Home: Duvall, WA. Age: Over forty. Birthplace: Basset Army Hospital, Fairbanks, AK. Profession: Hospitality. Organization: Staypineapple Hotels. Title: Chief Operating Officer. Significant other: My husband, Michael Sayre.
Current project: Growing our hotel brand, currently ten hotels. We’re focused on expanding to fifty hotels within five years by accepting other unique boutique hotels into the brand. Latest accomplishment: Promoted to Chief Operating Officer late in 2022. Hobbies: Gardening and farming. I enjoy growing food for my family and all the wild critters where I live. Something special you love: The animals that are part of my family. Molly and Mookie, two Main Coon kitties that are brother and sister, our rescue pup Bella, who has a forever home that is safe, and our new addition Bandit a Great Pyrenees / German Shepard who works to steal everything he can.
Personality profile: Compassionate, innovative, insightful; a natural leader. Moral compass: Would I want to tell my mother about it? How do you define a perfect friendship? Fun, energizing, supportive. What is your greatest joy? Impacting people positively. What is your greatest fear? Climate change. What is your guilty pleasure? Our Ram Longhorn Eco Diesel truck and RV trailer. What natural talent have you neglected? As an artist. What occupation, other than your own, do you most admire? Farming, ranching.
What was your first paying job? Picking blueberries at ten years old. I was fired for eating too many. What’s the best advice you received growing up? Be tenacious. What’s the best advice you received in your career? Be a Servant Leader. What modern technology innovation do you most appreciate? Workflow collaboration tools like Monday.com. What company or organization do you most admire? Patagonia, for setting a new level of commitment to corporate environmental leadership by giving the company away to fight climate devastation.
What change are you working on to effect in your profession or field?
To radically reorient the hospitality industry to the benefit of the triple bottom line: people, planet and profit. These are not mutually exclusive and can be achieved in concert with one another.
What widely held belief do you reject? That people are the way they are, they will never change. What mega-trend most excites you? Artificial Intelligence, which has the potential to improve the existence of all inhabitants of our planet. What mega-trend most concerns you? The use of social media to distort news and facts.
What title would you choose for the movie about your life? Circuitous Route. How would you choose to spend tomorrow, if you knew it was your last day on earth? Taking a walk in the sun with my husband and dogs. What advice would you give your younger self? Enjoy everything. If you’re not enjoying it, stop doing it. What day in your life would you choose to re-live? Christmas morning when I was seven years old. I got my first horse, Smokey, a POA pony, which started my love affair with horses.
Personal mission: To radically reorient the hospitality industry to the benefit of people, planet and profit. Personal motto: “Be the change you want to see in the world” (Gandhi). Desired epitaph: She was loved.
