher:

Hi Rachel. Thank you so much for having me. It's really an honor to be here and to spend time with you on this such an important topic.

Rachel Humphrey:

I appreciate it. I know I told you I wouldn't embarrass you a minute ago, but I'll tell you before we get started. That we are not good about taking credit for things that we have achieved as women in this industry. And I wanna take a second to say thank you to you when I was transitioning from my first career as a trial lawyer to hospitality executive, I really look to you for guidance and inspiration, and I know so many of us in the industry have. So if you'll not give yourself credit, I just wanna take a second to say thank you. And that will segue perfectly into telling us a little bit. Your journey to leadership, from hospitality school to over 20 years with Expedia Group. Such an incredible career. Most recently as Chief Marketing Officer and a lot of other titles. Tell us about tell us about Melissa. Tell us how you got to where you are today.

Melissa Maher:

Thank you Rachel. So my journey actually in hospitality started when I was a young kid in Kokomo Indiana. And my first job was at a country club. And from then I absolutely knew that I wanted to be in the hospitality industry. So I moved across the country to Las Vegas. And went to hotel school at U N L B, and that was really the perfect spot for me to learn about the hotel industry. I spent time in school and shortly out of school working in the hotel field, which I loved. I worked the courtyard by Marriott at the front desk. I worked the Residence Inn, I worked for Hilton. I opened up Paris in Las Vegas, and then from there I moved to Expedia, which as you mention, Was there over 20 years, and that was really, to me, the best of all worlds because I was still in hospitality, I was also in tech and in marketing, and I had the opportunity to, in my first role, be in account management where I was. Managing relationships with hotel partners and helping them grow their strategy and grow their business. And I did that for several years. And then my first leadership role was Vice President of strategic accounts. And in that role I led our relationships and our commercial partnerships with our chain partners in our regional, in our regional key accounts. And that was great experience. And from there, I've also had, Experience in tech and innovation, helping our partners achieve some of their goals with automation and revenue management. I've done public relations, communications, industry engagement as you mentioned most recently, chief marketing officer from the B2B perspective, and one of the highlights of my career was focusing on. Diversity and inclusion as I was the Chief inclusion Officer. So I've had a great journey and really how I built my career is, Looking at voids in the business and looking at areas that I wanted to grow or learn, and really asking for a lot of those opportunities, whether it's to build new functions, whether it is to look at new challenges. So it's really just been a great journey that I've been on. And I love hospitality. I love the people. I have a ton of mentors, including yourself, and so it's really been a really great journey.

Rachel Humphrey:

That's amazing. And so many different departments and roles within the company. You mentioned chief Inclusion Officer, and I wanna talk about that being the first of anything. Trailblazing is certainly scary and exciting all at the same time. What made you the right fit for that role and what would you say is your biggest take away from having held that position? I believe that you are responsible for creating the team that now leads diversity and inclusion in Expedia. But tell us a little bit more about that opportunity Specif.

Melissa Maher:

Absolutely. The driver for that was I wanted to see change and I wanted to make change and it probably wasn't until I was leading our strategic accounts, until I realized profoundly the lack of diversity within our industry as well as our company, there were. endless times where I would go into a meeting at Expedia Group or with a partner, and I would be the only woman. And so I really wanted to make a difference and make a change because I thought about future leaders and if they weren't seeing women in the boardroom or they weren't seeing women in leadership meetings, that we would lose talent. And I wanted to make. That, I helped pay it forward. So how it became is I, we had a leadership team meeting. I was the only woman there. And after the meeting I sat down with my boss and I said, I wanna make a change. I wanna run this division and I want your full support. I also, of course, have a business plan and so I, I led that for our B2B division, and then our c e O asked me if I would lead that for Expedia Group as a whole, and it was a wonderful experience. I the takeaways for me were really, you have to have support at the top level, starting with the c e O as well as the leadership team, and you have to bring them along the journey. I remember trying to get our leadership team through the journey and understand why inclusion and why diversity is so important. and I thought, how am I gonna do this? I don't wanna just show them a bunch of, Excel spreadsheets with numbers on them. So I actually asked my boss if we could have an offsite and we had a full day offsite where we had no computers, we had no PowerPoints, no spreadsheets, and we talked about this topic and the importance of this topic. and people's personal journeys, and that allowed me to get them to buy in. So I think I think buy in at the top, hold leaders accountable is really what I learned. And I also learned that it's a tough topic for leaders to talk about, and so allowing them, To be coached and being very transparent is incredibly important and allowing for mistakes. We make mistakes in, in every area and I think inclusion and diversity is one that people are really nervous to make mistakes. So I think being transparent and supportive is important. And I think one last thing, diversity is a, or should be in all companies, a commercial imperative. So one of my big learnings was that function should live in the business. Not in hr. I love all of my HR friends and their support, but really, if you think about it, it needs to be a commercial imperative. And really follow the life cycle of, the employee from the minute they're applying for a job all the way through and just making sure that there's accountability at all levels within the organization, in all lines of business. I

