Travel pro

My husband entered me in a contest that was running for Mrs. America. That was in 1959.

You had to be an all-American homemaker. There were about 2,000 contestants and I was chosen as Mrs. Pennsylvania. I got lots of prizes and flew to Florida to compete in the Mrs. America contest. I came in third.

It was quite an honor to represent the American housewife. I was very pleased to do that because it's such an honorable profession.

I was one of 10 women in the United States responsible for hiring flight attendants for TWA, from 1970 to 1984. Back then you had to have the right height, the right weight, the right teeth, the right skin, the right eyes. They had to make a good first impression. The first two minutes is when you make an impression. I would have sometimes 60 candidates a day. It was glamorous. Ten percent made the cut.

The height requirement was 5-foot-2 and it was so important because you couldn't reach the overhead bins. I put them on a scale, which we were permitted to do then, but today I would be put in jail.

I see such a change. Oh my gosh, when I worked for TWA, if I got on a flight and one of the flight attendants had her hair in a pony tail, or an extra pin she shouldn't have on or her skirt was too long, I could have her grounded for six weeks.

I just feel it doesn't take any longer to put on a nice pair of pants and a shirt than it does to put on sloppy old jeans with a sloppy old shirt.

Airline deregulation was the biggest mistake they ever made. That will never be reversed. They had good manners with passengers and now they don't.

Oftentimes women would say to me: How can you leave your children and go to work? Because women weren't working nearly as much then as they need to now. I would say it's always the quality of time you spend with them, not the quantity. But my children never took second place.

I started a travel school with three students. I decided that young women and men needed a lot of training in the basics of travel. I thought I could teach a lot of them skills that would help them to get a job. When I sold the school I was graduating 1,700 students a year with 100 staff members.

Of all the things that I've learned it's knowing how to hire the right people. A good hire is someone who has a good attitude. It's all about attitude. It's someone who is basically happy inside.

Today I notice how seldom a young man opens a door for a woman. It's a nice touch, so why not do that? On the other hand, women don't expect it. I think our society is lacking in being more thoughtful of another person.

I started my travel agency in Naples in 1984. We're celebrating 30 years here. There were 60 travel agencies in Naples and Marco Island. Now we have about 10. I was able to acquire 10 agencies in about nine years.

In '95 and '96 the airlines took our commissions away. At the time we were a very large corporate agency. We're 85% luxury travel today.

After 9/11, our business dropped 50%. We decided we weren't going to lay anyone off. We're just going to pull our belts in and weather the storm. We sold everything in sight.

I think the economy is coming back. People are starting to travel again.

We don't consider the Internet as competition. People use the Internet to buy airline tickets. But if they're going to go Hong Kong, they're not going to go on the Internet. Many people in Naples who travel with us are very affluent and they don't want to waste their time researching to find out where they should go. Our staff has traveled to almost every country in the world. They can call us 24 hours a day. The Internet doesn't do that.

Spending a few days in London gives everybody a lift. My most glamorous destination is Monaco. You can gamble there. Once in a while it's kind of fun.
You have to realize you're taking a risk when you open a business. You have to have enough capital to keep you going because you don't get business the first week. I just counseled someone about this two months ago.

Be prepared to work very hard. Don't think you'll hire people around you who will do all work when you first open.

Be nice to everyone along the way. Don't be snippy or short. Everyone's important. Find the time to be nice to people.

Another thing I think sometimes owners do is they're afraid to let go of different responsibilities. Consequently they get bogged down and can't do the things they should be doing. I'm a firm believer in letting go.