Amplifying Black Voices in Tourism and Meetings & Events with Alana Dillette & Tess Vismale

We’re kicking off season two of Inside Events with a different and important conversation.

On the heels of the Covid-19 pandemic, the civil revolution that has emerged in the United States has sparked an initiative to amplify Black voices. This isn’t something only needed in the U.S., but throughout the world, and in the meetings & events and tourism industries.

Host Megan Powers and Swapcard consider themselves allies. They wanted to start Season 2 with a conversation about how our industry can -- and should -- do better by our Black colleagues.

Tess Vismale has a very diverse background as an event professional and is particularly adept in event tech. Our other guest is Alana Dillette who teaches at a university in San Diego while focusing her research on understanding how systemic racism has shaped the hospitality and tourism industry. On this episode, we bring the profession and academia together, while having an honest conversation about necessary change.

Every positive change has to start somewhere, and this is an excellent start.

Our Guests...

Alana Dillette

Dr. Alana Dillette is an Assistant Professor in the Payne School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at San Diego State University where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses with a specific focus on leadership development. Her research interests include exploring issues around diversity and inclusion in the hospitality and tourism industry. More specifically, she studies the intersection between tourism, race, gender & ethnicity and is a leader with Tourism RESET as an initiative coordinator.

Currently, she is working on research to gain a better understanding of how systemic racism has shaped the hospitality and tourism industry for Black travelers and professionals. Dr. Dillette works to continue building bridges between industry and academia and can also be found online in publications such as "The Conversation" and "The Trip Doctor podcast.”

Tourism RESET

Hospitality & Tourism Management Program at SDSU

National Society of Minorities in Hospitality (NSMH)

Links to online features: The Conversation article; The Trip Doctor - Travelling While Black

Tess Vismale

Miss Vismale is an award-winning Chief Event Executioner & Event Technologist for iSocialExecution, Inc., an event execution firm, Tech Whisperer for live events for DAHLIA+ AGENCY, #EventTechPullUp Podcast Co-Host, Virtual Event Superhero, and a Speaker. For years she has educated the business events industry on EventTech. Tess is the first Black person in the inaugural class in her industry to receive the Digital Event Strategist Certification (DES).

Tess thrives virtually AND face-to-face, managing event logistics and tech merged with events. She is a Live Virtual Event Associate with ExecOnline. She was recognized as a member of Connect Association magazine’s “15 Over 50.” This honor highlights the top professionals in the events industry. Tess is a Certified Meeting Professional, Digital Event Strategist, and stage manager for TEDxPeachtree (9yrs).

National Coalition of Black Meeting Professionals - https://ncbmp.com

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