Rachel Humphrey:

love that and I love the collaborative conversation of saying it can't just be the company or the employees that it really has to have buy-in from the beginning. And you raise a good point, something I wanna talk about. I mentioned at the beginning, we're not always good at advocating for ourselves, but I imagine it took a lot for you to sit down and say, this company needs this and I'm the one to lead it. Where did you draw from to both have the courage to say and really be able to advocate for yourself to say that I'm the person who needs to kick off or launch this new initiative.

Melissa Maher:

I learned a piece of advice when I was really young that I still hold today from my mom, and she said, ask for what you. And it sounds really simple, but she said, people aren't gonna know what you want unless you ask for it. And a lot of times when you're asking leaders to take on responsibility, additional responsibility, or fill a void that you don't have, they're rarely gonna say no. So I sat down with my boss and said, I'm the right person because I'm one of the only vice president females at Expedia. I was the only female senior vice president for a very long time, and I said, I have the personal experience, and I also asked him for his absolute support and I said as our president, I want your support and need your support. Because if I don't have your support, we're not gonna make a difference. And he was amazing, absolutely amazing. And it, that's really how it started. That's amazing.

Rachel Humphrey:

From Winnet to Women in Travel Thrive, you've been incredibly engaged with different organizations in the hospitality industry for the majority of your career. Why is that important for you both in elevating your own career, but also where do you turn to for resources, for guidance when you're looking to continue to grow as a

Melissa Maher:

profess? I think being involved in your own company and having mentors and a network in, in your own company is very important. But I think it's also incredibly important to have a network outside of your organization because, They have different experiences. They are people that you can go to pick their brains. And so I have always thought, external organizations are incredibly important. I also think mentors are important both in your field and outside of your field and having multiple mentors. I also do a lot of professional certifications and. What I like about that is it really holds you accountable. If you're going through a year program and it helps you be accountable. I also think of coaches. I'm a big believer in, in coaches and I'm also a big believer in learning new things. I actually think both personally and professionally learning new things and it can be. Small things or large things. I actually set on January 1st, I set a goal for myself to learn one new thing a week. And big or small, a big one was signing up for a year long certification. Small one was I took a ballet class with one of my girlfriends, which was a disaster or learning new But I. I think that that curiosity, that drive to learn something new is always really Im important. And I think talking to people and building a network is, and following up is really important. I wanted

Rachel Humphrey:

to actually follow up on the building and network because for some of us the idea of networking a, as it's used, Is not a comfortable situation, but what I've learned in my career is that you can build relationships, which is critical in the hospitality industry, but suited to your own skillset. You don't have to network. I don't have to network how Melissa networks or how anybody else does. I figure out what works for me and I develop it that way. When you're building your network both within Expedia and in the industry in general, are there certain. Skills you have or certain traits that you have that you think you've really been able to capitalize on to help you build those relationships, to help you build that network? Definitely. I think one of,

Melissa Maher:

one of my traits is I'm very curious and I am, I've always been very curious about people and how they've built their. Careers and how they've built their life. So I use that curiosity to ask a lot of questions. I also am a bit of an extrovert, so I'm very social, so that really helps in building networks. One of the things that I think is an incredibly important is once you meet someone for the very first time, Follow up. That is one of the things that I think people forget about. If I'm sitting on an airplane and, which this happened to me last week, sitting on an airplane and started talking to the person sitting next to me. And ironically the person who was in the hospitality field and ended up giving me his business card, and the next day I emailed him. Followed up and we're gonna have lunch next week. Nice. And so I think that the follow up is really critical. The other thing that I think is really important, and I know you are great at this, is being a connector. If there's another person out there that you think that, you can help make that connection, that's a rule that I always follow. I try to make those connections and then not be afraid to, use social media. I spoke to someone yesterday that we were talking on LinkedIn. We have some commonality, so we just popped on the phone together. So social is also, I think a newer way, particularly now that we're in such a virtual.

