Student club spotlight: Hospitality Business Society

Patricia Nicolas is a student in the BS Hotel and Tourism Management. She is the president of the Hospitality Business Society, one of the undergraduate clubs at the Tisch Center that programs events and site visits for students.

How did you decide that you wanted to study at the Tisch Center? 

My interest in pursuing a hospitality career began with my love for food & beverage, and I wanted to find a way to combine my passion with a viable career. I was especially drawn to the Tisch Center program because it provided me with an education specifically tailored towards my career goals and involves a lot of hands-on learning and acquiring applicable skills. 

As President of HBS, what goals do you have for the upcoming year? 

For this upcoming year, we want to host more events with a variety of speakers and plan more site tours. Additionally, we hope to bring in people from all different concentrations by hosting events that appeal to each concentration, whether it is development, events, marketing, revenue management, or tourism management. We also want to expand our partnerships with other clubs such as the Schack Real Estate Club and the (graduate) Hospitality and Tourism Society as we believe that our events could attract members from those clubs. Since I am graduating in December, I am working closely with the e-board to delegate them the responsibilities that they will have to take on starting in the Spring. 

Are there particular events that you are most looking forward to? 

Next week, we have a Tisch Center alumna who works at PwC coming in to speak. This should be a very exciting conversation as we have a lot more students in the program gaining interest in hospitality consulting. Additionally, we are planning a Recent Grads panel because I think connecting with alumni of the program is extremely valuable to students.

What do you hope to take away from serving as President of HBS? 

Since this is my last semester, I really wanted to give back to the school and help students foster the connections that I made while at NYU. I also hope to develop my leadership skills that I can apply to my future jobs. 

How do you think that this leadership role will impact your experience at the Tisch Center?

It is really my first leadership role since I’ve never been president of a club before. Since you typically don’t really exercise that much leadership in an internship, it’s a very valuable experience to learn how to manage people. 

Is there anything else you’d like to share? 

The Tisch Center is a great place to learn because of the networking opportunities. In the future as an alumna, I hope to have the opportunity of giving back to the program and I’m looking forward to seeing how the program evolves and develops.