Alumni spotlight: Domenica Herrick (Tisch Center)

Domenica Herrick graduated in 2017 with a BS in Hotel and Tourism Management at the Jonathan M. Tisch Center of Hospitality. She now works at Beautiful Destinations, a global travel brand dedicated to showcasing the positive power of tourism. Beautiful Destinations built the world’s largest tourism community on social media: over 20 million people in 180 countries turn to its accounts daily on Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube, and Weibo to be inspired by travel and tourism.

What has your journey been like after graduating from NYU?

I graduated in 2017 and was fortunate to receive a full-time offer from the sales internship I had at Beautiful Destinations. I started as an Operations Analyst which included various responsibilities like HR, office management, business legalities, and workflow process. Two and a half years later, I have become more involved with other aspects of the business, such as RFP research, project management, and sustainable tourism.

Can you talk about your current role at Beautiful Destinations?

While I still fulfill all of my Operations duties from the start of my career at Beautiful Destinations, I've taken the lead on any sustainable tourism-related initiatives, both internally and externally. This is a new area for our business, which is very exciting, and gives me an opportunity to use the tourism background I gained at the Tisch Center.

What are you passionate about in the work that you do?

What definitely has kept me at Beautiful Destinations is the overall mission that travel can have a positive impact. Taking a few tourism classes at NYU introduced me to the economic benefits, how big of a role travels plays globally, and the societal and cultural impacts it has, but also the negative things that can happen if tourism is not managed properly. Being at a company that aligns to that, I feel that everything I do for the company aligns to furthering the overall mission.

In what ways has your NYU experience had an impact on your career and shaped who you are today?

One of the biggest takeaways from my NYU experience was time management. During my four years, I took on as many classes that fit with my schedule while also having internships and being involved in extracurricular activities. While at the time might not have seemed like the best idea, this experience allowed me to develop my time management skills and balancing priorities. This has been truly helpful in my career, given that I have a variety of roles to fill, and being able to balance my time and complete my work.

What career advice would you give to NYU students?

Don't be afraid of new opportunities. When I came into the Tisch Center program, I wanted to do hotel operations, and my first internship was at Mandarin Oriental because it seemed right. When I came across Beautiful Destinations, a small social media company at the time, I was hesitant to take it on given that it was a startup and definitely outside hotel operations. However, I went along with it, even though it was terrifying to me to not follow along the path I assumed I should follow. Looking back now, it was definitely one of the better decisions I made in college. In sum, you never know where things can take you, so don’t be afraid to pursue new opportunities that come your way.