MPISCC Member Feature: Karen Strgacich

MPISCC: Tell us about YOU! 

KS: I have been in this glorious industry for 30 years. I started when I was 5 years old. I fell into this industry as so many people have before the days when so many colleges and universities, (other than Cornell) created a hospitality major. My degree is in Interior Design, and I was feeling unfulfilled and a little bored. I decided to take an event planning certificate course at CSU Long Beach. I wanted to use my multi-tasking skills and apply them to a new career path in the events and hotel world. I found that I loved what I was learning! I met my first mentor Terri Breining because she was an instructor in the program. I wanted to be just like her! I also met someone from Hyatt Hotels who got me an interview with the Regional Vice President for a sales position at the Hyatt Wilshire. After a few more interviews, I was hired. And that Regional Vice President became a mentor to me. This career path has allowed me to meet former POTUS’s and first ladies, astronauts, actors, commanders of naval ships, secretaries of the Navy, Senators, Congress members, and so many interesting people. I worked on a ship naval ship commissioning and as a result, I had a ship plank named for me. I didn’t even know what that meant but knew it was special! I have had experiences in this industry that I will treasure forever.

Within the course of my career, I became a single mother and juggling a professional sales career in hospitality while raising two children alone made me very astute at time management, not to mention the Queen of Juggling!

I sit on an advisory board for the CSU Long Beach Hospitality Management major and I am on the Board of the California Hotel Lodging Association Foundation where we award scholarships to hospitality students attending colleges and universities within the state. I have a passion for helping to bring new people of all ages into this fantastic industry. I speak to colleges and universities about the economic impact this industry has on our region and our state and share with then how they too can make an impact while gaining a sense of fulfillment knowing that what they do matters.

MPISCC: Please share a few fun things about you (hobbies, fun facts, favorites).

KS: By day, I am a sales professional for the Los Angeles Convention and Tourism Board and by night and weekends, I am a blogger for DivorcedMoms.com and a writer embarking upon my first book after recently obtaining a literary agent. I am also a Certified Life Coach who supports working single mothers to know what rock stars they really are.

MPISCC: Why MPISCC?

KS: Wow, MPI isn’t just a professional affiliation I have belonged to for three decades. It is a place where I have made the deepest friendships and found every professional opportunity ever afforded to me. Because of the people I met, the relationships I forged, and the things I learned…well, there really cannot be a way to truly quantify its value. 

 

Would you like to be featured? Fill out the Member Spotlight form.