August 21, 2026 • 18 mins
Helen T. Hill - President & CEO of Explore Charleston
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, everyone, This is Steve Dallas and welcome to this
week's edition of CEOs. You should know I am thrilled
to be joined by Helen Hill, the president and COO
Explore Charleston.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Helen, thanks for being here today.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
It is such an honor to be here. Steve. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
We're so excited to learn more about you, your background,
and of course more about Charleston, one of the cities
I've always wanted to go to, just to kick that off.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
And if it hasn't, you got to be with.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Me in Charleston.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
I love that, So let's kick it off. Let's learn
more about you. I know that you're a Charleston native
and you dedicated your career to really promoting the city
that you call home, which I love.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
So tell us about your career story.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
What inspired you to have that passion for tourism and
have that passion evolve over the last few decades.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
Well, I'm so blessed to get to sell every day
the place that I grew up and the place that
I've seen evolve over a long period of time. So
and being in tourism was really not the plan. I
went off to Clemson University to be a banker like
my dad, And it got to that second level accounting
(01:03):
that eight o'clock class in the morning, and I decided
maybe finance was not for me. And the only thing
at Clemson I could change my major too and still
graduate in the prescribed by the parents four years was tourism.
So that's how it happened.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Wow, while you were at Clemson, did you have any
experiences or maybe mentors that had a really big impact
on your career.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Absolutely, I was very fortunate to have that. I went
to an all girls school in Charleston. So when I
got to Clemson University, obviously big school, big co ed school.
We were going to school of boys, and I realized
that my friends would tell me from my sorority and
everything that you are so brave, and I'd be like,
what do you mean, and like, well, you'll just do anything.
I realized that I didn't know that the girls weren't
(01:47):
supposed to be in charge because they'd always been.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
In George, I'd been at a girls school, We'd always
been in charge. So I was involved in a lot of.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
Extracurricular activities and I think that that really helped frame
the future for me.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
I love that speaking of Charleston.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
I know that you probably have witness firsthand the transformation
over the last few years becoming one of America's top
premier Justine.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Thank you for saying that.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Stage of course, everyone I talked to goes to Charleston.
What were some of the moments that stood out as
defining milestones throughout your professional career.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
Well, the main reason I actually have my job was
because of something hard, and it was Hurricane Hugo. And
you know, we have a lot of storms in the southeast,
but the reality is in our Charleston's three hundred year
history really only had five big hurricanes, but Hugo is
one of them. And I was the acting director of
(02:37):
Explorer Charleston and two weeks before the storm, I'd been
doing the job long enough because my boss had left
to be the state Tours and director from North Carolina.
They were like, well, she's been doing it, so we're going.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
To keep her.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
And I was only twenty six. Love that and so
I was very fortunate to get there. But daring her
Hurricane Hugo, we laughed and say, it's sort of like
all of us during COVID, you grew in dogears because
you really learned how to improvise and really how to
be the best you could be facing challenging times. As
much as we hate it, the realities you just don't
(03:11):
grow except through, of course hard And I laugh and
tell our younger staff that all the best stories come
from the hard stuff, and when you have a little
perspective on them a little longer, it looks better.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, those are the stuff you never forget. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
So I know that Explorer Charleston is very unique in
a sense that you're advertising, your marketing, your creative work
is all produced in house. How has that approach really
strengthened the brand and allowed you to stay authentic in
a very highly competitive industry.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Well, I wish that I could say we had some
grand plan.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
We didn't, and it was really born out of we
had very limited resources and we said how can we
do it?
Speaker 3 (03:52):
And we knew that if we did.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
The work ourselves that we could buy a little bit more, right,
So that's how it started. And we really believe if
you think about my creative team, is that you know,
trends are trends, but they don't always fit your course,
destination or your community. And we really feel like you
(04:14):
have to pull it out of your soul to really
promote the place, and so that when you come to Charleston,
we know how we want you to feel when you're there.
