Juan Webster: Bridging the Gap Between Business and Community Through Social Impact
S7:E55

Juan Webster: Bridging the Gap Between Business and Community Through Social Impact

00;00;10;08 - 00;00;33;05
Rob Lee
Welcome to the truth. It is all right. I am your hostess. Rob, Holly. If you're looking for conversations on arts and culture, you've found the right place. Continue sharing, subscribing and making us the best in Baltimore today, I am privileged to be in conversation with the general manager of the Sagamore Pendry Hotel, the corporate director of Social Impact at Montage International.

00;00;33;14 - 00;00;46;07
Rob Lee
He maintains over 15 years of extensive, wide ranging experience in hotel management and operations and a deep understanding of the Baltimore market. Please welcome Juan Webster. Welcome to the podcast.

00;00;46;26 - 00;00;49;27
Juan Webster
Where I have. Thank you so much, brother. Glad to be here. Thank you for the opportunity.

00;00;50;05 - 00;00;59;14
Rob Lee
Absolutely glad to have you on. I said that introduced introduction quite well as as if I read it in copy and pasted it off of a bio.

00;01;00;26 - 00;01;01;14
Juan Webster
There you are.

00;01;01;29 - 00;01;26;21
Rob Lee
Absolutely. So. Before we get too deep into the podcast, I like to offer up the opportunity for the guests to really, you know, share share their stories. So give us the one Webster story. Like some of those highlights that ultimately brings you to where you're at now and kind of being one of the go to people when it comes to like hospitality locally and when it comes to this kind of conversation around social impact.

00;01;26;22 - 00;01;34;05
Rob Lee
So could you share your story with us and in there, if you could pepper and maybe that that first experience within the hospitality industry?

00;01;35;03 - 00;01;58;03
Juan Webster
No, I'd love to. And thank you for that for the opportunity to share more. So I always like to keep my stories simple. It's always challenging to talk about yourself. But I will say, you know, I'm from a small North Carolina town that I'm obviously very proud of because it it has really limited the the opportunity for me to remain authentic since since the early age.

00;01;58;03 - 00;02;20;21
Juan Webster
But, you know, I, I grew up in a small town, went to college and, you know, met great people, made great friends, did well, and continued to elevate. And in undergraduate, I didn't know that hospitality would be my future career, yet I just stepped on the scene as an entrepreneur and a party promoter and had a great lifestyle as a college student.

00;02;20;21 - 00;02;43;06
Juan Webster
And then as I got more serious and was required to get more serious, you know, I studied sociology and after graduating from UC Chapel Hill, started to look for kind of what was next to pursue a career in nursing. And I want to be a traveling nurse to go help people and find my way every three months or so and go to a new location.

00;02;43;06 - 00;03;08;12
Juan Webster
And someone introduced me to that and I did an internship. My senior year at the hospital at USC. So I thought that would be it. But then I applied at nursing school and started taking a few classes at North Carolina Central University, which was right down the street in Durham, North Carolina, HBCU. And from there, you know, getting a part time job at a hotel, you know, the party scenes can dry up when you think about it.

00;03;08;18 - 00;03;30;01
Juan Webster
It's hot for night to go for a moment. But my girlfriend and lady I was dating was is now. My wife was quick to remind me like, you don't have benefits, you don't have insurance, you don't have these things. It's like, Yeah, that was challenging me to be a real adult at that point. But, but the reality was, you know, I loved hosting and entertaining people and she was right.

00;03;30;01 - 00;03;48;25
Juan Webster
So I got a part time job at a hotel. Through encouragement from one of my best friends, I literally stop one day and applied to like 20 hotels. Thought that would be a good transition and someone said Your personality matches up. But see, I had no idea there would be a career in the future in hotels and you know, started there.

00;03;49;05 - 00;04;19;23
Juan Webster
I would fold laundry and check guests in in an overnight hold to like a limited select service where you kind of do all the jobs. Yeah, you know, that was my intro. And from there, as I'm taking classes, preparing for nursing school and to get deeper into it, I was introduced to a professor, the dean of the hospitality department, Dr. Beverly Bryant, who was a lifelong mentor and a real special person to me, influential in personally and professionally.

