October 17, 2024 • 47 mins
Empowering Through Hospitality: The Story of Hotel Etico
This episode of Room For All features hosts Andrea and Saraya O'Connell alongside guest Tracylee Arestides, delving into the inspiring journey of Hotel Etico. The conversation spans from Tracy's personal story as a mother of a child with Down Syndrome to the establishment of Hotel Etico, a pioneering initiative that trains and employs individuals with disabilities in the hospitality sector. It covers the key contributions of figures like Niccolo, Trevor Graham, and strategic partnerships with entities like the University of Technology and the Salteri family. The script highlights the significant milestones from networking efforts in Spain, obtaining crucial funding, and forming a solid board to present-day successes. The discussion also explores the symbolic meaning of Hotel Etico's logo, the challenges in disability employment, the importance of inclusion, fair wages, and changing societal perceptions. The episode underscores the systemic changes needed to foster an inclusive environment and reflects on the continuous aspirations to expand across Australia.
00:00 Introduction and Welcome
01:48 Meet Traceylee Arestides
03:12 Tracylee's Journey with Down Syndrome
05:19 Discovering Hotel Etico
13:01 Bringing Hotel Etico to Australia
16:22 Building the Foundation
22:04 Overcoming Challenges and Achieving Success
25:07 The Importance of Long-Term Vision
25:26 Meeting Jon Ackary and His Impact
27:19 The Vision for Hotel Etico
28:40 Expanding Hotel Etico Across Australia
29:20 The Symbolism Behind the Logo
33:38 Challenges and Misconceptions in Disability Employment
40:34 The Value of Employing People with Disabilities
42:59 Reflections and Future Plans
45:48 Final Thoughts and Gratitude
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Andrea (01:28):
And
Saraya (01:29):
yeah, you're good.
Andrea (01:30):
And we're rolling.
Okay.
Welcome to the very firstepisode, official number one of
Room For All.
Saraya (01:41):
First episode with a number.
Andrea (01:42):
That's right.
I'm here with my co host SarayaO'Connell.
Saraya (01:46):
Hi.
Andrea (01:47):
How are you Saraya?
And we have our very firstofficial guest, uh, in person.
Virtually.
Saraya (01:56):
Virtually.
Andrea (01:56):
Um, uh, very on Tracey Lee Arestides.
How are you Tracey Lee?
Tracylee Arestides (02:00):
Very well, Andrea.
Lovely to see you and Sarayaboth.
Andrea (02:05):
Uh, we're very excited cause, um, we started this
journey, um, not long ago and,uh, we've decided to take it
head on and, um, and see whereit takes us.
Saraya (02:19):
It's been a journey already.
Andrea (02:20):
That's right.
Um, so
Saraya (02:23):
As everything we do tends to be,
Andrea (02:26):
so yes, we, um,
Saraya (02:28):
We wanted you to be our first guest, um, because we
think it's important to, we'vespoken about Hotel Etico in
episode zero, but we think it'simportant to come from your
perspective and what you do.
And we're probably going toleave it to you to introduce
yourself a little bit.
Andrea (02:45):
And we're just going to let it
Saraya (02:47):
unravel,
Andrea (02:48):
unpack.
Um, so, um, tell us a little bitabout who is Tracy Lee
Arestides?
Tracylee Arestides (02:56):
Okay.
Um, gosh, who is TracyleeArestides?
Saraya (03:02):
It's a tough question
Tracylee Arestides (03:03):
know.
Thanks for starting with theeasy ones.
Guys.
Saraya (03:06):
Yeah.
No
Tracylee Arestides (03:12):
Primarily the mother of Francesca, my
eldest daughter.
Only because when Frannie wasborn 32 years ago, she was our
first baby and unbeknownst tous, she had the Trisomy 21 Down
Syndrome.
And quite complex medicalconditions as well.
I'd never met anyone with Downsyndrome when Franny was born.
(03:33):
And, yeah, we had no None.
None whatsoever.
And any inklings we had were notvery positive at all.
I'd come from a corporatebackground.
I'd worked in marketing and PRin fashion and beauty and film.
And then, Moved over to doing PRin, or, you know, comms
(03:54):
generally, in the not for profitsector, about three years before
Frannie was born.
and nothing had prepared eitherFrannie's father or myself for,
yeah, born.
Because she was our first baby,it was really good because we
Saraya (04:13):
longer
Tracylee Arestides (04:14):
in a way it was good that Franny our first
baby because we had noexpectations for what babies
should do anyway.
So that, Franny being born sortof flicked us into the parallel
universe of disability.
Moral, specifically intellectualdisability.
Um, and also flicked us into afairly amazing community of
(04:35):
people as well.
Uh, which has been wonderful.
Andrea (04:41):
How old is Fanny?
Tracylee Arestides (04:42):
She's 32 now.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And she's, just about to moveout of home.
Which she was actually, we wereplanning for her to move out of
home, three COVID happened.
So that didn't happen.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
she's got two younger sisterswho are both out of home.
So Franny's just, uh, preparingto leave out of, move out of
(05:06):
home.
And she's also preparing to getmarried later this year.
Andrea (05:10):
That's unbelievable.
Tracylee Arestides (05:12):
sure is.
Saraya (05:14):
I'm excited for that wedding.
Tracylee Arestides (05:15):
It's going to be good fun,
Saraya (05:18):
It's going to be a big event.
Andrea (05:19):
And tell us, um, tell us a little bit how you came to
find out about Hotel Etico andwhat brought you into the
picture.
Tracylee Arestides (05:29):
I said I've been working in the not for
profit sector.
Not specifically disability.
because I didn't necessarilywant to live disability and work
disability.
And then I sort of fell into ajob in disability in the
tertiary education sector.
And, from there I moved on to acouple of different jobs and
(05:53):
ended up, as the executivedirector of Down Syndrome New
South Wales.
And while I was there, I had a,a couple of years into the job,
I had a phone call.
You often get, you know, randomphone calls from people, but I
had a phone call from a guysaying.
An Italian guy saying he washere with his family having a
(06:13):
holiday and in Italy he runs ahotel which is staffed by people
with Down Syndrome and had beenset up to train and people with
Down syndrome to work in thehospitality industry and would I
be interested in having a cup ofcoffee and of course I was so
and that Alex Toselli who washere with his family and Alex
(06:38):
and I met and he showed me allthe stuff about Hotel Etico in,
Italy.
And he took me through how theydo things, which just blew me
away.
'cause there was nothing inAustralia like that.
Nothing as holistic and personcentered.
And this was, hmm, 2015.
So it was, just as the NDIS,the, we hadn't had the full
(07:01):
rollout of the NDIS yet.
We were still only, rolled outin a couple of areas, the Hunter
being one, um, and I think oneother in Melbourne and South
Australia perhaps.
So, it was certainly before thefull impact of the NDIS and, um,
just the vision of it wasfabulous.
So in 2016 I went to Italy,somebody's got to do it and,
Saraya (07:24):
Hard life too, I haven't.
Tracylee Arestides (07:28):
I usually wish definitely, anyway I went
up to Asti and spent some timewith the hotel who very
graciously hosted me there for acouple of days and also the
Hospitality College in the townthat they had partnered with and
the restaurant that was part ofHotel Asti as well.
Andrea (07:46):
and what, so what, what struck you?
What made it different fromanything that you had been aware
of until that time?
Tracylee Arestides (07:54):
Okay, so what made it different was, I
said it was very holistic innature because it started off
with people with Down Syndrome,but it also went, you know, the
hotel in Italy had grown toembrace more generally people
with intellectual disability aswell and what really impressed
(08:20):
me tremendously was not only didthey They trained people with
disability for, in hospitality,but in all aspects of
hospitality.
They rotated them through everybusiness unit of the hotel.
So they weren't just hidden awayin the laundry folding towels.
They were, you know, front andcentre
Andrea (08:38):
Front and center.
Tracylee Arestides (08:39):
Front and centre So they were front and
centre, they were answering thephones, they were at the bar,
they were doing housekeeping.
they were also employed, notjust in the hotel, but in other
hotels.
So it wasn't, Um, uh, closedloop enterprise that just
employed its own trainees.
(08:59):
there was actually, everythinghappened with the idea that
there was a place in the worldfor these people, a place in the
broader world.
And the thing that I love, aparent, than, just a worker in
the sector, was they had thiswonderful thing called the
Academy of Independence.
When, where people were trainingthere, they actually lived in
(09:20):
the academy with their peers,and it was like a big messy
group home that you live in inyour twenties, where, you know,
You complain about your flatmatenot having done the dishes, and
you, you know, flirt with thegirl in the next room.
And it was just, and you're alsoresponsible doing your own
laundry, uh, your own shopping,all of those real life skills.
(09:42):
And there was fragmented inAustralia, but nothing that
addressed, what was, yeah, whatis quite a, still a shocking
issue in Australia around theunemployment of people
intellectual disabilities.
Andrea (09:56):
And interestingly, this was all, um, painted in a
beautiful, beautiful picture byan Australian movie director,
Tracylee Arestides (10:04):
Yes, yeah, Trevor Graham, who's, quite
renowned internationally,actually, and most people would
know Trevor from, hisdocumentary, Mabo, some years
ago, really groundbreaking.
Yeah.
Andrea (10:16):
And he did the portrait of Chef Antonio instead.
Tracylee Arestides (10:19):
Antonio's Recipes for Revolution, which
is, I always, I always say it'slike a love story to Northern
Italy.
It's a beautiful film.
Andrea (10:28):
And, because Antonio is the chef that together with Alex
started entire movement in
Tracylee Arestides (10:34):
Yeah, he is.
Antonio and his brother havequite a famous restaurant in
Asti called Tacabanda.
which is famous in foodiecircles for its use of regional
produce and traditional recipes.
And
Andrea (10:48):
I've got the best wine, the best produce, truffles,
right?
Tracylee Arestides (10:53):
yes, yeah, everything.
It's
Saraya (10:55):
I'll take everything but the truffle.
Yeah, you
Tracylee Arestides (10:59):
Antonio's a big character with a big vision.
And it was Antonio.
Originally, that, was contactedby some friends of his in the
town.
Asti only a relatively smalltown.
Was contacted by some friendswho had a son with Down
Syndrome, Niccolo', who had,done really well at school, but
(11:19):
found once left school thatthere was nothing for him to do.
