2024 Scholarship Recipient
Sasha Maida was inspired to pursue a hospitality career “to be in a position that allowed me to bring joy and create memorable experiences for guests. I want every guest who walks away from an interaction with me to feel as though that was the highlight of their day, because I went above and beyond to make them feel special.” She originally had her eye on event planning as career. However, after attending a college- and donor-funded trip to Florida for the Club Management Association of America (CMAA) National Student Conference led to a new set of career goals. Maida now aspires to become the general manager at a club.
Maida is the incoming president of the California student chapter of the Club Management Association of America. A 2023 alumna of the College of the Canyon’s hospitality program, she came to The Collins College of Hospitality Management with extensive experience that include stints in customer relations and sales for Santa Barbara Craft Jerky, a family-owned artisan snack company for whom she cultivated 300 retail accounts; and running her own restaurant, 805 Kabob in Santa Barbara.
Maida is currently gaining hands-on experience working on the Cal Poly Pomona campus in sales and event planning as a student sales assistant at Kellogg West Conference Center & Hotel, an 85-room lodging and special events facility.
