Project Leadership in Action
What my final project taught me about leading in the world after school
HTM 490 · Strategic Management
There's a version of a group project that most students have experienced: split the work, submit the slides, move on. Our final project working with Mission Bay Fest was not that kind of project. From the moment our team was assigned a real San Diego reggae and alternative music festival as our client, it was clear this one was going to ask something different from all of us.
I want to walk through how that project unfolded, what I learned, and where I fell short. Because I think the honest version of that story is the more useful one.
The context and what was at stake
Mission Bay Fest is a real festival, run by real people who care deeply about it. Our task in HTM 490 was to develop a strategic improvement plan for an underutilized sand area and present it live to the three festival founders and operators at the end of the semester. Not a simulated pitch, not a professor playing the role of a client. Actual stakeholders who could look you in the eye and push back on your ideas.
That changes the energy of a project completely. You can't coast. You can't submit something generic and hope for partial credit. Our team landed on "Bay Days Village", a family-friendly beach activation concept meant to expand the festival's audience and add a new experiential layer. The idea had to be grounded, defensible, and realistic enough that people running a festival would actually consider it.
My role and how it shifted
I started the semester as group president. That meant I was responsible for setting the direction early, establishing how we'd work together, and keeping ten people moving toward the same finish line. About halfway through the semester, our group rotated roles (which is its own kind of leadership lesson) and I moved into a core team member position and eventually became the final presenter for our pitch.
That transition from leading the group to representing the group's work to an outside audience was not something I fully appreciated until I was standing at the front of the room.
How we built it - initiation through evaluation
We started big, which is the right instinct. Before narrowing in on Bay Days Village, we spent real time on an environmental scan: where is the live events industry heading, what are audiences asking for, what are comparable festivals doing well? We looked at CRSSD Festival as a key reference point. We dug into crowd safety trends, technological shifts in how festivals operate, and the competitive landscape for San Diego events specifically.
The planning phase was where the work became most tangible... mapping out the activation element by element, running a full SWOT analysis specific to the concept, and thinking through logistics that went beyond the idea itself. What would this actually require to execute? Who does it serve? What are the risks?
Execution meant distributing that workload across ten people with different strengths, different working styles, and different levels of investment. And evaluation came at the end, in the room, in real time... watching the festival operators respond to what we built.
The challenge of leading ten people
I'll be straightforward here: managing a group of ten is hard in ways that managing a group of three or four is not. The larger the team, the more surface area there is for miscommunication, for tasks to fall through cracks, for someone to assume someone else handled something. And as any team leader eventually learns, not everyone comes to a group project with the same definition of what doing their part looks like.
Some teammates showed up fully. Others contributed when asked but needed prompting. And a few, frankly, expected a good grade at the end without proportional effort. That's a real-world dynamic! It exists in every organization and navigating it without letting resentment derail the team's output is a skill you can only develop by actually being in it.
What I found was that the most effective thing I could do as president wasn't to call anyone out or micromanage. It was to delegate in a way that felt fair, matched work to people's strengths where possible, and created enough accountability through structure that the team moved forward even when individual motivation varied. Not a perfect system. But a functional one.
The challenge I didn't fully own until after
The second challenge is harder to write about. I was the final presenter. I knew that role was mine. And I didn't prepare the way the moment deserved.
The presentation itself was acceptable. I got through it, covered the material, answered questions. But I knew, standing there, that I hadn't put in the rehearsal hours that would have made it genuinely strong. My team had worked hard on this project. They trusted me to represent it well in the room that mattered most. And I carried a feeling afterward that I had let them down, even if only by the margin between a good performance and the one I was capable of.
Acceptable isn't the same as your best. That's an obvious thing to say. It's a much harder thing to learn from experience.
We didn't win. But when the festival owners weighed in and other groups presented their ideas, it became clear that what we had built was squarely in line with what they were looking for. Other teams also had very similar or the same ideas. That convergence told me something important: our research was done right. We stayed in bounds of a very broad brief, we found the real trends, and we translated them into something credible. Not winning doesn't undo that.