And you know, Charleston's history is not all fabulous, right,
And I laugh and tell everyone that everybody wishes for
a more perfect past, and Charleston's no different. But the
(04:34):
reality is we have been rewarded for showing who Charleston
really is, not who we wish it was as a destination.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
I love that now I know you work us alongside
more than nine hundred business partners and multiple local governments.
What leadership principles have helped you successfully unite all these
different stakeholders around a clear vision of what Charleston is.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
Well, we're very unique in terms of representing that many governments.
I laugh with my counterparts. I don't know of anybody
who has that many mayors and councils. But the benefit
is they have believed in the vision that it's the
brand of Charleston that matters. And it also gives us
some diversity because in Charleston, you know, we have five
(05:17):
amazing beaches in addition to the historic city. So we
laugh a lot that that those things that visitors are
looking for.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
We have enough variety to meet their needs.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
But most importantly, I think that's staying authentic to what
the community is good at and acknowledging the things that
we're not.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
And that's worked out okay for us.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
I love it Tourism itself right, it's continuing to evolve
and change, especially with all different traveler expectations and technologies.
How has explored Charleston really embraced that innovation and preserved
at the same time though the tensicity that we just
spoke about.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
Well, Charleston was the first community to have a tourism
management plan back in nineteen seventy four, believe it or not,
and we've had we've updated that plan every ten years.
So we've had a very intentional process to look at
what is the experience you want visitors to have. But
most importantly, we really believe in our core if it's
a great place to live, it'll be a great place
(06:17):
to visit. And having well, it's just it's worked for us,
and it sounds kind of trite, but it's just it's
always worked for us. And that part of making sure
that the people that provide the attraction so the people
that live in those beautiful historic houses. I grew up
in one that was built in seventeen eighty that they
(06:38):
we take care of them too, because you know, when
you're walking down the street you see somebody pulling out
their trash camp.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
It's a real, living, breathing community. But we've never.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
You know, we've always been able to say that we're
really excited about preserving the past, but at the same time,
we're really interested in embracing the future. And it's those
two things together. If you think about the over tourism movement,
it's looking at those two things together.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
That's the magic.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
And you know, how do you have innovative parking right,
how do you have innovative transportation? So those are the
things that we spend a lot of time thinking and
talking about.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
I love that Well Charleston continues to receive both national
and international recognition while you're still having exciting developments, like
I know, the Four Seasons Charleston is opening in twenty
twenty seven. What is your long term vision for Charleston.
What would you love to see happen in the next decade.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
Well, it's funny that you ask it that way, because
a lot of people who come to Charleston now kind
of come to a more finished product, you know that
we've been working on for a long time, right, And
it's so much fun for me to think about where
we'll be. And we've gotten some really beautiful innovative properties
(07:50):
and you mentioned the new four Seasons. We just opened
the new Cooper Hotel, which is our first believe it
or not, Waderfront Hotel in the the historic district.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
And we've been able to build on all those things.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
It's like, if you think about the sanctuary at Kiowa
Island and the you know, that's the place we stand
in the world stage. That's where we had the Ryder Cup.
You know, that's where you have the PTA Championship. So
it's the I think it's the mix of those. But
in terms of where I'm excited about the future is
I think that we have been rewarded for being who
we were and people have embraced that. And I laugh
(08:20):
and say that the real story of how things happened
is always better than anything you can make up. And
if you can bring that together with the rich history
that we have, like with agriculture and with food, it's
awesome and it makes for exciting that such a.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Great feeling it is. That is awesome.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Well, I know that you operate both through a strong
partnership from both the public and private investment side. How
has that collaborative model been successful for you and how
can other tourism boards learn from that?
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Well, I would say that the big idea that we
had back in twenty ten was to get involved in
the ear service development business because the reality is to
bring new travelers.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
And you know, we love the repeat visitors.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
I laugh and say the people from Charlotte, we love them, right,
but they just don't do as much as the people
that come from.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
California or New York.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
And so we've really spent a lot of time since
twenty ten working on air service. I'm actually the chairman
of our airport, and it's been interesting that we pretended
like we were an island community because they always did
it the best right. They created an inbound market. So
the wonderful thing that's happened at our airport. We've gone
from about three point one million flyers to over six
(09:32):
million flyers wow, in a very short amount of time.
