It's Personal Stories, A Hospitality Podcast

Sarah Dinger, EVP Franchise Operations, My Place Hotels Interviewed by Rachel Humphrey

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Sarah shares the profound impact mentors have had on her journey and how that led to her becoming employee #1 of a new hotel brand, emphasizing that taking risks is the path to great rewards. She discusses why you should say yes to public speaking even if it makes you uncomfortable. Sarah talks about strategies for overcoming self doubt and being intentional about finding work life harmony.

Rachel Humphrey:

I am Rachel Humphrey with DEI Advisors, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering personal success within the hospitality industry. And I am so excited to be joined today by Sarah Dinger, the EVP of Franchise Operations at MyPlace Hotel. Sarah, welcome to the

Sarah Dinger:

program. Thank you, Rachel. And I really appreciate the opportunity to be here. I want to thank you and all of the DEI advisors teams for all that you're doing in the industry really to promote personal growth and empowerment. It's been really refreshing and remarkable. So thank you for all your

Rachel Humphrey:

work there. Thanks, Sarah. I really appreciate it. And I am incredibly excited to share your journey today and a lot of the lessons that you've learned along the way. I want to jump right in and talk about your path to leadership, because one of the things I love about the industry is that you and I can have very different paths, but both end up as leaders within the industry. So tell us a little bit about your background, your journey to leadership and maybe some of those pivotal moments that you saw your career advancing

Sarah Dinger:

along the way. Yeah, absolutely. So you're right. Every path to the industry is different. And even within the industry may pivot from what we originally planned. That's certainly been my situation. And I'm excited to share my personal journey with the audience. It really started with me aspiring to be an elementary and a special education teacher. Leading me to be the first employee of my place, Hotels of America, and now serving as the executive vice president of franchise operations. My journey began with a passion for education and really a commitment to caring for others. I, entered college at 18 years old, wanting to be a teacher. And little did I know that journey would take me in a completely different direction. During my time in college, I found myself working in the food and beverage space, and it was there that I was able to meet some really remarkable individuals, including Ron Rivett, who is the co founder of Super 8, and Ryan Rivett, his grandson, and those encounters and connections transformed my life into ways that I could have never imagined. The rivets really became more than just business associates. They became personal and professional mentors for me, something that I really didn't have when I was growing up. But they completely changed my career path. I completely changed my career path as a result of my engagements, interactions with them from the onset. They instilled with me really Opportunities and, motivation for entrepreneurship and to be innovative and to really drive for success. And those values would really become the cornerstone of my career and the hospitality industry. I kept in really close communication with him. I, really grew to know them more as a family. And really, that's what led me to My Place Hotels of America. I left the restaurant space and got into hotel management and I got into event, the event coordination space. And when they started the brand in 2012 I was one of the first persons that they called and I was. I made myself that person. I stayed in communication with him. I continued my career path, but just kept in constant communication with them. So as the EVP of franchise operations, and as the first employee of my place, I've had a remarkable journey to Be a central role in the growth of the organization and the continuous success of this growing brand.

Rachel Humphrey:

Wow. So there are so many incredible lessons in there and we are going to touch on some of them. But you and I both know that we are not going to end this conversation today without talking about public speaking. And we're going to jump right in and get it out of the way so you don't have to wait and wonder when it's coming to it. And I share with our audience the reason for this. Some time ago, I was sourcing a panel, and I kept asking you to be on it, and you never said no, but you never said yes, and every time we would talk about it, your name was never listed on it, and I kept coming back to you, and I said, Sarah, not only is it really important, because I think you have a lot of value to add to the audience, but it's really important for others to see you as a subject matter expert and as a leader, and I'll say reluctantly, you reluctantly agreed, and When I asked you to be on the show today, I thought you were going to be an ungettable get. I thought I was going to have to make lots of promises and to my surprise, you quickly said yes. And so I'm not even going to ask you a question about Public speaking, I'm just gonna say discuss public speaking in whatever way really resonates with

