Esther Mutunga Lai

Hometown: Mombasa, Kenya

Internship: Asset Management Intern, HDDA 

Job After Graduation: Associate Asset Manager, HDDA

“I got introduced to hospitality industry at a young age, having my father work as the purchasing and inventory manager and also an uncle who was a general manager in various hotels. So I had a growing interest in it looking at how they dealt with people with so much concern and the spirit of service. 

The MMH program has absolutely prepared me for success. When I chose to study abroad I was looking to learn and experience something other than just hotel operations and event management that I had. I got challenged to do things like making marketing videos, making stories out of them for digital marketing, and writing articles to post on LinkedIn which I had never done before. I also got to learn about other areas like analytics and hotel real estate, which have paved the way to my current job.  

The best parts of the program were the fact that the classes were so diverse with many international students and we learned so much from each other.  The commitment from the faculty was extraordinary and the exciting projects that I got to work on were with real industry leaders and companies. This added so much value to the class content.”