Pineapple Sessions with The Hospitality Doc

Amanda Richter, Madison College Hospitality Management Student and employee of the Hilton Madison Monona Terrace, is such a GEM people! She has a lovely way of talking about her own journey, this amazing industry that she 'fell' into and now loves, and how we celebrate the differences and uniqueness of each other through our work in servant leadership and hospitality. Enjoy this episode, recorded on site at Amanda's work, and feel free to share with others to continue exposing the good work of our industry members!

Madison College, to me, truly has been life changing. Coming here has changed my life. It has given me the tools to build something.

-          Carolyn Kosabucki

Carolyn Kosabucki is a returning adult Madison College Hospitality Management student who is completely amazing – a 4.0 student, she volunteers at the College, has received the Destination Madison Rising Student award, been nominated for the college’s Student Excellence awards, is working part time for Frank Production Company and CSC, completed her internship with Hotel Indigo and is taking part in the Sponsor a Student program with Food Fight Restaurant Group’s Lisa Loup.

As a survivor of domestic abuse, she calls her then life "devastating like a hurricane" which she left with $54 in her pocket, starting over in Madison and at Madison College. She knows “I’m not alone. My story may be different, but my story is not unique. When it comes down to it, you have to want it for yourself.”

She’s also inspiring grateful and humble and an amazing human being who believes wholeheartedly in the power of education. And her role in it. 

In this episode, Carolyn talks about her journey to this point in her life, how her bucket list has changed, how grateful she is for her mom and her team of people rooting for her now, and how she feels safe in her space. Carolyn is keeping options open for the journey and is an inspiration for anyone who’s wondering what the next step could look like. She offers amazing advice to others who are considering taking a leap and being a self-advocate through education.

I’m a huge fan of CK. Enjoy!

Gahhhhhh I love chatting with Madison College students about their pathways and what got them here...Pineapple Sessions Podcast Season 2 Episode 2 features a dude with a special place in my heart, Ethan Gillespie, who's just soaking all of this up like a sponge, is interested in cooking his heart out (including Tongue Tacos and this week's menu at Osteria Papavero working with Awful Foods -check it out!) and can't wait to keep getting better, learning more, and gaining an opportunity to teach what he's learned from the chefs at the school, Justin Carlisle and Francesco Mangano. 

I think you'll really appreciate the humble ways in which Ethan talks about food his grandmother and mom make that he cannot duplicate, about what he would tell Young Ethan who didn't quite know where he fit in, about how FOH & BOH working as one is amazing, and about how sticking to what Chef Paul Short told him at Culinary Arts orientation as his "two things' has guided his journey.

Enjoy!

Try NOT to get emotional when Kevin talks about his amazing mother...or the gratitude and humility he has for this world in part due to his experiences...or how he talks about the beauty of food and how we can all do little things to not be wasteful!

I didn’t think I could be more fond of Kevin Apolinario until I sat with him and he told me his story. You are going to love this opening podcast for Season 2 of Pineapple Sessions.

From a kid who wouldn’t talk to people other than his team in gaming (Kevin was making money playing World of Warcraft at home in Louisiana) to taking a leap of faith and moving to Madison where he stumbled upon welding, to getting a part time job exposing him to food which led him to Madison College’s Culinary Arts program and working with Madison Chefs likes Dave Heide and Dan Fox, Kevin has such an incredible story of learning, growing and being humble along the way.

You don’t want to miss this student story. Enjoy!

🍍🍍🍍Pineapple Sessions Episode 20 🍍🍍🍍is live and thanks to my dear friends Amy Campbell and Elizabeth Garcia Hall, the tables were turned - this episode features them interviewing me about life, loss, education, gratitude, resiliency and of course, our amazing hospitality industry 

🎧🎧🎧Enjoy and please share with others!

Rebecca Ramsey is an incredible hospitalitarian with a non-traditional path and not-often-talked about career in sales and destination marketing. She is also a huge advocate for our college, it’s programs, the students and connecting learners to lessons by coming into the classroom to share her story and answer real and tough questions about industry, working, and being authentic to you. She gifted me some time for this podcast from her home office located in the Greater Madison area and she and I had a lot of fun and some giggles as we dealt with some technology issues, land line phones ringing and the pitter patter of doggy feet wanting their morning feeding.

Rebecca currently serves as the Regional Director of Sales for Visit Baltimore. Ramsey is a seasoned tourism and hospitality industry professional, previously working with both Visit Charlotte and the Greater Madison Convention & Visitors Bureau in assistant and director of sales roles. She most recently served as the vice president of association channel sales at Production Resource Group, LLC where she was responsible for selling audiovisual (AV) equipment, services and event technology to the association market.

In this episode Rebecca gives light to:

• Her neighborhood favorite on Monona Drive (aka Crema Café)
• The pros and cons of working from home
• That she may be the only person I know who still has a land line
• How a summer temp job jump started her love of this industry even though it impacted her Friday nights as a youth J
• You can’t escape stressful situations so grace under pressure and being gracious are key
• Why dog trainers completely rock
• Watching your team succeed is personally very empowering and special
• The power of mentoring and being mentored
• The economic impact of tourism and hospitality
• The long way we’ve come from Function Diaries

Please enjoy and help us spread the word of good work being done in industry by sharing this story on your social media sites.

