Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits has announced the results of its first-year partnership with the Women of Tomorrow Mentor & Scholarship Program, focused on introducing female students to future careers in the hospitality industry.
The educational initiative — which includes career panels, alcohol safety education, and hospitality-focused field trips — reached more than 260 female students across 10 high schools in South Florida, who learned about various hospitality career paths, and were inspired to pursue future educational and professional job opportunities, the company says.
This was the first year of a three-year commitment to Women of Tomorrow that will continue through the 2020/2021 school year.
The Women of Tomorrow Mentor & Scholarship Program inspires, motivates and empowers at-risk young women to reach their full potential through a unique mentoring program with accomplished professional women and scholarship opportunities. The program operates in nearly 200 public high schools, changing the lives of approximately 4,200 at-risk high school girls annually with its network of 550 mentors.
Working with Women of Tomorrow, Southern Glazer’s organized hospitality career panel sessions in seven public high schools, featuring senior female executives from the company, as well as other female leaders representing local partners and customers – from hotel executives and restaurant owners, to celebrity chefs and culinary event agencies. The interactive panel discussions focused on female leadership and career paths, and gave participating Women of Tomorrow students the opportunity to meet and interact with successful women in hospitality from the community.
The company also coordinated an alcohol safety and education session at one Miami-Dade high school in partnership with Responsibility.org, a leading non-profit organization dedicated to eliminating drunk driving and underage drinking, and promoting responsible decision-making regarding beverage alcohol.
In addition, Southern Glazer’s sponsored field trip visits for two high schools to top hotel properties in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties.
“Hospitality is an exciting industry that offers endless career paths across every business discipline,” says Wayne E. Chaplin, CEO of Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits. “This initiative is very important to us because not only do we believe that education creates opportunity, but we also want to bring more diversity into our Company and our industry. By partnering with Women of Tomorrow, we aim to expose a diverse group of bright young women to the many careers paths available to them, inspire them to continue to pursue their education, and hopefully encourage them to consider becoming future job applicants – either with our Company or with our partners, suppliers and customers.”
