The Power of Saying Yes: How Sarah Dinger Turned Opportunities into Hospitality Leadership

Josiah: Do you want to accelerate your career and become an influential leader in hospitality? If so, stay tuned because you'll love our episode today. It's the final one in our series with Sarah Dinger, Executive Vice President of Franchise Operations at MyPlace Hotels. In this, Sarah shares the power of saying yes to opportunities, even the uncomfortable ones, and why mentorship and community are vital for growth. As chair of AHLA's ForWard Advisory Committee, Sarah also offers a behind-the-scenes look at how women are reshaping hospitality leadership. So keep listening because I think Sarah's insights today will inspire you just like they inspired me. Let's get into it.

[intro]

Josiah: I want to hear your advice for our listeners around what it takes to grow and accelerate your career because we have talked about a lot of things that you're doing in the company. That is table stakes. You have to do well, you know, in your business, but you also look beyond your business to other things. And I wonder if you could share a little bit about things outside of MyPlace that you've engaged with or learned from that have helped you accelerate your career.

Sarah: Yeah, absolutely. So I think, Josiah, I think my one piece of advice to those that are entering the industry or even those that are in the industry and want to become more involved is to really to raise your hand. Any opportunity that you have to serve on a board, to attend an event, to have a speaking engagement, even if it's uncomfortable, take those opportunities because I'll be the first to admit I typically do not like to be center stage, but I've continued to take an opportunity to participate in anything possible. You know, and that's really helped me both grow personally and professionally. And as a result of it, I am becoming a better leader and I am becoming a better resource to the team members and to other individuals outside of the My Place organization. This year I was really honored to, and I've been an active part of the AHLA initiative of Advancing Women in Hospitality. And this year I was really honored to take the role as chair of the ForWard Advisory Committee. Where me and 30 other very powerful and impactful women are really spearheading all of the efforts to continue to grow women's participation in the industry. And so to have those conversations and to be the support and to provide some guidance around, you know, women like me who early in my career was, you know, kind of behind the scenes and I would do whatever I could. to not be in front of the camera, to not be up on the stage. But taking those opportunities has really kind of empowered me and motivated me and encouraged me to continue to, you know, take more opportunities. I think there's so much and I think it really comes back to the heart of what hospitality is. Hospitality is being, you know, so supportive of your colleagues and those in the industry and recognizing all of the great work that together we are doing in hospitality. Hospitality isn't one brand. It's the collection of all of the hotel brands and, you know, really kind of driving forward guest experience and continuing the great work that we're doing in the industry.

Josiah: That's great. Can we talk a little bit more about Forward if you're open to it? Because I'm a huge believer in kind of what I see happening there. You know, at Actabl, this is one of the things I wanted to make sure that we sponsored. We sent a whole team there. I see so many cool things happening. I'm curious from your view, because you're chairing this group, what is the power and opportunity that you see that you invest your time and you're working towards? You must have seen something or witnessed something. They say like, hey, I'm going to start investing in this. And what was that?

