{"id":15631,"date":"2025-03-01T01:40:33","date_gmt":"2025-03-01T09:40:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/?p=15631"},"modified":"2026-02-19T17:09:43","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T01:09:43","slug":"mary-russell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/2025\/03\/01\/mary-russell\/","title":{"rendered":"Mary Russell\u2019s Path to International Hospitality"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Russell and her fellow Cougs visited Prague, Czech Republic, while studying abroad in Switzerland.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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Mary Russell poses in front of a botanical sculpture of a cat in Dubai\u2019s Miracle Gardens.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

When Mary Russell<\/a> (\u201923 Hosp. Busi. Mgmt.) began the path to earning a bachelor’s degree from WSU, studying hospitality wasn\u2019t on her radar. However, after a series of international experiences and a pair of internships with Four Seasons, Russell says she was inspired to pursue dual degrees in hospitality business management<\/a> and Spanish that led to a career in luxury hospitality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The three pillars of hospitality<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Russell says a combination of personal work experience and international travel opportunities helped cement her interest in the hospitality field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first of these, a trip she organized herself to San Miguel de Allende, gave her a taste of traditional Mexican hospitality, as well as her first luxury resort experience. For the first leg of her trip, Russell stayed with a \u201chost mom\u201d for about a week where she encountered the warmth she now associates with Mexican hospitality. It was routine for her host to invite family and friends into her home to cook for them and enjoy their company. For her final night in Mexico, Russell\u2019s mother surprised her with a one-night stay at the nearby Rosewood resort, her first and only stay at a five-star hotel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russell describes subsequent study abroad<\/a> programs through the Carson College to Dubai and Switzerland as rounding out her vision for her career. She says her time in Dubai was an encounter with extreme luxury and innovation, including a visit to the iconic Burj Al Arab, and a tour of the luxury hotel\u2019s royal suite, which featured a gold-plated television.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In contrast, her semester-long stay attending Cesar Ritz College in Brig, Switzerland, was more academically rigorous, but meeting and networking with peers from around the world helped her hone her professional edge. Russell refers to these experiences\u2014the warmth and personal connection in Mexico, the innovation and luxury in Dubai, and the professional polish in Switzerland\u2014as her \u201cthree pillars of hospitality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHaving these blended experiences has been so impactful to the work I do today,\u201d she says. \u201cI get to wear the hats of each pillar a little bit differently every day, but I definitely still think about all of those experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From fast food to five-star<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Russell says internships as a Carson student provided critical opportunities and insights, but she points to her early work in restaurants as the foundation of her understanding of the hospitality industry. While jobs at Taco Time and Birch and Barley in Pullman provided a different kind of professional experience, they taught her lessons she still applies today in her role as assistant food and beverage manager at Auberge\u2019s Bishop\u2019s Lodge in Santa Fe, New Mexico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Internships with Four Seasons in Seattle and Jackson Hole helped her segue into the luxury side of hospitality. She says these experiences, combined with her time working in the Carson College\u2019s Marriott Hospitality Culinary Innovation Center, allowed her to acquire the practical skills and knowledge to excel at any level of the industry\u2014and all of it was made possible because of the support and mentorship she received from the college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe all know you don’t have to go to college to do hospitality. You can start right out of high school,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I think getting a degree is so important is because you have access to those invaluable experiences like I did.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russell stays connected to WSU by sharing with students how a mix of work experience, international exposure, and Carson College resources helped propel her career in luxury hospitality. She often encourages them to seek opportunities like study abroad that expand their understanding of different cultures\u2014an insight that continues to shape her own career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are in the industry of people, so I think the best thing you can do for yourself is learn all about people,\u201d she says. \u201cNo one person is the same; no one guest is the same. It makes your job interesting every day\u2014you never meet the same character.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Mary Russell<\/a> (\u201923 Hosp. Busi. Mgmt.) began planning the path that would earn her a bachelor’s degree from WSU, she admits studying hospitality wasn\u2019t really on her radar. However, after a series of international experiences and a pair of internships with Four Seasons, Russell says she was inspired to pursue dual degrees in hospitality business management<\/a> and Spanish that led to a career with the luxury hospitality group Auberge Resorts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":[629],"featured_media":16335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[425,622,428],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15631"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/629"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15631"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18456,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15631\/revisions\/18456"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15631"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.wsu.edu\/edividend\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/author?post=15631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}