2023 AHLA ForWard Conference: Better Than Ever

The 2023 AHLA ForWard Conference in Chicago brought together over 600 women in the hospitality industry who were excited to learn from, encourage, and support each other. The conference's mood was incredibly upbeat, with participants buoyed by the sense of community and shared experiences. Here's a brief summary of some of the most inspiring moments of the conference from hertelier correspondents Lan Elliott of DEI Advisors and Gloria Kennett of Hyatt Hotels & Resorts.

Balancing Career Ambitions and Life Priorities

The conference kicked off with a powerful visual representation of the challenges faced by women who juggle multiple priorities. Anna Blue, President of the AHLA Foundation, asked a young college student from Howard University, Skyy Saxon, about her big career ambition. Skyy shared that she wanted to become a hotel owner. Anna gave her a gold balloon to represent her career ambition and told her to keep it up in the air. Anna then asked Skyy about her other priorities, such as taking care of her family, doing her day job, and spending time with friends. For each priority, Anna added a purple balloon to the gold balloon, symbolizing how women try to juggle many things. The balloons kept getting added until the gold balloon fell, reminding women to never drop their career ambition. The visual representation was a powerful reminder that women need support and community to keep all the balls in the air.

Top takeaway: Equity for women and what it means when we say we empower women. When we use the word “empower” it implies a lack of power in the first place, that power is “given” to women, or that we don’t inherently have it. In a way, it also puts ownership on women to do the work to achieve equity versus enacting changes in the workplace structure to ensure women have it from the start.