Rachel Humphrey:

I love that because that, one of the things I love so much about the hospitality industry is the relationships and is that opportunity, I think we gather more than probably any industry out there, but it's such a wonderful feeling that when you are, whether you're in person, you're over zoom, you're on the phone to know that you have. This group of people. And not just for the networking, but for that continuous growth. Think about during the pandemic when none of us knew what we were doing and nobody had ever been through it before. There wasn't someone you could call and be like, the last time there was a pandemic, how did you handle this? And that network became critical in reaching out to everybody to really come together to get through such an incredible challenge. You mentioned ballet with your friend, your girlfriend the other day. A friend of mine recently introduced me to the concept of a personal board of directors, and she said that every woman should have a personal board of directors that they turn to and for strategic support to, to get over a challenge, to build them up. For a whole variety of things. And I love the concept. I've been thinking about it a lot lately. I know that for you, your support system has been really a critical part of your path and your journey. How do you identify. Who you use in your support system and when you call on them or what types of things you call on them For

Melissa Maher:

the personal board of directors. I love that. I'm gonna start using that. I use the term posse. Okay. And when I'm looking at, a posse or a personal board of directors I think the biggest thing is trust. And you have to be able to trust each other. You have. Have someone who's on your personal board of directors who you can be vulnerable with and they can be vulnerable with as well. So trust is absolutely something that is important. And time. I think time is critical because you want to give time and receive time, and you want it to be, really helpful and beneficial. So you, I wanna make sure that my poss. Is is small and does, does have the ability to give time. I think the other thing with support systems is, as a female leader, I have a lot of male allies and I think that's incredibly important because, If you have male allies you get their perspective, but you can also talk to them about ways of building up women or helping some of their young leaders, things they might not be aware of. And I think that's just something that, that is is really important. And I think one last thing as I'm thinking about those groups of people is. People that share the same values and people that can help boost you up when you need it or you can help boost them up. So I think sh sharing some of the same values is very important.

Rachel Humphrey:

I love that. And I do love the idea of not only male allies, but elevating women and other underrepresented groups in hospitality is not a women's issue. It's not a diversity issue. It is an industry-wide issue. And so it's really gonna. conversation and education and commitment from the entire industry to really achieve what we're looking for. So I love that. Sometimes when we take big risks they are not always successful. We are faced with challenges every now and then in lots of different ways. Can you tell me a little bit about, maybe sometime you had to overcome a challenge, how you processed it, what tools you looked for, and how you proceeded?

Melissa Maher:

Absolutely there. There have been a lot of times where I've had to overcome obstacles or challenges and what I have always. Used as a very key rule is to stay positive, and I think it's important to stay positive because if you go to a negative path or you start to panic, that can only make things, things a bit worse and hold you back. I also always ask myself that common question again that I learned very young in my career is what is the worst thing that could happen? And usually when I have an obstacle and I ask that question, there are two things that pop up. One is, The worst thing is, will I get fired or will someone else get fired, or will I die, or will someone else die? And the latter very rarely happens. I will tell you Cook's story, it did happen to me once in my career when I worked at the front desk at the Courtyard by Marriott. I was also responsible with the other front desk clerks to drive the courtesy van to the airport, and I did get an accident so that was the only time I said, will I die or will someone else die? And I think another, but another thing that I use as a tool is just hit things head. So I started that very young, after I got in that accident and had some issues with the van at the courtyard of Marriott, I immediately went and told my boss. So I've used that, hit it head on, don't procrastinate and ask for help. I think younger in my career I was less. Willing to ask for help. I can figure this out. I, this is my role. I can figure this out. And as I've matured in my in my experience, asking for help is one of the things that, is a go-to. And I also think when you think about obstacles, Don't, don't be ashamed and use that as a learning experience. And I remember one time I was doing a presentation and I made a mistake in the presentation and I had that self-talk forever. And finally I, had to, I had to sit down and say, you know what? Don't be ashamed. you learned from that experience? I immediately asked for feedback so that I can take that and then next time could use that. So I think, asking for feedback and not being ashamed and just making sure that you're growing from every obstacle or every failure is really important.

Rachel Humphrey:

I love that. One of the things I respect a lot in the team around me is just saying, Hey I messed up. Now how do we fix it? And because I really think that is how we grow. Every day we do the best we can and tomorrow we hope to do the best we can with whatever we learned yesterday that maybe we were a little less successful at. And so I think owning it up really important. And I love the idea of getting the feedback on how to grow. Cause that goes back to that idea of continuous growth. We're certainly going to. Have obstacles every day. Nobody's life is gonna be a straight shot across the board. And so learning from those over the last few years we've heard a lot about developing a personal brand, really to, whether it's an actual personal brand statement or, but what we wanna be known for. If you had a personal brand statement, what would it be and how did you.