And that's good for Charleston because those are that many
people didn't bring a car, but also many times a
new visitor. And the other part is the new carriers
that we have.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
We started with Southwest, we got Jet Blue.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
Recently we've really have a wonderful partnership with Breeze air Ways.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Of y'all heard of Breeze, that's great, we have not
it's really cool.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
You will hear so David Neielman, who started Jet Blue,
started Breeze, So we love them, but they do point
to point flying. But it's created new markets for us,
and so that has been a real key to the
success we've had in the last ten years, particularly Lost.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Off very cool.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
That's so important, You're right, because whenever you look up destinations,
you want to see like is it convenient to fly
into it?
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Is there a lot of flights in and out of it?
So that something you just don't.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Want to spend your time, right, You don't want to
spend your time in airport.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
You want to most out of your days there.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Right.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
I'm a New Yorker, so I'd be that same way,
trying to get as much in as.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Possible as I'm there exactly.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
So I know, leading tourism boards, you probably have gone
through a lot of different periods of rapid growth, and
we also talked about unexpected challenges along the way. What
has been some of the most difficult leadership challenges you
faced and what did those teach you along the way?
Speaker 4 (10:45):
For us, it's been how do you maintain that sense
of hospitality one of the reasons you mentioned some of
the wards we've led, and if you if you dig
into the numbers, we do well with accommodations and restaurants
and stuff like that, but we're not New York, right,
and really what has always given us an edge is
what they would call hospitality. But when you dig into it,
(11:06):
it's not just that we have really friendly people, sure,
it's that they also serve right, that they actually can
do what you need them to do. And so we decided,
since we don't have a lot of brands, we're gonna
have our first one four seasons. We didn't have any training, right,
so we do. Our organization does over fifty hospitality training classes,
so that if you're the person who is in the garage,
(11:28):
if you're the person who's at the front desk, if
you're the person who's on what we train you, right,
And it's really allows people, particularly those people.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
From the South that are already friendly anyway.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
I say it's about competent service because that's what the
traveler is looking for.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Responsible tourism has become an increasingly important conversation. What do
you believe are the biggest challenging challenge destinations like Charleston
will face while maintaining that growth that we talked about.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
I think as we look forward, it's going to be
maintaining the balance. And you've seen in Europe those communities
that have gotten out of balance.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
For example, we.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
Have just ended cruise ships in Charleston, so for a
long time we had cruise ship passengers and the way
you know, y'all know how cruise ships works. A lot
of times you'll come in and they come in for
the day and they bring a lot of people at.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
A really time.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
Charleston's not set up for that because of the size.
So making some very intentional decisions to make sure that
you manage populations of people. And then on the flip side,
we've had so many good things, like we just created
the East Coast Festival. That was so Aspen has the
Food and Wine Classic, Now they have the Food and
Wine Classic in Charleston. What an amazing event for us
(12:40):
because not huge, but celebrating the great agriculture, the great fisheries,
and really the great food. And it's perfect right for Charleston.
Not big, but very intentionally planned.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
I love that, Helen, You've had a very impressive career
and I love hearing about all the success is and
some of the learnings along the way. If someone was
tuning in, especially young professionals or young a young woman
that wanted to get into the travel tourism career, or
just business in general, what advice would you give yourself
(13:13):
all those years ago when you first got started.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
Well you might laugh at this because there's a couple
of them, and I tell our young staff this a lot. Well,
the first one is will not surprise you, is that
to be curious and be a good listener. You know,
you learn, you learn so much by being curious, and
those are that's really when I go to hire somebody,
I'm looking for that characteristic.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
It's so important.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
You know the next thing is to be brave and
to be sure that you're working in a place that
it's okay to fail. And we talk about y'all have
heard that line about falling forward, you know, The great
thing is we really celebrate that because it gets you
one step closer to.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Where you want to be.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
And we really live it and a lot of people
talk about it, but you actually have to.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Be able to walk it. And I think that as
you're evaluating you may want.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
To go to work, is choose a place that it
is okay to do that. And the last two things
is be in a place where it's okay to be
whoever you are. I mean, in the South, we have
some characters, right, and we celebrate those people. Right. It's
okay to be a little bit different, right, because we
share the same core that services in our heart, and
(14:22):
we're going to show you every day that we care
about you as an individual and when we care about
you as a team. We have a thing called us
members clients. And when you're evaluating a decision, how to
affect us as a team, How does it affect our membership?