And so, he started Antonio hadnever met anyone with Down
syndrome either.
And so, Niccolo started in therestaurant Antonio just, you
know, discovered that, you know,surprise, surprise, he could
work just as well as anybodyelse.
He needed to, learn things in aslightly different way.
(11:43):
And by the time I was in Asti in2015, Niccolo was the head
waiter.
of quite renowned and hefeatures quite heavily in Trevor
Graham's film, Chef Antonio'sRecipes for Revolution.
And part of Chef Antonio'svision is that people with
(12:04):
disability be brought out, andhave that interface with people,
just general, ordinary people.
Yeah.
Andrea (12:14):
Yeah, it's a beautiful movie, beautiful story and yeah,
Trevor did a fantastic job.
We have it available at thehotel.
We use it a lot.
That's part of our inductionprocess for all staff.
It's what really gets peopleover the line if they still need
to in terms of buying into theproject.
(12:34):
We also make it available forpeople to, to watch in
streaming, when they come, theyget a code from us and they can
watch it.
it's a beautiful, beautifulstory that we really, highly
recommend to people.
But so, so you went to Italy,you witnessed that.
you come back to us, do you gowith Frannie or you
Tracylee Arestides (12:50):
No, I went on my own.
I've actually got cousins inItaly, so I went to stay with my
cousins.
Not that I'm Italian.
It's an accident, but I haveItalian cousins.
Andrea (12:58):
Oh, Greeks, Italians, or you're not even Greek
Tracylee Arestides (13:00):
I'm not even Greek
Andrea (13:01):
Um, you come back to Australia, uh, it's 2016, you
said, and then what happens?
Like what takes us to 2018,which is when the company
Tracylee Arestides (13:14):
yeah, what happened then was, Alex and I,
We kept in touch and we, well,we did more than keep in touch.
Alex and I decided that, what weneeded to do was, make friends
for the project, to bring theproject to Australia.
So one of the first things wewas, work with Professor Simon
Darcy at the University ofTechnology and, The University
(13:36):
Business School, they verykindly hosted a day for us,
which Alex, came out for to talkabout exactly this, about
employing people withdisability, specifically in
hospitality.
And, How it was happening inItaly and what the vision could
be for Australia.
And from there we, looked at, sothis was our strategy to make
(13:58):
friends for the project.
And of course as soon as you sayhotel in Northern Italy,
everybody says, oh yes, I couldbe friends with that.
but also to do a bit of a deeperdive into, What was happening
with people with disintellectual disability,
particularly in Australia and inemployment.
And, at the same time alongthat, working towards, possible
(14:21):
working towards incorporationas, a legal entity and a
charitable entity.
And then course, finding otherpeople we could work with on the
board.
And we were ready to jump onthat journey with us looking at
you, Andrea.
Andrea (14:34):
Someone that you had a little bit of, they had a bit of
a little bit of experience in
Tracylee Arestides (14:38):
yeah, exactly.
And who was also experienced inthat, yeah, as, as you are in
that, not for profitphilanthropic space.
Saraya (14:47):
Tracy, in the last, um, episode, uh, Andrea called me
out for the way I came to HotelEtico as in forgetting my cover
letter.
so he, he, you know, just putmy, Put it out there for
everybody to listen.
Anything he didn't do well thatI could possibly use?
Tracylee Arestides (15:06):
no, sorry.
Saraya (15:10):
Oh, come on.
There's got to be somethinglike, he didn't tie his shoes.
He tripped over when you methim, he spilled coffee on
himself.
Andrea (15:17):
So when we when we met, I was working, I was working for
a foundation, the PAYCEfoundation, I was running.
I was running the foundation forproperty developer and I think
the approach came through commonfriends and that we had,
Tracylee Arestides (15:31):
Someone who was working with SEFA, yeah.
Andrea (15:35):
And, and somehow, I mean, possibly in the back of
your mind, you were hoping tofind someone with some money to
put on the table to, to, to setsomething up, I suppose, and I
still remember the meeting thatwe had.
So as soon as you opened upabout what the project was
about, I said,
Tracylee Arestides (15:52):
Yes.
Andrea (15:53):
You know, I can tell you now that most likely we wouldn't
be able to support youfinancially because that's not
the space in which the PAYCEFoundation operates, but I love
this model.
I want to be involved.
I want to be your man on theground.
and let's make it happen.
So if we don't get money, atleast you get I think that's,
Saraya (16:16):
that a trade off?
Tracylee Arestides (16:17):
A good deal.
Saraya (16:19):
Pretty good, deal.
Andrea (16:19):
Yeah.
So, yeah, just.
Dive right into it.
And, yeah, I had goodconnections at the time because
I was working with, to set upour own structure at the
foundation.
Actually, I had work with, alegal firm called ProLegis,
which was a firm that wasspecializing in not for profits
and, charity registrations andlook at the cat peeking, and,
(16:42):
uh, we got in touch withProLegis with Anne Robinson.
And Anne referred us to one ofhis, one of her lawyers who was
Luke Hall.
and I'm using these namesbecause, you know, like very
interesting sort of, uh, closingof loops and sort of somehow
reconnecting people.
Luke now works for BakerMackenzie, who is one of the,
(17:05):
corporate partners of, HotelEtico, and supports us.
And so Luke what wrote ourconstitution and helped us
register and incorporate.
and so on the 18th of March,2018, the company was
registered.
And became a charity.
Tracylee Arestides (17:22):
We should call that Etico day
Andrea (17:24):
Yes.
So there's a few, there's a fewcritical days in the history of
Hotel Etico and I've been tryingto sort of think of what is the
best day.
I think we can have a number ofEtico days in a way, but
definitely the, uh, the formalregistration of the is the 18th
of May 2018, which was, uh, uh,at that time we didn't have any
(17:45):
money.
We had three friends
Tracylee Arestides (17:48):
The um, the key to being able to access any
money was being incorporated andregistered with the acnc.
So once.
Once that had happened, we knew,we knew that people loved the
idea.
We knew people in the disabilityspace, could see the possibility
(18:09):
and the passion behind the idea.
parents of young people withdisability was, you know, some
of our biggest supporters.
Initially, because, when you'rethe parent of a child with a
disability, when they leaveschool, it's like entering some
sort of labyrinth that you haveno idea whether you're going to
(18:29):
turn the corner hit a brick wallor find a golden pathway.
So, I think, it really capturedthe imagin the combination of
elements that make up Eticoreally captured the imagination
Andrea (18:39):
Yes.
And at the time we all had dayjobs.
Alex was in Italy, you wereworking, I was working.
We had sort
Tracylee Arestides (18:47):
a lot of late night coffees.
Andrea (18:49):
That's right.
And so we had no money, uh, afew friends, a few connections,
a great idea.
And so we started, it was all sovery random.
Like I, I remember meeting ayoung lady, her name was Linda,
is Linda, she was working at UTSat the time, looking, she had
(19:10):
been referred to me by ProfessorBronwyn Dalton, heads business
school and she was referred tome because I had done some work
with Bronwyn and um, she waslooking for a mentor.
And so she reached out to me, wehave a coffee downstairs at
Avenue at Chifley Tower.
Saraya (19:29):
I'm seeing a pattern, it's all coffee,
Tracylee Arestides (19:31):
There's a lot of coffee in this story.
Andrea (19:34):
And, you know, I remember the day we sit down.
And she showed me her CV and shetalks to me and she says, well,
I'm Italian.
I have worked in disability.
I have managed a hotel in ByronBay and I'm an accountant.
(19:56):
Okay.
I said, Look, Linda, I can helpyou, but you need to help me
because I've got something foryou.
And so then I think I spoke withyou, spoke with Alex and I said,
guys, I think we've got someonehere that could possibly help
us.
We need to find a formula tomake it work for us.
(20:18):
And we asked Linda to do it andLinda was very resourceful.
And in fact, I think we shouldhave her as a guest one day.
She lives in Spain now inBarcelona.
Saraya (20:25):
Can we go to Spain and do the podcast?
Andrea (20:27):
We could do that.
Uh, got other friends there aswell, which is great.
Um, so yeah, so we, Linda, um,and so we're sort of digressing,
but Linda one day, one nightgoes to a TFN event, the funding
network, because she was thebest networker and at the TFN,
(20:48):
she was doing the mingling andnetworking that you do before
the event.
And she starts talking inItalian with a lady, an
interesting lady that was thereas a, as a participant, as a
donor.
And this, lady ends up to beMrs.
Salteri and Mrs.
Salteri was there with herhusband and they were
(21:10):
participating in the TFN anddonating fundraising and, and
she falls in love with theproject.
And from then, we have a meetingwith.
With Paul Salteri and we discussand we talk about it and, and he
decides that I don't know if theItalian background helped, maybe
it helped a little bit.
I think I think it helped alittle bit.
(21:31):
decides to put a little bit ofmoney on the table to help us.
You know, he made us sweat forit, I think.
Which is the best way.
And, uh, and that allowed us toemploy Linda and Linda took us
sort of a few steps further andthrough her, we pretty much
found the property and, um,yeah, the rest is history.
(21:51):
So Linda was a critical,critical, um, initial person
that did a huge amount of work,um, virtually for free.
And it was all thanks to coffee.
Saraya (22:02):
Coffee, coffee, coffee.
So for it, the two of youquestion.
Did you think, fast forward to2024, did you think we would be
where we're at now with 15trainees with, um, 70 percent
currently in employment whilewe're working on the others?
(22:24):
Did you think that we would bethere in 2024?
You go first.
Tracylee Arestides (22:30):
I had no doubt.
I didn't know, I couldn't haveput a pin in the timeline, but I
had no doubt that, having seenhow people responded to the idea
across all parts of the story.
You know, the whole spectrum.
I had no doubt that the projectwould be successful.
(22:50):
And that success looks liketrainees and it looks like jobs
and it looks like building andbuilding and building that
ripple outward effect of awonderful community as well.
And it looks like making changesto perceptions, you know, across
the board.
So I had no doubt about that atall.
The timeline, I didn't know.
Andrea (23:12):
Yeah, I agree.
I think it was clear from thebeginning to all us that the
model was a winner.
it was perfect timing for theNDIS.
There was, it just was analignment of planets in a way.