Melissa Maher:

That's a tough question. But I do think it is very important to have a personal brand. I think it gives you a competitive edge. It helps people remember you, which could ultimately lead to opportunities. And for me, when I think about personal brand, I think about. I think about creating your story. It's almost like a book and having lots of chapters. And as we're growing through our career, each chapter we're evolving and we're learning. And so I think what I would say about branding is I look for common themes throughout the chapters in my book that are also tied to my values. So I won't give you a statement, but I will pull some words. I'll have to come back with you if you wanna I think some of the words that are associated with my brand is authentic and honest. Disruptor, change agent loyal. People, developer compassionate. And the last one, which I think is just as important as the rest, is fun and positive. I think you've gotta have fun in your personal life, in your professional life, and, you spend so much time with the people that you work with on a regular basis that you should enjoy it and have fun

Rachel Humphrey:

with them. I love that. I think I have seen all of those traits out of you in the years that we've known each other. One of my favorite questions that I get when I'm on panels are being interviewed is what advice would we give to, what advice would I give to my younger self? And it has become what I love hearing. From others in part because I think reflection is such a critical part of our personal growth. I want to hear yours, but I wanna add one little nugget to the end of it. Since we are both recently retired. I'm curious if the advice you would give to your younger self has changed at all since you've stepped away from the daily. wanna say stepped away from a career. You're still heavily engaged in hospitality, but stepped away from a daily, let's call it a nine to

Melissa Maher:

five job. Yeah definitely. And I love this question too. So I gave you one, one piece of advice is ask for what you want. And I, do that all the time and encourage people to do that all the time. We talked about the importance of building a networking and network and networking, and I would tell myself from the very first job to network and follow up. I didn't really put major focus on networking until was more pro progressed in my career. The other thing that I would say to my younger self is, don't be a perfectionist. Allow yourself to be vulnerable, be it takes a lot of courage to be vulnerable, but I think if you are vulnerable, particularly as a leader, you really show courage and you can really get a lot out of that. So I think being vulnerable would absolutely be a, be one of those

Rachel Humphrey:

I was just gonna say I think being vulnerable is also really interesting because as women we believe that we need to be so strong to advance in our career and be in a space that more often than not is predominantly men or stronger personalities. And so I love the juxtaposition of being vulnerable to advance and to elevate your career in a world where maybe that is not second nature to.

Melissa Maher:

Yeah I actually did a really unique thing at Expedia right before Covid and it's still carried through where I created a vulnerability circle and I start, and we were able to start this in person, and I started with women. And we actually read one of Brene Brown's books, who I'm a big fan of, and followed her work workbook. And it was one of the best days that I've had. And so what I did is said, now I'm gonna do this circle with men. So I did that with men and the vulnerability from the. was absolutely amazing. And then I joined groups and from there it became a practice of really encouraging others to, to be vulnerable. And I saw so many people grow from being vulnerable and hearing stories. So I just think that's so incredibly important.

Rachel Humphrey:

I love that. We are getting close on time. I wanted to turn back to the mission statement of d e I advisors, which is empowering personal success and ask you as you think about your career, your remarkable trajectory through Expedia and otherwise. What piece of final advice would you give to the people watching on how they too can empower their own personal

Melissa Maher:

success? I think, gosh, there, there are a couple of things that come to mind, but I think the biggest is believe in yourself and be able to take those risks within your career and. Get support, get people to help you because as we talked about it's sometimes hard to advocate for yourself, but it's really easy to get someone to help advocate with you. So really, take those risks and make those connections and just go for it.

Rachel Humphrey:

That's excellent. All right. I'm gonna give you one last curve ball, Tell me today, where is Melissa's happy place? Where, what puts that smile on your face that everybody knows you for when you are really saying, you know what? All is good right now?

Melissa Maher:

Oh, that is a tough question. One of the things that, that, since I am not in the day to day anymore, is I've been focusing more on self-care, and that includes a lot of walks. On the beach and spending time in nature, and it also has given me time to connect with people that I haven't connected with in a long time and really allow time for that. So a lot of times I will walk on the beach and I will pick a person that I haven't talked to in a couple of years and just pick up the phone and call and check in and that connection. People and that connection with nature really is a happy place for me. That's

Rachel Humphrey:

fantastic. Melissa Marritz, thank you so much for sharing your guidance. Thank you so much for your tremendous leadership and advocacy on behalf of women, especially in hospitality, and we just can't wait to see what you do

Melissa Maher:

next. Aw, thank you Rachel. And thank you for all that you've done for women and hospitality and for being such a great mentoring leader in the. Thanks, Melissa.