Life, Travel, and the Human Connection with Sarah Dandashy

flowers don't continually bloom they have moments where they bloom and they grow and then they have moments where they're not you know and they're off season and just like how we apply that to training in physical fitness we have to remind ourselves that like we're not go go go 100 miles an hour all the time like sometimes we just have to drive at a different so welcome back to the future of hospitality everybody this episode is part of our special series unscripted hospitality where know have the opportunity to speak honestly without filters about the industry and certainly the amazing people that we have the opportunity to impact and interact with and today's episode is powered by aohigh the leading global sales organization representing the world's finest luxury hotels and resorts and today i am kind of really excited about this conversation because i'm going to be talking to sarah dandashi and as you probably know she's really a rock star of our industry she does so much to help us become better what we do bring a lot of amazing perspective she's a luxury hospitality and travel media personality she's done a tedx that is super cool that hopefully when i learn a little bit more and how you came about that best selling author tv and podcast host she also is the host of the good morning hospitality with our partner and good friend steve turk steve turk that he has amazing book and amazing coffee check it out if you haven't had his book and his coffee and then also sarah i think you perhaps began with the ask concierge right that does amazing inspiration for a lot of travelers so sarah thank you for being here with us and certainly appreciate everything that you do not only focus on travel but also people and can't wait to explore this today with you yes well thank you so much for having me this is going to be a fun conversation i love unscripted let's go yeah absolutely so you know i think logic question probably in everybody's mind is you know you've been a world renowned concierge being recognized as the best in was 2015 or yes when i was still young yeah right right you're still young very young and you know so how that came about like to transition from a concierge to kind of take they step into going to neuron with ask a concierge what is a little bit about that you know that journey sure sure so well for just context i began as a professional concierge in luxury hotels in 2005 in 2012 is when i ended up coming up with the brand ask a concierge and it started as i was taking a writing course and it started very much as a homework assignment i had to do a vlog on what at the time i was like what people would consider me a quote unquote expert in now that's always really tricky because everybody is always like well i don't know and it's interesting because we often give ourselves far less credit for the information that we actually know because it's so close to us so i start this vlog in 2012 the videos are still up online you can see with my goofy little scarves i look like a flight attendant even when i was a concierge and so ask a concierge started then in 2012 and i very much was working at a hotel i was working at a hotel until 2000 now i could have left earlier but it is hard and scary to go out on your own to be like can i actually do this and so for the longest time i had my online brand while i was still working at a property and thank goodness i had amazing teammates that were super flexible because i would really i'd work like 10 days to have 10 days off but and then i would go travel and go and film and do all these things and then come back but that's kind of the brand they were very much overlapping and then it became a very natural progression to then go off on my own so it wasn't just like i'm quitting everything and doing this it's like no no there was a lot of blood sweat and tears and all of that extra cash that i made on the side i would put into investing in videographers editors all of that stuff creating videos before really a lot of other people were creating videos so that's kind of how the the backstory of it happened but it i think a lot of people will look at things now and they'll be like oh well they because maybe they just discover you on whatever platform and they're like oh who's this person and they don't always see the years that it's taken to get there it's been a journey but worthwhile for sure yeah no it is beautiful and you're so right i forgot i listened to a podcast and i think was at my lad or someone recently where to your point you know he was saying that you know we under we overestimate what we do what we can do in a short time and underestimate what we can do in a long time right and and to your point it i think it's you know someone looking you know at you from the outside you know of course you're very impressive you've been very successful you're going to tell us a little bit about this sale to skift and all that yeah yeah but it's it you know no one sees like all the you know the effort the time that you put in these years when you know people are not aware of you per se right and then suddenly here you are so it's definitely you know years and years of effort and trial and error and and probably that you felt like you know is it going anywhere you know am i making any difference and then sure yeah exactly exactly and i don't know i don't know if it's ever bam you know i think they're we're always kind of like okay there's like more i can be doing for sure but i think what's so cool and i you know i mean i don't i don't know when you'll air this but we're recording this right before the holidays and my i'm not a big holiday person but my favorite holiday is new year's specifically new year's day because that's definitely a time that i always like take a moment to take stock of like what's happened over the last year because i mean we're in such a society and world that like