And it was clear that it wasgoing to be successful.
I think, I mean, and let's notforget this is before COVID.
So, We, and as I said, we allhad day jobs.
(23:34):
We all had other stuff to do.
And we were doing this at nightand in our spare time.
So we just put our head down.
And as you know, once we'repassionate about something, we
just don't give up.
Saraya (23:46):
That's true.
Andrea (23:47):
But at the time there wasn't a timeline.
It was just, okay, we knew whatthe steps had needed to be.
One step, another step, anotherstep.
We knew that the money wascritical.
We knew that the registrationwas critical.
We knew that the ACNC wascritical.
We knew that.
We wanted to be an NDISregistered provider, uh, pretty
(24:07):
much at that time already, weknew that we needed a property
and we knew that we needed a, abit of money to start.
We knew the ingredients of therecipe, we just didn't know how
to put them together in a way,even though we had the, the
recipe sheet from Italy in away, that sort of made a
difference because we could thenknock on doors and say, look,
this is the evidence.
(24:31):
Add to that the Australiancontext, it's going to work even
better, and I think we've proventhat, that we've just delivered,
but, it, it hasn't come withouta lot of work, a lot of ache, a
lot of mistakes, a lot ofhurdles,
Tracylee Arestides (24:46):
of learning to learn from the mistakes.
But can I I think I was verylucky that that team of three
that we were working with,Andrea, Alex, and me, that
Andrea and Alex, apart frombeing, having their Italian
heritage common, are bothmarathon runners.
Yeah.
(25:07):
So they there for the long haul,
Andrea (25:11):
Yeah, that's some, that's definitely something else
that brings us, brought ustogether.
So, um, yeah.
And that, that helped.
Tracylee Arestides (25:17):
and that long term vision and goal was
important during the time whenthere was no money, and as you
said, there was a lot of workinglate at night.
Um, were also very lucky that,some of the people who've been
attracted to the project, I, hadmet a man named John Ackary.
through the, Sydney LeadershipProgram.
(25:39):
And,
Andrea (25:39):
Yes,
Tracylee Arestides (25:40):
John was, um, General Manager for Song
Hotels, which are not a socialenterprise, but I think a
business for profit.
Oh,
Andrea (25:49):
Yeah.
It's an, well it is anothersocial enterprise.
It's part of YWCA, um.
Tracylee Arestides (25:54):
profit for purpose.
Andrea (25:56):
Yeah.
that's right.
That's right.
So yeah, it's a socialenterprise that is a profitable
social enterprise.
Does a great job.
They make money for YWCA andwe'll let John talk when he
comes.
But
Tracylee Arestides (26:07):
We were very lucky John, had a long, um, work
history in, uh, Ridgid's HotelGroup, which I had also worked
for years ago.
So, um,
Andrea (26:16):
He was the missing of the puzzle
Tracylee Arestides (26:19):
Yeah.
Andrea (26:21):
so Jon, Jon joined us, I think in, on the 11th of
October, which is tomorrow.
Yes.
As recording this 11th, I wassort of looking at some
compliance lists stuffyesterday, you know, in my day
job.
yes, he joined us.
Basically six months afterregistration and, uh, and has
(26:41):
been part of the board eversince.
And then the board has now grownto, a larger number, it's about
eight of us.
And we are a very, very strongskills based board, which.
Which, you know, has expertisein HR, in marketing, compliance
and governance, financial,management, investment, property
(27:04):
investment.
It's, it's, it's a great board,
Tracylee Arestides (27:07):
Yeah, from the outside might seem like a
bit of overkill for a 15bedroom, hotel in Victoria.
But, um, this is not where we'regoing to stop, is it, Andrea?
Andrea (27:18):
That's right.
So the vision is very big.
We talked a little bit about thevision, actually, we haven't
talked about it, we did it inthe mock up.
We didn't actually do it.
Saraya (27:26):
We did it in the mock up.
In the outtake.
Andrea (27:28):
You can tell us what the vision is, Tracey, you tell us
what the vision is for the hotel
Tracylee Arestides (27:32):
Well, the vision is, amongst other things,
to have a Hotel Etico in everystate and territory.
Saraya (27:40):
And Territory.
Tracylee Arestides (27:41):
In Australia, and by doing that to
change the employment prospectsfor people with disability, but
also to normalise the employmentof people with disability.
so everybody walking into ahotel and seeing someone on the
front desk, it's not going to beunusual or special or nice, it's
(28:05):
just going to be someone doingtheir job.
Andrea (28:08):
So we've made some reference in our previous
episode, uh, without necessarilyreferring to it as a theory of
change, but to our theory ofchange, which is not just
limited to working with theindividuals with disability and
their families, but with all theguests and changing their
perspectives and with all theemployers and at a systemic
level as well, because as Isaid, we had the initial
(28:30):
evidence from Italy, we can nowclaim that we have evidence of
this working in Australia withinthe within the Australian
context, and we're now ready toexpand.
We are practically activelylooking for a second hotel and
more around the country.
We're looking on the east coastof Australia, anywhere between
(28:51):
Brisbane and Melbourne andanything where in between.
we're looking for a largerhotel, not just a 15 room hotel.
We're looking for somethingbetween 40 and 80 rooms.
And that's on the back ofunderstanding better the
viability of, of a larger scaleof hotel compared to a small
boutique hotel.
But as you've often referred toit.
(29:13):
With me, like this is a littlebit of the mothership in a way,
or the initial, initial root ofthe tree that we're growing.
and in fact, talking about thetree, there's an important
reference to the logo of theItalian Hotel Etico, because the
logo of the Italian Etico is apersimmon tree.
Which is a symbol of, resilienceand perseverance and ability to
(29:38):
survive on tough climate and,and making this beautiful,
bright, sweet fruits that arethe persimmons that, uh, On the
outside, they look beautiful.
Then you go and have a look atthem.
What is this thing?
You don't know how to eat them.
And then you, you eat them andthey're the sweetest earth.
(29:59):
And on the tree, uh, that is,represented in the logo, there
are 21
Tracylee Arestides (30:05):
Which is a reference back to Down syndrome
and trisomy 21.
Andrea (30:11):
because chromosome 21 is the one that is responsible for
Down syndrome.
And then there is an arrow atthe bottom on the root and the
arrow that points down referenceto the download method, which is
the methodology that ChefAntonio developed in Italy to
download the knowledge from thehospitality skills into the
trainees that then sort of Bringit away and, and, and, uh, and
(30:35):
develop their own independence.
So, yeah, that's a little bit ofa history behind the logo tree.
Yeah.
Uh, we'll leave the history ofour, our logo became, um, for
another
Saraya (30:48):
Cool.
Um, Tracy, were you surprisedwhen we emailed you to come on
the podcast?
Tracylee Arestides (30:53):
Yes, knowing how much I love public speaking.
Saraya (31:00):
You're great at public speaking.
very good at public speaking.
Andrea (31:03):
You're very natural.
Saraya (31:04):
Very natural, yeah.
This isn't public speaking, it'sjust a conversation.
Andrea (31:09):
And so Tracy, then, um, going back to Saraya's question
about me, I initially, Uh, was avolunteer on the board work as I
said at night and then workincreased and increased and
increased.
In the meantime, I also movedjobs in my day jobs and, um, and
then COVID hits and then we wentin lockdown and then we lost
(31:31):
pieces along the way and thenSaraya came along and we, you
and I, Was sort of the, theforces behind sort of employing
Saraya and I was saying in thelast episode that we pretty much
fell in love with Saraya fromthe word go,
Tracylee Arestides (31:45):
Yeah, we, um, we knew you were it.
Andrea (31:50):
She had the X factor
Tracylee Arestides (31:51):
the same vision and passion and just,
that you just got it.
You just got it straight
Andrea (31:56):
Yes.
Yes.
Saraya (31:58):
That's really good to hear because you two have the
biggest poker faces I've everseen in my life.
Andrea (32:02):
She was really scared by the interview.
Saraya (32:04):
So, you guys don't give away
Tracylee Arestides (32:05):
Oh, make them sweat.
Saraya (32:06):
You did.
You fully did.
Andrea (32:09):
Well, I told Soraya and the rest of the public that, you
know, it was a very importantrole and we knew that we
couldn't stuff it up.
Uh, we had to get it right thefirst two of them.
it was very important.
And so she started in November,2021.
And I was still a volunteer andthen work increased.
and then throughout 2022, Iapproached the board and said,
(32:33):
look, I think the time has comefor, uh, for us
Tracylee Arestides (32:36):
Oh, look, it very obvious to the board that,
we needed, that the hotel neededa full time, a very specific
full time role.
And it was also very obviousthat, that was you.
So,
Andrea (32:50):
And it was fantastic and it was a
Tracylee Arestides (32:51):
was just the nuts and bolts of how we, how we
managed
Andrea (32:56):
Yes, yeah, and the board was very mature about it and,
and, and in the end, come the 12months from that, so November
2022, that's when I startedofficially as a CEO and,
Saraya (33:09):
It was a lot of fun.
When Andrea wasn't here, I had afull year, a full year.
Andrea (33:15):
yeah, no, and it's been a great ride.
So that's, uh, really thank you,Tracy and the rest of the board
for the trust.
and, uh, and again, the workhasn't become any easier, but
it's, uh, it's now at least canbe focused and, and, and, we
Tracylee Arestides (33:28):
and you're not working two full time jobs,
which was effectively.
Andrea (33:32):
no, at least it's just one full time job.
That's right.
So, yeah, that's, uh, that'sreally, really good.
Anything else about Tracy thatwe needed to, do we want to talk
about a little bit aboutdisability?
Saraya (33:43):
Employment.
Yeah.
I think it, like we don't havelong, the timer, I can see the
timer is counting down.
We do have a timer.
but I think just for context,because we are going to go our
next episode into, industry andemployment of people with a
disability and breaking downbarriers.
But just for a little bit ofcontext, do you want to talk a
(34:04):
little bit about the disabilityemployment in Australia at the
moment
Tracylee Arestides (34:07):
Yeah, sure.
This not a happy story.
Disability, people withdisability in Australia are far
more likely to be eitherunemployed or underemployed than
the general population by asignificant amount and,
Andrea (34:27):
Double
Tracylee Arestides (34:27):
double the rate.
