Meet Sterling: A Day with OHM’s Corporate Director of Sales and Events
In the world of hospitality, every detail matters, and it takes dedicated leaders to bring those guest experiences to life.
For Sterling, Corporate Director of Sales and Events at Oliver Hospitality Management (OHM), her journey has been shaped by creativity, adaptability and a deep love of connection.
Keep reading to discover how she found her calling in events and sales, the moments that motivated her growth, and what a typical week looks like as she supports OHM’s distinctive portfolio of hotels.
Sterling’s Start in Hospitality
While studying political science at the University of Arkansas, she discovered her love for the event industry, leading to her pivotal move to…you guess it: hotels.
Midway through her college career, Sterling made the jump from studies in political science to hospitality management after coming to terms with the fact that hospitality was where her true passion lied. She saw herself staying strictly within the food and beverage aspect of things, not expecting to find so much love and enjoyment in events and sales, but her heart eventually led her to this.
From Server to Sales and Events
Sterling got her start waiting tables, moved up to banquet server, and eventually became an Event Manager at multiple 21c Museum Hotels (AR, OK and TN), where she found a genuine admiration for hospitality and interacting with all different types of people from a multitude of backgrounds — and never looked back. This early exposure to high-level clientele helped shape her strong sense for high standards of service, excellent communication, and a hospitable attitude toward every guest.
Her most recent role before finding home at OHM, was a sales leadership position for the Bobby Hotel in Nashville, TN.
Having entered into her first event management role weeks before the beginning of Covid, Sterling faced many challenges in learning how to execute proper events in an ever-changing environment, as well as facing staffing troubles and new protocols.
These jobs and experience gave her a strong sense of time management skills, communication skills, and genuine hospitality, helping her to create memorable experiences for clients, no matter the setting.
Setting Roots at Oliver Hospitality
Having always been drawn to boutique lifestyle hotels, Sterling knew in her heart she wanted to represent a brand that displayed a true passion for the charming side of hotel life.
“When I saw the ad for OHM, I immediately fell in love with the brand as a whole and felt as if they embodied the side of the industry I wanted to be a part of at a corporate level.”
Shortly after being reached out to by a recruiter through LinkedIn, Sterling accepted the position for Corporate Director of Sales and Events and joined the team at Oliver in October of 2023.
Since then, she has found Oliver Hospitality to be an inspiring environment to work in and has most enjoyed the collaborative and encouraging leadership team. While there wasn’t any specific moment in time that stood out to her most, she knew she was in the right place after working alongside Oliver Hospitality’s VP of Sales and Revenue Strategies, Ashleigh, and witnessing her hard work ethic and passion for the success of our properties.
A Glimpse into A Week as Corporate Director of Sales and Events
Her role as the Corporate Director of Sales provides support and direction to all of Oliver’s onsite teams. Being on the corporate sales team, Sterling mainly works with Ashleigh, VP of Sales, Marketing and Revenue, and Sara, Corporate Director of Global Accounts, as well as each of the individual properties sales and events team.
Sterling’s weeks typically kick off with a check-in with Ashleigh to map out the greatest property needs and touchpoints for the week, as well as update her on the progress of current sales strategies.
She typically focuses on about 3 hotels at a time, honing in on what properties are in need of assistance the most at the current time. Lately, she’s been collaborating with the teams at the Oliver Knoxville, The Lodge at Marconi, and Hotel Clermont in Atlanta, however, this can be ever changing.
Her duties are split between the corporate office (answering leads or client questions and reaching out to prospective companies and organizations to consider for future events and promotions), and onsite at the properties she’s supporting.
When on property at the hotels, Sterling spends adequate time with the teams assisting in the execution of our sales client groups and events to ensure we are creating an enjoyable stay, both for the client and our onsite teams alike. Some of these tasks include:
Developing catering menus and ideal service execution standards alongside the food and beverage team
Holding weekly check-ins with property leaders to stay ahead of guest needs and drive consistent revenue across locations
Overseeing sales inquiries to maximize bookings and increase revenue
Coordinating effective promos with the marketing and revenue teams to boost interest and awareness
Collaborating with the marketing team for new collateral to move the needle on new incoming groups and events
A Rewarding Career in Creating Memorable Experiences
Sterling has found a great balance in her current role as Corporate Director of Sales and Events
after working both execution of events and managing event teams, selling the venue directly to the clients, and the pre-planning stages of detailing out the events.
She also admires learning so much about what it truly takes to operate a successful hospitality firm and how to juggle a multitude of different properties simultaneously, each with different aesthetics and offerings, pulling in unique clientele to each hotel specifically. She feels motivated to tailor experiences to each property and market to create the most memorable experiences for guests and groups, whether they be onsite for a wedding, corporate meeting, retreat, or birthday party.
The thing she is most proud of, though?
Her ability to be flexible in the always changing and fast-paced environment that hospitality is and the strong leader and positive coworker she’s become because of this.
Growth is Never Out of Reach
With Oliver Hospitality being in an industry that requires swift adaptation, Sterling is excited by the ever-changing opportunities within the company, from team members expanding to fill larger roles to facing the challenges of the new incoming properties present.
“As the brand has grown we have brought on many new faces and personalities that help make OHM, OHM!”
Upcoming Projects in this Season
Behind the scenes, Sterling has been motivated to be a part of the development of our Lodge at Marconi property, because of how different and unique this boutique hotel concept is than any others in our portfolio (63 acres of rural state park land, in beautiful northern California with a rich history), as well being vastly different than any property she has ever worked for previously.
She has been able to collaborate with members of each department as Marconi has grown to ensure successful events and weddings.
Sterling is also looking ahead for strategic ways to build professional relationships in order to make lasting impressions and connections that benefit properties across the country.
Off the Clock with Sterling
After hours, Sterling spends her time residing in Nashville, TN with her boyfriend, dog and cat. While she’s great at creating fun experiences, she also loves making some of her own, by attending concerts and shows, getting into nature, cooking and traveling to new places.
If you’d like to follow her journey and learn more about her role, connect with Sterling on LinkedIn. Stay tuned for more behind-the-scenes insights of the OHM team members!