we're always focused on what's next what's next what's next sometimes we just don't stop and breathe and give ourselves like that little pat on the back like hey you know what you did this this year that's amazing and then also set those goals that make sense for like the next step like how do we take it to the next level and i mean i've always been a big fan of just always constantly checking in on yourself and i believe in doing it on a quarterly basis just like how businesses do quarterly recaps and they're checking in on how they're doing we as humans especially as entrepreneurs i think should always be doing that yeah that is great and talking about these check things do you do you have a habit or do you have a schedule that you try to follow or is just something that you try to be aware and then you7 flow oh as far as like the check ins yeah so okay i'm gonna share my weirdness factor i've always had like an internal clock that would have me do that i remember doing that with myself when i was like 13 14 years old so yeah weird most kids definitely don't do that i would always check in with myself to be like is this working does this make sense i mean maybe it wasn't like oh what i've accomplished obviously it's become far more refined over the years but i always had this like stop and like okay wait what's working what's not working what feels like too much what do i want more of and then like how do we readjust so there's a bit of an internal body clock with that but then i also i do actually have reminders in my phone and funny cause even just last night a good friend of mine who works in hospitality head of hr for a very very big hospitality brand and she and i were talking and i was like look let's do this together let's every quarter set aside a weekend go somewhere and just like talk to each other spend time alone figure out what's going on but i feel like that constant like check in and like recalibrating is so important look we rotate our tire on our car we should like emotionally rotate our tires so to speak with ourselves so we can keep going forward did i did not think i was going to be doing car references on today's show by the way not planned it's a little tun up right tune up time totally so do you think that this like how you seem to be naturally wired right because to your point it's not as natural i think you know as a you know young 13 to have that intuition or that self awareness so do you think that's where you kind of bring a little bit of the human side to travel and and really you know into what you share and what you call or do you think that's part of where that comes from or yeah i mean i think it's so interesting because i do think of it you know for those that might know my story but for those that don't so i'm half lebanese i know i don't look it and i was born in the states but at the time my parents were living in saudi arabia so as soon as the passport came in the mail which was literally three weeks later i was on my first flight to saudi and i lived in saudi until i was six and my family on my dad's side they all live in europe in the middle east and so and then my family is scattered all throughout on my mom's side they're scattered all throughout the united states so like to see family we just like had to travel and not just road trips but like fly places and so being exposed to that and then also growing up in a multicultural household where i was a very stubborn child and refused to learn arabic i have an ear for it but i was constantly in rooms where people i would not speak the same language as people so what does that immediately you always are like oh my gosh are they talking about me you know and so like you learn to pick up on like body language and how to like fit in or maybe even chime in even when you don't necessarily know the full breadth of the conversation and so i think to be geared and be in that sort of environment as you're growing up you're always kind of in the place as far as like being the other and it's not necessarily other as an ostracized but like definitely different and standing out so you're constantly reading for cues to be like okay how can we connect if we're not speaking the same language how can we connect and so that's why like for me when i always say like it comes back to the human element like that is what it what it really is all about and especially now like in a world where we're like pummeled with social media and algorithms that are meant to like divide us as opposed to bring us together i think that this is a really important reminder and i also think that's also why like hospitality made sense for me too because it was a natural place that like you can connect with people and people from all different backgrounds which i love and relate to and to me that's what makes life interesting and cool so for me different different is cool for sure yes yes and what what was your you you lived in some amazing destinations right throughout your life do you have a favorite or a top two oh gosh it's so tough they all have like different things so what was interesting so i lived in saudi arabia before saudi arabia was cool i don't know if i'm allowed to say that but i just said it so whatever but it was great as a child it was fine and i lived in london england as a kid which was also very interesting and then i lived in atlanta from 8 to 18 so i always joke around that i've got like a little bit of this properness but then i got some dirty south in me and then and then there's this weird arab side that comes through and then i just look like wholesome all american pie so it's very confusing but and then i lived in dc i went to college in dc at georgetown and then lived in new york and then in la 20 years so i mean i think like la has been my favorite i mean it's the home i chose you know there's definitely something about the creativity here but all places provide something cool and unique i was grateful that i got