October 2019 Digital Issue
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TOP 30 PROFILE<br />
DANIELA<br />
ALHANOVA<br />
Assistant Food & Beverage Manager,<br />
Club Lounge, Sheraton Centre Toronto<br />
Story by Shelby O’Connor<br />
“Along with her undeniable<br />
talent, Daniela is always<br />
an absolute joy to work<br />
with. She’s a true team<br />
player and always<br />
manages to foster positive<br />
discussions and bring<br />
the best out of other<br />
associates and leaders”<br />
— MARCOS YU, DIRECTOR OF ROOMS,<br />
THE SHERATON CENTRE TORONTO<br />
Daniela Alhanova’s<br />
passion for hospitality<br />
began on her family<br />
trips to Marmaris,<br />
Turkey when she was<br />
a child. As a regular<br />
at the Marmaris Park<br />
hotel, she came to<br />
admire the property’s<br />
general manager and<br />
aspired to become a<br />
GM herself one day.<br />
When Alhanova<br />
was 14 years old, she moved with her family from<br />
the Kyrgyzstan Republic (Kyrgyzstan) to Canada<br />
to escape the aftermath of the Tulip Revolution.<br />
Uncertain about her future, she attended a university<br />
fair and discovered Ryerson University’s<br />
Hospitality and Tourism Management program.<br />
Remembering her hospitality aspirations as a<br />
child, she joined the program in 2010.<br />
While at Ryerson, Alhanova thrived, winning<br />
many awards and certificates for her efforts,<br />
including first and third place with her teams<br />
at two separate HTMSA Tourism Case Study<br />
Competitions. She also applied to Ryerson’s<br />
exchange program and was accepted for a semester<br />
at Helsinki, Finland’s Haaga Helia University<br />
of Applied Science to study hospitality and tourism.<br />
There, she got to work and cook alongside<br />
several of Finland’s Top Chef finalists.<br />
After returning to Canada, Alhanova graduated<br />
from Ryerson with a Bachelor of Commerce in<br />
Hospitality and Tourism Management and was<br />
offered a job as a front-desk agent at Sheraton<br />
Centre Toronto.<br />
Wanderlust struck Alhanova again, however,<br />
and she soon moved to Hong Kong to work as a<br />
management trainee at the Kempinski Hotel. In<br />
just two years, she helped implement several new<br />
programs and events and was promoted to assistant<br />
Guest-Relations manager and then Guest-<br />
Relations manager.<br />
Utilizing everything she learned from her experiences<br />
abroad and in Canada, Alhanova returned<br />
to the Sheraton Centre Toronto to take the reins<br />
as the assistant Food-and-Beverage manager for<br />
the hotel’s club lounge. There, she works closely<br />
with her team to improve the food-and-beverage<br />
menu while looking for future opportunities to<br />
showcase her passion for the industry. FH<br />
FOODSERVICEANDHOSPITALITY.COM<br />
OCTOBER <strong>2019</strong> FOODSERVICE AND HOSPITALITY 15