00;04;20;14 - 00;04;43;27
Juan Webster
But she also introduced me to national society, minorities in hospitality. That's in a smidge. And from there, my intro to a friend, this agent to an overnight laundry attendant turned into looking at careers and opportunities, especially for minorities in the industry. And I got a chance to travel. And the next thing you know, I was like, all in.

00;04;43;27 - 00;05;14;12
Juan Webster
And this hospitality thing. And I kind of had really never looked back that had a chance to go to a management training program in Houston, Texas, with interstate hotels represented the Marriott West Loop by the Galleria and Bright and H-Town and, you know, came back and continued to elevate, moved around in a couple of different roles and ultimately landed an opportunity to get introduced to the luxury sector of hospitality at one of North Carolina's first five star, Bob Diamond Resort, which is the UMSTEAD Hotel and Spa.

00;05;14;12 - 00;05;32;27
Juan Webster
And I went in in a position in a role that, you know, I thought I was overqualified for, but I wanted to get in there. Right. And so from there, you know, we just continued to level up, went from the Homestead Hotel Spa to the Hill, Dermot, Duke University. At that point I raised my hands. I think I could do more, I can do greater.

00;05;32;28 - 00;05;56;26
Juan Webster
So Sammy up with snacks were opportunities and I had this list of places to look and Baltimore was on the list. Now, first, I didn't choose Baltimore. I was like, I'm not going to Baltimore but see all these other great cities. But then looking deeper into the opportunity, it was probably the toughest opportunity on the list. And I remember one of my mentors always said, You have to be willing to take the most challenging roles.

00;05;58;03 - 00;06;16;00
Juan Webster
I got the opportunity to look at Baltimore from a different lens and, you know, stand up for thinking it would be an 18 month assignment. You know, be in, be out, do my job, get that hotel into good standing and, you know, make your way. And then the company at the time was like, well, come and take this opportunity.

00;06;16;00 - 00;06;35;08
Juan Webster
We can look at placement anywhere else you want to go to, kind of around around the country was a great it's not a bad deal. We'll look into it. And so I come to Baltimore. But what it did for me was really kind of I would say grow me up in the industry. It allowed me to like, you know, experience some things that I never would experience before.

00;06;35;20 - 00;06;58;03
Juan Webster
I met a great group of people. We built a special bond, and that hotel became like a family, which is really a reflection of Baltimore meant to me. In that chapter, Baltimore turned out to be the most challenging chapter of my career, personally and professionally. And if I'm from those experiences, next thing you know, I'm ten years in and I've been able to level up my experience.

00;06;58;03 - 00;07;21;13
Juan Webster
I've always been active in the community, even through the business community, through my career work, but as a personal passion, like giving back support for the communities in need and just, you know, trying to connect with humanity in any way that I can. But I that's what I did, first of all. Till then, I was able to go to the kitchen Hotel Monaco as a general manager.

00;07;21;13 - 00;07;46;23
Juan Webster
And then almost four years ago, I had the opportunity to join the segment page Baltimore Montage International as a general manager. And then as of January of this year, added additional responsibilities and elevated my title and experience to take on social impact for the company, the brand, and being able to lead the push for it from Baltimore. So that's the quick version now.

00;07;48;00 - 00;07;54;27
Juan Webster
Kelly And I'm here remaining authentic and trying to show up for people and for a purpose.

00;07;55;18 - 00;08;15;05
Rob Lee
I appreciate that. I appreciate you sharing that and walking us through your background in the abbreviated CliffsNotes sort of version of it. And yeah, you know, some people go a little too in-depth like, yeah, I remember this one point, but it's a whole I don't know if I need that, bro, but I appreciate that now.

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Juan Webster
You're welcome. Thank you.

00;08;16;26 - 00;08;34;20
Rob Lee
So I want to talk about late between the social impact sort of work and even the hospitality work. What would you say? The key thing about both of them, they kind of like overlaps maybe resonates with what work that resonates with you and maybe where they kind of intersect.