to have my childhood in atlanta where i could like walk to school you know that's i mowed a lawn like i'd mowed my mom's lawn and stuff like that so i think these are like very wholesome things that are helpful to have when you're growing up but then to have the context of like being in big bustling cities you know going to new york city as a seven year old you're very diff your worldview is very different than if you're like finally going there a little bit later in life and you're like whoa this is what big city is so i think it just was exposure to so many different things i love that and still to this day i think i thrive on it hence all the travel i do so it's pretty cool that is great yeah it's funny because i you know i grew up i'm from brazil and i grew up in brazil and talking about lebanese community there is humongous so fun fact fun fact that i never get to share but i can share this with you so at one point my grandfather was the syrian ambassador to brazil and my dad my dad was technically born in damascus but they lived in brazil for quite a bit as a kid and so yeah how fun is that there you go very fun amazing food i love lebanese food love it it's fun the best very good yeah that's awesome hopefully they had a great time in brazil so oh my gosh of course totally totally who wouldn't come on yeah right who would and actually we just just booked over the weekend our trip to brazil we're gonna celebrate gabby's our daughter 15th birthday there in february oh my gosh that you guys it's gonna you don't need me to tell you that but that's so great that you're going to be there yeah that'll be cool that'll be cool and you know like when you were how did the tedx come about to you was that something that you challenged yourself or yeah so i had as a goal written for myself for many years to do a tedx i didn't know what about also books too and i've got two more books in me one that i'm gonna be working on when i'm not traveling as much and it's like so i knew i wanted to do it but here's my thing it's like okay yes i might set the goal of wanting to do something but i'm like it's gotta be right and it's gotta be the right message or else i won't do it like it's gotta really resonate that's just how i operate like really coming from a real place and it's funny because it's like it came together it was like such a crazy way of coming together a colleague of mine had just done a tedx and i was like congratulating her and felt like oh my gosh i want to do one she's like oh you should reach out to my coach and i'm like okay whatever so i did actually reach out to a coach because i figure they're very formulaic you know and it's like it's good to have some guidance and i remember we were talking about different topics and we kind of came on this one and i actually didn't like the topic and the topic was the secret to making someone feel special to me it felt very simple and for those that know me know i'm very complex and i like these complex thoughts and all of this very cerebral but then the more that we thought about it or the more i thought about it it was like sometimes people just need the simple reminders and it is just about the simple things and that's also the core of the message so i ended up getting booked and it was at my could not have been a busier time normally you have like three months to prepare for these things i had five weeks and three of those five weeks i was going all throughout southeast asia for filming in six different countries and i had like a week in la that i was filming at five different locations so i came back and i literally only had seven days to memorize and put it all together and did and it was just one of those moments that i've done a lot of things writing a book and doing the ted talk are definitely up there as far as like the two hardest things i've done professionally i've done a lot of things professionally so yeah it was wild but so rewarding and very cool oh yeah it is it is pretty cool one you know you know if no one saw or whomever didn't see would recommend to watch it's a good one it's only 10 minutes yeah and i think also knowing that like it's fully memorized is another another big thing i don't think everybody realizes that they think oh a teleprompter and it's like no and how how hard was it to memorize and deliver in that short of time way right like not in a you know oh yeah because none of my things i do normally are scripted you know it's it is very challenging i mean basically it's like a 10 minute monologue it reminded me because i have a background in acting and so and i did a lot of shakespeare as a kid because again wow nerd alert i'm just sharing all of my secrets but i very specifically remember memorizing shakespeare as i was like walking to and from school as a kid and there was a lot like this was bringing up a lot of that i mean one of my first auditions i did i was 13 years old i got myself an audition they're like make sure you bring your mother and so i like told my mom like well i got an audition and so she took me and so like i've always kind of had that initiative and drive but it's challenging and it definitely is a muscle and it definitely takes practice and it definitely takes performing it in front of other people so like making sure that you're saying it you're not just saying it out loud to yourself in a room by yourself but you need to do it to other people in front of other people like a friend a spouse somebody like that because that's when it finally kind of starts to become a little bit real so it's tricky you just gotta keep keep going at it wow yeah it's not easy listen if you can memorize and recital shakespeare i think you can do anything i mean so they say so they say yeah i like i would struggle a lot with that yeah it's tricky it's definitely tricky so but but yeah again it's like you you feel it you get into the cadence of it and it and so and you just remind yourself of your through line