What I actually walked away with
This project taught me that starting big. Surveying the landscape before narrowing in on a solution isn't just an academic exercise. It's how you avoid building something clever that answers the wrong question. The trends we found around family programming, experiential activations, and audience expansion weren't manufactured to fit our idea. The idea grew out of them. That's the difference.
This project also taught me that real stakes change how you work. Knowing the founders would be in the room made every research decision feel consequential in a way a rubric alone can't replicate. That pressure is valuable. I want more of it.
And it taught me something about accountability that I think will stick longer than anything else from this semester: the moment you're representing other people's work, your preparation isn't just about you anymore. I didn't fully internalize that until I felt the gap between where I was and where I should have been. I won't forget it.
University Coursework
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Section One: Vision and Goals
About Me
Section and Semester: HTM 301 Spring 2025 Tuesday 4 P.M.
Degree Emphasis: Hotels
Current Job: Lead Members Lounge Server- Monserate Winery
Expected Graduation: May 2026
My PRINT : 9-4
The Ideal Hospitality Leader
There is essentially one reason why I decided to take the career route that I have thus far, and mainly for this one reason: the people. The hospitality and tourism industry presents a different operating style than others because its main goal is to create meaningful experiences through a true human connection. Unlike other industries, success is measured not just by efficiency but by emotional impact! The ideal hospitality leader has many underlying qualities that simply put service above self. For example, highlighting how guests are welcomed, cared for, and understanding how people feel. Good leaders excel by cultivating environments that balance operational excellence with genuine emotional intelligence. This is typically someone that can lead by example, take initiative, and create spaces for everyone to feel valued and supported. They emphasize adaptability, emotional resilience, guest-centric service, authenticity, and the ability to inspire a cohesive team culture. Leadership here is not about authority… it's about influence, vision, and empathy. The ideal leader is someone who can guide a team and guests through challenging moments with a sense of calm, creativity, and emotion. They create experiences that feel intentional and authentic, all while balancing business needs with human needs.
My view on leadership in this industry hasn’t changed too much, but rather it has been built upon. I have always had an ability to connect with others quickly through good conversation and a calm demeanor. I think my perspective has grown and shifted from having profit be the number one priority to making people the priority. I envision myself becoming a leader who others can rely on for both clarity and calm, who brings passion without chaos, and who helps others feel seen, supported, and motivated toward common goals. Good leaders are not simply just managers; they work for the people below them in a way that they serve to instill purpose and inspiration for a goal that is so much bigger than themselves.
Career Goals
As my time at San Diego State University draws closer to an end, I’ve started to reflect on the short and long term goals that I have for my career in hospitality. With graduation set for May 2026 and planning a pivot away from food and beverage, I’m aiming to step into a front desk role at a hotel to gain a foundational understanding of hotel operations from the ground up. I believe that this kind of exposure will help me build a well-rounded perspective on how different departments interconnect to create a seamless guest experience. With a strong work ethic and some grit, my hope is to move into a sales position within the year. I’ve always enjoyed curating memorable experiences, and I believe that managing group bookings or events could be an exciting avenue to develop my own style, build a reputation, and truly immerse myself in the dynamic world of making memories.
In the short term, I also want to continue gaining as much perspective as possible into the industry. I plan to leverage my CHIA certification as a tool to better understand hotel analytics, market trends, and performance strategy. Whether it’s shadowing sales leaders, sitting in on revenue meetings, or continuing to attend networking events, I want to surround myself with people and experiences that challenge and grow my understanding of hospitality from both an operational and strategic lens.
