Q + A

Hear more from our conversation with Xzavia in the Q&A section below.

• How did you discover Aramark?

  I started with Aramark through college. When I got to my University I didn't know what I was going to eat, because my mom had cooked for me three meals a day. I went to the cafeteria, and the atmosphere was so heartwarming, it felt like a home away from home and I gravitated towards it. So I applied and became a cashier at the dining hall and from there, I got to know more about the company. My major seemed a little bit boring, and I was like, I don't really like this but I love my job around people.

• Have you felt supported to grow at Aramark?

  Yes, but first I had to realize that I can't expect someone to read my mind. When I started at the stadium I knew I wanted Club level, that's what I wanted to run. I envisioned it, but I never had that conversation with my manager. Then one day, it clicked, so I went to my boss. I asked "what is it that I need to do to align myself? What do I need to sharpen up on?" He hadn't known that I wanted to achieve that. When I had that conversation, within months, I saw myself being pulled into meetings just to learn the terminology of Club, getting familiar with the client needs for the department. But I had to ask, and I had to let that be known. So for Aramark as a company, the resources are there, it's just the individual using them.

• What is the energy like working in Sports and Entertainment?

  I compare it to a mini trip to Disney World, it sounds cliché, but it's true. I was not a big sports fan, it took me being in the venue to treasure that I'm making somebody's life long memory. On the small scale of things, people are like "Oh, you sell hot dogs and beer," but when you see that little kid and grandpa walking up the happiest they've ever been to buy that hot dog and beer, it triggers something. To see people excited in entertainment is something that's so hard to get anywhere else. To me, I think that's the thrill, that there's an event going on. And then there's the event inside event for our staff and that's it's own excitement.

• When did you realize that Aramark was more than just a job?

  I moved here for this job by myself not knowing anyone, it was just me. The Director of Operations invited me to Thanksgiving dinner because I had just started in that summertime. It was during the start of the season so we were interacting at work but I always make sure to give people that space, work is work and personal is personal. Not everybody want to be around you 24 hours! But that invite changed my outlook on things, you can have a professional/personal relationship with coworkers. It took that for me to say, okay I can be myself and this is an environment that's inviting and they want to make you a part of their work family. I think that was the moment where I knew I made the right decision.