We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Thais Rodriguez. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Thais below.

Thais, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

Success is subjective and is defined differently by everyone. In my eyes, success is staying true to your passion and embracing opportunities that allow you to keep pushing yourself and reach a level of growth that you didn’t even know were possible. That, to me, is success.

For me personally, I have always been one to take on a challenge. And as a woman in the demanding culinary industry, that challenge is always present. But it has never blocked my view of where I want to go and who I am and what I do, it has only continued to feed my curiosity of “what else am I capable of”. It’s important to have that, otherwise you will lose yourself trying to prove your worth to others.

When I first started at Marriott, I started as a Pastry Chef. I worked almost 2 years as a Pastry Chef, but by year 1, I already needed more. There was a hunger in me that needed something bigger, something different. For me, that it either meant I leave to work for a different hotel / restaurant as a pastry chef, but even that wasn’t enough for me. I wanted to be a Director. Of what? I didn’t know yet.
I summoned up the courage to go to my F&B leader at the time to communicate this feeling of being stuck and not knowing how to grow in my current role. I presented to him what I thought my options were, and he surprised me with his response. He proposed I step out of pastry and work on the line. I was taken aback by the suggestion at first. I didn’t even think that was possible: an organized and strategic pastry chef to let go of her managerial position and go on the line where you get drowned in ticket orders…no thanks! But then he painted the bigger picture that led to me growing beyond pastry, and in a world where it’s hard to find a chef who can do both pastry and savory, it all started to make sense. I knew I was up for the challenge, and that’s where I really took off.
I went from Pastry Chef of the hotel to Specialty Restaurant Chef of the beach outlet, the money-maker of the hotel, it was non-stop, but that’s where I realized my managing / leadership style is one of my strongest suits. A few years later, an opportunity arose for a Chef de Cuisine position for the hotel and that included being a part of a major transformation the hotel was about to undergo. I felt ready for it, applied, and got it. This renovation project is still one of the most talked about successes within the company, I was given creative freedom, my opinions were heard and validated in meetings, and I was given the task to create the menus and experiences for the different outlets within the space. And this is where I realized my creativity, techniques, resiliance, and leadership style were not the only things that made me successful in my career, it was my need and desire to continue to learn and expose myself to the unknown. It was my curiosity. My curiosity after this renovation had me wondering what is next? That led me to an executive chef position in Peru. And guess what, after almost 2 incredibly successful years there, the curiosity hit me again and said now what? That took me to a senior culinary manager position for a global restaurant and bar concept company. My point is, 10 years ago, I knew I wanted to be a Director. 10 years ago, I was a pastry chef in a hotel and now I am the Culinary Director for the entire region of the Caribbean and Latin America, and I just turned 36. That to me is success. its being confident in your goal and what you want, but also being afraid and taking chances during every step. That fear is the reminder that you really want it and the only way to overcome that fear is by going after it.

I used to roll my eyes when people asked me what my 10 year plan was, I thought it was such a cliche question. However looking back, I am so grateful to those who sat me down to ask me this, because without knowing your end goal, how do you know which step to take next? Now, I am the one asking that question to my teams because I am an example of what a 10 year plan could look like, and I want to be a leader who creates a path for those who want it.

My perception of success is a combination of passion, perseverance, creativity, and curiosity. Its how my career unfolded, and will continue to unfold.

Thais, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a Native New Yorker, born to Dominican parents and part of a family who spent almost all their time in the kitchen. I began my culinary career at my mom’s restaurant in New Jersey. I was studying to be a criminal psychologist, taking AP psychology courses in High School because I really thought that’s what I wanted to do. But after a busy night at my moms restaurant and being asked to make a dessert and seeing the guests happy reaction upon eating my dessert, there was no turning back. After realizing that the kitchen was my home, I went on to study Pastry Arts at the French Culinary Institute in NYC. Why pastry? for two reasons: dessert was the reason that guest smiled and I wanted to give more people that feeling, and the second, we were always cooking savory, I wanted to learn something else, and pastry, that is science, and I wanted to learn the science while mastering the art.

Currently I am the director of culinary operations and development for the Caribbean and Latin American region of Marriott International It is a very long title, but one that I am SO proud of. I have worked my *ss off and sacrificed more than most people know for this, and it feels really great to have obtained this goal through all the hurdles. I am a passionate workaholic with high expectations, tough but loving. I am very observant and internally process things before making decisions. My leadership style is adaptive and always evolving, everyone learns differently, i know I did when I was in school, and I feel that leaders should not manage everyone the same because we simply are not all the same.

Being a culinary director is not a one stop shop, In a nutshell, I lead the development of culinary programs, tools and resources, F&B sustainability, and food safety. I support our operating hotels through culinary programming, leadership development, menu development and initiatives to drive quality, guest experiences and financial performance. I support the design and development of new restaurants and the pull through of culinary brand differentiators (Marriott has 31 brands, all different, all have different culinary standards). In a nutshell.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

My creativity, leadership style, and work ethic. I don’t stop until I am satisfied, and my level of satisfaction supersedes the original expectation because I am a perfectionist and everything is never enough, I really am my own worst critic. Creative-wise, my brain does not know how to turn off…it is REALLY hard to focus sometimes because everything I see or hear turns into an idea or inspiration. It can be exhausting, but without that constant wheel-turning, I wouldn’t be where I am today. It is because of this that I enjoy working and especially enjoy working in a corporate position because I can strategically place my ideas in different folders of the business.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Managing a team is not like teaching a classroom. I am a visual learner, I always have been. And school was hard for me sometimes because of that, it just took me longer to understand and process what was being taught. Homework was hard because there was no google then and I couldn’t just search how to re-learn what I learned that day so that I can try to understand it to complete my assignments. Managing a team is all about psychology. Looking back, I don’t know how I thought I could be a criminal psychologist, I am an extremely paranoid person and I would not have been able to sleep at night. However, I do pat myself on the back for thinking that’s what I wanted to do and taking advanced psychology courses because it opened my mind to better understanding people. Creating and maintaining high morale in a team starts with the leader taking the time to know the individuals in their team as individuals, not as one. I know, one team one dream, but in order to get there, just as we all have different ways of learning, everyone has a different way of working and has a different source of motivation. It is up to the leader to know that, understand it, and use that to create a positive, productive, and inclusive work environment.
Another big one is involving your team in projects. How do you expect them to grow if they are not being challenged? As a leader, involving your team in some of the decision making or creative process is priceless, it gives them and open window into your brain, and if you are a good leader, they want to understand and learn how your brain works because eventually they want to grow into your position.
I love to see my teams grow into different roles, it brings me an incredible sense of pride.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thaisspeaksfood.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thaisnrodriguez/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thais-rodriguez-982a0016/