Sarah Dinger:

you. Yeah. I'll be the first one that very transparent that it is not something that I'm overly excited about, but it's. The ability to effectively communicate and inspire others is fundamental to leadership. I'm an introvert by nature. And it's not the first thing that I want to do, but it's something that I want to continue to do, which is, it's. quite unique in that sense. And, just because it's not comfortable doesn't mean that you don't want to do it. And so I'm continuously pushing myself outside of these boundaries. I am continuously wanting to, be a part of the industry and be very vocal in all of the things that we've got to discuss in this. And as a part of that, I know that I have to be. Comfortable with public speaking. There's a couple things that I do to prepare myself and nervous preparation is probably number one. I'm always nervous, so just, ex deep breathing exercises and visual, and. Representations and things like that are things that I do to just make myself more comfortable. I also practice a lot. I get to know my audience. I know practicing isn't for everybody, but you'll often find me, in the mirror or in front of my husband or some of our colleagues just, wanting to go through my my speech. And as a result, I've become a little bit more comfortable. With it, and it's people like you, Rachel, and I am going to commend you because there's not a whole lot of people that would be able to get me to completely step outside of my comfort zone. So I appreciate the push. I appreciate the ask, and I'm looking forward to continuing my journey in public engagement.

Rachel Humphrey:

I love the point about just because it's not comfortable doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. And the practicing I practice to this day, I think most people still do. But I really love that, that recognizing how important it is for whatever reasons, whether it's important to advance your career, whether it's important because you want to be heard on certain things. Such a great lesson. And I'm incredibly grateful knowing How uncomfortable you can be with it that you've joined us today. I want to talk about you mentioned a couple of times being employee number one for my place, and that involves a tremendous amount of risk, not just with switching career paths, but really saying, I'm going to go to a startup. I'm going to go to a company. And yes, Ron and Ryan have a wonderful reputation and track record in the industry, but a brand new brand. How do you assess risk? Do you think you're someone who tolerates a lot of risk? How would you advise others what your process is there and taking risk?

Sarah Dinger:

Yeah while it's extremely rewarding and sometimes in unexpected ways, a new and oncoming brand is extremely demanding to as the first employee, I did realize that. And I think I was empowered to make decisions early on, which was very impactful to, day one. When I joined the company, I was tasked with go out, let's, for those, maybe that don't know the entire story of the, my place brand Ron Revit co founded. Super eight, 1974. He stayed in the industry until 2012 when he and his grandson, Ryan launched my place, hotels of America. And I was able to witness the first hotel location opening in Dickinson, North Dakota in 2012. It was during that period. And for a couple of years that was considered proof of concept to where we were building them. We were supplying them. We were operating them really to understand the foundation and all of the things that came along with. being a successful operator of a MyPlace hotel. So during my first period with the chain, it was I was tasked with developing the tools and the resources as a hotelier. What is it is a specific hotelier to my place? It tells America, what is it that you need to know? And so that was an incredible opportunity for me to take risk, but also be comfortable and learn from all of the things that we were learning together throughout the journey. Fast forward to today. We have 68 locations open. We've got 100, more than 120 in the pipeline. Our hundredth hotel is, in the, on the horizon. In fact, I've got three that are going to be opening here in the next 60 days, but I'm reminded of all of the risks that I took early on with every new hotel opening and with every employee that comes into the organization because, as a new brand and as a new chain, there are a lot of risks that we've had to make in order to, end up where we are today. So really incredibly proud of the work that we've done in the team of people. Around me throughout this.

Rachel Humphrey:

I like that. You started off saying that taking risks can reap great reward as opposed to focusing maybe on a negative aspect of risk taking or things that don't pan out really saying that this was an opportunity a to have a great experience, but not all of our thinking all the time is positive thinking sometimes for me. I know the negative voices in my own head can be much louder than my support system or those who are building me up. Do you experience any self doubt? And if you do, how do you overcome that or position it in a way that allows you to move

Sarah Dinger:

on from it? Yeah, I would be remiss to say that self doubt doesn't enter my mind in almost every situation because it does. You would take a step back and think how may this or may this not work. Early on, I would say that I had a lot more self doubt than I did today. Be only because I've been working on that. I've taken a different mind approach. I used to walk into meetings and I used to be a part of projects where it didn't go. I'm a perfectionist for one. And so I'd be in meetings or I'd, be a part of a project and it didn't go exactly the way that I had planned. And I feel defeated about that. But I've really changed my mind Set now to overcome that and to understand that, you've gotta take risks, you've gotta make sure that Things are not going to be 100 percent on the first time, as long as you can learn from, any of those mistakes or any of those challenges or any of those obstacles you're going to better yourself. Constructive criticism and the corporate environment is part of a thriving environment and, we've got a great team here and I've got a strong support system to help me overcome a lot of that self doubt.

