What was your first job?
I grew up in the hotel business. My father had hotels on Miami Beach and my very first job at the age of 10 and as the oldest of seven children, was reservations - because I loved to talk on the phone. I also used to make metal plates with guests' names and addresses for direct mail. I would run the plates through the machine and feed the machine envelopes to print. So I was doing reservations and marketing at 10.

Who has had the biggest influence on your life?
With 40 years in the business, I've had different mentors at different stages of my life. Obviously there's my father, who initially did everything he could to talk me out of the hotel business. When I told him I was thinking of becoming a U.S. Senator, though, he decided the hotel business was preferable to politics. His philosophy was to always take care of the guest and make them feel special, and that a smile goes a long way. Very basic, but I've always remembered that. After graduating from Florida State Hospitality School, I joined Hyatt in the corporate training program and Charles Andrew was my regional vice president. He really took me under his wing. I had rooms and operations experience at that point and to balance myself, he said I should go into F&B - which I had no interest in at that time. But I did it. Mr. Andrew really helped me round out my background by encouraging me to get out of my comfort zone. Peter Kretschman at Hilton was another mentor when I was a single parent in Washington, D.C. He really understood my desire to be a good parent while also wanting to be successful in my career. He encouraged me to learn areas of operations that weren't easy. He would challenge me about what had happened on the Hill that day [that might affect the hotel business], or what would I do if the generator broke down. I really wanted to focus on sales but again, like Charles, he encouraged me to think out of the box. These were two great leaders who taught me to perform - but think outside - my role every day. I joined Disney in 1997 as a sales director, overseeing corporate sales and specifically supporting Disney's Yacht & Beach Club Resorts, and everything seems to have come together in my last 10 years working for George Aguel. He is a visionary and true strategic thinker. What he's done for me at this point in my career is to bring all of my experience together at a much higher level. Disney's corporate culture is based on great leadership. Being a great leader is what brings success to our company, and it's what I strive to be.

What are the biggest changes you have witnessed in this industry?
The suppler community, our clients and their organizations have become more strategic. Planning and executing meetings is not a tactical function anymore. We are all thinking about ROI and are more focused about the attendee experience, and site selections have become more important in attaining great results. There are more women and minorities in leadership positions. I think the hospitality industry has become more recognizable as a career path and the challenges and issues we face are equal to any other profession. Finally, technology has advanced our industry. Information is faster, there's more of it. We want to be better and more knowledgeable about our clients and guests and everyone coming to meetings. Technology has certainly enhanced our ability to be better at what we do.

What are the challenges that keep you up at night?
Creativity and talent. I work for a tremendous organization known for its creativity. I'm not talking about creativity just on the sales and marketing side, but also from an execution and operations standpoint. What can we do to make our clients' interaction with us better and easier and how do we take care of each one of their delegates and make them feel special? How can we be creative in our processes, products, and services? What keeps me up at night is how do we continue to raise the bar? The second piece is talent. We are so fortunate to have an incredible team here at Disney; individuals who really want our clients and delegates to have a tremendous experience. My challenge is to keep this powerful team motivated and excited about coming to work every day. I also understand that my team's personal and home life often mixes with business. That can make the relationships stronger and the business more fun, but I always want to help them keep the right balance.

What advice can you give those just starting out in the hospitality/meetings industry?
There were no women when I was coming up through the industry. That has obviously changed. Being a mentor is very important to me at this point in my career. I get great joy out of helping people become successful and realize their potential. I love articulating to students that this is a great career that helps you become very well rounded as compared to 20 years ago when you were in a specified role. I work closely with students at the Rosen College. I think the younger generation coming up has a certain expectation of growth. It takes time in the hospitality business to be really good. The more time and variety of experiences that you have [and opportunities] to learn … that's what makes you a better leader. You cannot rush pitfalls. They're going to happen but they will make you a better and more mature leader in this business if you learn from them. For most of my career, I've been a single parent. There are very hard choices that one has to make and the only one who can make them is you. My son and my family are everything to me. Balancing that perspective is important. Disney makes it easy to put the balance in check by respecting both sides. But there were hard choices in the beginning of my career to make sure that my son was taken care of and I could do my job. It all paid off in the end. (He's now a teen.) We have a very special relationship. It hasn't been easy but I always worked for individuals who understood my priorities and I always made them known. I give 100 percent because I love what I do and because I work for leaders who have understood that, they made it easy for me to be me. You were named an ASAE (American Society of Association Executives) Fellow. How do you define success? I was honored to get that designation and taken by surprise. I've had such a good time growing and learning and I feel confident about myself because of my passion for this industry and life experience. It is a tremendous honor. While it is important, to me success is also seeing individuals on my team - or people that I think are wonderful and give so much to our industry - have good things happen to them. I hope my legacy will be that I loved my job and kept learning at every point in my career path. One needs to embrace that you are always on your journey of learning, you always have to embrace change. There are times when things go great and times when they don't, but you pick yourself up and you learn from it. I've applied that to my personal life. I love this industry. I have a wonderful family and a great network of friends. Life couldn't be better!

° Michelle Russell is Convene's editor.