The Zenquest of Leaders with Host Jess Ollenburg

Dulce Ruiz-Moreno: The Zenquest of Leaders with Jess Ollenburg

Jessica Ollenburg / Dulce Ruiz-Moreno Season 1 Episode 7

Our featured guest this episode is Dulce Ruiz-Moreno, and we are talking new promise for the travel industry, as well as, lesser-known services available to travelers, global hospitality, coaching for success, “white-glove” service, zen through gardening, zen through cheffing authentic family recipes… and so much more.  Episode landing page, guest contact info and topic resources are at: Dulce Ruiz-Moreno: The Zenquest of Leaders — zenquest.online

Here’s a little background on today’s guest…

  • Dulce began her professional career while attending college and only 2 months after graduating high school. She shines among the youthful leaders we support on this show! 
  • While her original objective at MATC was to become a special education teacher, her rapid involvement in the hospitality industry guided her in a different direction. 
  • Dulce is now Vice President and General Manager for Interflight Parking Company, which manages multiple airports around the country including General Mitchell International Airport.                                        
  • She brings over 12 years of travel, hospitality, leadership, and management experience for a variety of departments such as operations, sales, marketing, and key administration. 
  • A strong and smart leader, Dulce was recognized as the top Regional Sales Manager for WallyPark Airport Parking nationwide, with over 500 employees, and during her tenure was promoted to various roles leading up to Customer Relations Manager. Dulce’s experience spans all aspects of parking operations including management of valet parking operations.
  • Dulce Joined Interflight Parking in July 2020 during the pandemic as General Manager for the Milwaukee Airport Parking management contract and was promoted to Vice President and General Manager in September 2021.   
  • She is responsible for the direction of the Interflight Parking team, the strategic development, and guiding the company’s commitment to continuous improvement and growth. 
  • Dulce serves as Vice President of Membership for the Global Business Travel Association - Wisconsin Chapter, a non-profit organization comprised of travel managers, airlines, ground transportation companies, hoteliers and technology providers. GBTA stays current on the hot topics of today's ever-changing world of operational, financial and other travel industry-related issues. 
  • Dulce recently joined the Wisconsin Airport Management Association and serves on the annual conference planning committee. She is committed to getting involved in understanding new and emerging travel management practices that may impact the airport parking industry.
Jessica Ollenburg:

Thanks so much for joining us. I am your host Jessica Ollenburg. And we are so excited about the reception to this show before we even wrap up season one. We continue to send grateful appreciation to our listeners and supporters. We humbly tell you this show continues to climb the charts and we credit that to our fabulous guests bringing great conversation, relatability and light bulb moments. Today we are talking with Dulce Ruiz Moreno and we are talking new promise for the travel industry, as well as lesser known services available to travelers, global hospitality, coaching for success, white glove service, Zen through gardening, Zen through cheffing authentic family recipes and so much more. Here's a little background on today's guest. Dulce began her professional career while attending college and only two months after graduating high school. She shines among the youthful leaders we support on this show. While her original objective at MATC was to become a special education teacher, her rapid involvement in the hospitality industry guided her in a different direction. Dulce is now vice president and general manager for Interflight Parking Company which manages multiple airports around the country, including General Mitchell International Airport. She brings over 12 years of travel, hospitality, leadership and management experience for a variety of departments such as operations, sales, marketing, and key administration. A strong and smart leader Dulce was recognized as the top regional sales manager for Wally Park Airport Parking nationwide with over 500 employees and during her tenure was promoted to various roles leading up to customer relations manager. Dulce's experience spans all aspects of parking operations, including management of valet parking. Dulce joined Interflight parking in July 2020. During the pandemic as general manager for the Milwaukee airport parking management contract and was promoted to vice president and general manager in September 2021. She is responsible for the direction of the Interflight Parking team, the strategic development, and guiding the company's commitment to continuous improvement and growth. Dulce serves as vice president of membership for the Global Business Travel Association Wisconsin chapter, a nonprofit organization comprised of travel managers, airlines, ground transportation companies, hoteliers, and technology providers. GBTA stays current on the hot topics of today's everchanging world of operational, financial and other travel industry related issues. Dulce recently joined the Wisconsin Airport Management Association and serves on the annual conference planning committee. She is committed to getting involved in understanding new and emerging travel management practices that may impact the airport parking industry. Welcome Dulce! it is really been a pleasure to collaborate with you on so many topics. I always enjoy our insightful and onpoint conversations. And I am thrilled to share some of this today with our listeners. Thank you so much for joining us today.