Sarah: Well, I will tell you, so there's been a lot of really great moments and we've celebrated a lot, both within my place and in the industry. And when I first got involved in Forward, it was 2018 and I attended my first Forward conference. At that moment, there were probably two to 300 people in the audience. It was kind of a small intimate setting. It was a great event though. And what I took from it was all of the opportunity to bring more people, like-minded individuals together to really to elevate and grow and to continue to empower women, mostly, to be more involved. I mean, when I started to go to industry conferences, and I'm gonna take a step back because when I attended my first industry conference, I heard that there probably weren't gonna be very many women there. And I was kind of surprised by that. Because, you know, I entered the industry as the first employee and a woman. And so I didn't really understand at that time why women were not in the industry. It just didn't resonate with me. I mean, the founders of my place, you know, entrusted a woman to be their first employee. And so that's what I thought the experience in the industry was going to be. And it wasn't until I attended my first industry event and I looked around and I said, wow, there are not a lot of women here. I now understand. And then in 2018, I was recognized as one of the most influential women in hospitality by hotel management. And at that time, I had an opportunity to sit around a table with some really, really great mentors. A few of the people that I continue to stay in touch with and that are like my biggest supporters, I had those conversations and those interactions with them. And so they really kind of instilled in me, like, just say yes and be involved. And so going to forward, I was like, all right, I'm really excited about this. And I went there and it was something different than any other industry conference. Like the power of forward is real. And so I wanted to be more involved and I continued to be very active in it and continue to promote it and to get others involved because there's such an opportunity. And I think sometimes those opportunities cannot always be seen. And so. We have to talk about them. We have to share experiences. We need to encourage others to be involved. And so when I was asked by a dear friend the opportunity to chair the ForWard Committee, I said yes, absolutely. Provision at that time was incredible, and I knew that this was We have a great opportunity to really ignite a lot of excitement within the industry. And so I said, yes. And at the Forward conference this year, we welcomed a thousand people to the conference. And I think everybody's story about their experience at Forward is the same. Like it's unlike anything else. It's a support network. It's an opportunity to connect, like really connect and to have different conversations. than are typically had. It's about educating. I mean, it's all of the things that you don't typically get, but are so important to have those conversations. And so I'm really encouraged by, you know, the continued momentum of what's happening with AHLA and their initiatives with Forward. And, you know, this year we're doing more focused on, you know, maybe some mentorship, an opportunity, you know, to connect with people like you or maybe people that you inspire to be like within the industry and to share those successes because I wouldn't be where I am today if I didn't have the mentors that I had early in my career and I continue to lean on those same individuals as I continue to advance in, you know, in my career. And I want to pay that forward. I really do. I am so excited about all of the opportunities for anybody that is entering into the industry or anybody that's in the industry to take that next step. That's what really fuels me, if you can't tell, is like making sure that every opportunity can be seen and that you can continue to grow in your career path because that's what life's all about. I just, I love to build a team.

Josiah: Well, you look very lit up and as I can tell, this brings you a lot of life. You said a friend invited you to chair the committee. Who was that person?

Sarah: Anna Blue.

Josiah: Anna is incredible. She's an incredible leader.

Sarah: Anna is incredible.

Josiah: I've had the chance to speak with her a number of times and her leadership and her vision I find extraordinary. I'm curious if there's anything you'd be willing to share that kind of stands out to you of what you've observed of Anna. And the reason I'm asking is because I think opportunities like this are the result of a huge amount of hard work that you've done. We've talked about. It also comes down to core relationships and people with vision, opening opportunities. Is that something that you observed in Anna?

Sarah: Yeah, absolutely. You know, when I first met Anna, the energy that she brings and the passion that she brings and really kind of just the way that she makes you feel when you have a conversation with her is something that I aspire to be. You know, she's so encouraging and motivating and she took somebody like me out of my shell a little bit. And, you know, to have somebody like that be behind you and kind of to push you forward in situations where you might not otherwise is really a powerful way to approach relationships. You know, I went back to in 2018 being recognized from hotel management and being able to sit around that table. And, you know, another really great mentor to me and a dear friend and somebody that continues to support me is Rachel Humphrey. And I think there's so many things that you can correlate between Rachel and Anna. They're just two very powerful women and their power doesn't necessarily come from they want to be the most powerful, but they're really empowering people. And that's what I really take from both of those relationships with them is that You know, they want me to be the best version of myself that I can be. And I appreciate that about them because sometimes that's hard to see. You know, we're all humans and we typically don't like to, you know, be out front of where we are and who we are. So for somebody else to just kind of really kind of be behind the scenes and be in your ear about like, you can do this, this is how you can advance, and this is a way that you can approach situations and from their own experiences too, to be able to have those conversations. And so I took my opportunity to chair the ForWard Committee as that way to pay it forward and to continue to pay it forward. And I'll continue to do that. I was very fortunate to be able to be a part of the ForWard Committee early on. And so I'm really going to encourage as many people to join that network because we need each other.

Josiah: Yeah, I'll include a link in the show notes where people can learn more about Forward. Also, a link to your conversation with Rachel on DEI Advisors. A great conversation. I really appreciated Rachel and our incredible leaders for all the reasons that you described. They see potential in people. They have a vision for what the future could look like. They see how you could be part of that vision. They create opportunity. Incredible leaders that we can all learn from. So I appreciate you sharing that story.