Jessica Parrot '04

VIP Services Representative,

Treasure Island Resort & Casino

q: What do you do?

a: Manage exclusive services for "high-roller" guests at a AAA Four Diamond hotel on the Vegas strip. I check them in, answer questions, and set up them up with limos, dinners, shows, VIP lounge, and so on.

q: What's your favorite part of the job?

a: Seeing Vegas from the casino side, which is driven by financial motivation, marketing and psychology. It is a business continually improving its ability to learn what will make people spend their money. I also love all of my co-workers.

q: What's the greatest challenge?

a: Guests that are not classified as VIP players but ask to use our services. This is tricky because we want to treat all guests like royalty, but we need to keep VIP services available only to our best customers. We have to be diplomatic.

q: Do you stay in touch with any other UCF hospitality alums?

a: Here in Vegas, I've had the pleasure to get together with Don Richardson '89, after discovering him through this blog.

q: Outside work...you're most likely to be seen?

a: Hiking in Red Rock Canyon, climbing Mount Charleston, boating on Lake Mead or doing Bikram yoga. Occasionally I will go to the hotel pools but prefer to relax away from the strip when I'm not working. The non-stop party you see on T.V. is reality. Where I live is totally different; it's suburbia, similar to Waterford Lakes.

q: Your biggest accomplishment since graduating, outside your career?

a: Having the courage to go for it! I moved to a new city where I didn't know anyone and had no guarantees. It taught me a lot about myself.

q: How did UCF prepare you for what you do?

a: The classes teach you about working with people and building relationships. You also get a well-rounded foundation of knowledge about the industry.

q: Your favorite class?

a: The two classes I took with Dr. William Fisher. One was Restaurant Management. He is so engaging.

q: How could the hospitality program have been better?

a: With the addition of more focused classes, specifically Casino Management. Also it would be helpful to have a course like "foreign language for tourism" to learn key phrases to communicate with tourists from a variety of countries. It could also explain worldwide traditions and customs. For instance, our casino does not use $50.00 bills because they are considered bad luck. The Wynn Las Vegas, across the street, does not have a fourth floor due to tetraphobia, an Asian superstition associating the number four with death.

q: A UCF memory?

a: Study abroad at the Universite d'Angers, France. The other Rosen College students and I met people from all over the world, and got to see hospitality from a European perspective. Another unforgettable time is when my sorority ΔΓ partnered with the ΔΥ fraternity for Homecoming. It was like a scene from a movie when we won!

q: Favorite meal in Orlando?

a: The lobster ravioli at Bravissimo. Also, Bizzarro's Famous NY Pizza on the boardwalk in Indialantic.

q: On your iPod?

a: The whole gamut, so I have music to match my mood....including country, punk, emo, oldies, reggae and dance music.

q: Little known fact about you?

a: I studied Tae Kwon Do for five years and earned my Black Belt.

Brandon Yau '09

Entrepreneur,
Hao Hao Chinese Kitchen

q: What do you do?

a: Run a brand new Chinese restaurant in Kissimmee that just opened on July 28. I work 70-80 hours a week doing everything from cooking to cleaning. My father's a chef and said that I have a gift for this since it only took me three days to master making all the sauces. I wrote part of the business plan for my Leadership and Strategic Management in the Hospitality Industry class, and presented it to the bank, and I got the loan.

q: What's your favorite part of the job?

a: Being my own boss. I get to embrace my creative side. Also I meet new people from all over the world every day. A family with a terminally ill child happened to come in yesterday, here in Orlando because of Give Kids the World. I was so happy to be able to provide them with a free meal, as an act of faith.

q: What's the greatest challenge?

a: Maintaining a positive attitude. Dealing with recessive times, I need to be creative in how I market and sell our product. I have a very large marketing budget, an important investment for any business, regardless of whether or not it's currently making a profit. I thought I'd be doing mostly take-out but we're getting a lot of dine-in business and repeat customers because of the food and decor. This is real home cooking where we make everything fresh every day, even our own egg rolls and dumplings.

q: Do you stay in touch with any other UCF hospitality alums?

a: Katrina Schoenfeldt '09 is helping me with some of the marketing here, and my best friend Jeff Reeves '09 will also soon be working here. I still come by the campus to see Rosen faculty and staff, including Vivian Ray, Renee Bence, Dr. H.G. Parsa and Dr. Fevzi Okumus.

q: Outside work...you're most likely to be seen?

a: Sleeping in my hammock. My hobbies are home and auto repairs.

q: Your biggest accomplishment since graduating, outside your career?

a: Paying off my car. At age 22, that's a good feeling.

q: How did UCF prepare you for what you do?

a: It didn't teach me anything about owning a restaurant, but taught me everything about who I am. At Rosen, I clashed with authority quite a bit. On one of the team projects with other students, I argued with the other team members so much that I ended up quitting. I did the whole project on my own. It confirmed for me that I could never work for someone else.

q: How could the hospitality program have been better?

a: I could have been more tolerant of my classmates. From freshman year, I could see that most didn't have the same goals as I did. They just wanted to go to class and get by so they could graduate and get jobs. They weren't as concerned with getting the managerial tools necessary to become business owners.

q: A UCF memory?

a: The wisdom of Dr. Bill Fisher. He taught us that we're never above our employees. He helped me learn to be more empathetic with people.

q: Favorite meal in Orlando?

a: Here at Hao Hao Chinese Kitchen, our Singapore Style Mei Fun (with Curry Sauce), which is my Dad's own recipe. It's a traditional Chinese dish with his own special twist. The extra ingredients are secret and I won't tell anyone. All of our sauces are homemade every day and we prepare every meal as it's ordered so we can customize it to exactly what you want.

q: On your iPod?

a: Bob Marley. He taught me the one religion of loving each other equally, which is important for all of us in the service industry. Customers will come in being annoyed after a long day of waiting in lines at Disney. You can tell that some of them looked forward to spending more time with their families on vacation, but perhaps that particular day it was too much time spent together. If they're in a bad mood you still need to be positive and treat them well.

q: Little known fact about you?

a: I'm learning how to swing dance.