Today we’d like to introduce you to Sophia Reller.
Sophia, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
After growing up in suburb-ville just outside of Los Angeles, I ventured up to Santa Cruz where I studied Intensive Psychology for four years. I always knew I wanted to continue my education after I got my Bachelors, but while I was researching grad schools and internships, focusing on childhood development, I had an overwhelming feeling that my heart wasn’t in it.
While I was in school, I started to work three jobs to pay for food, living, the sorority, and dance team. They were quick jobs; working the front desk at our school gym, tutoring, and hostessing for the best restaurant in Capitola. I quickly fell in love with the restaurant and asked to be promoted to bussing so I could quit my other jobs. After bussing for about a year, they promoted me to serving and I was in my element.
When I decided I wasn’t going to pursue grad school just yet, one of my colleagues at the restaurant mentioned that I should look into serving in Carmel-by-the-Sea, since I was contemplating moving down to Monterey. Little did I know, how beautiful this area of California was, not to mention I fell in love with Pebble Beach and Big Sur. After serving at a beautiful Italian Restaurant with the only rooftop bar in the area, I felt I needed to start looking for an “adult” job. There’s such a big cloud that hangs over every graduate’s head these days. It feels like an impending doom that we’re going to end up on the streets if we don’t utilize our education that we spent insane amounts of money on. It was such a hard, depressing time, and it didn’t help I was living in a converted garage by myself.
I started assisting in a hospitality marketing firm that designed and blasted email marketing for large brand hotels. There wasn’t much promise of growth, and I wasn’t convinced that’s where I should be. I was eventually reached out to by a food and beverage management company, that focused on essentially flipping the venue’s catering procedures and bringing more revenue through weddings. I became a wedding planner. From the sale to sending the bride down the aisle, I sold and coordinated 200+ weddings in one year. I ground 80 hour weeks and brought in over $1 million in revenue, and it was my first sales job!
I loved sales, but did I love selling weddings? I chalked it up to the 80 hour weeks and decided to accept an offer from the top resort in Big Sur to run their sales department. This ultra luxury resort was the change I thought I needed; I got to work with the top vendors in the world, and cater to celebrities where I saw the most gorgeous weddings you don’t even see on TV. I went from about 200 weddings to 40 and decided it was a great time to get my MBA at the same time. I knew this degree would help fill some gaps in my skills, and hone in on areas within my department and ultimately generate more revenue.
The “Big Sur” saying is that you’re either accepted into their environment, or it eventually spits you out. About two years after accepting this “dream job”, there was a fire that burned about 132,127 acres, and almost took out my resort. Then came the rain. Because the ground was dry from the fires, there were constant landslides. Finally, both bridges that led into the small town of Big Sur collapsed, and I was officially spitting out of Big Sur.
I was still about four months away from receiving my MBA, and I still wasn’t convinced weddings were my calling. I always knew I wanted to move back down to SoCal to be close to my Mom, so I took a position in North County San Diego, where I transitioned to corporate events. I still loved sales, but seeing all the seasoned Catering Sales Managers/Directors working 80 hours days, without any work-life balance was not settling. I knew I had to find something else ASAP, or I would blink and still be there, ten years later.
So, here I am, essentially back to my roots, where I first fell in love. In an industry that brings joy to everyone through good food and good conversation. OpenTable has brought so much joy back into my life. I freaked a lot of people out by not settling for a job, especially my Mom. She didn’t understand, she has always had a passion for her career (Ballet Instructor). Trying to explain to her that I didn’t hold any passion for weddings and events was a reflection on me, not the work environment that I was in. It’s a different time now then what it was 30 years ago when she was finding a job. It’s competitive, and we feel like we need to take what we can get.
I guess the moral of my story is, never settle. If you’re not happy or passionate about what you’re doing, or who you’re surrounded by, fix it. Opportunity is out there.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not been an easy journey. There’s this stigma that we should know exactly what we want to do, and what we should be working toward when we’re in high school/college. I graduated with an Intensive Psychology degree when I was 21 and I had ZERO clues what I wanted. I was broke, inexperienced in an “office setting”, and totally freaked out. All my college friends moved back home, while I decided to move to a brand new town with zero friends. Honestly, it was a pride thing. I had a lot of people telling me I was making the wrong choice by not going to grad school, or not moving home to save money, or they would blatantly tell me I wasted my education because I was serving in a restaurant. I wanted to prove everyone wrong, I just knew I would need to grow up and figure out it out on my own.
People are going to say things, and your parents are going to have an opinion. Life is not smooth or quiet. It’s loud and scary, and nothing is certain. You have to pay your dues, grow a backbone, hustle, and never stop learning from your mistakes.
What should we know about OpenTable? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I’m the Account Executive for OpenTable, in the San Diego Market. I meet with restaurants, educate them on what OpenTable does and how we can partner together to grow their success. I’m essentially their starting point before they join our network.
I love OpenTable. It’s not only a reservation app that helps everyday people find amazing places to eat and experience, but we also have amazing relationships without restauranteurs. We listen to their needs and communicate back to corporate what our partners are looking for. OpenTable is constantly growing and adapting, and we employees feel heard. I’ve never felt so empowered as a women thanks to my amazing colleagues and our awesome leadership. A company like this is so hard to find, and I know not to take it for granted.
Looking back on your childhood, what experiences do you feel played an important role in shaping the person you grew up to be?
I had a very disciplined childhood. My mom raised me and my autistic brother on her own, so there was no room for me to take the wrong path. Because my mom was a Ballet Teacher at one of the best dance studios in our valley, I had the opportunity to be apart of the dance community. It was a huge part of my life and I absolutely loved to dance and perform. I was dancing more than I was attending school (that sounds like I skipped school to dance, but I didn’t. My daily dance hours were from 6 AM-9 AM, then 3 PM-9: 30 PM). I loved going to competitions, maybe because I’m wildly competitive, but I also loved performing in our annual Nutcracker and Recital. Between dancing, school, and my strict mom, I learned that nothing is going to be handed to me. I had to work hard to get what I wanted.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://restaurants.opentable.com/
- Phone: 661-993-7991
- Email: sreller@opentable.com
- Instagram: @hashtag_soph
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