Rachel Humphrey:

Ryan, you're. CEO actually sat down with me a bit back on D. E. I. Advisors and he talked about the strength of your team. And so I'm sure that people have had a chance to hear him talk about it. And I'm almost I almost think it's silly for me to even ask you. Have you had mentors, allies and champions? Because you mentioned Ron and Ryan early on. Instead, let me ask you. Obviously, it is clear how they've impacted your trajectory. What would you tell others maybe who haven't been impacted in the way that you have by mentors about connecting with people who can help serve in that role? And then what do you find are your biggest takeaways from those experiences?

Sarah Dinger:

Yeah. So I, I have been fortunate to have some astounding mentors and role models really throughout many of my professional career. I've also found that there's a great opportunity specifically as women in leadership to, to be mentors to others. Just because you might not have a conversation with somebody on day one. Doesn't mean that they're not looking up to you. They're not watching you. So always really to be leading by example. I need to share a story with you, Rachel. I have a 20 year old daughter and she has started her own photography business and she's done exceptionally well for herself. And I'm really proud of all of her accomplishments. But most recently, and I'm talking like the last couple of weeks. She's she's created this affiliation and she's calling it the girls and she's really creating a safe space for females. And when I talked to her about it a little bit, she said, I just know that the world can be an ugly place. I know that there's a lot of people that aren't confident in their own selves. Skin and I want to make that change. And so she's doing this at no cost. She's bringing these girls in. She is, creating relationships with them. She is getting them comfortable in front of the camera. She's allowing them to give presentations, and she's really just. Trying to empower them to become better people. And these are complete strangers. And it was just so rewarding for me to hear her say those things, because I know a lot of what she's picking up on are the things that she is recognizing and witnessing just by her observations of some of the other females that are leaders. And we've got a very great opportunity right now to really make an impact on a lot of people's lives, whether we talk to them on a daily basis or not. And I think that's just really important for everybody just to remember that it doesn't take a whole lot to just be kind.

Rachel Humphrey:

That is going to be an unexpected segue for you, because I always share with our audience why I have asked somebody to join me. And people might think it was the story about public speaking, because I think it's. on for you, but it actuall And be a good leader. And you to me, Sarah, are someone who takes that throws it out with the trash and says that is absolutely not a myth that any of us need to live up to. And so I find you are your kindness really helps your leadership thrive as opposed to the opposite. But for you to mention that your daughter aspires and gets to see that what a great lesson to pass on. And of course, makes me think of so many other things that I want to talk about. I'm gonna You Focus on leadership, though, for one second. You know what? I talked to some people and they say, Oh, I knew from a young age that I wanted to be a leader. I talked to others who say I don't even recognize myself today as a leader. Was there somewhere along the line that you realized that you have a leadership role within the hospitality industry? Was it something you strove for? Or what was that discovery like for you?

Sarah Dinger:

Yeah, absolutely. And I will say absolutely without a doubt. Since day one, I have had a very clear vision and determination to be a leader in the hospitality industry and specifically for my place, Hotels of America. I've been able to witness So much growth within our organization. And I say all of this because I've watched the success of the visionary team behind my place, Hotels of America, from, their involvement with Super 8 and through today and from the moment that I joined the organization, I wanted to be a part of that success. And my commitment to recognizing my place, or the industry really recognizing my place as the newest and best hotel brand has grown stronger over time. My pathway to leadership has been paved in a lot of hard work. And we've really just begun. There's a lot more that I want to accomplish. I take a lot of pride in building and elevating the people around me. I love to create opportunities. I love to encourage them to become a better self. And so I'm just, I really look forward to the continuous growth both within, myself personally, our collective team and the brand overall,

Rachel Humphrey:

You mentioned the intentionality of your path to leadership, wanting and knowing from an early time with the organization that you wanted to be in a leadership role or that you were in a leadership role. And with that, of course, comes an acknowledgement, maybe that we don't innately have all of the skills either from our Thank you formal education from prior jobs, from our upbringing to be as successful as we'd like to be. Did you identify any skills early on that you're like, you know what, this is not my strongest, but I'm going to, other than public speaking, you said, I know that in order to get to where I want to go, I'm going to really need to. To develop this skill?