like what is the point of this so it's not just words but there's meaning behind it yeah yeah yeah wow there's so much here so i have so you like so much to unpack well yeah you know because i don't for you know so okay so you said that writing a book and the tedxis you put right there on the most challenging professional things you've done yeah what about is one of the most challenging personal things you've done that you're really proud of or i don't know unexpected that's a good that's a good one interesting i did i did the los angeles marathon many years ago and that was really that that was great and then i also did a tough mudder which is kind of like a like an obstacle version of like one of those sort of races yeah i mean those are up there definitely is being challenging oh i did the yeah look at me they're all like physical challenges but i did the red rock relay and so for anybody that's done a you were with a group of like 12 people and then you run like you take turns running for the course of 24 hours that was pretty wild especially running at elevation when you don't live at elevation so yeah so definitely i tend to push and challenge myself that's for sure that is good tough mudder you're like i'm adding these all to my list well it's funny that you say this because just a few weeks ago i signed up for a half ironman i never done anything like this ever amazing the swimming is going to be that swimming part is wild that's tough yeah so you know got to prep for that and then also doing savage race in march which is a similar tough mudder right yeah yeah yeah oh that's fun i love those and i think the part that i love the most about that is it strips us of like all like you're actually getting like down and dirty and muddy and it strips you of like all these like pre programmed these pre ideas of like who we are how we show up and you just like have to get through and you have to be creative like physically and i think for me why physical activity is so important is being so we're so caught in our heads all the time and i think getting being physical takes you out of your head and especially if you can do something and literally like play in the mud like how great to do that in a world that like we're always like prim and proper and put together and i got the curls all and then it's like no curls straight mud let's go so yeah i love those types of things that is great very good thank you so you gave me inspiration so you got this oh my gosh i'm going to be rooting for you i love this that is and then like you know you talked about like doing recording in southeast asia when you're prepping for the talk and doing shoots there how do you select the destinations you cover how do you go about that so most of the time they reach out to me so they reach out to me and then invite me and then we work out whatever that ends up looking like so some so it's it's the same thing as like if i'm like working with a couple cruise line or a destination or a hotel i've been very very very very lucky that most come to me i think that's just from being like just consistently like prevalent and online and so and then we just figure out like what they're looking for so do they want something that's going to feel more quote unquote organic is it something that i'm filming with my phone and my drone do they want something that's going to be more like polished that they can also get marketing material for and then that's when we have a videographer and slash photographer that comes with so again it just depends like no no project is really the same but in that particular one i was working with the mekong river region so the mekong river runs through six different countries so we had to literally go to six different countries including china for 48 hours which was wild and myanmar formerly known as burma which is do not travel to but we had such an incredible time so it's so incredible to get to go to these places and to just like have that slice of life and just get a feel for it and it just reminds you like again like me having those experiences just i come back and i'm just reminded of the human aspect like we're all the same we all just want shelter food family and like people to love like that's really what we want you can add a couple of extra things to it but like really at the root of it that's what it is so yeah for me it's just it's nice to kind of have those experiences and then you come back and you you're that much more grateful for what you do have or there any of these experiences or any other experience in your travel could be as a kid or you know one of your work projects that kind of transformed or really i don't know made you really kind of have an awakening moment or something that's really wow this is really something that i haven't had experience or something really really unique that's a good question i mean i think when i finally went to asia for the first time that was pretty special just because i had been so much through europe the middle east and the and like the states so that was wonderful to see culturally i'm just trying to think as far as and it's like as a specific because i get because like travel's just always been a part of like my experience so for me it just feels like it's just feeding this natural curiosity and this like exposure to different cultures foods things smells whatever i mean i've definitely had a lot of crazy experiences but i don't know if there's like and like not necessarily all good ones you know like i had one i'll just share this and i don't know where we're going with this story but because it came up the other day when i was talking to a friend my first trip to asia we did thailand malaysia and indonesia and we were finally getting to and we were exhausted like we were working oh because we were doing a campaign where we would post hey we can either do we can either play with the monkeys or go see an elephant sanctuary and we posted on our