00;08;36;14 - 00;09;24;25
Juan Webster
Well, I think, you know what, service services, key service is something that allows us to connect the dots on both sides of it, whether it's hospitality, whether it's social impact. I think when you are dealing with humans, working with humans, and you're making it a intentional to serve humans and influence humanity, I think there's there's the overlap. So I think that there's there's a lot of things there that allow the passion to align at the end of the day, your help and you showing up, trying to impact the calls on both the job front in the day to day and actively engage and make an impact in that other area.

00;09;25;11 - 00;09;48;21
Rob Lee
Well, thank you. I think that we because we hear about like social impact, we hear about like impact work. And I think that it's it's important to have those distinctions and understand, like, how it maybe serves us and serves us in the in the work that we're doing. Because that's that's what makes it feel like there is more is I say skin in the game or more connection to it.

00;09;48;21 - 00;09;55;03
Rob Lee
It's like I'm doing this and you know, as a job and what I do this is how it connects that that that makes sense to me.

00;09;55;18 - 00;09;59;04
Juan Webster
I like that. Yeah. You're right. Now that's the recap. That's that's where it's at.

00;10;00;03 - 00;10;20;15
Rob Lee
So as it relates to your work, sometimes there's a a large body we're just exposed to like, you know, a peak of the the larger iceberg or what have you. We're getting just a little end of it. So tell me about when you know you've gone deep enough on a topic because, you know, you can relate that to the hospitality industry as a whole.

00;10;20;15 - 00;10;36;16
Rob Lee
And being a person of color that's representing an industry, being a black male that that's in the industry or even from a social impact sort of construct. So tell me about that and kind of diving deep and getting granular when it comes to a particular issue.

00;10;37;07 - 00;11;05;24
Juan Webster
Well, first, I really do believe my personal approach is that it's this kind of spirit led. You kind of feel that with within about if your point has been taken, if you feel like you can go further and sometimes you feel who the audience is or where the audience is, sometimes you have to level set and you recognize that maybe I can't digest too much with this particular audience on today, so I'll give an abbreviated version or I'll give an overview.

00;11;05;24 - 00;11;26;15
Juan Webster
And when there's times that dig deep you get you is not necessarily switching the message, you're going deeper on different levels of that message. But I think it is some it's a feeling that you can get. And then also, you know, when you've said too much, you know, when an opportunity to dig further. But it's all about that capture.

00;11;26;15 - 00;11;47;09
Juan Webster
For me, the real test is have you captured at least one? And sometimes that's all it takes is if you connect it with one person and you you feel like you have made a difference for me to impact what they felt the message. Sometimes that's enough to have that domino spiral effect that that one person can then impact more.

00;11;47;09 - 00;11;54;18
Juan Webster
So it just depends. And there's times when you've captivated the entire audience, the entire crowd, it's depends on where you are and at what moment.

00;11;54;18 - 00;12;11;10
Rob Lee
I agree with that. I, I had this is rare, but I had this, this thing where I went for a speaking engagement and I was speaking at my, the high school I graduated from from Baltimore. So everyone everyone judges people based on what high school they went to here.

00;12;11;10 - 00;12;14;05
Juan Webster
You can learn that really quick.

00;12;14;05 - 00;12;34;07
Rob Lee
So City, College City, forever. So I go there and I hadn't been there in probably 20 years. Right. And I'm looking at the students there and I'm trying to figure out like, what am I going for? What is my pitch, what is my angle? And I'm looking at it. I'm like, Oh, you were born after I graduated. So right there, that was a shock that hit me.

00;12;34;19 - 00;13;04;20
Rob Lee
But to that point of really getting deep and really getting granular, I was exposing like my feelings around why their creativity mattered, why their their thoughts, their, their, their contributions matter. And, you know, kids is a thing. And it was kind of initially it was kind of hard to get it through to them. But I noticed that, you know, as I was getting deeper and deeper into the conversation, it was it was beating them down in a way that's like no scars making sense.

00;13;05;03 - 00;13;17;11
Rob Lee
And at the end of it, it was several unexpectedly of the students that came over there. To me, it's like, Can I get your car? You can learn more about your podcast, can learn more about your work. So definitely what you describe there resonates with me.