This episode features the amazing, graceful and humble Deb Archer, CDME, who serves as the President/CEO of Destination Madison. 

Through this works she gets to set the vision for the organizations’ work to manage the destination and grow the area’s economy by attracting leisure, sports, convention, and business travelers. Deb says that her work connects our guests with all of the great places to experience during their stay. In fact, she loves to boast about that and says that our hospitalitarians are first in class when it comes to giving our visitors experiences like no other. Deb advises guests to talk to people when the come to the area saying: Madisonians are friendly and eager to share their favorite spots to recreate, dine, shop, or contemplate their future. 

One of my favorites about Deb though is the humility with which she leads. Deb is the face and voice of tourism in our area, a constant advocate for our hospitality industry and everyone who serves in it. In this incredible interview, Deb shares her wisdom around many things including:

• Which one of the Bucky’s on Parade was her absolute favorite
• Why we should pause, check out and give ourselves permission to be in the margins
• Where her happy places are in the Greater Madison county 
• Her experience in an HVAC class in college
• How employee culture matters. And people need to know they matter.
• How her advice to ‘never use your sexuality to advance yourself’ advice hit home for a student
• Deb was a student at Madison College a few years ago – can you guess what program
• Her creative ideas for how to spend her retirement (don’t worry, it’s no time soon and it’s still in industry but in a super fun way)
• The nuggets she learned from Jane Fonda
• How physics shows up in decision making
• What employers need to do to ensure they retain top level talent. 
• How students like Madison College’s Destination Madison award winner Carolyn Kosabucki are changing the way we teach, attract and retain hospitalitarians
• Don’t close your eyes to any paths. 

Enjoy and please help us spread the story of our industry by sharing this on your social media sites!

Chef David Rodriguez is a culinary and business entrepreneur – he is passionate about food and cooking and operates a growing food business that includes a successful food cart and catering business. You may have heard of his Melted Craft Grilled CheeseFood Truck, or The International Catering Co (Chef's Table and Catering) or even the newest venture, Taco Local up in the Wisconsin Dells. And you may have seen him on the show "Car to Table" which brought local chefs into strangers kitchens, including Madison College's Hospitality Management program alumni, China Moon and Food Fight Restaurant Group's Chef Giovanni Novella.

A Food for Thought, his new web series highlighting sustainable food systems throughout Wisconsin, and connects Madison chefs and the public to the producers who thoughtfully raise and grow our sustenance.

🎥 The series premiere drops July 28 at 7 p.m. on isthmus.com, Facebook, YouTube and Vimeo. To best take in the stunning Sitka landscapes, they recommend watching on a large screen!

In this interview, David is so raw and shares incredible advice that I can’t wait for you to hear. Some nuggets include:

•That the food can’t be meh – you have to put out a good product.

•Why he ate humble pie, learned to ask for help and started caring about how things operate while surrounding himself with talented people.

•That he swears he nearly died when he first opened up.

•Once he realized he management wasn’t his strength and let someone else rock that position, he could put the pieces together and do the work he needed to do and gain freedom.

•If you don’t get cost control, it’s super easy to get blind-sighted and go under.

•Defensiveness and cockiness will not help you identify and fix problems. Humility and reflection does.

•Ego can get in the way of the work – nobody has time for that.

•You won’t get there without help.

•How he got himself out of a bad situation and is proud of what they’ve done.

•You have to work hard. No matter who you are, the only way out is up.

•Your dreams won’t come to you. And if you don’t want to work for them, you don’t deserve them if you do get them.

Enjoy and help spread the great work being done in our industry by sharing these interviews on your social media sites

Monique Branch currently serves as Associate Market Manager at Expedia Group. Based in Madison Wisconsin, Monique’s territory includes Madison and the Wisconsin Dells. Prior to her current role, Monique held various positions in branded and independent hotels and even interned with the Secret Service. Most recently, Monique spent her first year in Wisconsin working for Destination Madison and the Madison Area Sports Commission. During her time there she had the opportunity to work closely with city wide conventions and events, such as the CrossFit Games, World Dairy Expo, Ironman, and EPIC. She is passionate about the industry, partnering with her hotels to help them make strategic business decisions to maximize their revenue, and experiences!

In this awesome interview, Monique will delight you with her insights on our industry including:

• How the industry brought her and her hubby from AZ to TN to WI
• Some of the pros and cons of working from home 
• How it helps if you can be with a partner who just “gets it” and can “close the office door and turn it off” 
• How she can spot a fake $100 anywhere
• Why it's important to network and put yourself out there 
• That until you know exactly what you’re doing don’t even think about the next step aka “Grow where you’re planted”
• Why engaging with your new hires is uber important
• How courageous leadership includes watching for the red flags and not being afraid to ask for help. 
• Why we should always take a step back and ask the right questions

Enjoy and help spread the great work being done in our industry by sharing these interviews on your social media sites!