In this Alumni Voices episode Pedram Pakneshan, Vice President of Convention Sales at Wynn Las Vegas, shares how he built a 20-year career in hospitality sales starting from food service roles in college. Pedram discusses the power of networking, the value of structured mentorship, and the importance of personal branding for students entering the industry. His story is a masterclass in determination, humility, and readiness.

📌 Key Takeaways:

• Pedram started his career in entry-level campus dining roles, gradually advancing through leadership positions that taught him organization, attention to detail, and communication.
• A summer at UNLV and a hands-on event experience in Las Vegas sparked his passion for the scale and energy of the hospitality industry in that city.
• He landed his career-making opportunity at Wynn through strategic networking, follow-through, and taking initiative — including a cold follow-up to a contact from Dr. Jones.
• Though he didn’t complete a formal internship, he created a customized experiential learning plan with a supervisor, mirroring the best aspects of an internship model.
• Pedram now mentors students and interns, emphasizing that internship experiences should be tailored to each individual’s learning goals — and that employers should listen, not just teach.
• He encourages students to develop their personal brand, do their research, and polish their professional presentation — these basic yet powerful steps often set candidates apart.
• If he could do it again, he would pursue a rotational internship to better understand all departments — from front desk to housekeeping — as preparation for cross-functional leadership.

In this Alumni Voices episode, Candice Lam, Events Consultant for Mothers Choice, shares how three internships during her studies in San Francisco shaped a 20-year career in hotel event sales and nonprofit event consulting across Hong Kong and Berlin. From front desk training to navigating event logistics, Candice reflects on growth, resilience, and why being proactive matters more than ever for student interns.

📌 Key Takeaways:

• Completed three internships at major hotels, building confidence through hands-on work in front desk and event services.
• Emphasizes the importance of people skills and client interaction as foundations for a career in events.
• Advises students to be realistic about the hard work behind glamorous event roles — and to always be detail-oriented.
• Recommends having alternatives ready for clients instead of saying “no” — a service mindset she developed through experience.
• Believes interns should be proactive and thoughtful during their internship to truly benefit, especially when staff are too busy to guide them daily.

In this episode Alumni Voices episode, I speak with Eon Yang, Manager for Commercial Support and Revenue Management at Apra Hotel Advisors in Singapore. She shares how intentional choices, immersive learning, and a focus on contributing meaningfully helped her turn internships into powerful career springboards.

📌 Key Takeaways:•

• A first-year revenue management module (course) ignited her passion for the field and motivated her to actively pursue internships aligned with her career goals.
• Early roles in a GDS-focused distribution team and an eight-month placement at the flagship Pan Pacific Hotel in Singapore provided hands-on exposure to strategy, pricing, promotions, and rate management.
• Discovering a preference for revenue management over finance came from appreciating its dynamic, top-line focus compared to the more limited scope of cost control.
• Listening to meetings and informal conversations offered some of the most valuable learning by revealing decision-making processes and sparking new ideas.
• Entering internships with a clear objective enables interns to contribute beyond assigned tasks and build expertise that will serve them long after graduation.