Where is Michele now?
After successfully completed her Bachelors in Hotel Management, Michele went on to complete her Masters in Business Administration with a specialty in Marketing. It has been quite an exciting journey for this young business woman, who after landing such jobs as Operations Manager and Sales and Marketing Director, went on to establish her own marketing business, H&M Antillean, in June 2001. H&M Antillean offers research and marketing services and specializes in offering promotional products for corporate clients.
Michele’s passion has always been Hotel Management, and she continues to nurture her dream of owning and operating her own hotel and condominiums. Michele attributes her achievements to her experience at CHTM.
Reflections on Life at CHTM
Thinking back on her time at CHTM, Michele points out, “Unlike most Universities which are large and overwhelming, CHTM, has a homely and sociable environment built around a relatively small number of students, who live and study in close proximity to each other.”
“I do not think anyone at any other University can ever experience the fun and frolic such a close knit community creates. We are each others’ family for two years, your housemates look out for you, have fun with you and most importantly pick you up when you are down. The best part for me was my housemates and I. We were each others academic grounding, we made sure each other worked hard to get great grades, and since we had one of the most intelligent students in the school as a house mate, our motivation to do great was even higher. I was pumped to do great.”
“Our older housemates, who were considered our Big Brothers and Sisters, really proved to be our rocks, correcting us when we slacked off, and making us feel comfortable in whatever we did or what we thought we could not do.”
On asking Michele what was the one thing that guided her into the working world, she said “CHTM to offers such realistic real world experience. We ran a restaurant from scratch. We were given chairs, tables, a fully stocked bar, and a budget. That was it, we had to make the restaurant a success. We had to work together with a partner to offer a well presented, well run restaurant, and the only way to get customers was to come up with an effective marketing plan to fill seats. There is nothing like it anywhere. The students are completely in charge, each student gets a chance to run a restaurant. CHTM has a lot of hands on projects, where you have to go out into the field to complete the work, and an internship program which gives you that real world experience, that most Universities lack.
“All the lecturers know the students personally and show interest in the students’ work. If you are falling behind, or you have personal problems, they are there and they care.”
Up Close and Personal
Michele and Shawn are the proud parents of a beautiful and intelligent seven year old daughter and very entertaining five month old twins.
Michele has always had a fondness for dance, and in 2002 joined a dance academy where she has been performing on stage for eight years. “Keeping fit is my passion, if I am doing nothing physical for a long time I start to go crazy. I am not good at exercise, I hate to think I am deliberately working out to keep fit, which is why any form of dance is great, you do not think about exercising or losing weight, you just enjoy moving.”
In Closing
“There is nothing for me that can quite compare to my life at CHTM. I discovered myself and my potential there. And I do not believe I would have quite this much confidence in myself if I had not gone to CHTM. My classmates and more importantly my housemates taught me how to be responsible and to apply myself. They believed in me, the lecturers believed in me, there was nothing left for me to do, but believe in myself too.”
