Over the past 16 years, Ripton Melhado has worked his way through several jobs within Hyatt. With a modest—though promising—beginning in the Rooms Division Internship Program at Hyatt Regency Atlanta in 1990, Melhado soon became front desk supervisor and, after graduating with honors from Morris Brown College, continued to work in Atlanta, assisting and managing the front office at Hyatt hotels . Now the executive assistant manager, rooms division at Hyatt Regency DFW, which was a winner of Lodging Hospitality Magazine's 13th Annual Design Competition, 2006, as well as a recipient of the Gold 2006 Design Excellence Award from the American Society of Interior Design, Melhado discusses the lessons and experience he's gained since the start of his career.

Identify yourself

The top advice I would give new colleagues in the hospitality industry is to remember that losing one's identity should never be a byproduct of success. Finding mentors with similar backgrounds is difficult for minorities. This combined with a strong urge to adapt and assimilate in a corporate environment can sometimes cause an identity conflict. Embracing positive changes while keeping your uniqueness makes you very valuable to any progressive company.  

Setting goals, seeking opportunities

If I had the chance to go back in time and prepare myself for a career in hospitality, I would have been more aggressive in planning out my own timeline for achieving various career goals. I also would have continued to seek out opportunities to learn more about aspects of local government, the national and local business environment, economics, etc. This prepares you to be a strong community ally and leader. I think the most effective and highly regarded general managers in our company are the ones who are also community leaders. They usually have a good understanding of the local and national economy. However, depending on the level of education and exposure many minorities have, getting a strong foundation in college or coming up the ranks can be challenging—unless you have good mentors.

Tuning in to the right network

A key point in my career came when I was an assistant in a large department and was being considered for the department's head job. At the time, even though I was generally confident, I was unsure about my abilities to take on the assignment and succeed. The missing ingredient here is that I did not have a good network of mentors nor was I getting a lot of feedback from my boss about my performance. I knew he appreciated my efforts and contributions, but we did not have a lot of career chats. I did little to convince the decision makers that I was interested, but I was lucky to get the job anyway.

Finding a healthy balance

The biggest thing I would have done differently would be to relax more and stop taking work so seriously. It may sound like an oxymoron because a lot of my success is tied to the time I have invested in my career. However, this drive to succeed can sometimes shift the balance between work, family, community and health so that one or more are out of focus. In recent years, I've focused more on finding equality in all to achieve both success and fulfillment.