HE&R Team Members Spotlighted for Women's History Month 2024
Throughout March, Hershey Entertainment & Resorts (HE&R) was proud to spotlight several team members in celebration of Women's History Month 2024. Read on to learn about these incredible women. Thank you for sharing your time and talents with us!
Meet Emily, Senior Area Manager of Resorts Retail at HE&R. Emily’s love of shopping translates to the workplace, where she oversees inventory management, merchandising, and team member and guest experience for the retail outlets of our official resorts, The Hotel Hershey and Hershey Lodge. While she began her career journey with HE&R in 2018, Emily found her niche in Retail operations with the opening of Hershey’s Chocolatetown in 2020, where she supervised popular Hersheypark stores, HP Collections and Hersheypark Supply Co. before joining the resorts team in 2023.
As a committee member of HE&R’s Young Professionals employee resource group and Employee Support Fund Golf Tournament and a participant in Project Fellowship with Milton Hershey School, Emily enjoys being active and surrounding herself with friends and colleagues. She says, “Being involved in this company is great because you get to see your impact directly!”
Emily ties the 2024 Women’s History Month theme, ‘Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion,’ to her personal experience working at HE&R. “Being involved in Young Professionals and the DE&I [Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion] space - what we’re working towards and accomplishing, and who we’re including and how we include them - I feel like we work for a company that really cares about its people. It’s what Milton Hershey wanted, and we’re continuing that.”
She continues, "I think about how lucky we are to have the female community we do [at HE&R]. Every day, things are changing and we are working to rewrite what it means to be women in the workplace. It’s cool that as a 30-year-old woman, I can look to my parents and colleagues and feel like we’re making a difference.”
Meet Samantha, who began her HE&R career with the 2021 opening of Hersheypark’s full-service restaurant, The Chocolatier Restaurant, Bar + Patio, where she oversees day-to-day bar operations as Assistant Manager, Beverage.
You’ll find Samantha’s talents on display in the drinks she helps cultivate for the restaurant’s bar menu, including captivating concoctions for seasonal Hersheypark Halloween and Dark Nights offerings. “Halloween allows you to be creative and do weird things that you normally wouldn’t be able to do!” In addition to the on-the-job creativity she experiences, Samantha acknowledges her teammates for an enjoyable three-year tenure with HE&R, stating, “Our management team is incredible - they help you expand, and they are very supportive, friendly and approachable.”
Also part of Samantha’s HE&R family? Her husband! A member of the Rink Rats crew and a Zamboni driver at GIANT Center, Samantha credits her husband for recommending a role in The Sweetest Place On Earth. Along with their eight-year-old daughter, the trio enjoys spending time at the Hersheypark Entertainment Complex as a family, “It’s definitely a family affair!” Motherhood also helps shape Samantha’s perception of Women’s History Month, sharing, “Especially with having a daughter, [Women’s History Month] showcases everything a woman can do. It gives little girls inspiration and shows them that they can do anything that they want to do.”
Meet Katie, Assistant Director of Safety and Security at Hershey Lodge, where she and her team are responsible for the security of the hotel and convention center, as well as the safety of all guests, employees, and assets.
Katie’s career journey with HE&R began in 2016 at The Hotel Hershey, where she worked through college while completing her criminal justice degree. “On my first day, I handed out keys!” Now, Katie is proud to be able to combine her formal education with the love of hospitality that she found working at HE&R.
Katie is also proud to carry on the Hershey legacy that her family members experienced. “My dad was the first pastry chef at The Hotel Hershey, and my mom worked in The Circular playing the piano and arranging flowers.” During her tenure, Katie has also worked alongside her two sisters at The Hotel Hershey.
Both her professional career and personal family ties shape Kate’s perspective on the importance of celebrating Women’s History Month. She shares, “It is a time to celebrate the women who have gone before me and laid the foundation for females today and the future, especially in the Safety & Security field. More and more women are working in this field thanks to them, and I believe [the inclusion of women] makes a team more well-rounded and stronger.”
She continues, “I think about the women I have the pleasure of knowing who have taught me so much in my life, whether at home or at work. I’m grateful to know many wonderful women at HE&R who I work with daily. I love celebrating women like my mom who raised three daughters while running a full-time family business. I honestly don’t know how she handled it all, but she is a role model for me as a woman in the hospitality industry!”
Meet Heather, Director of Finance for the HE&R Corporate Services team! Embarking on her HE&R career journey upon graduating college, Heather has supported several properties during her tenure, including acting as Assistant Controller for The Hotel Hershey and Controller for Hershey Country Club. Heather has held her current Director title since 2022, and she and her team support treasury functions within the company, including payroll. “I enjoy working with supportive colleagues and appreciate the company’s commitment to its Core Values.”
Heather shares her expertise with others as a member of the company’s Employee Benefits Committee and supports our Core Purpose of providing value to Milton Hershey School as a member of Project Fellowship. A nature enthusiast, Heather enjoys planting flowers, maintaining her home’s garden, and boating with her family at Raystown Lake.
For Heather, Women's History Month is “a recognition of how far [women] have come and the sacrifices of those who have come before us that have enabled us to get to where we are today. It’s also a recognition of what’s still possible.” She continues, “You can see a difference - even in the last ten years - with more women holding leadership and executive roles within companies. Definitely a big difference in that timeframe.”