Yeah, and of that, people withintellectual disability are even
more disadvantaged than, otherpeople with disability in terms
of employment.
And unfortunately that hasn'tshifted.
For over 30 years, despite a lotof energy and thought going into
(34:48):
why this is so, there has been abit of better uptake, slight
increase the last couple ofyears, not quite sure why.
I think people are still lookingat why.
but what it's meant is it's muchmore than just a job and an
income.
it's, by Excluding a wholesector of society from the
(35:11):
workforce, you're also excludingthem from a lot of social
interaction, from a lot ofconnection, from building that
social capital in theircommunities, from even being an
active part of their family, andyou're diminishing their life
and their quality of life.
by making a blanket decisionbefore they've even arrived that
(35:32):
they're not, able to beemployed, which is the
traditional argument that peoplewith intellectual disability
aren't able to do things.
Andrea (35:42):
hence the realisation, the common realisation that the
ethical recipe was going to be
Tracylee Arestides (35:48):
yeah, that's why was such a, such an opener.
with right training, yes, they,people with intellectual
disability could learn.
Even people with, what you wouldcall quite, I don't like to use
the word severe, but peoplewhose, intellectual disability
really hampered theirfunctioning.
(36:08):
Well, I'm, I'm thinking back tothe film, Chef Antonio's Recipes
for Revolution, and one of the,participants, or one of the
employees at the hotel in Asty,
Andrea (36:19):
Yeah, Nicola.
Tracylee Arestides (36:20):
yeah.
Um, who was very limited in hisFunctionality.
But during the training, learnedhow to use kitchen knives and
make pasta and yeah, it was, it
Saraya (36:37):
One of the biggest misconceptions, about, about
employing somebody with adisability that they can't use a
knife or they can't be put inthe thick of it.
Like, yeah.
Andrea (36:47):
Antonio says that the first thing that he does is put
a knife the hands of the traineegetting to chop parsley
Tracylee Arestides (36:53):
I I can can hear all parents gasp when they
saw that in the film.
But then, look, I'll tell youwhat my favourite one is is when
people walk into the bar at thehotel and they see someone with
Down syndrome.
I mean, I say Down Syndromebecause it's a very, People wear
it on their face, very obviousof disability.
They see the barman and haveDown Syndrome they say, Oh, are
(37:14):
they allowed to do that?
And you can say, Well, actually,they're over 18 and they have
their RSA.
So yes, they are to do that.
Andrea (37:24):
it pretty much immediately when they start here
and they can't wait.
And they send us messagessaying, when am I getting my
card?
What am I getting my card?
So, yeah, that's it.
Saraya (37:33):
I think it's a, another misconception that people, with
a disability can't drink.
So I, I can't drink, of coursethey can, again, they're ovr 18,
but then when they see.
Like, so people with adisability can't drink, they
can't have fun.
They can't have a good time, um,which means, you know, they
can't be around alcohol.
They can't work behind a bar.
(37:53):
They don't know how to make acocktail.
Um,
Andrea (37:55):
yeah, they remember, I remember people telling us, but
you talk to them normally.
Saraya (37:59):
I had that conversation so many times.
Somebody said that to me once.
I was like, what?
Yeah.
Andrea (38:05):
But at the same time you need to acknowledge that it's
all about exposure
Tracylee Arestides (38:09):
and there's that other thing that you hear
often in the disability sectoris you can't be it if you can't
see it.
And that's the same peoplewithout disability.
If you never see somebody with adisability doing something, how
are you ever going to knowthey're going do while there's
been a lot of individuals withdisability who have done
exceptional things asindividuals, there is a sort of,
(38:31):
got to be aware of that tyranny,that narrative of the
exceptional individual.
just as much as you have to beaware of the tyranny of low
expectations, that someone witha disability can only be folding
towels out the back.
Andrea (38:45):
In fact, I mean, as bad as the word normal is, we are
all about normalizing situation,the situation,
Tracylee Arestides (38:54):
And that means normal expectations too.
So not everyone with disabilitygoing to be, you know, shaking
cocktails like Tom Cruise.
but they might be doing the besthospital corners you've seen on
the hotel bed, or they'rereally, really good at greeting
people.
Andrea (39:11):
And what about pay?
What is your view about pay,
Tracylee Arestides (39:15):
okay.
I think that you should get paidfor the work you do.
And I don't think that you, weshould treat people with
disability any differently toanybody else.
Andrea (39:27):
but how do you deal with the concept of productivity or
lack of productivity?
Tracylee Arestides (39:34):
Okay, well that's, I think that's a really
interesting question because howdo you deal with productivity or
lack of productivity withemployees that don't have a
disability?
I mean, have all worked withslackers, we all know and we've
all worked with people who goabove and beyond.
But none of us are sitting therewithout checking off whether
(39:56):
they're, yeah, measuring them upon a scale of one to ten and
working out what the percentageis.
So, that I think is a reallyflawed approach to, productivity
and people with disability.
I think a far better approach isthe approach of reasonable
adjustment.
So what you do in a workplace toensure that this employee is as
(40:18):
productive as they can be?
I think you should do that forall your employees actually and
that might be Okay, they canonly work a three hour shift
before they get tired and theystart to slow down.
So great, you do a three
Andrea (40:34):
we we spoke about last time about the fact that, you
know, our trainees get paid fromday one full award wages, and
that's an important element ofour model.
And, I'm completely with you,like in, in a number of recent
presentations that I've.
Made on panels and speeches thatwith a hospitality industry,
(40:54):
I've tried to sort of pitch tothem that they need to reframe
the concept of value, right?
Because normally we associate ina normal business.
Productivity and value, right?
Instead, what the industry needsto do is to need to see value
from a more holisticperspective.
(41:16):
And then that the value thatthere is in employing a person
with disability goes beyond theproductivity of that individual
person.
It goes to the culture thatchanges internally in the
organization because of theinclusion, it goes to the
inclusion of guests, you know,we have, that's right.
(41:40):
And so there's, if they, and Ican see a lot of nods in the
room when I say it.
And so.
There's that reframing, that reshifting of the conversation
around value.
I think things will startchanging because it's not just
about the widgets and how manythings you produce in amount of
(42:01):
time.
Uh, but it's about what, whatthe person brings to the
business.
So yes, we made a decision veryearly on in the piece to pay
people full award wages, andwe've never looked back,
Tracylee Arestides (42:14):
Yeah, I think something we can be very
proud of in terms of systemicchange and modelling systemic
change.
Andrea (42:22):
Very, very proud.
Saraya (42:24):
Yeah, I think that that that's a great example.
And I think when we go and workwith employers, they are
industry partners pay full awardwages.
Andrea (42:32):
Yes, we don't partner with anyone that doesn't pay
full award wages.
So that's, that's true.
Tracylee Arestides (42:37):
And on another level, that actually
speaks to full inclusion ofpeople with disability as well.
Yeah, yeah.
Andrea (42:44):
someone that works on full award wages pays tax and
gives back to the community andthe taxpayer as a taxpayer like
anybody else.
So there's no question aroundthat.
So, yeah, absolutely.
Saraya (42:59):
Before we wrap it up, I have one more question for you
both.
Um, anything you guys would dodifferently in the journey that
we've had so far?
Andrea (43:09):
I'm sure there's plenty.
Tracylee Arestides (43:11):
look, I'm sure there's plenty too, but
part of the joy of not doingthings differently is that we
have learnt rapidly and we haverapidly been able to adjust this
model, not just for theAustralian context, And for all
the Italians out there, thatdoes not mean just adding
pineapple pieces.
But we've actually been able toadjust it for our participants,
(43:36):
our trainees, and theirfamilies.
And also in talking to industry.
So we've been able to, um, yeah,whatever mistakes we've made,
have all fed into, you know, theEtico machine to make it better.
And more fit purpose.
And I think that's the mostimportant thing.
Andrea (43:57):
A couple of our founding values, pillars within the
organization are learning fromour mistakes and owning them and
striving for continuousimprovement.
And so that's, that'sfundamental for us.
And so that's how we roll that.
So.
Yeah, probably wouldn't changeanything.
We would have done probably lotsof things differently, but we
(44:19):
wouldn't have learned as much as
Saraya (44:21):
a question just directed you.
Um, would you have hired mewithout a cover letter?
I
Tracylee Arestides (44:29):
I think we did hire you without a cover
letter.
Saraya (44:32):
I was made to submit.
Andrea (44:33):
And we pointed out the last time she wrote a cover
letter without the help ofChatGPT, because it didn't exist
at
Tracylee Arestides (44:40):
yeah, it did not.
Andrea (44:41):
um, I think she passed the test.
Saraya (44:44):
I'm
Andrea (44:44):
going to take that as a yes, you would hired me
Tracylee Arestides (44:46):
most definitely.
It's about the vibe.
Saraya (44:53):
It is actually, I think you do get a gut feeling for
people, especially in thisspace, in this industry, you get
a feeling for people's passions.
You get to really know
Tracylee Arestides (45:01):
It's also about the willingness.
I look back at some of the otherhires we've made.
I think also it's about thewillingness to grow.
Because we're not a, Etico not aproject that stands still, it's
not a service provider that is
Andrea (45:15):
You go backward.
Tracylee Arestides (45:16):
this, is about, um, it is about growth.
Andrea (45:20):
Yep.
Absolutely.
And those that are not herenecessarily anymore, it's
probably because of that, uh, ofthat
Tracylee Arestides (45:28):
Or that they hit ceiling or whatever, but
it's, you know.
Andrea (45:32):
yeah.
Tracylee Arestides (45:34):
And I'm very much forward to our next, our
next location, next community,the next lot people that will be
here.
And
Andrea (45:43):
exciting, very scary, but, um, it will happen sooner
rather than later.
Okay.
Let's wrap it up.
Saraya (45:49):
Wrap it up.
Do you have any last finalwords?
Anybody?
Tracy.
Tracylee Arestides (45:53):
reach my word count the day.
Saraya (45:56):
Well, we appreciate you being our first guest and,
Tracylee Arestides (45:58):
you very much for
Saraya (46:00):
love, we're a little bit surprised, but you knew that we
would.
Yeah.
Come up with a podcasteventually, sure of it.
Andrea (46:06):
Yes.
It's been a great pleasure.
Tracy, I love working with you.