Dulce Ruiz-Moreno:

Thank you, Jessica. It's a pleasure to be here. It's an honor. I want to start out by saying happy birthday week. I know that it is

Jessica Ollenburg:

Thank you!

Dulce Ruiz-Moreno:

... you know I can't go on without saying that. it's a pleasure and honor. Definitely appreciate you considering me for this. So thanks.

Jessica Ollenburg:

I can't say enough how much I love our conversations. And again, I'm just so thrilled to share this with our listeners. There's so much value.

Dulce Ruiz-Moreno:

Thank you. I'm inspired by you. So I want you to know that.

Jessica Ollenburg:

Thank you very much for saying that. Right back at ya. Dulce, we're witnessing less and less disturbance to travel. And we're watching confidence in travel rebuild. Inter flight parking is the first and last impression of travel and delivers more service and assurance than people realize. We've talked about this. Additionally, you hold a leadership role with the Global Business Travel Association. What should our listeners know about travel today to get the best from their travel experience?

Dulce Ruiz-Moreno:

You know what travelers should know is that travel companies, anyone involved from airlines, hotel... you know, we're talking about rental car companies. Everyone really on a leadership role gathers regularly to discuss any of the challenges that approach into the industry. You know, one of them recently being the the Coronavirus. We're passing through that there's challenges, obviously, with travel disturbances, you know, we hear a lot about there's a shortage of pilots, there's a shortage in staffing. But nowadays, we're looking, we're looking for technologies, we're collaborating, gathering data that can help us ensure that travelers are having a good experience. So what travelers should know is that technology is their best friend, you know, there's so many platforms out there in any part of the travel process that can simplify their travel experience. Before, people would need to be at the airport in a within two, three hours, and you didn't know if you were going to fly out. Nowadays, there's constant notifications overall, as mentioned, in all the platforms to ensure that travelers are aware of any travel disturbances that happen. So you know, they should have that peace of mind that we obviously are working to ensure they have a good travel experience from beginning to end. And that means, definitely, and without a doubt, that it's all the way from just parking and pulling in into a garage, to you know, arriving at a hotel. Nowadays, with with AI, you're able to go ahead and make sure that you select you know, what type of room view you want to have. There's, there's just so much technology, and there's so much information out there that allows, you know, these travel management companies, decision makers, to go ahead and implement scenarios where travelers can go ahead and have a good experience.

Jessica Ollenburg:

And that's so important to know. And there's so many platforms, are you recommending, perhaps that the best platforms are going to be where the immediate bookings are, they'll probably get the most real time information. There are so many travel brokers, et cetera, that might not be getting real time pushes on your information, would you go straight to

Dulce Ruiz-Moreno:

the straight to the airlines straight to the pages straight to the, you know, to the airport websites, making sure that they're checking their actual arriving, making sure that they do their own research to the destination areas as well, to ensure that they are obviously setting themselves up for success.

Jessica Ollenburg:

You talked about... I wanted to circle back. You mentioned the shortage of staffing everywhere... Pilots. One of the things that we've been seeing more recently in these past couple years has been the timing out of crews. Is that more due to shortage or more due to the delay that it's causing? Or is it a combination of the two? And do you see this alleviating at all?

