Amy Brodrick is the CEO, chief strategy officer and founder of Walk In It, a consulting and coaching firm. She’s also a Women Leading Travel & Hospitality member! In this member spotlight, we asked Amy a series of questions about both her professional role and personal life, including the woman who inspires her, her leadership style, her advice for the next generation of female leaders, and much more.

  1. What’s the best book you’ve read recently?
    “Unreasonable Hospitality” by Will Guidara and “Spiritual Leadership” by Henry and Richard Blackaby
  2. What do you love most about the industry?
    The wide variety of industries that we reach through hospitality. We get to meet new people daily, make meaningful connections, and we have an opportunity to WOW them by showing off our hospitality skills.
  3. What is something the community may be surprised to learn about you?
    Maybe that I love to sing??? This one stumped me because I’m pretty transparent.
  4. What’s the toughest part of being in charge?
    Learning to focus on resilience building after major accomplishments or failures. Many times we don’t take the time to evaluate why or how we succeeded or failed and we just keep moving on to the next project. Reflection time is critical!
  5. What personal skill or attribute do you believe is most responsible for your success?
    Persistence — I don’t give up easily.
  6. What woman inspires you right now and why?
    Brene Brown. She keeps it real.
  7. What is one industry trend you’re closely tracking and why?
    All things artificial intelligence-related!! I love AI and I think it can enhance our productivity and creativity tremendously.
  8. What is one thing you look for when interviewing a job candidate?
    Passion — if they’re passionate about something, they typically know their purpose.
  9. What’s something that you learned about yourself in the past year?
    That I’m not as good of a listener as I want to be. When you’re in an executive leadership role, you’re responsible for making decisions and getting things done. Sometimes that muddied or muted my listening skills because I was focused on my response or action rather than pausing to think of all the options.
  10. What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
    Never take yourself too seriously because life is not about YOU!
  11. What values are most important to you as a leader?
    Honesty and integrity
  12. What’s the most important thing people should know about you?
    My faith is the source of all things in my life.
  13. Do you prefer to work in the office, at home, or hybrid? Why?
    Hybrid. I love interaction with my teammates and collaborating on projects, but I need quite time in my home office to focus on my deep work.
  14. Where is your favorite place you’ve traveled to? Why?
    Italy. What’s not to love about Italy — rich history, beautiful architecture, wonderful food, romantic language … the list could go on and on.
  15. What is the top item on your bucket list?
    This changes regularly but right now it would be taking an Alaskan cruise, including a train ride and time to hike.
  16. What do you do to recharge?
    Laughing with friends or playing with my granddaughters
  17. What is your biggest accomplishment?
    Trusting in myself and leaving the comforts of an executive leadership role to venture out on my own
  18. What advice would you give to the next generation of female leaders?
    Stay true to yourself and don’t try to downplay all the things that come with being a woman — intuition, emotional intelligence and trusting your gut. If you don’t feel valued where you are and you aren’t shown that you’re valued, move on and don’t wait too long to do it. Don’t let your salary chain you to a job. Life is too short and there are multitudes of possibilities, so DREAM BIG! Never be afraid of change. You may lose something good but you may gain something even better!
  19. What gets you up in the morning?
    My family. I want to be there for them no matter what.
  20. What do you like most about being a member of Women Leading Travel & Hospitality?
    Building new relationships, making meaningful connections, and supporting other women in their leadership roles.

Interested in connecting with women like Amy? Apply today to become a Women Leading Travel & Hospitality member!