When Meals Become Memories with Lisa Flores, Hospitality Marketing Leader, Philanthropist, Community Builder

Lisa-Flores

Lisa Flores knows something about building long-term relationships, creating powerful memories with food and environment, and making people feel included, welcome, and special.
She is the Sales and Marketing Manager for the Columbus Hospitality Group in Boston, which owns and operates seven dining establishments.

While the menus and designs of the various spaces might be quite different, what doesn’t waver is the intentional building of warm, welcome spaces and delectable meals, created with the diners in mind.

“While it may appear we are serving meals, what we’re really doing is creating memories,” Lisa explains. Whether it’s a dinner for two or an intimate wedding for 60, Flores and her team strive to create an all-encompassing experience – as close to perfect as possible – in keeping with the spirit and essence the clients want to share with each other and their guests.

And if repeat business is any measure, they do their job quite well. “We created a really memorable wedding for one of our couples several years ago, and every year they dine with us on their anniversary. Our chef prepares them a mini-replica of their wedding cake each year, and it’s a lot of fun for all of us,” she says.

Our conversation today covers a lot of ground. Like building a healthy and family-style culture, which isn’t easy to do in most businesses, let alone the restaurant and event industry; many of the Group’s employees have been with them for 20 or more years.

If you want to discover their secrets – and maybe apply them in your own work – settle in and have some fun eavesdropping on my conversation with Lisa today! And the next time you visit Boston, look her up at one of their restaurants.

Lisa’s Bio

A passionate connector, entrepreneur, and hospitality marketing leader, Lisa Flores has spent close to two decades building one of Boston’s most celebrated hospitality groups, Columbus Hospitality Group. Today, CHG includes seven premier restaurants; Mistral, Teatro, Sorellina, Mooo, Ostra, Bar Lyon, and L’Andana, as well as two hotel properties: XV Beacon Hotel and the Inn at St. Botolph.

A graduate of Boston University with a degree in Business Management, Lisa has parlayed her insightful and meticulous style into a career dedicated to delivering unforgettable events and dining experiences. From concept to design to flawless project management, every experience Lisa leads and executes is a true marriage of the brand’s promise and the guest’s vision. As Director of Sales and Marketing for CHG, Lisa also spearheads all brand and communications strategy and execution.

Her approach to marketing strategy, on and offline engagement including media relations, influencer engagement, and social media, as well as brand management has its foundation in her deep commitment to personal connections and relevance in the market. Lisa ensures she is not only trend-watching and responding, but at the forefront of a constantly evolving market that demands highly personalized experiences for each guest. Her commitment to putting the guest at the center of her strategic vision has helped to drive the growth and performance of the Columbus Hospitality Group since 2001.

In 2016, Lisa founded the for-profit organization, SERV (Society for Event Planners: Restaurant Venues) where she serves as President and Founder. The organization is dedicated to creating a network for hospitality professionals to knowledge-share in an effort to grow and develop their respective businesses and further the development of the industry. SERV, which now has chapters in Boston and New York, has been featured in The Boston Globe and Boston Common Magazine.

Since leaving Texas for Boston in 1998, Lisa has devoted her personal time to supporting causes that connect to her community and inspire others. For more than a decade, Lisa has volunteered and fundraised for Helping Hands: Monkey Helpers for the Disabled, a national non-profit serving quadriplegics and people with mobility impairment where she helped raised close to one million dollars. Her commitment to serve others and build connections in the community has also driven her to commit time to The Women’s Lunch Place and other local Boston charities. In spring 2019, Lisa joined the Board of Overseers for the Boston Ballet.

Connect with Lisa

www.chgboston.com
www.mistralbistro.com
www.servsociety.com

/by

Mardi Gras is Significantly More than just a Party: with Princess of Zulu Province Prince Krewe and Sr. Event Planner, Racquel Turbinton-Bruno

2020 Zulu Province Prince Krewe-2.25

We all know that Mardi Gras in New Orleans looks like a huge party; some of you may have even experienced it in person. But were you aware that there’s a whole lot more going on behind the scenes, in the community, and what you might not know could astound you?!

Yes, there are parties. Yes, there are parades. Yes, it can get a little crazy. But it’s so much more than you would imagine and the work for some of the Krewe’s goes year-round. Each Krewe has a purpose, a history, and a process for naming each year’s parade royalty.

And that’s just the beginning. Royalty comes with a lot of responsibility, requiring an additional “crew” of helpers. There are events to attend, funds to be raised, themes and designs to be conceived and produced, and loads of work to be done. There’s history, and backstory, and tradition, and rules, and processes.

When I was first introduced to Racquel, it was through a dear friend. What she didn’t tell me up front was that I was speaking with Royalty! Not just as a Princess in a long-established Mardi Gras Krewe, but also in the music world, especially in New Orleans.

Racquel is musically gifted, from a musical family. Her father was a musician, singer, and producer who owned a recording studio. He wrote his special song, called New Suit, in honor of the Mardi Gras costuming tradition and Racquel used it as the theme for her reign this year, in honor of her dad.

There’s so much learn about this fabulous, colorful tradition and the people who keep it alive and growing… You’ll just have to listen in to catch it all – including how to get to ride on one of the parade floats next time you’re in NOLA during Mardi Gras! I guarantee that Racquel’s vibrant personality, knowledge, and drive will keep you entertained even while you learn something new.

