We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Natalie Hermosillo. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Natalie below.
Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Natalie with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
Growing up my father always worked two jobs and long hours to provide for our family and ensure we had everything we needed and most of what we wanted. Growing up I learned at an early age that if you want something you have to work for it. I started my first job in High School at 16 and for most of my young adult life held down two to three jobs while going to school and playing sports. I ultimately made a career choice at the very young age of 20 and have been in the restaurant industry for 2o+ years. I have worked in every position in a restaurant and am now a tenured Managing Partner. In the past I have worked 12-15 hour days, 80+ hour weeks but am now in my most important position as a Mom and have learned to cap my week at 50 hours. I manage a team of 130 and manage 12 million dollars a year.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I am a Managing Partner for a restaurant that has been in business for 33 years. We deliver premium quality food with exceptional service at moderate pricing. We have 18 locations throughout Southern California. I have been with the company for 20 years, most of our Managing Partners, General Managers and a few of our hourly team members hold a long tenure as well. As we continue to grow, we maintain a mom and pop feel with being familiar with our Home Office team and our owners.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Throughout my journey I have been lucky to have mentors in the industry that have always guided me or supported me in my decision making. One of the most impactful things that I think has made me successful is consistently asking myself daily, no matter how good the shift or day was, “What could i have done differently or what could I have done better?” By asking myslef this regularly I have been able to have continued growth and achieve the results that I am always trying to ascertain.
We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?
I know what I am good at, but more importantly I know what I need to improve on. I think its extremely important in any leadership position to continue to work on personal growth and understanding. When managing people you manage all types of personalities and are faced with all types of challenges. Having been in the industry for 20 years I am still learning new ways to manage people effectively as the generations of team members and what team members want to feel valued at work is constantly changing.
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