Kris Ndrecka

What makes me happy? Happiness to me is enjoying the little things in life; it's buying a new pair of shoes from my favorite store on clearance, or having friendly customer service when I'm getting my morning coffee from Starbuck's. It is enjoying a nice home cooked dinner with my family, and staying in on a Friday night eating chinese food with my best friends and laughing nonstop for hours. Seeing my loved ones doing well and being happy puts a smile on my face. Most importantly, making other people happy is what makes me happy.

My satisfaction from pleasing people is what led me to choose the hospitality field as my future career. Since I was 16, I've always worked in the customer service industry and have always enjoyed that face to face interaction with customers. My fascination with hotels also began at a young age. My family didn't travel often when I was a kid, so going someplace and staying at a hotel overnight was a real treat and I loved every second of it. In recent years, and since I've been at UMass, I've become more exposed to the hotel industry through my involvement in hospitality clubs on campus. I'm also having my first work experience at a hotel, as a guest services agent at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Hadley, MA.

My career goal when I graduate from UMass is to take a management position at one of the major hotel chains such as Marriott, preferably in the front office or rooms division, and then eventually work my way up to being the general manager. I'm a city girl so my dream is to work in a luxury hotel in a big city such as Boston or New York. My life goal is to have a good job in something that I actually enjoy doing and to enjoy my life as much as possible. s