The Quest to Positively Impact 5 Million People with WiHTL Founder and Former Hilton Hotels Exec Tea Colaianni

Tea Colaianni has never feared setting bold goals. As a child, she decided to become the Italian ambassador to Singapore. While her law and business career took her in a different direction, impact has always been the means by which she measured what she does.

Tea Colaianni has never feared setting bold goals. As a child, she decided to become the Italian ambassador to Singapore. While her law and business career took her in a different direction, impact has always been the means by which she measured what she does. Following an executive career with organizations like Hilton Hotels and Merlin Entertainments, Tea set perhaps her boldest goal of all: to make a positive difference to 5 million women and people of color across the hospitality, travel, and leisure industry globally.

Tea is the Founder and Chair of WiHTL – Women in Hospitality, Travel and Leisure, an organization whose mission is to increase women’s and ethnic minority representation across all levels of leadership in the industry. WiHTL has been joined in the effort by companies like Airbnb, Aramark, Compass, Deliveroo, EasyJet, Hilton, IHG, McDonalds, Nandos, and Virgin Atlantic. A keen advocate of diversity, in 2018 Tea rallied support to conduct the first ever research into female leadership across the HTL sector. She has set up and chairs the Race and Ethnicity in HTL Committee that focuses on the creation of best practices, tools, webinar content as well as raising awareness and improving educational programs. Tea is the Senior Independent Director on the Board of Watches of Switzerland Plc. She also serves on the boards of SD Worx and DWF Group. She has served on the boards of Bounty Brands, Criticaleye, Poundland, and others.

In this episode of What I Wish I Knew with Mike Irwin & Simon Daw, Tea shares her journey of impact, advocacy, and the determination necessary to blaze her own trail. “I really believe that no single company can make a difference alone.” She describes the process to engage enough companies to reach her goal of 5 million people.

Click here for transcript.

Connect with Tea Colaianni:

Website: WiHTL Diversity in Hospitality, Travel, & Leisure

LinkedIn: Tea Colaianni / WiHTL

Video Highlights: WiHTL Founder and Former Hilton Hotels Exec Tea Colaianni

“The goal is to impact 5 million people by 2025.”

“Tell that little voice to shut up.”

“Mentoring is so important.”