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1. Why did you decide to go into your profession? Working with great people: Besides the opportunity to work with fun and creative professionals who share my passion for this region, tourism can introduce people to new places and create deeply personal experiences. As destination marketers, we open those doors to new possibilities for our visitors, and each guest will hopefully take home a unique story to tell. Tourism is sustainable: It's my !rm belief that tourism—perhaps more than any other sector of our economy—provides economic, social, cultural and environmental sustainability. Tourism is a growth industry: Globally, tourism is an $852 billion industry, and Dauphin County sees approximately $2.6 billion of that annually. Career opportunities: ere are enormous career opportunities at all levels within the travel and tourism industry, especially for those who are driven to serve, advance and succeed. 2. What makes your approach to your job di!erent or unique? A primary goal for the Visit Hershey & Harrisburg organization is to serve as the leading organization for our local tourism industry. erefore, we are constantly pursuing new research and comparing best practices to ensure we remain cutting edge and relevant within the industry and among our top market segments. As the president & CEO, I encourage my team to focus on selling the strengths of our destination. While our area may rank as a third-tier destination compared to the major metropolitan areas surrounding us, we have a treasure trove of strengths and opportunities to sell this region as the home of Hershey and the commonwealth's capital city. 3. What's the most fun or gratifying part of what you do? Our business is all about people. It's not about widgets or spreadsheets. It's about helping people in our community grow their businesses, helping our guests plan their visits, and helping our clients plan their events. Destination marketing is also a highly creative area of the industry. We are creating messaging and imagery that sells our product—be that an experience, a weekend get-away, a tour or a festival. ere's always a new and creative way to sell our destination, to draw in visitors and to overcome any challenges we face. In the end, it's extremely gratifying to know what we do supports our community by attracting visitors to enjoy a special place where we live, work and play. VISIT HERSHEY & HARRISBURG VISITHERSHEYHARRISBURG.ORG 717.231.7788 MARY SMITH, President and CEO Women business in TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS March is National Women's History Month, the perfect time to honor the businesswomen of central Pennsylvania. Over the past several years, women increasingly have become a driving force in shops, oces and boardrooms throughout our area. We hope you enjoy learning about some of these women—how they started in business, how they succeeded and how they nd purpose, meaning and even fun in their work. Maybe you'll even decide to follow in their footsteps! SPONSORED CONTENT

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