stories and we would have our viewers choose what we should do choose our own adventure so like we were like up until 2 in the morning we'd wake up at 5 or 6 get started we were very exhausted and we finally get to indonesia and we're like so tired and we're like oh my gosh we finally get a day to rest we're looking forward to it and this is the story is about to take a sad turn but we get there we have this wonderful guide he's great he's talking to us and then he turns around and as he's talking to us from the front by the way there's a driver and a guide i should say the guide is talking to us just so people and he literally like mid sentence just like goes out like head down so i'm like oh my gosh what what like does does he diabetic like i'm a medical professional i end up holding him like from behind the seat we figure out he's not diabetic he doesn't have like an epipen or anything on him we go to the the hospital and by the time we get to the hospital he's pronounced dead and he had like died in my arms and we think it was a brain aneurysm because it was just like out like a light and it was wild it was interesting because the tour guides kept apologizing to us and they kept saying please don't don't think poorly of our country and i'm just like what like this is just it was just his time to go and it just happened to be while we were there and hopefully he was doing something that he loved showing people his country and it was this crazy situation and i will definitely say like for the weeks after that it was very much of a reminder of like really being real in the moment because you just never know when it can be taken away from you did not expect to share that story today but yeah that was definitely i think probably my my craziest story but definitely the most impactful as far as the reminder of like to always be be connected with with individuals yeah yeah yeah wow thanks thanks for sharing you know yeah that's definitely a life changing experience right yeah for sure and yeah and it and it's interesting this the concept of being in the moment right i think we all really strive to to do it and it's it's sounds simple right but it's so hard right to your point just because what you said right is like you know it's life right it's work it's this it's that you gotta do this we have our phones on us everything is pulling us in 25 million directions it is a struggle to stay productive and not like and then there's also the concierge nature in me which you know when i was at a concierge desk i was used to people coming up to me in person phone calls coming in responding in emails so like i was training this muscle of multitasking you know and so now i can set those boundaries but like i'm also still used to being like oh wait somebody called this that oh or the val i understand like if it's something work related for me responding immediately is so important because i don't want to be the reason why something breaks down or loses traction or whatever it is so yeah we're definitely pulled in a lot of different directions so being present is very challenging at times yeah yeah what reminds me actually it was interesting this friday i don't know friday i was flying back or something like that and i couldn't connect to the internet right on the plane and it was like a three hour flight and you know first five minutes i was frustrated you know i had all these projects i was going to tackle but then you know i said listen man you know you never take a break right i said you know just take this to be present right and also freeing in certain way right you know it's like a lot of times we just gotta figure out either life give us a little pause moment or you know we should allow ourselves a little bit more of that because once we once we can really experience that it feels so good oh i it's funny because i had the same thing happen to me on a flight back from paris this summer and i was like oh i'm gonna get all my work done on the plane and then no joke 30 seconds before we're taking off they're like oh by the way our wi fi isn't working and i'm like that's a ten and a half or like eleven hour flight like who do i need to tell oh my gosh and then it was interesting because i ended up having a great conversation with the woman sitting next to me she was traveling with a dog i made friends with others somebody in first class kept like coming back to i was like in premium economy or whatever and they were coming back to me like here have a drink and i'm like this is such a social flight you know because they were all forced to interact with each other and i was like well okay i didn't get work done but but at least that happened so you know sometimes you take that pause yeah and it's funny because i already ate some of these snacks but then the flight attendant she gave me a little baggie and she you know wrote me a a nice note made a little drawing of panicking oh my gosh i love that you know and that was like a moment to really so yeah so it's also part of the the service right to your point the hospitality is like how you know it could be something where someone is really grumpy and will complain for forever to like wow this was a wow moment right that oh totally totally yeah well that's always interesting i always find and this is definitely from my years of working at the concierge desk is that like and i remind people i was like have you ever noticed that like bad things happen to grumpy people because like grumpy people they like attract it and i was just like oh my gosh like you always have like the client that's like complaining complaining you're like man i just hope things go smooth and of course they never go smooth for them and it's so true like and that's always like my reminder of like you know like sometimes stuff happens but like if you sit there and you fester in it it's just gonna make it worse like so try to be positive because then hopefully luckier things happen 100% 