Speaker 3 (14:34):
How does it affect our future visitors?
Speaker 4 (14:36):
And you can't make a mistake if you go down
that path choosing those three things to look at, you
can't make a mistake. But the last one, and this
is one I've found out very recently, and it's because
i've gotten older now. Is when I was young. Because
I got my job very young, I ended up with
a lot of my friends were men that were in
their fifties, and we would have these great meetings and
(14:57):
they would think that the ideas are great and race them.
And I wouldn't just laughed and said all my friends
were men over fifty round. But as you work forward,
we would go to the cocktail party that night and
I'd be with them in a social situation and I
would just feel like not connected. I'm like, well, we
were just together in the boardroom and I felt so connected,
and you know, well, maybe it's because their spouse is
(15:18):
here or something. Well, now that I've gotten all, I
found out they couldn't hear me. And I think young
women today, so many young women in the marketplace forget.
There's a lot of as people get older, particularly men,
there are a lot of them that can't hear And
it's not that they're not interested in you.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
They don't want to admit they can't hear you.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
So there's a lot of smiling and nodding.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
But we laugh about that now, but it's the true ism.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
And I think you, as a young female executive sometimes
you might take it as a hit, but the reality
is they just can't hear you not funny.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
It's great advice. Love it.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
I know we talked to you about this a little
bit obviously, the expansion of the four seasons.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Well what's next? What else should people expect from Charleston.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
Well, we are so excited about the development of Union Peera.
I mentioned that we were no longer going to have
cruise shows, but we have this amazing piece of property
that the Port of Charleston that was on and they've
now moved up the river further to develop from scratch.
And so if you think about a historic community, you know,
sixteen seventy that has the opportunity to reimagine this piece
(16:25):
of property. And so you know, we're thinking about the arts,
and you know, we're thinking about accommodations, and we're thinking
about affordable housing to make sure, I mean, housing's a
big issue everywhere. How do we make sure the people
that work in an industry have a place to live
that's close to work And how great would be they
could walk right. So the opportunity for this, it is
(16:45):
going to make Charleston's next twenty years our most exciting.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
I love that. Well, how we covered a lot.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
But if there is one thing you want our listeners
to know about the mission of Explore Charleston, what would
that be.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
I think for us, it would be the opportunity to
come visit our community and add to it. We have
found as Charleston has grown, we've been so fortunate that
people have come in with new ideas and new thoughts
and how we embrace that and marry that with what
has already made us great. And I think that that's
(17:19):
the magic because a lot of times people are like, no,
we don't want any more, right, and we think just
the opposite of that is it is such an opportunity
to learn and grow like Charleston, South Carolina. When I started,
we didn't have the there was no Boeing, there was
no Volvo, there was no more State. And the fact
that those industries are there with us, Yeah, meshed into
(17:41):
our historic culture.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
It's amazing.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Well, I'm sold. I have to plan my trip. But
if someone else is tuning in that wants to learn more,
what should they do?
