Find Your Passion
Bartending Days at The Langham NYC
Photo Credit: Mr. R (our wonderful bar regular)
I never did make it to Broadway. I decided at age 30 to switch gears. I had recently finished my cruise ship singing contract and was bartending at a swanky luxury hotel on 5th avenue in Midtown Manhattan. Although I was making very good money and loved my colleagues, I couldn’t help but feel the usual dread that came every time a show closed and it was back to bartending. When I was younger bartending was amazing! I met all sorts of interesting people from all over the world. I learned that when Europeans ask for a “Martini” they mean simply vermouth. I learned the difference between scotch and bourbon, champagne and cava and how to make fantastic cocktails. I have many friends who have chosen bartending as their professional career and I 100% respect the position. It is not an easy job and there is a certain skill needed to be a career bartender, especially in a major city like New York. For me it just wasn’t what I wanted for my lifelong career. Side note: There are definitely times in my life now where I fantasize about quitting New York, moving to a tropical island and bartending on the beach for cash and a zero responsibility life. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one. Yes, I was over it. The late nights counting cash at 2:00am before getting into a taxi exhausted was not my idea of fun anymore, and after a slight breakdown in the back pantry at work holding a crate of empty liquor bottles, I decided something needed to change. I had no idea what I wanted to do next but I knew I needed to start somewhere. I needed to take a chance, take a step and have faith I was going in the right direction.
I was fortunate to be offered a concierge position which gave me the opportunity to experience the city in the most amazing way…absolutely free! For 2 years I lived it UP in New York City! I had the best time and the best meals. I had constant dinner invitations from restaurants, tickets to the hottest new broadways shows, and bottle service at the trendiest clubs. Research for my job included hours exploring the city, from top to bottom. I loved wandering through neighborhoods and exploring local brunch spots, coffee shops, bookstores, art galleries and museums. Anything new and fun that came to New York City, I was there. Two nights a week my life included 4 course dinners complete with pre-dinner champagne and post-dinner cocktails. It was a fantastic job! It combined my love for New York with my love for creating memorable experiences. I arranged flower petal turndowns and candlelit bubble baths for couples on their honeymoon, Christmas trees fully decorated for families visiting for the holidays, scavenger hunts through Central Park, private backstage tours of Broadway shows and chef tastings at Michelin star restaurants. Once, I helped a guest from India who wanted to renew his vows to his wife in Las Vegas. I called the chapel directly to arrange and learned all about the price difference of a wedding with or without Elvis singing, and the additional cost if they wanted to arrive in a pink Cadillac. My job was to make people happy, and I loved it. They trusted me with the task of creating their memories of their special visit to New York City. These were the years that I really fell in love with New York, and truly became a New Yorker. I was finally able to enjoy this amazing city I was living in.
Thus began my new career in the fascinating world of the the New York City hotel Industry. After concierge I moved onto a position as conference services & events manager where I worked the hardest I have ever worked in my life in. I’m not going to lie, it was brutal. I really earned my hospitality stripes with that one. I was responsible for every aspect of a group stay, and these weren’t ordinary groups. Greeting celebrities and timing the door to the loading dock just perfectly so their fans wouldn’t be able to get to them was my idea of a normal work day. I coordinated press junkets and stag parties, hosted professional sports teams, international dignitaries, and bands on tour. I also had some serious perks with this job. I attended movie premiers, after parties, and many live concerts. I even once had a tour of a presidential palace in Europe through one of my diplomatic connections. The work was fascinating; I learned so much and I acquired so many valuable skills. I was really proud of the job I was doing, and although I left to dabble in a few other roles in the hotel industry to gain experience, my longing for creativity and excitement brought me back to the world of events where I continue to work today.
People outside the Metropolitan Opera House, NYC
This new world came my way out of nowhere. After I had left theater, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. All I had ever wanted was to sing and dance and after moving on from those dreams I searched to figure out what would make me happy. I would lie awake at night taking BuzzFeed quizzes like, “what career should I have” or “finding my true passion”. Although I was working in an industry I enjoyed, I still felt lost and like I was never going to figure it all out. What I discovered over these years is that I am exactly where I am meant to be. I love what I do. I work for a world-renowned hospitality company that I have so much respect for. I love my boss and my team, and most importantly I love working with people, people from all over the world and all walks of life. People from different cultures, traditions and ways of thinking. I love hearing their stories, listening to where they came from, the differences in our personalities, our cultures, and our upbringings. I find it fascinating to speak with clients for hours about growing up in Japan or Ireland or France. I spent so much energy trying to figure out my new passion that it never dawned on me until recently; I have been living it every day since I decided to take the new path down hospitality lane.
I am in no way an expert on life, but I know one thing to be true, we must find passion in what we do or else what is the point? Why would we spend 40,50,60 hours a week at a job we don’t care about? If you are one of the rare people to have found your passion from the start and have had the amazing luck of living it out daily you are truly fortunate. For many of us it takes time. It can take years, decades, sometimes an entire lifetime. It can take trying different industries to find what makes us happy at that point in life and then switching industries halfway through to explore a new one. During those years of agonizing over what to do next I worried a lot. I felt lost, and I felt like a flake for not knowing what I wanted in life when it seemed that everyone around me did. I always found the interview question “what is your 10 year plan” to be a bit daunting. Does everyone know exactly where they want to be in 10 years? The person I am now vs. 10 years ago is a completely different person. I have grown and changed so much, and here’s the thing, I am NOT a flaky person. I am actually an extremely structured and focused person. When I start out on a project or a goal I finish it. I just ran my first marathon last November, which as those of you who have ever run a marathon know is an ultimate commitment. I am that employee who will be dedicated to any job I choose, because that’s just the person I am, but I am also the person who leads with my heart because I know that is the only way to trust that I am where I am meant to be. I wish more people would answer the 10-year question with, ”my 10 year plan is to be an even stronger, more dedicated, healthier person than I am today, no matter which path I am on”. What is wrong with seeing open doors and walking through them not knowing where they may lead? Do we always have to have an exactly clear picture of where we want to be in 10 years? If we do, then I have failed immensely, because where I am now is not where I thought I would be 10 years ago, and I think that is wonderful. What is the fun in life if you don’t open yourself up to new experiences and opportunities? It’s OK to not know where you will end up, it’s OK to keep reaching for different goals and dreams, and it’s OK to constantly evolve. This doesn’t make you a flake or terrible at commitment. This doesn’t mean you will be a bad mother or father or romantic partner or employee, it just means you haven’t reached your end goal yet and you are still learning what you want. This is being human and this is life. Find your passion, and if you haven’t found it yet, keep looking, eventually you will, and it might not be what you thought it was 10 years ago.
“If you have the power to make someone happy, do it. The world needs more of that”