I love having conversations,starting conversations with you
that end up completely differentplace from where they were meant
to start
Tracylee Arestides (46:15):
Thank you, Andrea.
And this the, it's got
Andrea (46:19):
ways.
And, um.
Tracylee Arestides (46:21):
and the ideas of it all that keep the
adventure alive for sure.
Saraya (46:25):
We're also very excited for your next personal journey
of being an empty nester staff,Frannie leaving the home and
getting married.
So we'll be following along onthat one.
Andrea (46:35):
All the best for the wedding, um, and looking forward
to working with you for many,many more years to come.
many.
So with this, thank you, Tracy.
Saraya (46:45):
Thank Tracy
Andrea (46:45):
Thank you Saraya and, let's make room for all and keep
fighting for
hotel-etico_4_10-10- (46:49):
inclusion.
Thank you.
Tracylee Arestides (46:51):
Love
And
Saraya (01:29):
yeah, you're good.
Andrea (01:30):
And we're rolling.
Okay.
Welcome to the very firstepisode, official number one of
Room For All.
Saraya (01:41):
First episode with a number.
Andrea (01:42):
That's right.
I'm here with my co host SarayaO'Connell.
Saraya (01:46):
Hi.
Andrea (01:47):
How are you Saraya?
And we have our very firstofficial guest, uh, in person.
Virtually.
Saraya (01:56):
Virtually.
Andrea (01:56):
Um, uh, very on Tracey Lee Arestides.
How are you Tracey Lee?
Tracylee Arestides (02:00):
Very well, Andrea.
Lovely to see you and Sarayaboth.
Andrea (02:05):
Uh, we're very excited cause, um, we started this
journey, um, not long ago and,uh, we've decided to take it
head on and, um, and see whereit takes us.
Saraya (02:19):
It's been a journey already.
Andrea (02:20):
That's right.
Um, so
Saraya (02:23):
As everything we do tends to be,
Andrea (02:26):
so yes, we, um,
Saraya (02:28):
We wanted you to be our first guest, um, because we
think it's important to, we'vespoken about Hotel Etico in
episode zero, but we think it'simportant to come from your
perspective and what you do.
And we're probably going toleave it to you to introduce
yourself a little bit.
Andrea (02:45):
And we're just going to let it
Saraya (02:47):
unravel,
Andrea (02:48):
unpack.
Um, so, um, tell us a little bitabout who is Tracy Lee
Arestides?
Tracylee Arestides (02:56):
Okay.
Um, gosh, who is TracyleeArestides?
Saraya (03:02):
It's a tough question
Tracylee Arestides (03:03):
know.
Thanks for starting with theeasy ones.
Guys.
Saraya (03:06):
Yeah.
No
Tracylee Arestides (03:12):
Primarily the mother of Francesca, my
eldest daughter.
Only because when Frannie wasborn 32 years ago, she was our
first baby and unbeknownst tous, she had the Trisomy 21 Down
Syndrome.
And quite complex medicalconditions as well.
I'd never met anyone with Downsyndrome when Franny was born.
(03:33):
And, yeah, we had no None.
None whatsoever.
And any inklings we had were notvery positive at all.
I'd come from a corporatebackground.
I'd worked in marketing and PRin fashion and beauty and film.
And then, Moved over to doing PRin, or, you know, comms
(03:54):
generally, in the not for profitsector, about three years before
Frannie was born.
and nothing had prepared eitherFrannie's father or myself for,
yeah, born.
Because she was our first baby,it was really good because we
Saraya (04:13):
longer
Tracylee Arestides (04:14):
in a way it was good that Franny our first
baby because we had noexpectations for what babies
should do anyway.
So that, Franny being born sortof flicked us into the parallel
universe of disability.
Moral, specifically intellectualdisability.
Um, and also flicked us into afairly amazing community of
(04:35):
people as well.
Uh, which has been wonderful.
Andrea (04:41):
How old is Fanny?
Tracylee Arestides (04:42):
She's 32 now.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And she's, just about to moveout of home.
Which she was actually, we wereplanning for her to move out of
home, three COVID happened.
So that didn't happen.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
she's got two younger sisterswho are both out of home.
So Franny's just, uh, preparingto leave out of, move out of
(05:06):
home.
And she's also preparing to getmarried later this year.
Andrea (05:10):
That's unbelievable.
Tracylee Arestides (05:12):
sure is.
Saraya (05:14):
I'm excited for that wedding.
Tracylee Arestides (05:15):
It's going to be good fun,
Saraya (05:18):
It's going to be a big event.
Andrea (05:19):
And tell us, um, tell us a little bit how you came to
find out about Hotel Etico andwhat brought you into the
picture.
Tracylee Arestides (05:29):
I said I've been working in the not for
profit sector.
Not specifically disability.
because I didn't necessarilywant to live disability and work
disability.
And then I sort of fell into ajob in disability in the
tertiary education sector.
And, from there I moved on to acouple of different jobs and
(05:53):
ended up, as the executivedirector of Down Syndrome New
South Wales.
And while I was there, I had a,a couple of years into the job,
I had a phone call.
You often get, you know, randomphone calls from people, but I
had a phone call from a guysaying.
An Italian guy saying he washere with his family having a
(06:13):
holiday and in Italy he runs ahotel which is staffed by people
with Down Syndrome and had beenset up to train and people with
Down syndrome to work in thehospitality industry and would I
be interested in having a cup ofcoffee and of course I was so
and that Alex Toselli who washere with his family and Alex
(06:38):
and I met and he showed me allthe stuff about Hotel Etico in,
Italy.
And he took me through how theydo things, which just blew me
away.
'cause there was nothing inAustralia like that.
Nothing as holistic and personcentered.
And this was, hmm, 2015.
So it was, just as the NDIS,the, we hadn't had the full
(07:01):
rollout of the NDIS yet.
We were still only, rolled outin a couple of areas, the Hunter
being one, um, and I think oneother in Melbourne and South
Australia perhaps.
So, it was certainly before thefull impact of the NDIS and, um,
just the vision of it wasfabulous.
So in 2016 I went to Italy,somebody's got to do it and,
Saraya (07:24):
Hard life too, I haven't.
Tracylee Arestides (07:28):
I usually wish definitely, anyway I went
up to Asti and spent some timewith the hotel who very
graciously hosted me there for acouple of days and also the
Hospitality College in the townthat they had partnered with and
the restaurant that was part ofHotel Asti as well.
Andrea (07:46):
and what, so what, what struck you?
What made it different fromanything that you had been aware
of until that time?
Tracylee Arestides (07:54):
Okay, so what made it different was, I
said it was very holistic innature because it started off
with people with Down Syndrome,but it also went, you know, the
hotel in Italy had grown toembrace more generally people
with intellectual disability aswell and what really impressed
(08:20):
me tremendously was not only didthey They trained people with
disability for, in hospitality,but in all aspects of
hospitality.
They rotated them through everybusiness unit of the hotel.
So they weren't just hidden awayin the laundry folding towels.
They were, you know, front andcentre
Andrea (08:38):
Front and center.
Tracylee Arestides (08:39):
Front and centre So they were front and
centre, they were answering thephones, they were at the bar,
they were doing housekeeping.
they were also employed, notjust in the hotel, but in other
hotels.
So it wasn't, Um, uh, closedloop enterprise that just
employed its own trainees.
(08:59):
there was actually, everythinghappened with the idea that
there was a place in the worldfor these people, a place in the
broader world.
And the thing that I love, aparent, than, just a worker in
the sector, was they had thiswonderful thing called the
Academy of Independence.
When, where people were trainingthere, they actually lived in
(09:20):
the academy with their peers,and it was like a big messy
group home that you live in inyour twenties, where, you know,
You complain about your flatmatenot having done the dishes, and
you, you know, flirt with thegirl in the next room.
And it was just, and you're alsoresponsible doing your own
laundry, uh, your own shopping,all of those real life skills.
(09:42):
And there was fragmented inAustralia, but nothing that
addressed, what was, yeah, whatis quite a, still a shocking
issue in Australia around theunemployment of people
intellectual disabilities.
Andrea (09:56):
And interestingly, this was all, um, painted in a
beautiful, beautiful picture byan Australian movie director,
Tracylee Arestides (10:04):
Yes, yeah, Trevor Graham, who's, quite
renowned internationally,actually, and most people would
know Trevor from, hisdocumentary, Mabo, some years
ago, really groundbreaking.
Yeah.
Andrea (10:16):
And he did the portrait of Chef Antonio instead.
Tracylee Arestides (10:19):
Antonio's Recipes for Revolution, which
is, I always, I always say it'slike a love story to Northern
Italy.
It's a beautiful film.
Andrea (10:28):
And, because Antonio is the chef that together with Alex
started entire movement in
Tracylee Arestides (10:34):
Yeah, he is.
Antonio and his brother havequite a famous restaurant in
Asti called Tacabanda.
which is famous in foodiecircles for its use of regional
produce and traditional recipes.
And
Andrea (10:48):
I've got the best wine, the best produce, truffles,
right?
Tracylee Arestides (10:53):
yes, yeah, everything.
It's
Saraya (10:55):
I'll take everything but the truffle.
Yeah, you
Tracylee Arestides (10:59):
Antonio's a big character with a big vision.
And it was Antonio.
Originally, that, was contactedby some friends of his in the
town.
Asti only a relatively smalltown.
Was contacted by some friendswho had a son with Down
Syndrome, Niccolo', who had,done really well at school, but
(11:19):
found once left school thatthere was nothing for him to do.
And so, he started Antonio hadnever met anyone with Down
syndrome either.
And so, Niccolo started in therestaurant Antonio just, you
know, discovered that, you know,surprise, surprise, he could
work just as well as anybodyelse.
He needed to, learn things in aslightly different way.
(11:43):
And by the time I was in Asti in2015, Niccolo was the head
waiter.
of quite renowned and hefeatures quite heavily in Trevor
Graham's film, Chef Antonio'sRecipes for Revolution.
And part of Chef Antonio'svision is that people with
(12:04):
disability be brought out, andhave that interface with people,
just general, ordinary people.
Yeah.
Andrea (12:14):
Yeah, it's a beautiful movie, beautiful story and yeah,
Trevor did a fantastic job.
We have it available at thehotel.
We use it a lot.