100% yeah yeah that is awesome and talking about your experience as a concierge i don't know like i'm sure you get asked a lot of things was there any kind of unusual like or super difficult ask that you had in in your ears as a concierge interesting i mean it you know i'm just trying to think as far as like the most difficult they definitely got like unusual as far as like oh they would be visiting from another country and they'd buy a dog and it's like okay well now we have to get all the shots for our dog and get the dog trained and like how do we go about then going home with our new pet so i think a lot of that has become far more simplified in recent years but it was definitely challenging at the time yeah i mean it's what was it there was somebody that was like oh we want to come with like our pet snake it's like no my gosh no you're not bringing a pet snake to the hotel like this is just not happening like what but i think my favorite story and i've told this before but i haven't told it in a while so i think it's but i had guests that were staying at the hotel and there's a very famous place in los angeles called the magic castle it's members only that you could you have to be invited to go and then that's just to even get like access and then there has to be availability and it was pretty last minute and this couple they wanted to go and i can't remember if it was over like easter or valentine's day weekend or something and it just wasn't happening and i was like well how about this like it's full you know i can get you access but it's full so i can't like make space become available but why don't we bring the magic castle to you and maybe we can just have a magician do a private magic show in your suite and they're like oh that's so cool so i remember like interviewing all these magicians like over the course of a week sent them their options they chose one then i had to i was like okay well we're a pet friendly hotel but this magician wants to bring like a rabbit and a dove so i had to go talk to the general manager and be like i know we're pet friend can we do a rabbit and a dove and he's like only you sarah and i'm like and he's like yes yes it's fine i'm like okay great and they ended up having an amazing time and it was just like such a fun it was a fun thing to put together very bizarre but it was also so cool and afterwards they were like that was so such a great experience like way to turn what was like a challenging situation into something that was so unexpected we didn't even think about it but it ended up being so so memorable and how cool you know so i love that story oh yeah that's nice and i'm sure they never forgot that right i mean that'll be something we'll cherish forever totally yeah totally that is awesome yeah and it's cool so when you're still you know you you did some acting yeah do you think you do that for a living or was that fun that's interesting did i think all try to do it for a living yeah i mean you know that's always kind of like the goal and then that's how i well kind of how i got into hospitality i was going to school at georgetown and i was working in restaurants so i definitely had a background in restaurants and my cousin who had gone to lausanne was working at the four seasons and he was like well why work at this restaurant and get paid this where you can work at the four seasons and get paid almost double so you know i was 18 i'm like sure cool so that's like how i kind of got like a taste of working in hotels you know on top of like working in restaurants but then i so with that when i moved out to los angeles absolutely pursuing i mean i still i honestly still have an agent but it's very much changed but yeah i mean that was kind of like the goal and then when i moved out to los angeles working at a hotel was the day job you know so to speak and so that's why when ask a concierge was born it felt like it was finally blending my two worlds because i would perform i was performing standup sketch comedy and then i would like go and like work at like the peninsula or the london so i was living in those two worlds and like you know i worked on movies tv shows all of that for for a long time so ask a concierge for me was like hey i get to like edit and produce my own stuff i know how to do this i've been editing and producing films i know how to be on camera i know how to write i know how to edit like i know how to do the whole thing and it just and then it taps into like all the knowledge and the experience i had as my day to day profession you know cause at that point i had almost done it 10 years so i was quote unquote you know had expert hours had logged those hours so to speak so that's where as a concierge came from and was very much like a melding of those two worlds i still very much feel like that's what i do on a regular basis like there's an element of performing and i also worked in radio too because i again what i said i've always had like 25 million jobs because to me experience is everything and so when i was going to georgetown i'm like studying international relations and then i got an amazing job to work in radio and i was assistant producer of the morning show for hot 99 5 which was like their top 40 radio station but you paid like nothing and so i was like well this is amazing this was feeding me creatively so i was being fed intellectually at school i was being fed creatively working in radio but then i was like i need to make money and then i would like bartend until 2 in the morning i don't think i slept very much those couple of years that i was doing all of that but again it's like you have that experience and it keeps you very humble and you just like anybody that knows me knows that i'm not i'm always willing to like roll up my sleeves and do the work of whatever it takes to this day too you know so always outwork everybody that is awesome that is talking about outworking so talk a little bit about you know your