00;13;17;20 - 00;13;19;17
Juan Webster
Yeah, I, it, that's it.

00;13;20;01 - 00;13;38;00
Rob Lee
So I read that your upbringing and you touched on that other small town in North Carolina helped inform your your mindset of like neighbors are like family and the importance to know your neighbor, you know, your neighbors. I was doing some deep dove and I feel like a lot of like online like stalking that was is. Wow, don't worry about it.

00;13;38;00 - 00;14;03;17
Rob Lee
It's truly fine. It's really fine. Why are relationships important between businesses and communities? And I think that's been much more evident in the last few years, especially with like, you know, COVID and and we're all in this together. So speak about the importance of that relationship between businesses and the community from from your lens.

00;14;05;00 - 00;14;47;26
Juan Webster
I do believe with this business or the community, one cannot find levels of success or elevation without the other. And I think that to have a long term business, to have a thriving community in order for it to be sustainable, you kind of need the two to go hand in hand. You need the community to be engaged and to be able to supported by businesses, business, create jobs for the community on a purpose that the community needs businesses to show that we are aligned in partnership and we're in this together.

00;14;47;26 - 00;15;04;23
Juan Webster
So it's a it's a support feature that that's that works both ways and opens doors on both sides. And I think that's that's the beauty of in the relationship piece in and building on either side allows both to grow.

00;15;05;05 - 00;15;22;15
Rob Lee
100%. And what would you say are three truths if you will, since we talk about the truth in us? Art here what are true? Three truths that have guided you in your career. Like just those sort of illuminations, those like you talk about a North Star, I guess is the North Pyramid.

00;15;22;23 - 00;15;51;15
Juan Webster
Yeah, know, that's good. I would say the first one is the family over everything. Because one of my philosophy is that I'm a strong proponent of family, whatever that means to a person. Is that always, you know, your relatives? But like family, a sense of family is super and that family has to be. My belief is that the family has to become a priority in order to find everything else to fall in place in life.

00;15;52;11 - 00;16;16;08
Juan Webster
The next one will probably be my whole push on. Real toughness wears a smile. I'll break that down for you one day. But I believe that I've learned through time, you know, the toughest people that I've been around. It used to be this whole hard core image or who were who who had the biggest reputation, who made you fearful or who could fall down and get back up.

00;16;16;09 - 00;16;46;27
Juan Webster
But what I've learned just through the years, the real toughness shows up through a smile. That's really hospitality, but that's as real as it gets, because I've been around people that have endured so much, right? Whether it's pain, whether it's trauma, whether it's grieving, whatever it is, significant things have taken place in their lives. I have more respect for those people that can still come in and smile through a situation and find a way to get strength from still finding a way, be hospitable to others.

00;16;47;21 - 00;17;03;21
Juan Webster
And that's really important for me. So I see real toughness, wears a smile on my last one, as simple as God is real. So those are family over everything. Real toughness wears a smile and God is real. Those are my truths that guide me continually and continue to evolve.

00;17;04;05 - 00;17;41;07
Rob Lee
That's what's great. It's it's important to have what, what, what those items are that you value. And they are always something that when you get lost, I think you can return back to them, to you to have that solid grounding and that foundation that really lead you to what that next step will be. I know that for me, sometimes I'm looking at maybe an opportunity here and in shifting that paradigm, always trying to progress and try and as you've touched on before, trying to level up and you know, people will talk about, oh, you're, you know, you get distracted or you never really focused on one thing.

00;17;41;07 - 00;17;43;12
Rob Lee
It's like I'm always interested in.

00;17;43;22 - 00;17;44;18
Juan Webster
How I move.

00;17;44;18 - 00;17;56;27
Rob Lee
What I'm doing to that sort of like next level. And for me, you know, being the guide of this thing, I know what I'm doing. May, might look different outwardly, but people don't know what's baked into it. Yeah.

00;17;57;27 - 00;17;59;05
Juan Webster
I agree. Yeah.

00;17;59;08 - 00;18;20;16
Rob Lee
Yeah. So this is this is an interesting thing, I think. And maybe if you have an example, if you've experienced this, that would be really cool. We've all heard about imposter syndrome. I know that. I've dealt with it and I deal with it on occasion now and seeing myself on like billboards and in magazines and in the like and like, if I belong here.