That's part of our inductionprocess for all staff.
It's what really gets peopleover the line if they still need
to in terms of buying into theproject.
(12:34):
We also make it available forpeople to, to watch in
streaming, when they come, theyget a code from us and they can
watch it.
it's a beautiful, beautifulstory that we really, highly
recommend to people.
But so, so you went to Italy,you witnessed that.
you come back to us, do you gowith Frannie or you
Tracylee Arestides (12:50):
No, I went on my own.
I've actually got cousins inItaly, so I went to stay with my
cousins.
Not that I'm Italian.
It's an accident, but I haveItalian cousins.
Andrea (12:58):
Oh, Greeks, Italians, or you're not even Greek
Tracylee Arestides (13:00):
I'm not even Greek
Andrea (13:01):
Um, you come back to Australia, uh, it's 2016, you
said, and then what happens?
Like what takes us to 2018,which is when the company
Tracylee Arestides (13:14):
yeah, what happened then was, Alex and I,
We kept in touch and we, well,we did more than keep in touch.
Alex and I decided that, what weneeded to do was, make friends
for the project, to bring theproject to Australia.
So one of the first things wewas, work with Professor Simon
Darcy at the University ofTechnology and, The University
(13:36):
Business School, they verykindly hosted a day for us,
which Alex, came out for to talkabout exactly this, about
employing people withdisability, specifically in
hospitality.
And, How it was happening inItaly and what the vision could
be for Australia.
And from there we, looked at, sothis was our strategy to make
(13:58):
friends for the project.
And of course as soon as you sayhotel in Northern Italy,
everybody says, oh yes, I couldbe friends with that.
but also to do a bit of a deeperdive into, What was happening
with people with disintellectual disability,
particularly in Australia and inemployment.
And, at the same time alongthat, working towards, possible
(14:21):
working towards incorporationas, a legal entity and a
charitable entity.
And then course, finding otherpeople we could work with on the
board.
And we were ready to jump onthat journey with us looking at
you, Andrea.
Andrea (14:34):
Someone that you had a little bit of, they had a bit of
a little bit of experience in
Tracylee Arestides (14:38):
yeah, exactly.
And who was also experienced inthat, yeah, as, as you are in
that, not for profitphilanthropic space.
Saraya (14:47):
Tracy, in the last, um, episode, uh, Andrea called me
out for the way I came to HotelEtico as in forgetting my cover
letter.
so he, he, you know, just putmy, Put it out there for
everybody to listen.
Anything he didn't do well thatI could possibly use?
Tracylee Arestides (15:06):
no, sorry.
Saraya (15:10):
Oh, come on.
There's got to be somethinglike, he didn't tie his shoes.
He tripped over when you methim, he spilled coffee on
himself.
Andrea (15:17):
So when we when we met, I was working, I was working for
a foundation, the PAYCEfoundation, I was running.
I was running the foundation forproperty developer and I think
the approach came through commonfriends and that we had,
Tracylee Arestides (15:31):
Someone who was working with SEFA, yeah.
Andrea (15:35):
And, and somehow, I mean, possibly in the back of
your mind, you were hoping tofind someone with some money to
put on the table to, to, to setsomething up, I suppose, and I
still remember the meeting thatwe had.
So as soon as you opened upabout what the project was
about, I said,
Tracylee Arestides (15:52):
Yes.
Andrea (15:53):
You know, I can tell you now that most likely we wouldn't
be able to support youfinancially because that's not
the space in which the PAYCEFoundation operates, but I love
this model.
I want to be involved.
I want to be your man on theground.
and let's make it happen.
So if we don't get money, atleast you get I think that's,
Saraya (16:16):
that a trade off?
Tracylee Arestides (16:17):
A good deal.
Saraya (16:19):
Pretty good, deal.
Andrea (16:19):
Yeah.
So, yeah, just.
Dive right into it.
And, yeah, I had goodconnections at the time because
I was working with, to set upour own structure at the
foundation.
Actually, I had work with, alegal firm called ProLegis,
which was a firm that wasspecializing in not for profits
and, charity registrations andlook at the cat peeking, and,
(16:42):
uh, we got in touch withProLegis with Anne Robinson.
And Anne referred us to one ofhis, one of her lawyers who was
Luke Hall.
and I'm using these namesbecause, you know, like very
interesting sort of, uh, closingof loops and sort of somehow
reconnecting people.
Luke now works for BakerMackenzie, who is one of the,
(17:05):
corporate partners of, HotelEtico, and supports us.
And so Luke what wrote ourconstitution and helped us
register and incorporate.
and so on the 18th of March,2018, the company was
registered.
And became a charity.
Tracylee Arestides (17:22):
We should call that Etico day
Andrea (17:24):
Yes.
So there's a few, there's a fewcritical days in the history of
Hotel Etico and I've been tryingto sort of think of what is the
best day.
I think we can have a number ofEtico days in a way, but
definitely the, uh, the formalregistration of the is the 18th
of May 2018, which was, uh, uh,at that time we didn't have any
(17:45):
money.
We had three friends
Tracylee Arestides (17:48):
The um, the key to being able to access any
money was being incorporated andregistered with the acnc.
So once.
Once that had happened, we knew,we knew that people loved the
idea.
We knew people in the disabilityspace, could see the possibility
(18:09):
and the passion behind the idea.
parents of young people withdisability was, you know, some
of our biggest supporters.
Initially, because, when you'rethe parent of a child with a
disability, when they leaveschool, it's like entering some
sort of labyrinth that you haveno idea whether you're going to
(18:29):
turn the corner hit a brick wallor find a golden pathway.
So, I think, it really capturedthe imagin the combination of
elements that make up Eticoreally captured the imagination
Andrea (18:39):
Yes.
And at the time we all had dayjobs.
Alex was in Italy, you wereworking, I was working.
We had sort
Tracylee Arestides (18:47):
a lot of late night coffees.
Andrea (18:49):
That's right.
And so we had no money, uh, afew friends, a few connections,
a great idea.
And so we started, it was all sovery random.
Like I, I remember meeting ayoung lady, her name was Linda,
is Linda, she was working at UTSat the time, looking, she had
(19:10):
been referred to me by ProfessorBronwyn Dalton, heads business
school and she was referred tome because I had done some work
with Bronwyn and um, she waslooking for a mentor.
And so she reached out to me, wehave a coffee downstairs at
Avenue at Chifley Tower.
Saraya (19:29):
I'm seeing a pattern, it's all coffee,
Tracylee Arestides (19:31):
There's a lot of coffee in this story.
Andrea (19:34):
And, you know, I remember the day we sit down.
And she showed me her CV and shetalks to me and she says, well,
I'm Italian.
I have worked in disability.
I have managed a hotel in ByronBay and I'm an accountant.
(19:56):
Okay.
I said, Look, Linda, I can helpyou, but you need to help me
because I've got something foryou.
And so then I think I spoke withyou, spoke with Alex and I said,
guys, I think we've got someonehere that could possibly help
us.
We need to find a formula tomake it work for us.
(20:18):
And we asked Linda to do it andLinda was very resourceful.
And in fact, I think we shouldhave her as a guest one day.
She lives in Spain now inBarcelona.
Saraya (20:25):
Can we go to Spain and do the podcast?
Andrea (20:27):
We could do that.
Uh, got other friends there aswell, which is great.
Um, so yeah, so we, Linda, um,and so we're sort of digressing,
but Linda one day, one nightgoes to a TFN event, the funding
network, because she was thebest networker and at the TFN,
(20:48):
she was doing the mingling andnetworking that you do before
the event.
And she starts talking inItalian with a lady, an
interesting lady that was thereas a, as a participant, as a
donor.
And this, lady ends up to beMrs.
Salteri and Mrs.
Salteri was there with herhusband and they were
(21:10):
participating in the TFN anddonating fundraising and, and
she falls in love with theproject.
And from then, we have a meetingwith.
With Paul Salteri and we discussand we talk about it and, and he
decides that I don't know if theItalian background helped, maybe
it helped a little bit.
I think I think it helped alittle bit.
(21:31):
decides to put a little bit ofmoney on the table to help us.
You know, he made us sweat forit, I think.
Which is the best way.
And, uh, and that allowed us toemploy Linda and Linda took us
sort of a few steps further andthrough her, we pretty much
found the property and, um,yeah, the rest is history.
(21:51):
So Linda was a critical,critical, um, initial person
that did a huge amount of work,um, virtually for free.
And it was all thanks to coffee.
Saraya (22:02):
Coffee, coffee, coffee.
So for it, the two of youquestion.
Did you think, fast forward to2024, did you think we would be
where we're at now with 15trainees with, um, 70 percent
currently in employment whilewe're working on the others?
(22:24):
Did you think that we would bethere in 2024?
You go first.
Tracylee Arestides (22:30):
I had no doubt.
I didn't know, I couldn't haveput a pin in the timeline, but I
had no doubt that, having seenhow people responded to the idea
across all parts of the story.
You know, the whole spectrum.
I had no doubt that the projectwould be successful.
(22:50):
And that success looks liketrainees and it looks like jobs
and it looks like building andbuilding and building that
ripple outward effect of awonderful community as well.
And it looks like making changesto perceptions, you know, across
the board.
So I had no doubt about that atall.
The timeline, I didn't know.
Andrea (23:12):
Yeah, I agree.
I think it was clear from thebeginning to all us that the
model was a winner.
it was perfect timing for theNDIS.
There was, it just was analignment of planets in a way.
And it was clear that it wasgoing to be successful.
I think, I mean, and let's notforget this is before COVID.
So, We, and as I said, we allhad day jobs.
(23:34):
We all had other stuff to do.
And we were doing this at nightand in our spare time.
So we just put our head down.
And as you know, once we'repassionate about something, we
just don't give up.
Saraya (23:46):
That's true.
Andrea (23:47):
But at the time there wasn't a timeline.
It was just, okay, we knew whatthe steps had needed to be.
One step, another step, anotherstep.
We knew that the money wascritical.
We knew that the registrationwas critical.
We knew that the ACNC wascritical.
We knew that.
We wanted to be an NDISregistered provider, uh, pretty
(24:07):
much at that time already, weknew that we needed a property
and we knew that we needed a, abit of money to start.