good morning hospitality skiff podcast show and certainly also if you don't mind sharing whatever you can about the transition you know yeah so for those that know good morning hospitality was under the hospitality fm umbrella and then that was very much owned and run by will slickers and will slickers have been producing our show he started originally good morning hospitality with a morning show and then as he was growing that he reached out to steve turk and myself to then do the hotel version of this show on wednesdays so that's kind of how we got into the whole good morning hospitality fold i'll give will so much credit for putting myself and steve together i mean that first show we did that was maybe like the third conversation we had had like we def and people were like oh my gosh you guys are so great and fun together we're like we're still getting to know each other now it's obviously so different like we're all very good friends but ye so i have to give full credit to will because he was very much the driving force behind it all so skiff then ended up acquiring hospitality fm and had the select shows obviously they had their favorites and their ones that they wanted to keep we were very lucky that good morning hospitality was one of them and so that's been great and then for those that follow them they actually have a daily podcast that's that's called the skiff daily briefing and i actually do that as well so i recorded that right before we got on here so that's been very cool cause it's like the top three things that are happening in travel and hospitality kind of like in a three minute nutshell so yeah so it's been a really fun transition they're doing so many things i mean anybody that's in the travel and hospitality space obviously knows and respects skift and for a very long time they've been trying to kind of plot out how to kind of grow their video and audio division and this has been like an amazing partnership and so much more to come on that so we'll just see what 2026 brings yeah that's exciting and yeah you guys have amazing chemistry together it's fun to watch and really good natural content too and how do you prepare for the the three top three that you share like is it a lot of research is it are you talking about for the skiff daily briefing or yeah so yeah it's daily so basically like i woke up this morning i went on the skift because it is for skiff so obviously it's like highlighting their their their content their news so i wake up every morning i just kind of see what's been posted and if it and in my mind it's like okay well we want to kind of make it like a as diverse as possible so it's like i try to find something about hotels something about airlines something about you know whether it's tech or cruises or tourism and something like that so we try to cover at least like three different i run it by them for approval 99.9% they're always like yep that looks good so i mean that's also kind of how i've always been with my content i'm like if i find it interesting i'm sure other people will find it interesting and i think if you approach it with that just kind of that like curiosity that works and then on fridays i do actually a video version of it and that i kind of work with them because if there's something that's been doing very very well that week we'll kind of tie that back in so then there's a video component to it so yeah right interesting stuff yeah that is there and i love because you deliver it so so naturally as well i love practice that is yeah this practice everyone's like it's so effortless and it's like it took me 25 years to seem effortless and there's a lot of takes that people don't see you know like we're not perfect i'm not oh my gosh for sure yeah one of one of the people that really helped me get over the hump from like that fear or hesitation oh he's not perfect or whatever is that i don't know if you heard of him or you follow him is gary v oh my gosh i love gary yeah for sure yeah he's amazing i met him a couple years ago too yeah he's fantastic how cool his talk about brain so i'm like super fascinated with like people's processing power like their speed their processing speed he might be one of the fastest brains i've ever been around i've been around a lot of like highly highly like crazy speed it was insane it was crazy because i'd watch people ask him questions and he already knew the question like the second word in and it was like oh my gosh spit out the question faster because i could just see him like he was like ready to go amazing individual by the way amazing yeah and i love how he he you know he supports people from a positive perspective and say listen just go put out stuff there and improve and but just do it do something right take that action and that's the whole thing i mean like that what is it analysis paralysis people like oh but what about this and it's and then i mean that can be probably a whole conversation for another time but like this weird the crippling fear of failure and that to me is so like what like i don't know failure is not a thing to me you know especially when it comes to social media it's like just try and it's like with trying you kind of you learn what works you learn what feels good to you you see what people respond to there's no failure in like 24 hours people have already forgotten about it because they've been pummeled with 652 other different things since then but it's like just try and and like i always say like so long as like you're not saying anything bad you know you're not doing anything like so long as there's like good intent like just try it you know like that to me is like that's the fun that's the okay well like i mean i remember when i first posted a dance video and i'm like nobody wants to see a concierge dancing by the way this was also before everybody was dancing on tiktok and like cause if people that know me know me they know that i'm serious but i'm also very goofy if