Dulce Ruiz-Moreno:

I think it's a combination of the two. I think that, you know, for example, at our airport here in Milwaukee, we have actually and in many other airports, it's very common, where we're actually reaching remarkable growth for this summer, remarkable growth for Labor Day compared to where we were, obviously, the couple of years prior. And, you know, I think we we're booking those seats, we're making sure that those flights are full, making sure that you know, they're on schedule. There is a cap, right? If there's not enough pilots, if there's not enough planes, then we're probably reaching our cap. So. So, you know, I definitely do think it's a combination of both. But you know, there's technical advancements that are being done, there's collaboration that is happening. So I definitely think that it's just making the airline industry think outside of the box and look for alternatives for travelers. You know, there's new ideas that had been implemented, you know, in some of the smaller airports, regional airports, where there used to be a connection, just the small flight, a direct flight, just a couple hours there had joined forces with local brand transportation to go ahead and just make that instead of a, you know, a plane experience. You go through prime transportation and without having to go through the challenges in house It's all directly through the airline. So there's, there's things that we are looking into just to simplify the whole experience and make it less of a burden for the traveler,

Jessica Ollenburg:

thank you for saying that you've, when we have talked, you've really been able to inspire confidence in where travel is, you've been able to share some of the exciting statistics about the bookings that are coming up. And that happened with with spring break, etc. And it just looks really looks like a, a rebound for the travel industry coming through a difficult period, and that the future looks bright.

Dulce Ruiz-Moreno:

Yes, I think that the crisis is, is it's leaving us, which is great. And a lot of it has to do with the fact you know, I've been listening to the news and articles and, you know, just constant on newsletters that go out and all basically states that, you know, we are tired of being at home, we want to go ahead, there's people that have not taken their vacation from two years prior, they don't want to go ahead and spend another year at home, we know how precious life is. And we want to make sure that we get to enjoy, there's so much to explore, you know, nationwide or you know, outside of the US and right now it's a good time to go ahead and take advantage, we want to make sure that we just enjoy that travel experience, it could be challenging on on a business travel aspect, you know, there was things were put to a halt to right, it was more challenging, because there's a lot of more regulations. But, again, as I've mentioned, with these global travel organizations, everyone's focused on safety of the traveler sustainability, and anything that relates to making sure that we are all moving on the right direction.

Jessica Ollenburg:

This is fantastic. Before we wrap up all of this wonderful news about travel, I do want to circle back to a few points I think our listeners would really enjoy. You shared with me some of the lesser known services and assurances that are available through Interflight Parking that people-travelers are not necessarily aware of. And again, this is the first and the last impression of travel. So it's going to be the beginning and the end cap of your experience. But what are some of the services that you'd like people to know about that they may not be taken advantage of as much as they could?

Dulce Ruiz-Moreno:

thank you for that. So travelers, when they arrive to the airport, they quickly come to assume that the airport "quote - endquote" manages everything from parking all the way to the entire experience and inside the terminal. And that is not the case. So Interflight parking comes in, we obviously manage the entire parking division in various airports, in what we do and provide, aside from maintaining equipment, aside from running shuttle and transportation. In our services, we go ahead and basically provide jumpstart assistance to the travelers when they're coming back. You know, there's times where they go on a you know, overseas trip and or they're traveling elsewhere for two weeks, their battery runs low, which happens regularly. And then they go ahead and are stranded. They think that they're they're stuck having to call a family member or having to call AAA, et cetera. We provide anywhere from jumpstart assistance, lost vehicle assistance, which happens also very regularly, particularly in the fall or winter. And that's because when you go in into this travel mode, you basically blocked everything and you forget right, which I've done that we learned our lessons where we start taking pictures of the area we parked. Thankfully, in our platforms, you're able to

Jessica Ollenburg:

(Laughter) I've done that. go ahead and mark down on our mobile app in the area that you parked and save that on your application. But, you know, nonetheless, we provide vehicle location assistance. So that is also another service that we provide. In Milwaukee. For example, we have an 8000 parking stall facility. You know, you don't want to be looking stall by stall trying to find your vehicle. So that is an alternative. We also go ahead and provide, as I mentioned, the tire inflations as well, you know, you're gonna you're gone for some time and we go ahead and assist with that. And believe it or not, there's people that make it to the airport, sometimes with a very low tank of fuel. And they basically arrive and they have no more fuel when they come back. And we are able to assist them with that as well. So it's those are some of the services that really enhance the experience. And you know, just changes everything overall in the in the travel experience, when they're coming back, you know, you're excited when you're leaving, or you're ready to get going, when you come back, you expect no less. So if that's what we're here for, and that is fabulous, it's really good to share that with our listeners, it's such an assurance to know that those services are available, you really can take a lot of the travel anxiety out of the travel.