Speaker 4 (17:50):
They should go to our website at explore Charleston dot
com and we would be honored to have them visit
our community.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Well, I was honored to have you come visit us
and be on the podcast, inspiring to learn more about
you personally. You could tell that you love what you do,
and I really love the city that you represent, and
I think that is going to go through to all
of our listeners that are tuning in.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
So thank you so much for being here today, Helen.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
I appreciate it, and thank you all for tuning in
to this week's edition of CEOs.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
You should know
Hi, everyone, This is Steve Dallas and welcome to this
week's edition of CEOs. You should know I am thrilled
to be joined by Helen Hill, the president and COO
Explore Charleston.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Helen, thanks for being here today.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
It is such an honor to be here. Steve. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
We're so excited to learn more about you, your background,
and of course more about Charleston, one of the cities
I've always wanted to go to, just to kick that off.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
And if it hasn't, you got to be with.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Me in Charleston.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
I love that, So let's kick it off. Let's learn
more about you. I know that you're a Charleston native
and you dedicated your career to really promoting the city
that you call home, which I love.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
So tell us about your career story.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
What inspired you to have that passion for tourism and
have that passion evolve over the last few decades.
Speaker 4 (00:40):
Well, I'm so blessed to get to sell every day
the place that I grew up and the place that
I've seen evolve over a long period of time. So
and being in tourism was really not the plan. I
went off to Clemson University to be a banker like
my dad, And it got to that second level accounting
(01:03):
that eight o'clock class in the morning, and I decided
maybe finance was not for me. And the only thing
at Clemson I could change my major too and still
graduate in the prescribed by the parents four years was tourism.
So that's how it happened.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Wow, while you were at Clemson, did you have any
experiences or maybe mentors that had a really big impact
on your career.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Absolutely, I was very fortunate to have that. I went
to an all girls school in Charleston. So when I
got to Clemson University, obviously big school, big co ed school.
We were going to school of boys, and I realized
that my friends would tell me from my sorority and
everything that you are so brave, and I'd be like,
what do you mean, and like, well, you'll just do anything.
I realized that I didn't know that the girls weren't
(01:47):
supposed to be in charge because they'd always been.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
In George, I'd been at a girls school, We'd always
been in charge. So I was involved in a lot of.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
Extracurricular activities and I think that that really helped frame
the future for me.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
I love that speaking of Charleston.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
I know that you probably have witness firsthand the transformation
over the last few years becoming one of America's top
premier Justine.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Thank you for saying that.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Stage of course, everyone I talked to goes to Charleston.
What were some of the moments that stood out as
defining milestones throughout your professional career.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
Well, the main reason I actually have my job was
because of something hard, and it was Hurricane Hugo. And
you know, we have a lot of storms in the southeast,
but the reality is in our Charleston's three hundred year
history really only had five big hurricanes, but Hugo is
one of them. And I was the acting director of
(02:37):
Explorer Charleston and two weeks before the storm, I'd been
doing the job long enough because my boss had left
to be the state Tours and director from North Carolina.
They were like, well, she's been doing it, so we're going.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
To keep her.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
And I was only twenty six. Love that and so
I was very fortunate to get there. But daring her
Hurricane Hugo, we laughed and say, it's sort of like
all of us during COVID, you grew in dogears because
you really learned how to improvise and really how to
be the best you could be facing challenging times. As
much as we hate it, the realities you just don't
(03:11):
grow except through, of course hard And I laugh and
tell our younger staff that all the best stories come
from the hard stuff, and when you have a little
perspective on them a little longer, it looks better.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, those are the stuff you never forget. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
So I know that Explorer Charleston is very unique in
a sense that you're advertising, your marketing, your creative work
is all produced in house. How has that approach really
strengthened the brand and allowed you to stay authentic in
a very highly competitive industry.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Well, I wish that I could say we had some
grand plan.
Speaker 4 (03:44):
We didn't, and it was really born out of we
had very limited resources and we said how can we
do it?
Speaker 3 (03:52):
And we knew that if we did.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
The work ourselves that we could buy a little bit more, right,
So that's how it started. And we really believe if
you think about my creative team, is that you know,
trends are trends, but they don't always fit your course,
destination or your community. And we really feel like you
(04:14):
have to pull it out of your soul to really
promote the place, and so that when you come to Charleston,
we know how we want you to feel when you're there.
And you know, Charleston's history is not all fabulous, right,
And I laugh and tell everyone that everybody wishes for
a more perfect past, and Charleston's no different. But the
(04:34):
reality is we have been rewarded for showing who Charleston
really is, not who we wish it was as a destination.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
I love that now I know you work us alongside
more than nine hundred business partners and multiple local governments.