We knew the ingredients of therecipe, we just didn't know how
to put them together in a way,even though we had the, the
recipe sheet from Italy in away, that sort of made a
difference because we could thenknock on doors and say, look,
this is the evidence.
(24:31):
Add to that the Australiancontext, it's going to work even
better, and I think we've proventhat, that we've just delivered,
but, it, it hasn't come withouta lot of work, a lot of ache, a
lot of mistakes, a lot ofhurdles,
Tracylee Arestides (24:46):
of learning to learn from the mistakes.
But can I I think I was verylucky that that team of three
that we were working with,Andrea, Alex, and me, that
Andrea and Alex, apart frombeing, having their Italian
heritage common, are bothmarathon runners.
Yeah.
(25:07):
So they there for the long haul,
Andrea (25:11):
Yeah, that's some, that's definitely something else
that brings us, brought ustogether.
So, um, yeah.
And that, that helped.
Tracylee Arestides (25:17):
and that long term vision and goal was
important during the time whenthere was no money, and as you
said, there was a lot of workinglate at night.
Um, were also very lucky that,some of the people who've been
attracted to the project, I, hadmet a man named John Ackary.
through the, Sydney LeadershipProgram.
(25:39):
And,
Andrea (25:39):
Yes,
Tracylee Arestides (25:40):
John was, um, General Manager for Song
Hotels, which are not a socialenterprise, but I think a
business for profit.
Oh,
Andrea (25:49):
Yeah.
It's an, well it is anothersocial enterprise.
It's part of YWCA, um.
Tracylee Arestides (25:54):
profit for purpose.
Andrea (25:56):
Yeah.
that's right.
That's right.
So yeah, it's a socialenterprise that is a profitable
social enterprise.
Does a great job.
They make money for YWCA andwe'll let John talk when he
comes.
But
Tracylee Arestides (26:07):
We were very lucky John, had a long, um, work
history in, uh, Ridgid's HotelGroup, which I had also worked
for years ago.
So, um,
Andrea (26:16):
He was the missing of the puzzle
Tracylee Arestides (26:19):
Yeah.
Andrea (26:21):
so Jon, Jon joined us, I think in, on the 11th of
October, which is tomorrow.
Yes.
As recording this 11th, I wassort of looking at some
compliance lists stuffyesterday, you know, in my day
job.
yes, he joined us.
Basically six months afterregistration and, uh, and has
(26:41):
been part of the board eversince.
And then the board has now grownto, a larger number, it's about
eight of us.
And we are a very, very strongskills based board, which.
Which, you know, has expertisein HR, in marketing, compliance
and governance, financial,management, investment, property
(27:04):
investment.
It's, it's, it's a great board,
Tracylee Arestides (27:07):
Yeah, from the outside might seem like a
bit of overkill for a 15bedroom, hotel in Victoria.
But, um, this is not where we'regoing to stop, is it, Andrea?
Andrea (27:18):
That's right.
So the vision is very big.
We talked a little bit about thevision, actually, we haven't
talked about it, we did it inthe mock up.
We didn't actually do it.
Saraya (27:26):
We did it in the mock up.
In the outtake.
Andrea (27:28):
You can tell us what the vision is, Tracey, you tell us
what the vision is for the hotel
Tracylee Arestides (27:32):
Well, the vision is, amongst other things,
to have a Hotel Etico in everystate and territory.
Saraya (27:40):
And Territory.
Tracylee Arestides (27:41):
In Australia, and by doing that to
change the employment prospectsfor people with disability, but
also to normalise the employmentof people with disability.
so everybody walking into ahotel and seeing someone on the
front desk, it's not going to beunusual or special or nice, it's
(28:05):
just going to be someone doingtheir job.
Andrea (28:08):
So we've made some reference in our previous
episode, uh, without necessarilyreferring to it as a theory of
change, but to our theory ofchange, which is not just
limited to working with theindividuals with disability and
their families, but with all theguests and changing their
perspectives and with all theemployers and at a systemic
level as well, because as Isaid, we had the initial
(28:30):
evidence from Italy, we can nowclaim that we have evidence of
this working in Australia withinthe within the Australian
context, and we're now ready toexpand.
We are practically activelylooking for a second hotel and
more around the country.
We're looking on the east coastof Australia, anywhere between
(28:51):
Brisbane and Melbourne andanything where in between.
we're looking for a largerhotel, not just a 15 room hotel.
We're looking for somethingbetween 40 and 80 rooms.
And that's on the back ofunderstanding better the
viability of, of a larger scaleof hotel compared to a small
boutique hotel.
But as you've often referred toit.
(29:13):
With me, like this is a littlebit of the mothership in a way,
or the initial, initial root ofthe tree that we're growing.
and in fact, talking about thetree, there's an important
reference to the logo of theItalian Hotel Etico, because the
logo of the Italian Etico is apersimmon tree.
Which is a symbol of, resilienceand perseverance and ability to
(29:38):
survive on tough climate and,and making this beautiful,
bright, sweet fruits that arethe persimmons that, uh, On the
outside, they look beautiful.
Then you go and have a look atthem.
What is this thing?
You don't know how to eat them.
And then you, you eat them andthey're the sweetest earth.
(29:59):
And on the tree, uh, that is,represented in the logo, there
are 21
Tracylee Arestides (30:05):
Which is a reference back to Down syndrome
and trisomy 21.
Andrea (30:11):
because chromosome 21 is the one that is responsible for
Down syndrome.
And then there is an arrow atthe bottom on the root and the
arrow that points down referenceto the download method, which is
the methodology that ChefAntonio developed in Italy to
download the knowledge from thehospitality skills into the
trainees that then sort of Bringit away and, and, and, uh, and
(30:35):
develop their own independence.
So, yeah, that's a little bit ofa history behind the logo tree.
Yeah.
Uh, we'll leave the history ofour, our logo became, um, for
another
Saraya (30:48):
Cool.
Um, Tracy, were you surprisedwhen we emailed you to come on
the podcast?
Tracylee Arestides (30:53):
Yes, knowing how much I love public speaking.
Saraya (31:00):
You're great at public speaking.
very good at public speaking.
Andrea (31:03):
You're very natural.
Saraya (31:04):
Very natural, yeah.
This isn't public speaking, it'sjust a conversation.
Andrea (31:09):
And so Tracy, then, um, going back to Saraya's question
about me, I initially, Uh, was avolunteer on the board work as I
said at night and then workincreased and increased and
increased.
In the meantime, I also movedjobs in my day jobs and, um, and
then COVID hits and then we wentin lockdown and then we lost
(31:31):
pieces along the way and thenSaraya came along and we, you
and I, Was sort of the, theforces behind sort of employing
Saraya and I was saying in thelast episode that we pretty much
fell in love with Saraya fromthe word go,
Tracylee Arestides (31:45):
Yeah, we, um, we knew you were it.
Andrea (31:50):
She had the X factor
Tracylee Arestides (31:51):
the same vision and passion and just,
that you just got it.
You just got it straight
Andrea (31:56):
Yes.
Yes.
Saraya (31:58):
That's really good to hear because you two have the
biggest poker faces I've everseen in my life.
Andrea (32:02):
She was really scared by the interview.
Saraya (32:04):
So, you guys don't give away
Tracylee Arestides (32:05):
Oh, make them sweat.
Saraya (32:06):
You did.
You fully did.
Andrea (32:09):
Well, I told Soraya and the rest of the public that, you
know, it was a very importantrole and we knew that we
couldn't stuff it up.
Uh, we had to get it right thefirst two of them.
it was very important.
And so she started in November,2021.
And I was still a volunteer andthen work increased.
and then throughout 2022, Iapproached the board and said,
(32:33):
look, I think the time has comefor, uh, for us
Tracylee Arestides (32:36):
Oh, look, it very obvious to the board that,
we needed, that the hotel neededa full time, a very specific
full time role.
And it was also very obviousthat, that was you.
So,
Andrea (32:50):
And it was fantastic and it was a
Tracylee Arestides (32:51):
was just the nuts and bolts of how we, how we
managed
Andrea (32:56):
Yes, yeah, and the board was very mature about it and,
and, and in the end, come the 12months from that, so November
2022, that's when I startedofficially as a CEO and,
Saraya (33:09):
It was a lot of fun.
When Andrea wasn't here, I had afull year, a full year.
Andrea (33:15):
yeah, no, and it's been a great ride.
So that's, uh, really thank you,Tracy and the rest of the board
for the trust.
and, uh, and again, the workhasn't become any easier, but
it's, uh, it's now at least canbe focused and, and, and, we
Tracylee Arestides (33:28):
and you're not working two full time jobs,
which was effectively.
Andrea (33:32):
no, at least it's just one full time job.
That's right.
So, yeah, that's, uh, that'sreally, really good.
Anything else about Tracy thatwe needed to, do we want to talk
about a little bit aboutdisability?
Saraya (33:43):
Employment.
Yeah.
I think it, like we don't havelong, the timer, I can see the
timer is counting down.
We do have a timer.
but I think just for context,because we are going to go our
next episode into, industry andemployment of people with a
disability and breaking downbarriers.
But just for a little bit ofcontext, do you want to talk a
(34:04):
little bit about the disabilityemployment in Australia at the
moment
Tracylee Arestides (34:07):
Yeah, sure.
This not a happy story.
Disability, people withdisability in Australia are far
more likely to be eitherunemployed or underemployed than
the general population by asignificant amount and,
Andrea (34:27):
Double
Tracylee Arestides (34:27):
double the rate.
Yeah, and of that, people withintellectual disability are even
more disadvantaged than, otherpeople with disability in terms
of employment.
And unfortunately that hasn'tshifted.
For over 30 years, despite a lotof energy and thought going into
(34:48):
why this is so, there has been abit of better uptake, slight
increase the last couple ofyears, not quite sure why.
I think people are still lookingat why.
but what it's meant is it's muchmore than just a job and an
income.
it's, by Excluding a wholesector of society from the
(35:11):
workforce, you're also excludingthem from a lot of social
interaction, from a lot ofconnection, from building that
social capital in theircommunities, from even being an
active part of their family, andyou're diminishing their life
and their quality of life.
by making a blanket decisionbefore they've even arrived that
(35:32):
they're not, able to beemployed, which is the
traditional argument that peoplewith intellectual disability
aren't able to do things.