Dulce Ruiz-Moreno:

And you know what one thing that I would like to mention to you is in the summer, this also happens and it's just something that I wanted to add on to because I remembered that often times, You know, you're leaving, right now we're having nice weather, you're leaving, and then you forget to put your window up, and you are parked in an outside lot, you know, not necessarily in a garage, but you're parked in an outside lot, we go ahead and if we notice any vehicle with the windows down, we go ahead and make sure we secure it, we actually cover it up so that your inside of your vehicle doesn't get damaged.

Jessica Ollenburg:

that's really good to know,

Dulce Ruiz-Moreno:

We add any type of assistance. You know, there's some times females that travel for business, and they don't want to be walking by themselves in trying to find their vehicle they can call the information desk or our main phone line. And then we provide that assistance where someone will pick them up and deliver them or drop them off exactly at their vehicle.

Jessica Ollenburg:

Oh, that is such a nice assurance as well. Thank you for sharing that.

Dulce Ruiz-Moreno:

Yeah, thank you.

Jessica Ollenburg:

I want to talk about your career arc. Earlier in your career, you studied early childhood education, and teaching. We've worked together to customize and deliver several leadership workshops which focus on creating an understanding of not just the how, but also the why of policies and practices. And of course, address your proper forum and time management. Tell us about your leadership approach and the responses you've gained from your team. What I have noticed is you've been able to staff a team and collaborate with a team where individuals absolutely reaffirm that they want to learn and they are appreciating new information and upskilling. Tell us about that. How do you make that happen? What's your secret sauce?

Dulce Ruiz-Moreno:

(Chuckle) Well, I would think having to be a leader since you know graduating high school and in college, I've mentioned to you my career path, I would definitely say having a servant coaching attitude, you know, when and just be able to show that you are acting with integrity with the staff and ensuring that, you know, you you care and you're wanting to see them grow professionally and in their career. I think that definitely plays an impact on on their behavior. You know, one of the things that I remember from one of my mentors is that in a we live in an everchanging world, and we have to be ready to adapt. And I think that passing that information to others, passing that information to our team members, that you know what parking was 20 years ago, it's no longer what it is now and new technology will continue to emerge. New initiatives will continue to come and ensuring that we are aware of those technologies and ensuring that we are implementing anything new that comes and you know we adapt is important. So I think that ensuring that the team understands overall, that leadership is really looking to continue to grow, continue to move forward with everything that is available to us.

Jessica Ollenburg:

That is very good advice. I would also circle

Dulce Ruiz-Moreno:

Yeah, thank you. And I'd say that listening back and say that in my experiences with you, you have been so wonderful in compartmentalizing the training and the knowledge transfer, and this is where a lot of leaders get stuck... answering to the why spontaneously, when it's not the most important thing you can be thinking about. If there's a fire in the corner, we don't call a meeting to discuss how to put it out, we put it out and then later, we might prioritize that. And you do a very good job of providing assurances to your team, when training and information and new knowledge base that will help them better succeed is available, how it will be distributed to them and when, and creating a compartmentalization where that can be mentally focused upon without bleeding into the other activities and priorities as there are mounting during the day. So thank you for that. You create somewhat of a safe harbor for learning. to the staff and their concerns, letting them know that their concerns are being heard is extremely important. And oftentimes, I say, I validate what you're telling me, I understand what you're telling me. However, it is not a top priority. And a lot of times, you know, they only see a portion, right, and we as leaders have to prioritize, and we have to see that 360 view, while they may only have, you know, a 90 and 80 or 180. And we have to see it all, you know what, and but also explaining to them explaining where we are in the process, you know, right now, I've gone through a couple of changes in software changes and vendors changes, you know, overall, in many areas of our business and a slow transition or a transition period that we can go ahead and all understand that we're going to have challenges and explain to the staff that, you know, challenges will come our way, but, you know, we have to record them, we have to know what they are, and look for ways to collaborate and make improvement upon either policies, procedures, and so forth, ensuring that we are maintaining the highest quality of service at the same time. And, and what I mean by service, Jessica, I don't only mean service of of the transaction based, you know, I want to make sure that service of our staff or our internal members, ensuring that they're being taken care of as well that, you know, we're listening to their needs, ensuring that we are coaching them and getting them ready to maybe our next project

Jessica Ollenburg:

internal customers

Dulce Ruiz-Moreno:

Correct. Exactly. Our internal customers.

