JOSIAH ESCAMILLA: Yes, my name is Josiah Escamilla.
I was born and raised in Southern California,
currently reside in Ontario, California,
and I'm happily going to Chaffey College.
I decided to pursue the hotel management, the food service
management, event planning programs
that Chaffey College has to offer, mainly due to the fact
that I, at one point, was a student who was lost
and didn't know what direction to go.
And after taking the into to hospitality program,
had an amazing professor, and he helped
kind of show me what the hospitality field, the industry
had to offer.
And it just kind of helped motivate
me to pursue this industry and then see
how big the industry was and continue my growth of education
throughout.
So while attending Chaffey College as a full-time student
in the hospitality program, I am currently
working in the hospitality industry as well, full time.
It's a little difficult to juggle it all,
but I always do my best to manage.
I currently work at a Marriott property in Newport Beach.
It's a Renaissance by Marriott.
It's corporate owned, 444 rooms, 31,000 square feet.
Looking back, thinking about when I first
started working in this industry,
I actually was in the intro to hospitality program,
and I got offered a position at a not so best hotel
in a not so good of area, working graveyard shifts,
12:00 AM to 8:00 AM.
I was working behind bulletproof glass.
And now, of course, I'm working in a beautiful beach
hotel in Newport Beach.
But the whole process of transition,
the advice I'll get myself was, what I did
was just take any opportunity I had to
when I first started off the program.
And even if it is not the most glorious property or the most
glorious job, I needed that experience
to work up from the bottom and work my way up.
So if I had to tell my younger self again,
just take any opportunity that anyone's
willing to offer you and just go after it.
And eventually, you'll be in a position where--
it takes time to work, but you you'll
be happy in the long run.
My academic career, it's funny.
I would say my mother was the one who
got me into this program.
She was the one that encouraged me, saying, hey,
this is for you.
This is your personality.
You should just take a class.
So that impacted me to start my career.
And funny enough, she went back to school
to continue her education.
And we had quite a few classes together,
and we actually graduated together.
With me and my mother graduating in the same program,
we do talk about maybe possibly opening up our own business.
My mother is a fantastic baker.
She used to bake wedding cakes.
She would do cupcakes.
She had her own little company business going on that.
So there is a thought of us working together,
at least in the culinary arts side of our education.
But also, too, in our event planning side,
we do jokingly talk about working for planning weddings,
being assistants for that, working side by side
and having fun with that.
We do talk about a little bit more of a cruise lines.
I think she's not really up for that.
Cruise lines can be very demanding,
but it's a huge industry for event planning,
and there's a lot of events out there.
To anyone who's interested in joining or taking
part of the hospitality program, I
encourage you to just to take that leap, take that step.
I was in a position where I wasn't too sure
what I wanted to do, and that's when I started the hospitality
program, learned how big it was and how there's so many
job opportunities out there.
Especially right now, with the whole pandemic
and their current situation, I know most properties or most
travel, tourism, hospitality is kind of not operating, per se,
but it will open up soon.
And right now, this is the first time
I've seen my college, Chaffey College,
offer online classes for the hospitality program, which
is typically unheard of.
So this is the best time to join, the best time to start.
You could start with this basic intro class,
and you can learn more about what the program, industry has
to offer.
That's how I started.
And now with the education that you get from it, even
at the junior college level as an associate's degree,
at Chaffey College, our program's so recognizable,
college students like me, alumni, where I've
helped personally get, I want to say,
five students jobs at hotels that I previously worked for
and just got one hired recently at my Newport Beach property
while they're still in school.
For student myself with just a certificate,
while I'm still obtaining my associate's degree, with just
a certificate, I'm able to work at a beautiful property,
full time, benefits, the whole nine yards.
I'm happy every time or every day I
go to work, especially now during the pandemic,
since we're closed.
But it's all good.
So I just recommend any student, now, even with your downtime
possibly, that what I'm doing is picking up a second language.
I've been trying to learn Mandarin Chinese,
and it's helped me so far.
It's more growth for myself.
I could move to a different country if I want.
I could take my education, even with just the certificate
in the hotel management, food service management,
especially the event planning, you
could take it anywhere with you because this industry
is everywhere.
So that's why I recommend that.
There's so much to it.
It's not just hotels, it's not just cruise ships,
there's a lot more to it as well.
So that's why I recommend to continue
to pursue that passion of yours that's well hidden,
and just start off with an intro into hospitality class.
And I'm letting you know, you won't regret it.
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