Looking ahead to the long term, I see myself diving into the intersection of hospitality and technology. What fascinates me is the amount of fragmentation still present in the industry, particularly among legacy brands that rely on outdated, on-premise systems. As artificial intelligence and cloud-based platforms become more prominent, I think the role of the human touch in hospitality will shift dramatically. My five-year goal is to become a strategic consultant for boutique hotel brands, helping them modernize their systems, reduce inefficiencies, and ultimately enhance the guest experience while improving profitability. I see a future in which tech doesn’t replace the human element, but enhances it. This will allow hotel teams to focus more on meaningful guest interactions and less on operational boggle-down. With so much innovation on the horizon, I’m excited to help guide that evolution and be a part of shaping the future of this industry.
Goals for My College Journey
1. I will help the Center for Surf Research add 2 more properties to their STOKE Certified profile.
2. I will get involved with 1-2 student organizations in my last year, with the idea of participating more and building my network of friends and future leaders of the industry.
3. I will study abroad over winter break 2025 or summer break 2026.
Section Two: Reflections
Simulations
My Perception and the Perceptions of Others
Over the course of Spring 2025, I had many different perspective shifts about myself and others- especially with the group activities that were done. I have always known myself to build a foundation when doing something new and find structure before heading in head over heels, but this semester allowed me to push my comfort zone and learn how to adapt to a situation quickly. I learned that I have a more grounded and empathetic approach to my problem solving, and I think that was ever-present during the simulations. My peers noted that it felt like my presence in the group was calming and reassuring, which can help bring together the group and foster collaboration to ensure that our project checklist was getting completed.
One of the largest AHA moments that came to me was when we participated in the PRINT assessment and learned about my motivators and unconscious motivators in my personality. I think that before this semester began, I had not tested my boundaries of comfort enough, and this class allowed me to center in on that perspective shift that was needed to foster stronger collaboration not only in school, but in my career as well. I learned through these various activities that it’s important to be both harmonious and distinctive in group settings to get everyone to the goal in a unique way. I also learned that being assertive in a group and bringing peace can both happen at the same time, but that it all comes down to intention and helping everyone find the common goal.
From participating in the mentor network, it was evident that this was an activity based around being well-networked and goal-setting… I found this to be a fun and beneficial way to get more connected to my peers around me and to also provide another lens of guidance as I enter the last year of my undergraduate degree. My mentor Patrick V. helped me in many ways get set up for success, and we ended up making a new friendship out of this all as well… He was there to give me great tips and insights with his growing career in the hotel world, but also gave me an outlet for me to be who I am… and we may have bonded over a beer or two (shout out Patrick!). Overall, I felt that this semester was a turning point and pivot for my personal and professional growth and created a strong foundation for what is to come. I was able to learn new skills and basic competencies that can be applied for the rest of my life…
Section Three: Competency Assessment -
Section Four: Development Activity Ideas
Create your own Kaleidoscope Development Activity Title: Mock Interview Night for HTM and RTM Students at SDSU
Background:
As someone who thrives in creating meaningful, practical experiences for others, I wanted to design an event that would not only strengthen my planning and strategic decision-making skills but also benefit peers pursuing similar career paths. Hosting a Mock Interview Night provides an opportunity to connect students with industry professionals in a supportive, structured setting while helping me develop event planning coordination, communication, and leadership under a real deadline. This activity also supports my desire to build a stronger professional network and mentor culture within the HTM department.
Description:
Over the course of the semester, I will collaborate with faculty, student leaders, and local hospitality professionals to design and implement a Mock Interview Night. The event will involve 5-10 industry guests who will conduct 15–20-minute mock interviews with students, offering feedback and networking opportunities. Tasks will include drafting the outreach list, securing professionals, planning logistics (space, timing, sign-up platform), and creating prep materials for student participants. I will coordinate marketing and track participation using a sign-up sheet released four weeks prior. Following the event, I will gather feedback from both students and professionals, and send a follow-up check-in to help students continue their development.
Success Indicators:
•Minimum of 15 students sign up and participate.
•3–4 industry professionals confirm attendance and complete mock interviews.
•Students report increased confidence in their interviewing skills through post-event reflection or survey.
•A final deliverable including summary reflections, challenges, and future recommendations for continuing this as an annual event.