Jessica Ollenburg:

Absolutely. Thank you for that. Dulce, you and I and so many of our listeners began in leadership and career progression very young, as a young female leader, what reactions from others did you experience? And how has it shaped your career and your leadership style? What advice do you have for young leaders today?

Dulce Ruiz-Moreno:

Yeah, thank you. You know, I think when you start leadership at a young role, you know, what some individuals may think is that, oh, you know, probably that you're not taking it serious, probably that, you know, you're going to change a career path. And this is just temporary. I'd say those were some of the challenges that I encountered, you know, but I would say what kept me on on my toes or what kept me on the direction that I'm leading, is being authentic. Be be authentic to yourself, and ensure that you understand and you plan you put you put goals, you know, understand the industry that you're in, understand what surrounds you and make connections. Network has been my best friend, networking, being open to learning about other industries or collaborating with other similar business type models, collaborating with, you know, people in the industry is, is very, very important. But another thing that I would like to mention is that accept feedback. I was lucky, blessed and had the opportunity to have mentors along the way that, you know, were great overall in in support of my career and they still continue to be. So, and just be open to that feedback, it's it's always good to know how others perceive you, it's always good to know where you can make improvements, and areas that you should probably invest on. So, yeah, but my number one recommendation would be just maintain yourself authentic.

Jessica Ollenburg:

That's really good advice. And as leaders, we need to be seen learning. Lifelong learning is so important. And it is so important to lead by example. If we're not seeing learning,

Dulce Ruiz-Moreno:

yeah,

Jessica Ollenburg:

why would people want to upskill they're learning?

Dulce Ruiz-Moreno:

Exactly.

Jessica Ollenburg:

So every day should be learning something new. And I know that I do. I see that you do.

Dulce Ruiz-Moreno:

I do. And, you know, as I mentioned to you, you know, every day there's there's new articles coming out, there's podcasts, you know, there's... We're just filled with information constantly. That it's at literally the tip of our hands. It's available to us where we can do our research, we have library resources, and just being able to, to learn to to invest, you know, your time and in areas that you can probably expand upon. It's also a nice thing,

Jessica Ollenburg:

agreed, agreed, and all the information coming at us that needs to be filtered. It's also part of that learning and that mental exercise, to not just allow anybody's chatter to be assumed by you is true.

Dulce Ruiz-Moreno:

Exactly.

Jessica Ollenburg:

And that in itself is a learning exercise to accept and filter, distill that down, select, discard. Yes. And be very active in our learning.

Dulce Ruiz-Moreno:

Absolutely. Be open and active. You mentioned the right thing, filter it. It's important.

Jessica Ollenburg:

Yeah, so agreed. Thank you. Here's the question for all of our Zenquesting leaders out there. We have learned that to optimize our capacity, we need to actively refuel our tanks as humans, before our tanks run dry. What do you actively do to refuel and recalibrate when needed? Dulce, how do YOU zen?

Dulce Ruiz-Moreno:

you know, it's it's interesting that you say that, and I don't know if this may sound as zen to you, but it's zen to me and what, you know, so... and so important, you know, reset and rewind, very important to me. I know that I work better when I come to work the office or when I attend meetings events, when I am recharged. The best way for me to Zen is Sunday. So on Sundays, I love to spend my day in the

Jessica Ollenburg:

Aaahhhhhh...... kitchen.

