DDLS 2017 - Aida Mollenkamp '02

DDLS is held every Friday in the fall semester and is also known as “Hotelie Fridays” amongst Cornell students. Freshman Hotel School students make up the majority of the DDLS class but many sophomores and upperclassmen continue to attend because of the valuable lessons DDLS speakers share with students.

On November 3rd 2017, Aida Mollenkamp SHA '02 was our DDLS speaker. Mrs. Mollenkamp is the creator and founder of the Salt & Wind travel blog and company.

Victoria Taylor ‘21

1. I loved the DDLS speaker this week. She embraced the paradox of being a businesswoman. She was beautiful, outspoken, and funny, while maintaining a business professional manner. I also loved that she focused on tips and advice for being in this industry. I can get a lot of info about her company on her website and handshake. What she shared with us yesterday cannot be found on any website or information sheet. Her advice was invaluable and special and I appreciated her candidness and love for the Hotel School Family

2. After graduating the Hotel School, life will not be easy. I will still go through trial and error and failure. However, my Hotelie family and my real family will always be in my corner, ready to support me when I need them.

3. A common theme guided her throughout every very different job she had: fellowship through food. It is a great strategy, I may consider having.

4. How did Aida deal with the emotional and mental challenges of changing jobs many times and then eventually hitting rock bottom?

Uma Patel ‘20

1. Aida Mollenkamp is an inspirational speaker! Through her stories and advice, she proved to us that nothing is impossible as long as you follow your heart. She was very vibrant and outgoing, being around her fills you with energy and excitement. Most importantly, she is a very genuine person and believes in everything that she does.

2. She showed us the world of possibility there is after graduation. Starting off working at Goldman Sachs, she completely changed fields due to the dynamic nature of the school. There are no boundaries for the myriad of fields that we can go into. Also, hotelies are together for life and are present in almost every industry.

3. Focus on what you love to do - that being - do not confirm to a mold. At one point in her life she felt as if she was going to be living on the streets…she had hit rock-bottom. That’s the beauty of the bottom, there’s no more falling…it’s the bottom. She picked herself up and began chasing after her dreams. For life, it should be this same analogy. Do not ever give up on your interests and your passion, continue to work hard and pursue them without stopping.

4. What was the defining moment that inspired her to lift herself off the ground, get up, and start running again?

Alexandra Mantz ‘21

1. I really enjoyed Aida Mollenkamp's presentation at DDLS this past week. I thought she was very energetic, enthusiast, and engaging. I respected her honesty in her experiences with failure. In addition, I appreciated her love to celebrate life through food and travel with friends.

2. Ms. Mollenkamp changed my opinion in the sense that you do not need to know what you want to do with your career or life post graduation. It took her several jobs and experiences that eventually led her to starting Salt and Wind. Her graduation from the Hotel School allowed her to get a job at Ernst and Young, which led to a future as the founder of her own company. Her experience taught me that you can explore several passions even after you graduate.

3. Her discussion of the "Two F's", fear of failure, relieved me because her philosophy is that you need to take risks and be selfish in order to find your passion.

4. Out of all the jobs she had leading up to her own company, which one taught her the most about entrepreneurship?