What leadership principles have helped you successfully unite all these
different stakeholders around a clear vision of what Charleston is.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
Well, we're very unique in terms of representing that many governments.
I laugh with my counterparts. I don't know of anybody
who has that many mayors and councils. But the benefit
is they have believed in the vision that it's the
brand of Charleston that matters. And it also gives us
some diversity because in Charleston, you know, we have five
(05:17):
amazing beaches in addition to the historic city. So we
laugh a lot that that those things that visitors are
looking for.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
We have enough variety to meet their needs.
Speaker 4 (05:29):
But most importantly, I think that's staying authentic to what
the community is good at and acknowledging the things that
we're not.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
And that's worked out okay for us.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
I love it Tourism itself right, it's continuing to evolve
and change, especially with all different traveler expectations and technologies.
How has explored Charleston really embraced that innovation and preserved
at the same time though the tensicity that we just
spoke about.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
Well, Charleston was the first community to have a tourism
management plan back in nineteen seventy four, believe it or not,
and we've had we've updated that plan every ten years.
So we've had a very intentional process to look at
what is the experience you want visitors to have. But
most importantly, we really believe in our core if it's
a great place to live, it'll be a great place
(06:17):
to visit. And having well, it's just it's worked for us,
and it sounds kind of trite, but it's just it's
always worked for us. And that part of making sure
that the people that provide the attraction so the people
that live in those beautiful historic houses. I grew up
in one that was built in seventeen eighty that they
(06:38):
we take care of them too, because you know, when
you're walking down the street you see somebody pulling out
their trash camp.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
It's a real, living, breathing community. But we've never.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
You know, we've always been able to say that we're
really excited about preserving the past, but at the same time,
we're really interested in embracing the future. And it's those
two things together. If you think about the over tourism movement,
it's looking at those two things together.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
That's the magic.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
And you know, how do you have innovative parking right,
how do you have innovative transportation? So those are the
things that we spend a lot of time thinking and
talking about.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
I love that Well Charleston continues to receive both national
and international recognition while you're still having exciting developments, like
I know, the Four Seasons Charleston is opening in twenty
twenty seven. What is your long term vision for Charleston.
What would you love to see happen in the next decade.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
Well, it's funny that you ask it that way, because
a lot of people who come to Charleston now kind
of come to a more finished product, you know that
we've been working on for a long time, right, And
it's so much fun for me to think about where
we'll be. And we've gotten some really beautiful innovative properties
(07:50):
and you mentioned the new four Seasons. We just opened
the new Cooper Hotel, which is our first believe it
or not, Waderfront Hotel in the the historic district.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
And we've been able to build on all those things.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
It's like, if you think about the sanctuary at Kiowa
Island and the you know, that's the place we stand
in the world stage. That's where we had the Ryder Cup.
You know, that's where you have the PTA Championship. So
it's the I think it's the mix of those. But
in terms of where I'm excited about the future is
I think that we have been rewarded for being who
we were and people have embraced that. And I laugh
(08:20):
and say that the real story of how things happened
is always better than anything you can make up. And
if you can bring that together with the rich history
that we have, like with agriculture and with food, it's
awesome and it makes for exciting that such a.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Great feeling it is. That is awesome.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Well, I know that you operate both through a strong
partnership from both the public and private investment side. How
has that collaborative model been successful for you and how
can other tourism boards learn from that?
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Well, I would say that the big idea that we
had back in twenty ten was to get involved in
the ear service development business because the reality is to
bring new travelers.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
And you know, we love the repeat visitors.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
I laugh and say the people from Charlotte, we love them, right,
but they just don't do as much as the people
that come from.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
California or New York.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
And so we've really spent a lot of time since
twenty ten working on air service. I'm actually the chairman
of our airport, and it's been interesting that we pretended
like we were an island community because they always did
it the best right. They created an inbound market. So
the wonderful thing that's happened at our airport. We've gone
from about three point one million flyers to over six
(09:32):
million flyers wow, in a very short amount of time.