00;18;21;00 - 00;18;22;12
Rob Lee
Um, have you.

00;18;22;12 - 00;18;23;00
Juan Webster
Experienced.

00;18;23;05 - 00;18;26;25
Rob Lee
Imposter syndrome? And if so, how did you overcome or address it?

00;18;27;08 - 00;18;55;06
Juan Webster
I think at some point everyone is going to experience imposter syndrome. And yes, I have I'd say probably a common examples just showing up in the space that I'm in, African-American male, leading a luxury business and organization, and the level of a general manager and even now the corporate director of Impact is that a lot of people look like me in the space that we show up.

00;18;55;18 - 00;19;14;01
Juan Webster
And there's been times in the past prior to some of these new roles that I have, but in the past I wondered, you know, how much of me can show up and remain authentic? And the more I would get in my head, like, well, I don't know if they want to see the real me or all of me.

00;19;14;15 - 00;19;43;02
Juan Webster
I'm when I met with that, I think the biggest lesson is that what has allowed me to elevate what has allowed me to reach more people, impact more people is really authenticity. Remaining authentic, authentic and remaining humble to it, to a tune of like, I shouldn't have to numb down how I really feel. I shouldn't have to change who I am to show up in a particular space.

00;19;43;16 - 00;20;00;20
Juan Webster
And only that has allowed me to even reach more people. And it brings out the best in people when you're talking around people who probably experience some of this, it gives them a lot of encouragement and it forces them say, You know what, I too can do this because I've seen it. I've been on both sides of it.

00;20;00;20 - 00;20;27;01
Juan Webster
So yeah, I think the imposter syndrome is a real thing, but I think when people now want to go to where they feel like they belong and that's what it's all about, you're going to get the greatest out of people when they can show up and be themselves. And I think when we force people to, you know, numb down who they are, the more we do that, the less we get of not just what's real, but what the intention or what the real lesson is out there.

00;20;27;01 - 00;20;32;26
Juan Webster
So that would be, you know, kind of a quick version of some of the things that I've experienced.

00;20;33;02 - 00;20;43;09
Rob Lee
Yeah, I'm going to throw one your way that you're welcome to use because I already know it's great you don't want to put a governor on your greatness.

00;20;43;09 - 00;20;43;16
Juan Webster
Yeah.

00;20;43;23 - 00;20;45;22
Rob Lee
For two years, it felt pretty easy to say.

00;20;46;18 - 00;20;49;04
Juan Webster
Oh, Governor, you're great. I like it. I like it.

00;20;49;13 - 00;20;53;06
Rob Lee
I had a marketing background. I throw things every now and again.

00;20;53;06 - 00;20;55;08
Juan Webster
None of this gets you. I remember that one.

00;20;56;03 - 00;21;22;15
Rob Lee
Over the last few years, there's been more innovation, more talk around innovation, more opportunities for innovation. We have, you know, you know, opportunities that have been coming up with the tech market locally and and just doing things in a different way, new ways of thinking, including like social impact. So let's talk about learning and refund learning and reframing lessons.

00;21;22;15 - 00;21;38;27
Rob Lee
Could you share maybe a lesson or concept that you've learned maybe early in your career or even in like in school or what have you? Any training program that you're like, you were told it this way, but in practice you're like, That's not quite how we do that. It's a little different in practice.

00;21;39;01 - 00;22;01;18
Juan Webster
Oh, yeah, no, I you know, the one that comes to mind when I think about this as a really good question and, and I'll relate it to House because those are the places I mean, commonly I will tell you where I'm from. I didn't know a lot about luxury and growing up lessons, how I was fortunate enough to learn luxury.

00;22;02;18 - 00;22;27;19
Juan Webster
For a long time, I thought luxury was about name brands and high end stuff and things that I really couldn't afford or really afford to be a part of. And even now, like, I think often we we think about luxury, the word luxury, and we think about maybe fashion comes to mind, maybe style may be brand or preference.

