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Daily Inspiration: Meet Amber Rose Powers

Today we’d like to introduce you to Amber Rose Powers. a Fora Advisor. 

Hi Amber, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
I started travel advising with Fora Travel in November of 2022, but the hotel/hospitality industry has been in my DNA long before then. I would say my stepdad, Bill, opened my eyes at a young age to the beauty of designing and creating spaces for others to enjoy. Every home he’s built has been specific to its location and for specific purposes intended. The purpose has always been to gather family and friends in a beautiful but comfortable atmosphere.

My parents have had vacation homes in northern Michigan (Harbor Springs on Lake Michigan) and at the beach in southern Florida (Naples) for the past 30+ years, so I didn’t spend a lot of time in hotels until I had a life-changing accident in September 2014. I was crossing the street as a pedestrian in Manhattan (where I had an apartment at the time) and a 33,000 ton bus hit me and threw me under it. It was honestly a miracle I survived, but it did have a huge effect on my life physically and mentally for years to come. I began to have to stay in hotels frequently to deal with the repercussions of the accident, and my awareness of personal space in a room as well as on property completely opened up.

I was in chronic pain and quite depressed at times, so the amount of light in a room, whether it had a bathtub, how quiet it was, whether the hotel had room service, and more became quite important to me. Sometimes I would be put in a room that wasn’t right for me and I’d ask the front desk to switch me multiple times until we got it just right. I was basically doing site visits of properties years before I even knew what they were! Then in 2017, after I had somewhat recovered from my accident injuries, I was asked to help open one of the first boutique hotels in Detroit’s recent renaissance, Detroit Foundation Hotel, as their Director of Lifestyle & Programming. I had no hotel experience, but I knew the local Detroit community well.

I literally even made up my title and wrote my own job description after a 20-minute conversation with the hotel group’s EVP of Operations, Angela Kuzma. Angela took a chance on me knowing I had an extensive background in fashion, entertainment, branding, storytelling, public relations, great relationship building, and communication skills. It was probably one of the coolest experiences of my life getting to help open a beautiful boutique hotel in the city both my parents were born, with so much history and modernism at the same time. I then went on to work with the hotel group (Aparium) at their headquarters in Chicago as their Chief Relationship Officer, where I helped open another property in Kansas City, MO, called Crossroads Hotel, as well as helping oversee 14 or so other properties throughout the Midwest.

I’ve been so fortunate to work with people who have given me the freedom to create new positions in the hotel industry and who have helped shape me into the woman I am today, especially as I’m growing my travel advising business with Fora. I took some time off of work while the pandemic was happening (and the hotel industry pretty much came to a halt) to heal from my accident on a greater level – body, soul, and spirit. I’m happy to report that after almost 9 years, I’m 99% pain-free and all of my injuries have been healed.

Maintaining a lifestyle where my body, soul, and spirit don’t get out of whack is ultra important to me now (as you can imagine), and I take that mentality of balance into my travel advising for my clients. I’m incredibly passionate about helping clients to travel well – and I’m so grateful they trust me to help shape their experiences.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
For the most part travel advising has come incredibly easy and organically for me. Clients naturally come to me because of my background in hotels, as well as because of my love for hotels and great experiences. They trust that I will guide them in the right direction and know that I would never put them in a hotel or in an experience that I wouldn’t put myself in. The struggles have been mostly on the booking side for me – learning systems and processes, especially for booking hotels overseas where my agency doesn’t have current relationships established yet. 

I’m learning to utilize DMCs (Destination Management Companies) in foreign countries because they have local on-the-ground knowledge, established relationships with many properties, and help to make the entire booking process for my clients much more seamless. Utilizing DMC doesn’t typically add to the cost of my client’s trips either, so it’s more about me communicating with and educating my clients on the best ways to book their travel.

Whenever I’ve encountered struggles along the way, the Fora Advisor community has been incredible. I have never encountered such helpful, genuine people from leadership to fellow advisors. I’ve just hit Pro status with the agency and it’s largely in part because of the team and other advisors who are so welcoming and willing to lend a helping hand. I already have some lifelong friendships through the cohorts/Fora forum and we haven’t even met in person yet. I’m very grateful that each advisor’s success is everyone’s success at Fora.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?