Andrea (35:42):
hence the realisation, the common realisation that the
ethical recipe was going to be
Tracylee Arestides (35:48):
yeah, that's why was such a, such an opener.
with right training, yes, they,people with intellectual
disability could learn.
Even people with, what you wouldcall quite, I don't like to use
the word severe, but peoplewhose, intellectual disability
really hampered theirfunctioning.
(36:08):
Well, I'm, I'm thinking back tothe film, Chef Antonio's Recipes
for Revolution, and one of the,participants, or one of the
employees at the hotel in Asty,
Andrea (36:19):
Yeah, Nicola.
Tracylee Arestides (36:20):
yeah.
Um, who was very limited in hisFunctionality.
But during the training, learnedhow to use kitchen knives and
make pasta and yeah, it was, it
Saraya (36:37):
One of the biggest misconceptions, about, about
employing somebody with adisability that they can't use a
knife or they can't be put inthe thick of it.
Like, yeah.
Andrea (36:47):
Antonio says that the first thing that he does is put
a knife the hands of the traineegetting to chop parsley
Tracylee Arestides (36:53):
I I can can hear all parents gasp when they
saw that in the film.
But then, look, I'll tell youwhat my favourite one is is when
people walk into the bar at thehotel and they see someone with
Down syndrome.
I mean, I say Down Syndromebecause it's a very, People wear
it on their face, very obviousof disability.
They see the barman and haveDown Syndrome they say, Oh, are
(37:14):
they allowed to do that?
And you can say, Well, actually,they're over 18 and they have
their RSA.
So yes, they are to do that.
Andrea (37:24):
it pretty much immediately when they start here
and they can't wait.
And they send us messagessaying, when am I getting my
card?
What am I getting my card?
So, yeah, that's it.
Saraya (37:33):
I think it's a, another misconception that people, with
a disability can't drink.
So I, I can't drink, of coursethey can, again, they're ovr 18,
but then when they see.
Like, so people with adisability can't drink, they
can't have fun.
They can't have a good time, um,which means, you know, they
can't be around alcohol.
They can't work behind a bar.
(37:53):
They don't know how to make acocktail.
Um,
Andrea (37:55):
yeah, they remember, I remember people telling us, but
you talk to them normally.
Saraya (37:59):
I had that conversation so many times.
Somebody said that to me once.
I was like, what?
Yeah.
Andrea (38:05):
But at the same time you need to acknowledge that it's
all about exposure
Tracylee Arestides (38:09):
and there's that other thing that you hear
often in the disability sectoris you can't be it if you can't
see it.
And that's the same peoplewithout disability.
If you never see somebody with adisability doing something, how
are you ever going to knowthey're going do while there's
been a lot of individuals withdisability who have done
exceptional things asindividuals, there is a sort of,
(38:31):
got to be aware of that tyranny,that narrative of the
exceptional individual.
just as much as you have to beaware of the tyranny of low
expectations, that someone witha disability can only be folding
towels out the back.
Andrea (38:45):
In fact, I mean, as bad as the word normal is, we are
all about normalizing situation,the situation,
Tracylee Arestides (38:54):
And that means normal expectations too.
So not everyone with disabilitygoing to be, you know, shaking
cocktails like Tom Cruise.
but they might be doing the besthospital corners you've seen on
the hotel bed, or they'rereally, really good at greeting
people.
Andrea (39:11):
And what about pay?
What is your view about pay,
Tracylee Arestides (39:15):
okay.
I think that you should get paidfor the work you do.
And I don't think that you, weshould treat people with
disability any differently toanybody else.
Andrea (39:27):
but how do you deal with the concept of productivity or
lack of productivity?
Tracylee Arestides (39:34):
Okay, well that's, I think that's a really
interesting question because howdo you deal with productivity or
lack of productivity withemployees that don't have a
disability?
I mean, have all worked withslackers, we all know and we've
all worked with people who goabove and beyond.
But none of us are sitting therewithout checking off whether
(39:56):
they're, yeah, measuring them upon a scale of one to ten and
working out what the percentageis.
So, that I think is a reallyflawed approach to, productivity
and people with disability.
I think a far better approach isthe approach of reasonable
adjustment.
So what you do in a workplace toensure that this employee is as
(40:18):
productive as they can be?
I think you should do that forall your employees actually and
that might be Okay, they canonly work a three hour shift
before they get tired and theystart to slow down.
So great, you do a three
Andrea (40:34):
we we spoke about last time about the fact that, you
know, our trainees get paid fromday one full award wages, and
that's an important element ofour model.
And, I'm completely with you,like in, in a number of recent
presentations that I've.
Made on panels and speeches thatwith a hospitality industry,
(40:54):
I've tried to sort of pitch tothem that they need to reframe
the concept of value, right?
Because normally we associate ina normal business.
Productivity and value, right?
Instead, what the industry needsto do is to need to see value
from a more holisticperspective.
(41:16):
And then that the value thatthere is in employing a person
with disability goes beyond theproductivity of that individual
person.
It goes to the culture thatchanges internally in the
organization because of theinclusion, it goes to the
inclusion of guests, you know,we have, that's right.
(41:40):
And so there's, if they, and Ican see a lot of nods in the
room when I say it.
And so.
There's that reframing, that reshifting of the conversation
around value.
I think things will startchanging because it's not just
about the widgets and how manythings you produce in amount of
(42:01):
time.
Uh, but it's about what, whatthe person brings to the
business.
So yes, we made a decision veryearly on in the piece to pay
people full award wages, andwe've never looked back,
Tracylee Arestides (42:14):
Yeah, I think something we can be very
proud of in terms of systemicchange and modelling systemic
change.
Andrea (42:22):
Very, very proud.
Saraya (42:24):
Yeah, I think that that that's a great example.
And I think when we go and workwith employers, they are
industry partners pay full awardwages.
Andrea (42:32):
Yes, we don't partner with anyone that doesn't pay
full award wages.
So that's, that's true.
Tracylee Arestides (42:37):
And on another level, that actually
speaks to full inclusion ofpeople with disability as well.
Yeah, yeah.
Andrea (42:44):
someone that works on full award wages pays tax and
gives back to the community andthe taxpayer as a taxpayer like
anybody else.
So there's no question aroundthat.
So, yeah, absolutely.
Saraya (42:59):
Before we wrap it up, I have one more question for you
both.
Um, anything you guys would dodifferently in the journey that
we've had so far?
Andrea (43:09):
I'm sure there's plenty.
Tracylee Arestides (43:11):
look, I'm sure there's plenty too, but
part of the joy of not doingthings differently is that we
have learnt rapidly and we haverapidly been able to adjust this
model, not just for theAustralian context, And for all
the Italians out there, thatdoes not mean just adding
pineapple pieces.
But we've actually been able toadjust it for our participants,
(43:36):
our trainees, and theirfamilies.
And also in talking to industry.
So we've been able to, um, yeah,whatever mistakes we've made,
have all fed into, you know, theEtico machine to make it better.
And more fit purpose.
And I think that's the mostimportant thing.
Andrea (43:57):
A couple of our founding values, pillars within the
organization are learning fromour mistakes and owning them and
striving for continuousimprovement.
And so that's, that'sfundamental for us.
And so that's how we roll that.
So.
Yeah, probably wouldn't changeanything.
We would have done probably lotsof things differently, but we
(44:19):
wouldn't have learned as much as
Saraya (44:21):
a question just directed you.
Um, would you have hired mewithout a cover letter?
I
Tracylee Arestides (44:29):
I think we did hire you without a cover
letter.
Saraya (44:32):
I was made to submit.
Andrea (44:33):
And we pointed out the last time she wrote a cover
letter without the help ofChatGPT, because it didn't exist
at
Tracylee Arestides (44:40):
yeah, it did not.
Andrea (44:41):
um, I think she passed the test.
Saraya (44:44):
I'm
Andrea (44:44):
going to take that as a yes, you would hired me
Tracylee Arestides (44:46):
most definitely.
It's about the vibe.
Saraya (44:53):
It is actually, I think you do get a gut feeling for
people, especially in thisspace, in this industry, you get
a feeling for people's passions.
You get to really know
Tracylee Arestides (45:01):
It's also about the willingness.
I look back at some of the otherhires we've made.
I think also it's about thewillingness to grow.
Because we're not a, Etico not aproject that stands still, it's
not a service provider that is
Andrea (45:15):
You go backward.
Tracylee Arestides (45:16):
this, is about, um, it is about growth.
Andrea (45:20):
Yep.
Absolutely.
And those that are not herenecessarily anymore, it's
probably because of that, uh, ofthat
Tracylee Arestides (45:28):
Or that they hit ceiling or whatever, but
it's, you know.
Andrea (45:32):
yeah.
Tracylee Arestides (45:34):
And I'm very much forward to our next, our
next location, next community,the next lot people that will be
here.
And
Andrea (45:43):
exciting, very scary, but, um, it will happen sooner
rather than later.
Okay.
Let's wrap it up.
Saraya (45:49):
Wrap it up.
Do you have any last finalwords?
Anybody?
Tracy.
Tracylee Arestides (45:53):
reach my word count the day.
Saraya (45:56):
Well, we appreciate you being our first guest and,
Tracylee Arestides (45:58):
you very much for
Saraya (46:00):
love, we're a little bit surprised, but you knew that we
would.
Yeah.
Come up with a podcasteventually, sure of it.
Andrea (46:06):
Yes.
It's been a great pleasure.
Tracy, I love working with you.
I love having conversations,starting conversations with you
that end up completely differentplace from where they were meant
to start
Tracylee Arestides (46:15):
Thank you, Andrea.
And this the, it's got
Andrea (46:19):
ways.
And, um.
Tracylee Arestides (46:21):
and the ideas of it all that keep the
adventure alive for sure.
Saraya (46:25):
We're also very excited for your next personal journey
of being an empty nester staff,Frannie leaving the home and
getting married.
So we'll be following along onthat one.
Andrea (46:35):
All the best for the wedding, um, and looking forward
to working with you for many,many more years to come.
many.
So with this, thank you, Tracy.
Saraya (46:45):
Thank Tracy
Andrea (46:45):
Thank you Saraya and, let's make room for all and keep
fighting for
hotel-etico_4_10-10- (46:49):
inclusion.
Thank you.
Tracylee Arestides (46:51):
Love
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