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Julie Baxter<br />
Concierge, Arizona Biltmore, A<br />
Waldorf Astoria Resort<br />
Phoenix native Julie Baxter always knew<br />
what she would be when she grew up.<br />
“It sounds old-fashioned now, but my<br />
mother was a homemaker, so I planned on<br />
getting married, having kids and taking care<br />
of our home, like her,” Baxter says.<br />
But, as the saying goes, the best-laid<br />
plans often go awry.<br />
“After college, I found myself unmarried<br />
and in need of a career, so I got into<br />
real estate,” she says. “Then it gets interesting.”<br />
At 31, Baxter ran off with her boyfriend<br />
to the U.S. Virgin Islands, where they<br />
started a powerboat business. By 33, she<br />
moved to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and<br />
started a parasailing business.<br />
“Americans would often come to me<br />
for advice on what to do while in Cabo. I<br />
became an unofficial concierge of sorts,<br />
offering sailing customers tips on the best<br />
attractions the city had to offer,” Baxter says.<br />
Given parasailing instruction wasn’t<br />
a career option in Phoenix, Baxter opened<br />
the newspaper and surveyed the “help<br />
wanted” ads when she made her way back<br />
to the Valley in the mid-1990s.<br />
“There was an ad for a concierge position<br />
at the Arizona Biltmore, which required<br />
expertise in helping people navigate activities<br />
and attractions at the resort and across<br />
Phoenix,” she says. “It married my unofficial<br />
position in Cabo with my lifetime of knowledge<br />
of the Valley, so I applied.”<br />
That was 23 years ago. Since then,<br />
Baxter has become an icon within the<br />
concierge community as an active member<br />
of the Valley of the Sun Concierge Network<br />
for 20 years and a certified Biltmore Resort<br />
Historian for 10 years.<br />
“And whenever I think I’ve seen and<br />
done it all, something comes up,” says<br />
Baxter, who fondly remembers one of her<br />
biggest challenges – planning a woman’s<br />
leap year-themed birthday party, which had<br />
to dazzle the well-heeled guests in attendance,<br />
including Diana Ross.<br />
This year brings perhaps the biggest<br />
challenge of her career to date: Celebrating<br />
the Biltmore’s 90th birthday all year long<br />
with monthly events, culinary programs and<br />
plenty of other festivities.<br />
32 <strong>Uptown</strong> <strong>January</strong> ‘19