There are people who get their kicks from helping others - who sincerely believe their actions help the nation, even the world, become a better place.  Desiree Moxey, Wyndham Nassau Resort's Director of Catering and Conventions, falls into that category.  For Moxey, the path to that end never lay in nursing, law, education or social services.  Instead, she has tried to realize this goal through the tourism industry.

"This is something that I always wanted to do," Moxey said.  "My mom, I guess for her I was supposed to be a lawyer, but since school I have always admired persons in the tourism industry.  Its somewhere that I always thought that I could make a difference and have a positive influence."

In her current position, she is presented with those opportunities on a daily basis.  When clients choose her resort's catering and convention services, she's responsible for ensuring their expectations are met, and hopefully, far exceeded.  It's a process that has her involved with clients from the pre-planning phase right through to the event and post-event follow-up.
Just as no two events are the same, no two days are either - a natural aspect of the work that Moxey said adds to the excitement of the job.  The real reward comes when she's able to help deliver to the client.

"Just sitting back after you've worked with a client for so long - after all the planning and [coming to] see their vision, and that coming to fruition and being a successful event - there is such gratification in knowing that you've helped someone achieve what they wanted to achieve, the way they want to achieve it, or better," Moxey explained.

Moxey has been in the hospitality industry for about 16 years - getting started straight out of the Bahamas Hotel Training College's management program.  From there she spent about three years at the Compass Point resort, moving from the hostess to manager of its popular restaurant.

  She encountered the first of her industry mentors there, Carlton Russell, who was the property's food and beverage manager at the time.  He had an infectious service orientation, and according to Moxey, was always focused on creative ways to improve the guest experience.

She encountered her second professional mentor when she moved over to the Nassau Beach Hotel.  There, she said Robert Sands took her under his wing.  Sands has held numerous prominent posts in the hotel industry, including having served six years over his career as President of the Bahamas Hotel Association, and is today a senior executive with the Baha Mar resort.

Moxey recently completed Revans University's Master's degree in Hospitality and Tourism - a professional degree that she says is already giving her tools to improve her job performance, particularly through analytical skills to ferret-out the substance of issues, as opposed to relying on preconceived notions.

For all the training, education and mentorship, Moxey's inclination to serve may have been developed within her family, however.  She's the second of seven children, and said her siblings all grew up helping and fully supporting each other - an approach to life she said has carried over to her work.

"That support, wanting to be there for each other, to encourage each other to be better persons and achieve - that certainly has been directed here," she said.  It may be related to why Moxey says Bahamians are genuinely good people and want to be service oriented, adding sometimes, "We just fall short of that, for whatever reason."  Service in hospitality may have lost some of its prestige in recent times, she said, but for her its exactly the industry she should be in.

"Every day I come here makes me a better me," she said.

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