we're able to tell and so i start dancing and i had this video i'm like i just want to post it because i like i love this i dance everywhere i dance in the grocery store i dance in weird places i posted it and it did really really really well and it was one of those things like i was like oh wait people want to see this side of me they don't just see concierge there they want to see this other side so it's this reminder of like if it scares you if it makes you like a little bit nervous like oh i don't know how i feel about this do it i just posted something today on linkedin that's like could be kind of con it might some might see it as controversial but i was like calling out like trends that i see that are gonna change in social media and like there's some things in the shifts i see coming and i was like oh this makes me kind of nervous i don't want people to take it the wrong way but i was like look let's do it you know and the chips will fall where they may so yeah like dude not perfect are you kidding me stories by the way is what helped stories on instagram is what helped me become not as worried about failure or messing up you know because you could just be you it's a story it goes away after 24 hours yeah love great advice which you kind of that was my next question for you and i think you have some great ones did you ever receive like a fantastic advice that resonates resonated with you in years well in regard i mean yeah all the time i mean okay let's see i'll share like what's been coming up with friends recently because i think it's oftentimes i feel like the discussions that we have with friends are very reflective of like what other people are going through and so i've had a lot of friends recently i mean probably because it's the end of the year reflect back and it's like oh i didn't go as hard as i should have or i had this or i was pulled in all these different directions and they're being very hard on themselves because like maybe they got laid off and they're like still trying to find a job or you know they've ended a relationship and they're now trying to like navigate that and what that feels like and i saw this post and it's this was this reminder about like flowers don't continually bloom they have moments where they bloom and they grow and then they have moments where they're not you know and they're off season and just like how we apply that to training in physical fitness we have to remind ourselves that like we're not go go go 100 miles an hour all the time like sometimes we just have to drive at a different speed but the most important thing is that we still continue moving forward just continue moving forward you might drive 10 miles an hour or 15 miles an hour maybe and then like things will shift and then you're driving faster 30 60 whatever but like we're never gonna constantly being in that like go mode and so we have to understand the cycles to life and give ourselves grace when we have those moments cause we need that moment to kind of like rest regroup recalibrate before we have another sort of season of bloom so that's one of my favorite things that i've been thinking about lately yeah i wrote it down oh my gosh i'll tattoo in my mind here because it's a beautiful way to look at it right because and i think ties back to your journey to your point right about your all the years everything that you do behind the scenes right and then what they see the beauty that came out all these achievements all the accomplishments right that's the blow but then it's like we need to always kind of go back and to your point you know recheck with ourselves what do we need to do different do we need to rest and and then and keep keep going right and and like life happens and it's okay like you know maybe we've got like our professional life that we're on a trajectory and it's like something's happening in our personal life like maybe a family member is sick or like there's a big change in your world like give yourself that that credit that it's like okay we might just have to go through the motions you know professionally until we kind of like get in a better place you know personally but it's but but it's all okay that's part of the human experience and then you know all those lessons that we end up hopefully lessons that we end up learning through all of these things we can just you know bloom even better brighter all of that so yeah didn't think you were going to go this deep with me did you no you know i don't know like that's what i love about it right that to your point a little bit that unscripted thing because you know just here kind of really you know what's inside and i couldn't be more thankful right for you for saying yes for really opening up and sharing an amazing journey experience i learned a lot about you that i didn't know and you know hopefully people love hearing from this because i think there's a lot about life about growth and professional but then also about the industry so and thanks for all you do for for all of us you know i love following you i love watching what you do you always come from a good place you you bring light you bring joy and yeah it makes a big difference so thank you oh my goodness no thank you i mean again like what you're doing and having these conversations and everything that you've been able to bring i mean i think that that's what makes it so special is that this industry isn't an i industry it's a we industry and that's how we grow and we learn from each other and it just makes sense and it's like to continue having those conversations because all too often whatever we're going through and thinking somebody else's as well so sometimes we just have to extend that sort of hand and it's like hey we're in this together which is to me the root of hospitality yeah amazing so sarah thank you thank you hope you have a great holiday season and i'm sure we'll be chatting soon again yes absolutely thank you for having me thank you