Three School of Hospitality and Tourism Management alumni named in top 30 in Canada

Three alums of the Ted Rogers School's Hospitality and Tourism program have been named as Top 30 Under 30 in their industry.

Christina Antonio, Hospitality and Tourism Management ‘15, Ellis Luo, Hospitality and Tourism Management ‘17, and Kimberly Crabtree, Hospitality and Tourism Management ‘19, were recognized at the 2023 Top 30 Under 30 in hospitality and tourism (external link)  in Canada.

The annual awards, hosted by Kostuch Media Ltd. (KML), celebrates and salutes the food service and hospitality industry’s top young professionals (external link) . This year’s awards were celebrated June 13th at the Sheraton Centre Hotel Toronto. The awards were launched in 2006 by the Ontario Hostelry Institute. 

“It’s so gratifying to see the quality of Top 30-under-30 winners improve year after year. It bodes well for the hospitality industry, especially at a time when labour challenges continue to plague many operators,” said Rosanna Caira (external link) , editor and publisher of Kostuch Media’s Foodservice and Hospitality and Hotelier magazines, and custodian of the program. 

“This year’s crop of winners was amongst the strongest in recent years and not only demonstrates their high level of skill and service excellence but also a strong passion and commitment for hospitality.” 

Creating memories

Being named Top 30 Under 30 was something that Christina Antonio (external link)  learned about while completing her degree at Toronto Metropolitan and had been on her bucket list ever since. 

After graduation, Antonio started her journey at the Fairmont Royal York where she was a Supervisor of In Room Dining, and progressed through that department to Assistant Manager and Interim Manager. In the years following, Antonio also worked in Reign Restaurant & Bar, Library Bar, Benihana and Clockwork. 

Her final stint at Fairmont Royal York was during the pandemic. Antonio and her team managed the banquet buffets at the Royal York, she explained. 

Over the summer of 2020, seven NHL teams stayed at the Royal York (external link) , conducted practices at the Ford Performance Centre and played at the Scotiabank Arena. 

"During Covid, when the NHL teams and players stayed with us, we were serving them breakfast, lunch, and dinner," she said. "It was quite an exciting time, especially during the rollercoaster that our industry was on at that point."

Antonio is now the lake club manager at Friday Harbour Resort in Innisfil where her passion is in creating memories for guests and her goal is to put a smile on people’s faces. 

Antonio’s CEO and Executive Team at Friday Harbour Resort nominated her for the Top 30 Under 30 - she wasn’t aware of it at the time. 

“It was definitely a very humbling experience because I had no idea that I was going to be nominated,” she laughed. “Considering that this would be the last year that I would be eligible for it, it was definitely a happy ending...it was nice to see that my experience, hard work, and the friends and connections that I’ve made along the way have brought me to this achievement. I plan to continue to develop my skills and experience, and hopefully inspire others to be a part of this exciting industry.”

Oh, the places you'll go!

Ellis (Yanyi) Luo's career has taken her across Canada, from Toronto to Whistler, to Vancouver and back. She says it was all worth it. 

After two years of accounting and finance management in university, Ellis (Yanyi) Luo (external link)  discovered that her passion was for travel and transferred to the Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management. She fast-tracked through the program and graduated in 2017.

Luo's first opportunity was with Marriott as a management trainee in the Voyage program. She spent a year in Whistler, B.C., doing Marriott International's Voyage program (external link) , a 12-18 month self-paced leadership development program that provides hands-on experience and training to prepare participants for entry-level management. 

“I did my whole year of management training there, where I started in housekeeping. I learned the basics: I cleaned rooms, scrubbed toilets, became a housekeeping supervisor, and then transitioned to the front office,” she said.

Following that, Luo landed a HR coordinator position at the Westin Bayshore in Vancouver, where she had really good leaders in her department who mentored and guided her. 

Now, as the university relations and recruiting manager for Marriott International, Luo gets to travel across Canada to share her passion for hospitality and tourism with youth. 

“Especially coming out of the pandemic, I’ve seen how hard it is to hire people in this industry and how much talent we lost,” she said. “I feel like I have a bigger mission, not just recruiting for Marriott, (but) to bring talent back into this industry… showing them that there are different career paths and great opportunities in hospitality. I think that has been really rewarding.”

When Luo was named to the Top 30, she was surprised, proud and flattered with the recognition. “I feel really proud to represent my company, represent my school, represent my race and ethnic background,” she said. 

Hard work and perseverance

For Kimberly Crabtree (external link) , a guest speaker in one of Chris Gibbs’ first year HTH 102 Service and Professionalism classes, stuck with her through her career.

“We had a gentleman come into the class who said whenever you see people working in housekeeping, that means they’re hard workers,” she explained. “I wanted to get that on my resume, to get some life experience.”

So, for one of her first jobs while still a student at the Ted Rogers School, Crabtree went to the Fairmont Chateau Whistler, to work in the rooms division, in housekeeping, where she spent 10 months. Following that, she worked at the Fairmont Royal York in the Library Bar and at the Ritz-Carlton. 

“The hotel industry is a very demanding one,” Crabtree said. “It’s a 24-hour operation, so I was working a lot then going to school to finish things, and then doing it all over again.”

She graduated in 2019 with a full-time job which led her to where she is today, the Director of Events at Oretta Hospitality Inc.  (external link) 

Crabtree always had it on her bucket list to be named to KML’s Top 30 Under 30. She was nominated by the director of operations at Oretta Hospitality and was so happy that she’d won.

‘I was really proud of myself,” she said. “My win wasn’t only beneficial for me but a lot of people around me and the company I’m working for as well. It’s definitely something I’m extremely proud of. It’s a full-circle moment.”

When she worked at the Fairmont as a student, Crabtree had a co-worker whom she looked up to be named to the Top 30 Under 30. 

“All of the talk in the hotel was about her, that she was such a hard worker, she was incredible, everyone respected her, and she was going to go really far. To see a woman in that position, when you’re 10-15 years younger than them it’s impressive,” Crabtree said. “Being able to say that’s me now, and having younger people in my company see me and say I want to be Kim when I grow up, that’s super cool.”

It was obvious to Crabtree that the 2023 Top 30 Under 30 cohort had worked through the pandemic and persevered through rough times in the industry, as they all had similar experiences and attitudes. 

“I think that’s the thing that really speaks to this class of top 30 under 30. Anyone who is still in the industry after going through multiple layoffs and being discouraged by all of the hard work that was put in, is resilient. They’re setting themselves up for long successful careers in hospitality.”

Kostuch Media Ltd.’s Top 30 Under 30 awards were launched in 2006 by the Ontario Hostelry Institute.