Joyce Galvao joined Duetto in mid 2015. An experienced hotelier, Joyce heads up our Customer Success teams in both EMEA and APAC. Originally from Brazil, but now based in London via a few stops in South East Asia, she is passionate about travel, hospitality and paella!
After first training to be a dentist and then a brief stint in Law School, we are very glad that it was hotel revenue management that Joyce finally sunk her teeth into as a career path, working with The Savoy Group, Maybourne Hotel Group and COMO Hotels & Resorts.
As part of our Women In History blog series we caught up with her to find out more about the women who have shaped her life, her time working for The Savoy Group, and the importance of embracing change.
What a tough question to answer! I have had the opportunity to meet so many inspiring women. I continue to be inspired and influenced by the women in my family - I am part of a very matriarchal family. I am inspired by friends who expand my knowledge and understanding of the world. By the female leaders who supported and mentored me in the early years of my career and by the women - older and younger - that I meet every day who remind me that the world is full of possibilities!
I don't have a specific woman from history that I think resonates with me, I would like to think that so many of them do! I am a feminist and I admire those women that had to fight to get what we now take for granted - being able to get an education, to vote, to work, to drive, to have an abortion, to have an opinion, to not fit a stereotype, to have more equality! I was never an activist and never rocked the world when I was young but I have always been so fascinated by those women that were changing history!
Growing up in a family of doctors and dentists in Brazil, I thought I'd follow that same path. That wasn't to be as I did not enjoy my first year at Dentistry School and left. I then joined Law School - I wanted to go into the Diplomatic Services. Just before starting my last year of Law School, due to some challenges in my personal life, I decided I needed a break and that I'd go travelling for a year. A year that turned into an incredible, challenging and rewarding 23 years! In 2000 I joined The Savoy Group's newly formed Revenue Management team. That's where it all started for me in the world of hospitality and when I realised that was my passion and that is what I wanted to be involved with for as long as I could!
The interactions and partnership between our teams and our customers. Our collective effort to drive innovation, create efficiencies, provide solutions to the problems we are presented with and constant learning something new. Being part of a team of dedicated, passionate and smart individuals is incredibly rewarding!
I live in the countryside with two teenagers, two dogs and a cat. We are just minutes away from a lovely nature reserve in Sussex so that's my daily walking route with the dogs. I have also been busy with a big house project which is nearly finished. Meditating has been a wonderful and calming experience and really made a difference to my life and I am sure to the life of all those around me.
Give yourself the freedom to explore different options and interests and embrace change - it can be a little frightening but with time you will learn to trust your intuition! Ask questions, ask for advice, show up and be curious! Find a mentor or several mentors - that made a huge difference for me! Doing what you love for a job makes that work/life balance truly possible.
Want to join a team that sees talent not gender, and believes in rewarding on merit alone? Check out our Careers Page for our current openings.