Racquel’s Bio

Born and raised New Orleanians, Racquel Turbinton-Bruno and her husband Sean M. Bruno were crowned as Prince and Princess of the Zulu Mardi Gras Parade in 2020.

Befittingly, Racquel was born into a New Orleans musical family which made significant contributions to the Mardi Gras tradition. Racquel’s father, Wilson Turbinton, better known to the musical community as “Willie Tee” (of the band “Willie Tee and the Gaturs”) wrote and produced a song for the Wild Magnolias Mardi Gras Indian Tribe entitled “New Suit,” as well as several other hits that are heard throughout the city during parade season.

The song is an anthem to the Mardi Gras Indian experience as it references their annual tradition of creating a new costume in preparation for unveiling during carnival time. Racquel’s father was the pioneer of putting music behind Mardi Gras Indians; a trend which was soon imitated by other tribes who followed this practice. Racquel experienced having her “New Suit” created for her reign as Princess and dedicated it to her father as a tribute in honor of his musical works.

Professionally, Racquel is a Senior Event Manager in the hotel industry, planning and executing details of conferences in the Corporate and Association Markets. Racquel was inducted into the Hilton Corporation’s “Circle of Excellence” in Catering and Event Management. Racquel’s professional event management skills paired well with organizing a successful, enjoyable, and memorable experience for the Zulu Province Prince Krewe during Mardi Gras 2020.

/2 Comments/by

Changing How We do Business by Focusing on Collaboration and Creativity with Social Entrepreneur, Inventor, and Author, Joel Hodroff

Joel-Hodroff-headshot

His first visit as a guest discussing ‘how to scale the new shared economy’ was so well received, Laura welcomes Joel Hodroff back. In this episode, they expand their conversation to dig into what collaboration and creativity as a foundational principle in business could mean for our economy.

Joel explains how even though millions of people lost their jobs in the 2008 downturn – and there will likely be similar statistics associated with our current situation with COVID-19 related effects – we didn’t actually lose our creativity, skill, expertise, or wealth. It all doesn’t just disappear when the economy takes a nose-dive.

It’s a matter of how we frame it, think about it, and live into it.

With that in mind, he poses the question: What if competition was about the health and well-being of our communities and planet, rather than the idea that we must “crush” others in business who offer the same products or services we do?

Laura introduces a business simulation game – FreshBiz – she facilitates with some of her clients. It’s designed to bring out the paradigms we operate from in how we approach life and business, how we think of and use (or hoard) our resources, and how there is more opportunity for wealth, growth, success, creativity, and collaboration than we imagine.

The two discuss ideas around cooperation in business, retooling ourselves to take on new kinds of work when our current skills are no longer in demand, how to distribute workloads more realistically and lower worker stress, and create healthier, more sustainable systems that allow us to build healthy communities, deeper relationships, and enjoy higher levels of creativity and innovation.

There’s so much depth in this conversation, it’s hard to give you just a taste. Eavesdrop on this one and let us know what new ideas you have!

Joel’s Bio

Joel Hodroff believes that emerging business models based on cooperation and sustainability have the power to solve our most pressing social, economic, and environmental challenges. He asserts that win-lose competition over money—which modern society inherited from an era of scarcity—is now impeding greater economic security and increased happiness for individuals, families, and communities in the US and around the world. Consider that today’s oftentimes stressful workplaces, schools, and community organizations can become organizing centers for personal growth and healing, social innovation, and sustainable community economic development.

In 1997, Joel was issued a US patent for his novel dual currency pricing, accounting, and transaction settlement system. The system was designed to reward socially valuable activities such as community volunteerism, youth academic performance, unpaid domestic labor, and so forth. The systems stretch dollars (or other national currencies) utilizing a Business-Community Wealth Accounting Protocol to turn underutilized business capacity—such as empty restaurant tables, empty college desks, and off hours at the movies—into new economic resources for healthier families and communities.

Joel has been a social entrepreneur and environmentalist for over 30 years, launching Solar Consultants, Inc., in 1983; Dual Currency Systems in 1993; and cofounding Responsible Minnesota Business in 1998. He was a Minnesota Finance and Commerce Innovator of the Year in 2005 and a Visa Thought Leader / Innovation Provocateur in 2007.
Joel has stayed the course with his economic vision for over 25 years through every imaginable entrepreneurial near miss, wrong turn, and outright failure! He is currently playing for (and praying for) what is termed “a 25-year overnight success story.” Joel’s personal mission is the pursuit of unlimited human potential through unconditional love in community. He believes that the profit motive can be harnessed for the good of humanity and the natural environment.

To learn more, please check out Joel’s dual currency white paper (written just before the 2008 mortgage industry meltdown) Sustainable Prosperity Now! Awakening a Green Revolution of the Heart http://www.dualcurrency.com/Awakening.pdf and/or reach out through his LinkedIn page at https://www.linkedin.com/in/joelhodroff/
Joel can also be reached at: joel@scryp.io

For More:

Your Money or Your Life (book)
Walden Two (book)
Stranger in a Strange Land (book)
FreshBiz Game
The Weekly – NYC Taxi Medallions
The Weekly – GM Leaves Lordstown

/by