And that's good for Charleston because those are that many
people didn't bring a car, but also many times a
new visitor. And the other part is the new carriers
that we have.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
We started with Southwest, we got Jet Blue.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
Recently we've really have a wonderful partnership with Breeze air Ways.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Of y'all heard of Breeze, that's great, we have not
it's really cool.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
You will hear so David Neielman, who started Jet Blue,
started Breeze, So we love them, but they do point
to point flying. But it's created new markets for us,
and so that has been a real key to the
success we've had in the last ten years, particularly Lost.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Off very cool.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
That's so important, You're right, because whenever you look up destinations,
you want to see like is it convenient to fly
into it?
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Is there a lot of flights in and out of it?
So that something you just don't.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Want to spend your time, right, You don't want to
spend your time in airport.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
You want to most out of your days there.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Right.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
I'm a New Yorker, so I'd be that same way,
trying to get as much in as.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Possible as I'm there exactly.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
So I know, leading tourism boards, you probably have gone
through a lot of different periods of rapid growth, and
we also talked about unexpected challenges along the way. What
has been some of the most difficult leadership challenges you
faced and what did those teach you along the way?
Speaker 4 (10:45):
For us, it's been how do you maintain that sense
of hospitality one of the reasons you mentioned some of
the wards we've led, and if you if you dig
into the numbers, we do well with accommodations and restaurants
and stuff like that, but we're not New York, right,
and really what has always given us an edge is
what they would call hospitality. But when you dig into it,
(11:06):
it's not just that we have really friendly people, sure,
it's that they also serve right, that they actually can
do what you need them to do. And so we decided,
since we don't have a lot of brands, we're gonna
have our first one four seasons. We didn't have any training, right,
so we do. Our organization does over fifty hospitality training classes,
so that if you're the person who is in the garage,
(11:28):
if you're the person who's at the front desk, if
you're the person who's on what we train you, right,
And it's really allows people, particularly those people.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
From the South that are already friendly anyway.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
I say it's about competent service because that's what the
traveler is looking for.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Responsible tourism has become an increasingly important conversation. What do
you believe are the biggest challenging challenge destinations like Charleston
will face while maintaining that growth that we talked about.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
I think as we look forward, it's going to be
maintaining the balance. And you've seen in Europe those communities
that have gotten out of balance.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
For example, we.
Speaker 4 (12:04):
Have just ended cruise ships in Charleston, so for a
long time we had cruise ship passengers and the way
you know, y'all know how cruise ships works. A lot
of times you'll come in and they come in for
the day and they bring a lot of people at.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
A really time.
Speaker 4 (12:17):
Charleston's not set up for that because of the size.
So making some very intentional decisions to make sure that
you manage populations of people. And then on the flip side,
we've had so many good things, like we just created
the East Coast Festival. That was so Aspen has the
Food and Wine Classic, Now they have the Food and
Wine Classic in Charleston. What an amazing event for us
(12:40):
because not huge, but celebrating the great agriculture, the great fisheries,
and really the great food. And it's perfect right for Charleston.
Not big, but very intentionally planned.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
I love that, Helen, You've had a very impressive career
and I love hearing about all the success is and
some of the learnings along the way. If someone was
tuning in, especially young professionals or young a young woman
that wanted to get into the travel tourism career, or
just business in general, what advice would you give yourself
(13:13):
all those years ago when you first got started.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
Well you might laugh at this because there's a couple
of them, and I tell our young staff this a lot. Well,
the first one is will not surprise you, is that
to be curious and be a good listener. You know,
you learn, you learn so much by being curious, and
those are that's really when I go to hire somebody,
I'm looking for that characteristic.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
It's so important.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
You know the next thing is to be brave and
to be sure that you're working in a place that
it's okay to fail. And we talk about y'all have
heard that line about falling forward, you know, The great
thing is we really celebrate that because it gets you
one step closer to.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Where you want to be.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
And we really live it and a lot of people
talk about it, but you actually have to.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Be able to walk it. And I think that as
you're evaluating you may want.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
To go to work, is choose a place that it
is okay to do that. And the last two things
is be in a place where it's okay to be
whoever you are. I mean, in the South, we have
some characters, right, and we celebrate those people. Right. It's
okay to be a little bit different, right, because we
share the same core that services in our heart, and
(14:22):
we're going to show you every day that we care
about you as an individual and when we care about
you as a team. We have a thing called us
members clients. And when you're evaluating a decision, how to
affect us as a team, How does it affect our membership?