00;22;27;19 - 00;22;52;18
Juan Webster
And I look at the high end names of Gucci, Louis Vuitton, or I'm talking V issues, Porsche, Lamborghini, or if I'm talking locations, I'm thinking resorts and island and these destinations that are like uber challenging to get to and only a certain percentage of the world will ever get to experience it. Those, those like our luxuries and but taking the luxuries and building into luxury.

00;22;53;02 - 00;23;21;11
Juan Webster
I think the biggest lesson what I would give you on this one, Rob, is the fact that my framework in the beginning was all around kind of a fear and intimidation of what luxury or like saying is unattainable or what through the years being able to work in this space. And what I've kind of started to shift the mindset, especially for our associates, for delivering service luxury is really not about how you look or an appearance.

00;23;21;21 - 00;23;41;27
Juan Webster
Luxury is about how you make people feel. And that's my being, is I really push and coach and preach that to anyone that I can encounter because it breaks it down. It makes it because you think like you have all those fine experiences from a stance of I look good or that place looks good, or maybe it's even intimidating to wonder, Can I afford them?

00;23;41;27 - 00;24;02;11
Juan Webster
Or Can I be a part of it? But end of the day, the people that are experiencing those, they wouldn't go back and support those brands or want to repeat those experiences if they were not made to be feel welcome, appreciated and belong, that there's a sense of how how do I feel when I leave pattern? I feel I arrived.

00;24;02;14 - 00;24;26;11
Juan Webster
How do I feel when I put this on or put that on, spray this cologne or when I had this particular drink, whatever that is. How did it really make you feel? That's what real luxury is. And I think that people need to know that that allows us to break down barriers because in the space here at the segment when you Baltimore, I want to make sure that, yes, this is an exclusive experience for sure.

00;24;26;23 - 00;24;47;22
Juan Webster
Yeah. But you can be for any person. You know, we're not looking at bank accounts and saying, okay, your bank account looks good. You can check if you saved up and want to splurge or you're using a bonus check or experience to come and have a time out on a town or a staycation or an experience. We want to show up for everyone.

00;24;47;22 - 00;25;08;28
Juan Webster
If you're coming home from a military after serving your country, we want to be homeless. And someone has said, You know what, I want to give you the best experience in town. You deserve it. You can sleep in, in a shelter or the streets. It doesn't matter to us. But when we say luxury, you want to make sure that in all sense of the word, it embodies how you make someone feel.

00;25;09;10 - 00;25;39;29
Rob Lee
It's yeah, I agree with that. It's and thank you for that because I think when I look back at any place that I've stayed, any place that I've visited, it's definitely a consideration. And I, for lack of a better, better terminology, I don't stay at bad hotels. I will stay in place. And for that kind of mid experience, I'm going for a place because I'm because I'm kind of I'm kind of a dollar general, a little bit of the coffee like of this place said, oh, they got scotch.

00;25;39;29 - 00;26;16;24
Rob Lee
Great. You know, how long is that steak age in the restaurant. That's literally the questions I'm asking. And you know I'm boozy is fine and but but yeah I 100% agree on it. And I think especially with the staycation and I've been able to stay at the Sagamore Pendry Baltimore more on more than one occasion and being able to really almost in a bragging way, but definitely it's it's a little braggy, you know, share with people what that experience was like, not about any particular thing, but the holistic sort of experience of feeling and feeling welcome.

00;26;16;24 - 00;26;45;01
Rob Lee
Right. And you know, in the first time going there, it snowed, you know, it was snowing, you know, and that was a set up and on the last time going there earlier in this year, you know, it was kind of like a really cool birthday experience for me and I guess some cool equipment and I was able to get the gentleman's facial around the way down there at the Healing Path Place and that that same neighborhood and that experience was the whole thing.

00;26;45;01 - 00;26;53;12
Rob Lee
And at the forefront of it was staying at the hotel and having that experience. And, you know, it's just overnight. But it was a really cool, cool staycation.