I specialize in boutique luxury + lifestyle hotels. Anyone who knows me knows the aesthetics of the environment around me are super important, as well as hospitality and service. It’s not about booking the most expensive hotel – in fact, I quite like getting a deal myself – but more about finding well-thought-out properties in unique destinations. I tend to choose smaller properties (100 rooms or less) as I want to feel at home while I’m traveling, but I’m not opposed to the bigger hotels that still manage to maintain a boutique feel. Health and wellness are a big focus in my life, so when I book hotels for clients I want to know if the bed + bath linens are quality, the rooms are quiet and light-filled, there won’t be a lot of noise to disturb their sleep, and if there’s some sort of wellness component on property or nearby. Bonus points if a hotel has a sauna for guests to use! 

I love it when a hotel has great food & beverage with local purveyors. I tend to find properties that locals love to frequent – whether to stay or to play (drink/dine/spa) – as it’s usually a sign that the hotel is well received in the destination, as well as a hot spot. What sets me apart from other travel advisors, is that I’ve worked in the hotel industry – on the property as a Director of Lifestyle & Programming in a boutique hotel, as well as in an Executive role (Chief Relationship Officer) on a corporate level. I understand how hotels operate as well as the roles within the hotel, so I am well-versed when reaching out to VIP clients or in asking for anything. I have learned that a simple phone call to the right person can work wonders, and most situations can be taken care of quite simply. I am not afraid to ask for what my clients need and at the same time I have the utmost respect when speaking to hotel team members.

Is there a headline here asking what I’m most proud of? 

I’d say I’m most proud of reinventing my career and personal life many times in my 41 years of life! This past year I got my real estate license in Tennessee as well as became a Travel Advisor with Fora. I’m essentially building two businesses at once while navigating living in a new state and city. I’m building a community around me and doing my best to plant deep roots here in Franklin as well as in Nashville. I am an all-in kind of woman so I can’t do anything less than 100%, which means major multitasking while running and building two businesses simultaneously that require around-the-clock attention in some cases. What I’m learning in the process, is that the two businesses feed each other and don’t have to be exclusive of each other. I often book travel for other Realtors at my brokerage (Parks Real Estate) and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of my travel advising clients eventually move to the Nashville area and I help them buy a home.

I’m also very proud of myself for never giving up after my accident. Many people in my position would have given up at so many points with the kind of pain I was dealing with. I chose not to be a victim and to be my own advocate – even pushing doctors at times to get to the root of the issue and deal with it. I’m grateful that I didn’t take no for an answer when they didn’t want to do surgeries or when they weren’t detecting root causes – because now I have full use of my body again and am not relying on others to take care of me. I’m so thankful for my family and the people surrounding me through those difficult years, and I am always here to help others in the area of pain, trauma, and healing. We can’t choose what happens to us in life but we can choose how we respond.

We’d love to hear about how you think about risk-taking.
I’ve basically lived my entire life taking risks. I’ve never been the person to stay close to home and play it safe. I left my hometown of Brighton, MI, as soon as I graduated high school to experience the world. I spent many years between NYC and Los Angeles – both places where I knew no one – pursuing a career in fashion and pivoting along the way. I have never been afraid to try something new, or course correct when something wasn’t working out for me.

School honestly did not prepare me much for the work I’ve done in my life thus far at 41 years old– it has generally been on-the-job learning and most of the time stepping up in situations where I truly didn’t have the training or know exactly what I was doing. My lack of fear has helped me to be super successful in all that I go after, and of course, I’ve failed at things along the way.

I am constantly learning and growing – even in the things I’m familiar with – because I never want to become stagnant or think I’ve got it all figured out. The places of pressure have been the most fruitful in my life – whether it be financially, outward success-wise, or in character building. I thrive under pressure which is probably why travel advising suits me so well.

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Image Credits
Emily Kinney – Emily Ashby, Creative Amber + Celeste,  Eron Powers, Green Hills Mall, and Amber Rose Powers

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