Speaker 3 (14:34):
How does it affect our future visitors?
Speaker 4 (14:36):
And you can't make a mistake if you go down
that path choosing those three things to look at, you
can't make a mistake. But the last one, and this
is one I've found out very recently, and it's because
i've gotten older now. Is when I was young. Because
I got my job very young, I ended up with
a lot of my friends were men that were in
their fifties, and we would have these great meetings and
(14:57):
they would think that the ideas are great and race them.
And I wouldn't just laughed and said all my friends
were men over fifty round. But as you work forward,
we would go to the cocktail party that night and
I'd be with them in a social situation and I
would just feel like not connected. I'm like, well, we
were just together in the boardroom and I felt so connected,
and you know, well, maybe it's because their spouse is
(15:18):
here or something. Well, now that I've gotten all, I
found out they couldn't hear me. And I think young
women today, so many young women in the marketplace forget.
There's a lot of as people get older, particularly men,
there are a lot of them that can't hear And
it's not that they're not interested in you.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
They don't want to admit they can't hear you.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
So there's a lot of smiling and nodding.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
But we laugh about that now, but it's the true ism.
Speaker 4 (15:43):
And I think you, as a young female executive sometimes
you might take it as a hit, but the reality
is they just can't hear you not funny.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
It's great advice. Love it.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
I know we talked to you about this a little
bit obviously, the expansion of the four seasons.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Well what's next? What else should people expect from Charleston.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
Well, we are so excited about the development of Union Peera.
I mentioned that we were no longer going to have
cruise shows, but we have this amazing piece of property
that the Port of Charleston that was on and they've
now moved up the river further to develop from scratch.
And so if you think about a historic community, you know,
sixteen seventy that has the opportunity to reimagine this piece
(16:25):
of property. And so you know, we're thinking about the arts,
and you know, we're thinking about accommodations, and we're thinking
about affordable housing to make sure, I mean, housing's a
big issue everywhere. How do we make sure the people
that work in an industry have a place to live
that's close to work And how great would be they
could walk right. So the opportunity for this, it is
(16:45):
going to make Charleston's next twenty years our most exciting.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
I love that. Well, how we covered a lot.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
But if there is one thing you want our listeners
to know about the mission of Explore Charleston, what would
that be.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
I think for us, it would be the opportunity to
come visit our community and add to it. We have
found as Charleston has grown, we've been so fortunate that
people have come in with new ideas and new thoughts
and how we embrace that and marry that with what
has already made us great. And I think that that's
(17:19):
the magic because a lot of times people are like, no,
we don't want any more, right, and we think just
the opposite of that is it is such an opportunity
to learn and grow like Charleston, South Carolina. When I started,
we didn't have the there was no Boeing, there was
no Volvo, there was no more State. And the fact
that those industries are there with us, Yeah, meshed into
(17:41):
our historic culture.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
It's amazing.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Well, I'm sold. I have to plan my trip. But
if someone else is tuning in that wants to learn more,
what should they do?
Speaker 4 (17:50):
They should go to our website at explore Charleston dot
com and we would be honored to have them visit
our community.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Well, I was honored to have you come visit us
and be on the podcast, inspiring to learn more about
you personally. You could tell that you love what you do,
and I really love the city that you represent, and
I think that is going to go through to all
of our listeners that are tuning in.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
So thank you so much for being here today, Helen.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
I appreciate it, and thank you all for tuning in
to this week's edition of CEOs.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
You should know
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