00;26;53;28 - 00;27;38;26
Juan Webster
Yeah. Not that. That's right. That. But you walked away because of how you had to feel. You still talk about that experience? Yes, absolutely. And that's that's the key. I always tell the team here, if I jobs at this point have to be we can't be satisfied with someone came they stayed could experience awesome we we can't really have a sense of pride until they're our guest are really talking about it after the fact that's when you know you've really delivered we want people to if you want to know that you have a fabulous experience if you want your reputation to be elevated, if you want to feel like, okay, we've made the mark, it's

00;27;38;26 - 00;27;43;25
Juan Webster
when you have people talk about the experience after departure, the best it for me.

00;27;44;07 - 00;28;06;05
Rob Lee
So with that I got one more real question and then we'll kind of stop and getting to these rapid fire questions I like to call the real questions are the standard interview. Then the rapid fire questions are just they're crazy. So this is the last kind of real question I have for you, if you will. Could you share what you're vision of social impact in you and what your role looks like?

00;28;06;05 - 00;28;22;15
Rob Lee
I know that you, you know, started it earlier in this year, but how do you see your role? Kind of like in terms of vision, in terms of things that you want to be involved with within the hotel, within that construct over the next few years? What sorts of work do you or are you excited to be involved in?

00;28;23;06 - 00;28;48;17
Juan Webster
Yeah, I'm excited about bridging the gap, mostly making sure that we are actually going to the community opposed to waiting on people to come to us. And social impact is not a call out to supporting people who need help. It's really sending the message that we all belong to one community. At the end of the day, it's this kind of kumbaya of unity.

00;28;48;17 - 00;29;16;01
Juan Webster
Yes, but where are the needs? Where are the opportunities? Where can we open more doors for people to walk through that makes that process easier? Where can we serve a true need without showing up in with the intention to talk about it? I think that we want to be really mindful and intentional about really just doing the work and not just talking about where we're going to show up, how are we going to do this?

00;29;16;14 - 00;29;39;04
Juan Webster
And for me, the impact will be felt when we reach the masses. And I want to be able to have an opportunity to touch on new, unique communities. I want to be able to stretch across the globe and open human beings eyes to how we've become better at life and being able to do that through a lens of hospitality.

00;29;39;09 - 00;30;05;03
Juan Webster
I think goes a long way. So showing up in a way that allows us to work with, say, say children and strangers or people that have been oppressed or people that have been convicted, whatever it looks like, doesn't matter. But I think there's a humanity for all of us to show up. My goal is to make sure that everyone can recognize that inner greatness that allows them to reach back, that allows them to give that allows them to show hospitality to a stranger.

00;30;05;17 - 00;30;28;15
Juan Webster
And if that means we get involved in school systems or we get involved in, you know, animal shelters, or we try our best to impact climate crisis or things that may be nontraditional, we'll do that, but we'll do it together. But the bigger part is listening to do most in this space and how I judge and measure our level of success.

00;30;28;25 - 00;30;48;27
Juan Webster
And if we're making progress, how well we can listen to the needs of the people. And the people are all people. Are we getting the ideas and thoughts of ways to make further impact from our own associates? Are we going into the communities that they live in, represent that they came from, that they can recognize? It would be great if we showed up here.

00;30;49;08 - 00;31;11;06
Juan Webster
Listening will be critical in how we elevate, and I think we all have an obligation in making sure the message is heard loud enough that everyone feels challenged. You know, we're not in a particular space where we're above anything else. But again, we also can't sit and wait on our phone to say, hey, we have an opportunity. Can you donate a gift certificate for this?

00;31;11;14 - 00;31;29;24
Juan Webster
I will do more than that. I want to go to that community. I want our teams to show up. I want to be able to really represent that room attendant that lives in a neighborhood where they may have a particular need and the whole team shows up. But I want to do that and not limit it to problems that are just in Baltimore.

00;31;30;01 - 00;31;46;21
Juan Webster
I want to be able to go to Hawaii and show for their teams because in different parts of the different different problems. Right. And so I think you can address those in different ways. But the unified message is we're going to do it together. We're going to do it because we want everyone to have a sense of belonging.

00;31;46;21 - 00;32;07;03
Juan Webster
Whenever everyone want to be heard, seen and felt, I think is important. The other piece of that is the diversity, equity and inclusion and belonging piece, and that's another big piece of it, but that's a part we're going to do collectively. So I'm going to go in and and, you know, clear the path so that people can come and support the mission.