Dulce Ruiz-Moreno:

Go ahead, meal prep, get ready. I know that I am gaining time for the week by having everything ready. Nutrition is very important to me. I've learned that now as I get older. And cooking just allows me to take out my creative side my culture to make sure that I add the spices into you know, my whole cooking process. That's one way. Another thing that I enjoy for zen is sunset - sunrise, you know, a nice walk. And what I've been doing, but I haven't been able to do since I actually just came back from vacation is the going to the gym early, but it has to be early before I do any other type of activity, exercise 430 In the morning, get up, get ready, get ready to get going with your day. Definitely enhances productivity. So I feel accomplished when I do that. I feel accomplished when I am cooking. And I feel my tank just completely refills with the sunrise or sunset. So those are definitely things that I live for. And I get excited about and they help me definitely just recharge

Jessica Ollenburg:

thank you for sharing that. I love those. Cooking is my therapy too for all the reasons that you've said and also the ability to maybe go back into some authentic vintage family recipes that can be a real real trigger of relaxation and simpler, happier smiling times with with people you've loved.

Dulce Ruiz-Moreno:

Yeah, and it reminds you you're you're in the moment right when you're cooking your present you

Jessica Ollenburg:

Yes, it's engaging

Dulce Ruiz-Moreno:

well, you're just focused. You know, you're focused, you're enjoying, you're using all your senses to, you

Jessica Ollenburg:

agreed. So agreed. Thank you for that. And know your smell, it's, it's, it's definitely pleasant for me. And if you if you definitely want to go ahead and invest, definitely cooking on your time cooking, it's a good thing to do yes, the recharging is, is so important. And thank you for and your health that as well,

Dulce Ruiz-Moreno:

I probably would say that my Sundays will involve the cooking still, but gardening to in gardening, the type of weather where we are, just allows us to live live all four seasons, and definitely enjoy them. And I'm ready for summer, started gardening this week, and I can't wait to continue to see the progress and all the faces of my, my yard and you know, the front porch and my house. So, you know, I think that that just completely, completely helps me reset from my day to day tasks at work or in the office. Or helps me just go ahead and think of ideas as well. That's where ideas come up to. So

Jessica Ollenburg:

absolutely, we learn so often that the relaxed mind is a productive mind.

Dulce Ruiz-Moreno:

Exactly.

Jessica Ollenburg:

But to relax one's mind can be a real challenge. So I know for me, and for a lot of people and perhaps you it can be difficult to shut down or slow down the brain. So the way to reengage or excuse me to refuel, might be to engage in something with less Jeopardy so that it's more relaxing. And now you're focused on something that is pleasant, less risky. And and it's a switch of your sentiment, really, and a relaxation exercise.

Dulce Ruiz-Moreno:

Yeah, yeah, it's, it's, as you've mentioned, you know, it's a transition. And it's a smooth transition that helps you kind of calm down before you have to go back and start again.

Jessica Ollenburg:

I love that idea. Thank you for sharing that. How can our listeners learn more about Interflight Parking? And how can they find you,

Dulce Ruiz-Moreno:

our listeners can find me on LinkedIn, and can learn more about inter flight parking, and the services that we provide to airports via interflightparking.com or LinkedIn as well. As simple as they set it interflightparking.com. And where they can find us on LinkedIn as well by Interflight Parking.

Jessica Ollenburg:

Perfect, perfect. And we will have those links as well in the show notes in the landing pages.

Dulce Ruiz-Moreno:

Thank you.

Jessica Ollenburg:

Thank you so much, Dulce. Your insight, the discussion, it has been fabulous. It is always a pleasure to talk with you. I appreciate every chance that we have to talk and you are highly appreciated. Thanks for all you do.

Dulce Ruiz-Moreno:

You are too, Jessica, I look forward to continue to collaborate with you. It's always a pleasure to know that I have someone professionally that I can reach out to if I am in need of anything overall, as it pertains to employee relations, as it pertains to contracts, or even simply coaching. So thank you for that. It's it's a pleasure and I'm honored once again to be here and to say that and you know, it's it's more of a gift to me to be able to connect with you.

Jessica Ollenburg:

Oh, thank you for saying that.

Dulce Ruiz-Moreno:

Thank you

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