Sarah Dinger:

Yeah, I, my first answer would've been public speaking. That certainly is not my strong suit. But second off, I think work life balance. That's not necessarily a skill, but it's something that's really. Important to your daily life. And that's an area that I really had to grow and, remind myself and others to remind me that we can't accomplish everything in one day. I've. Really put a strong focus on putting my professional career first for many years early on, and it's been more recently that I've decided, I've made the decision that in order for me to be my best self for both me, my family, and my team, is I need to find that divide between, work and why, personal time. And so I've put more emphasis on, putting myself as a priority. And as a result is shown through. I think that maybe even that is where, you're getting just a little bit more confidence and you're taking a break and you're taking a look outside of what you're doing on a day in and day out basis. And it's good to get that different look on life. So

Rachel Humphrey:

That's an incredible thing to recognize. Maybe that the harmony isn't exactly where you want it to be. And to pivot that I've talked to a lot of people about maybe trying to establish. I don't want to call them boundaries, but expectations earlier on because once you get in that hamster wheel, it's very hard to take a pause and reset. Let me ask you following up then on, on work life harmony for a second, you are super active with travel youth sports, which anyone out there listening knows can be a career in and of itself to be a travel mom for. For you sports where you guys are in South Dakota, you may not have the easiest time in terms of corporate travel getting everywhere you need to be. You are on the road a lot for my place. How, what are some of the intentional maybe strategies you have of evaluating? Okay. How am I picking where I'm going, what I'm going to be doing, and making sure that, like you said, your family and your business are both getting the best

Sarah Dinger:

of you. Yeah, I'm afforded the flexibility to really dictate my own schedule when it comes to work travel. Of course, I attempt to attend as many industry events as I can and to really support our operating properties. I also have a really good support system at home. My husband is very encouraging. He's very hands on with the children too. It's really good to have, that balance at home and to have his support outside that. But like you mentioned we do travel quite a bit. I've got a 10 year old daughter and a 14 year old son and my older two children don't require as much travel, but those two younger ones, they're, we're between soccer games and football and baseball. Paul, it's been a really busy schedule, but it's important to just make that time. We as leaders have the ability to work remotely, really. I think if we've learned anything over the last couple of years is that you're, you can pack your laptop and you can get done anything where you need to get it done. I've recognized that certainly. And you're really just trying to find, the perfect way to blend All of my expectations. I love that.

Rachel Humphrey:

That's great. And you mentioned Joe being a great, your husband being a great support system to you. And you've mentioned Ryan and Ron earlier, as we as women, as we talk about these personal boards of directors and having the right people around us. How would you say you are at developing and relying on a great support system? And in what ways? Maybe do you look to that support system to help

Sarah Dinger:

build you up? Yeah, I think, I have, I've had just a great support system. And I've established some really solid friendships through this industry. I think that there are still times that I need to remind myself and. be okay with reaching out to that support system in the time of need, if I am just, needing some guidance or support. But at the end of the day, there's so many people in this industry and Really that just they want to see the success of the industry as a whole. And so I take a lot of pride in the ability to pick up my phone and reach out to some of these individuals. The power of networking and maintaining and establishing relationships is so important. And it's really important to have that strong support system. For both your mental and your professional, abilities. And I just, I can't think of a better way than to just make sure that you're networking. I know that can be uncomfortable too. If you walk into a room and you don't want, you don't know anybody and just to reach out, but there's a lot of relationships that can be had just through, the uncomfortableness of approaching a stranger.

Rachel Humphrey:

That's a great point. I was actually going to ask you about relationship building and you mentioned going to conferences, but you also mentioned being an introvert and some other characteristics that could for some make relationship building or networking more of an obstacle or something that they see as a hurdle toward professional growth. Do you think there are character traits that you've really leaned into? that help you build that network if it isn't walking into a room of people you don't know and be like, Hello, Sarah's here.

Sarah Dinger:

I think the networking in and of itself and the more you just. Get out and put yourself out there and become that face. It's, it continues to get easier with every conversation. I think back on a few different times that I put myself in a situation and now that I look back at it, I'm like, Those were really times that I grew as a person. I remember standing in front of hundreds of people at our second annual owners conference and I was shaking like a leaf and I was behind the podium and I didn't want to, step out behind from behind the podium. And I made a conscious decision during that presentation to get to the center of the stage and just to have a conversation. And it was in that moment, I'll never forget it. It was in that moment that I said, This is what you have to do. You just have to be confident. You have to be comfortable. You have to go outside of your comfort zone. And in those times that I've come outside of my comfort zone, that's where I've seen the most growth. Really my, the biggest obstacles I think that I've had to overcome are the ones that I put in front of my own feet or in my own head space and being able to step. Outside of those or beyond those has really been powerful and impactful for me. And I, if I had to say one thing to my younger self, it's Take risks and, take every opportunity and just to do things that you are not comfortable with because that's where you're going to see your growth. You stay and do all of the things that you're comfortable with. You can expect to stay where you are. That's

