Jennie Kaplan Woodson: Pairing Wine and Hotel Sales for a Fruitful Hospitality Career

On the fourth episode of “Women Just Like You”, we are joined by a woman climbing the ranks of hospitality sales, who happens to be one of my best friends! Round of applause for Jennie Kaplan Woodson, a saleswoman thriving in the San Francisco hospitality industry.  She can sell you room blocks, event space, and even sell the wine to pair with your food for your trip to the CIty By The Bay.  

Jennie has spent the last 9 years working her way up the food chain in hospitality sales and taking ownership in her career growth.  She juggled restaurant, catering, and event jobs down in San Diego before moving to Sonoma to sell the Hyatt from initial inquiry to closing the final tab at a hotel that was central to wine country tourism. Then she moved to San Francisco to sell her DREAM property, the Hyatt Regency on Embarcadero, before the pandemic took it all away 4 weeks later.  She didn’t panic and instead used the covid layoff to learn more about wine, and is now combining her love for both industries into a fruitful career marrying Hyatt hotel sales during the week with wine sales in Sausalito on the weekend.  Listen to our fun conversation between two besties chatting about hustling in their jobs and even how a good set of nails can define your day! 

  

Our conversation is full of:

• How to advocate for yourself in career conversations

• Succeeding in both hotel sales and wine sales

• Using layoffs to dial in on what you love

• Dreaming big and setting your sights on what comes next

• Bringing other women up the ladder with you 

• And doing what besties do - supporting each other along the way!

Chapters:

00:00 Childhood Dreams and Career Beginnings

09:13 Career Path in Hospitality Sales

20:08 Navigating Layoffs and Job Changes

24:29 Exploring the Wine Industry

26:17 Exploring Wine Certifications

27:21 Advice for People Facing Layoffs

28:08 Doing Something Exciting

29:17 Taking a Pause and Reflecting

30:31 Choosing Between Wine and Corporate Sales

33:01 Advocating for Yourself

34:03 Empowerment through Advocacy

36:20 Negotiating for a Promotion

39:59 The Impact of Hospitality Sales

42:44 Career Aspirations in Global Sales

45:22 Continual Growth in the Middle of Your Career

47:12 Being a Boss Lady

You can connect with Jennie at: 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniekaplanwoodson/

You can find Audrey at:

⁠www.audreyutchen.com⁠

⁠linkedin.com/in/audreyutchen⁠

@audreythecareerwoman on Instagram and YouTube 

Join the distribution list to get behind-the-scenes content about the making each episode, along with monthly career development recommendations: 

⁠https://shorturl.at/begnv⁠

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"Women Just Like You" is a career advice podcast for women in the middle of their careers from women in the middle of theirs. Join Audrey on Wednesdays to hear from women just like you: not a new professional but maybe not a VP just yet, and learn what they are up to at this exact stage of their careers. 

Theme music is “Dance of the Violins” by F-777, usable under Creative Commons.