00;32;07;03 - 00;32;24;03
Juan Webster
And we just create opportunities. We create some synergy. We we all live a life that we feel good about and that we we, we, you know, leave no stone unturned. I think there's a tremendous amount of work to do in the social impact space, but it shows up for everybody.

00;32;24;17 - 00;32;41;16
Rob Lee
Thank you. And I think that that is a good space for us to stop on. It's almost like that sound, not quite a mic drop, but it's close enough to a mic drop. So, so, so with that, if you'll indulge me, I got a couple quick, quick rapid fire questions. We're going to be brief with these. Don't overthink them.

00;32;41;16 - 00;32;44;03
Rob Lee
I tell everyone, don't overthink them. Don't overthink. Go.

00;32;44;20 - 00;32;45;26
Juan Webster
I'll get.

00;32;45;26 - 00;32;51;06
Rob Lee
So here's the first one. Summer or winter? What is your favorite season?

00;32;51;24 - 00;32;52;07
Juan Webster
Winter.

00;32;52;27 - 00;33;04;20
Rob Lee
You just like me. Good man. Go to snack. Craisins okay. We're having some similarities. Some synergy there. What is one of your nicknames.

00;33;05;09 - 00;33;07;02
Juan Webster
In Magic Oak?

00;33;07;28 - 00;33;11;24
Rob Lee
That's not sociologist there. I'm Wave Daddy. You know that my.

00;33;12;11 - 00;33;12;28
Juan Webster
Daddy here.

00;33;13;09 - 00;33;16;19
Rob Lee
Because I'm of course, I'm going to say.

00;33;16;19 - 00;33;17;00
Juan Webster
What do.

00;33;17;00 - 00;33;18;19
Rob Lee
You think about often in the shower.

00;33;19;06 - 00;33;19;29
Juan Webster
Changing the world?

00;33;21;05 - 00;33;26;03
Rob Lee
Oh, yeah. And lastly, street smarts of book smarts.

00;33;26;03 - 00;33;26;28
Juan Webster
Street smarts.

00;33;27;13 - 00;33;50;16
Rob Lee
Always undefeated. No one has ever picked book smarts. I love it. So with that, I want to thank you again for coming on to this podcast and topping it off with me and indulging the questions. You're off the hot seat and I want to invite and encourage you to tell the fine folks to listeners where to check out you your work, the Sagamore Pendry Baltimore Hotel, all of that good stuff.

00;33;50;16 - 00;33;52;07
Rob Lee
The floor is yours.

00;33;52;24 - 00;34;13;21
Juan Webster
Absolutely. Listen, thank you, Garo. I appreciate the opportunity a lot of work that you're doing to get different messages and voices out there. We need more of it. So thank you for shedding light on all the things that you do. So you can find me here. 1715 things street here. Of those points, that's the easiest place I'm usually here, but I'm also linked.

00;34;13;23 - 00;34;46;08
Juan Webster
LinkedIn, all social media platforms is my name. I'm not an imposter is one Webster. It's one from Madison on Instagram with a tribute to my hometown. That small dirt road in North Carolina. I always vow to give those people a lot of love because they didn't know where that is. I don't do my part to make sure we put Madison on the map, but Montage International, Pendry Hotels and Resorts, that that's where you can find and you can do all platforms you can see us socially publicly, and we hope to continue doing great things.

00;34;47;06 - 00;35;10;02
Rob Lee
So there you have it, folks. I want to again thank one Webster for coming on to the podcast. Sagamore Pendry Hotel. Sagamore Pendry Hotel. Sagamore Country Hotel. Bozeman. And I'm broadly saying that there is community in and around Baltimore. You just got to look forward.

Creators and Guests

Rob Lee
Host
Rob Lee
The Truth In This Art is an interview series featuring artists, entrepreneurs and tastemakers in & around Baltimore.
Juan Webster
Guest
Juan Webster
Fearless & Authentic Hospitality Executive, General Manager Sagamore Pendry Baltimore