Rachel Humphrey:

such a, an incredible thing too, that sometimes your greatest obstacle is actually you. And I think that a lot of us. find that, whether it's the overcoming the self doubt or being afraid of taking risks or having fears, whether it be public speaking or conference relationship building and these other things. But it really comes back to what you said earlier. Not only your greatest growth coming from stepping outside your comfort zone, but also the reward that comes at the end of the day when you do. And having seen you speak last year at your conference, I have a hard time imagining That person at Conference 2 that was, shaking like a leaf, afraid to step out from behind the podium. But when you look back on that, what a great way to reflect and see that with that big step for you, literally big step for you to the center of the stage, what has come out of that for you in the end. That's really great to see. Sarah, I want to ask, we talked about work life balance a little bit or work life harmony a little bit, but there's been a real renewed focus on self care and wellness coming out of the pandemic, especially, but I think where especially women leaders are much more vocal about saying it's really important to take care of yourself. I know last year when I spoke at my place, I said, my biggest lesson as a retiree has really been How critically important self care is to be our best selves. Do you think that's something that you have given good attention to throughout your career? Is it something you think you give good attention to today? What would you tell people that are maybe struggling to maybe they figured out how to balance the partner and the Children and the pets and the shopping and the other things, but maybe aren't quite as successful right now on taking care of themselves.

Sarah Dinger:

Yeah I will be the first to admit that I have not put myself first, and especially in the early part of my career. I was really driven and motivated by my professional career. But, having children and having expectations outside of work certainly brought me to a point that I need to have that work. Life harmony, but it also made me realize and there was some exceptional women at that spoke on our panel last at the my place convention. You are one of them, Rachel, and there were others. And when this question was asked to the group, I took so much from that. And leaning in on your experiences and all of the things that you have been a part of up until retirement and even now after retirement, but the ability to hear from experienced people like yourself, the importance of that. I've taken a different look at it. I have, try to prioritize, wellness and self care and meditation and, better eating habits and exercise and all of those things. I know that there's still a lot of opportunity for me to improve, but I think if you can get into those routines early. On in your life is where, it just becomes, it's a routine then, and it's not something new and it's not something different, but as soon as you fall into the, it doesn't really matter. And maybe tomorrow, then you're just going to have to push it off. And I found myself there and I'm working myself way out of that too.

Rachel Humphrey:

Yeah, I was talking to someone yesterday and they said that always falls into my category of if I have any extra time than I will. And we all know that you will never have extra time. You need to have intentional time. I could speak with you all day on this and a million other topics. But we are running short on time. So I wanted to ask you keeping in mind the DEI advisors motto of empowering personal success. Is there something that we haven't talked about today, or even if there's something that we have that you want to emphasize that you would leave our audience

Sarah Dinger:

with? Yeah, no I think the biggest opportunity for us all is the networking opportunity, the relationships that we can be building to those that are, in their younger, earlier careers I would tell them to take as many titles as you can, because not every opportunity will present itself as obviously really work hard, even when nobody is watching, because integrity goes a long way in today's world, And really dive into mastering a task at hand and be confident and be bold and advocate for yourself because don't assume that anybody knows who you are, what you want to do and how you want to get there. Just advocate for yourself, I think is probably the biggest lesson that I would, empower the listeners to today.

Rachel Humphrey:

I like that you mentioned earlier be kind and be a role model even when no one's watching. And now you're like, work hard even when no one is watching. The motivation really has to come from within, not who's going to see how we're doing something at any specific time. But Sarah, thank you so much for joining us today, for sharing your journey, for sharing some of the lessons that you've learned, as I mentioned early on. I thought I would have to twist your arm to get you to join me and I'm so happy that you did on behalf of the hospitality industry for my own personal career and growth. Thank you so much for all that you're doing for the hospitality

Sarah Dinger:

industry. Thank you, Rachel. I appreciated the time today.

Rachel Humphrey:

And to our audience, thank you so much for tuning in. We hope you'll go over to DEI advisors. org where you can hear from other industry leaders who have shared their incredible journeys and lessons learned as well. You can also stream DEI advisors from your favorite streaming channel. Thank you so much.

Sarah Dinger:

Thank you.