Anthony Hunt-Davis: What an ‘Extra Push’ Can Do
Anthony Hunt-Davis — a Jefferson Houses resident — first learned about Urban Upbound through his sister who was familiar with our center in East Harlem. At first, he often came to our center mostly to utilize the computer lab and get help with his resume. When he came to look for a job, Anthony met Natasha Edwards — our then career counselor. Since the first time he met with Natasha, he was determined to look for jobs in only one field: hotel management.
Anthony’s enthusiasm for hotel management doesn’t come out of nowhere. When his grandmother came to New York City from the South at a very young age, she started her career in the city by working at a hotel. Anthony’s grandmother worked her way up and eventually opened her own hotel and restaurant — until one day, she had to give up her business to tend to her daughter, Anthony’s mother. Like many other young people in the 70s, when drugs and marijuana became an alluring fashion, Anthony’s mother became attracted to the lifestyle. When asked if he is carrying on his grandmother’s dream, Anthony answered in zeal, “I AM her dream — her legacy.”
Having been raised by his grandmother, Anthony looks up to her very much. Stories that she shared with Anthony about her experience in the hotel business gave him the confidence to build a career in the industry. Anthony would eventually work a few jobs outside of the hotel industry — he worked at each company for a few months, but ultimately he knew that hotel management is what he wanted to do.
Throughout his time with Urban Upbound, Anthony was very persistent to find a hotel job. He would contact Natasha one to three times a month and ask for hotel job opportunities. The trusting relationship that he built with his counselor, Anthony admitted, gave him the extra push that he needed to keep pursuing his goal. When Urban Upbound set him up with 4 hotel interviews, he did not waste his chance. Anthony received job offers from these hotels and chose to work at La Quinta Inn and Suites in Long Island City, saying “I felt the connection with the boss and I knew I could grow.”
Being able to progress and advance his career is very important to Anthony. Even though he got a better salary offer at another hotel at that time, he was looking at the bigger picture. He and Natasha worked together on setting his goals and planning his career in the hotel industry. “I want to own my own hotel (…) I wanted a job where I could take care of my sisters,” he said firmly. Starting out as a maintenance man, Anthony got promoted to front desk attendant and then front desk supervisor before he finally flew to Atlanta last month to manage an airport chain hotel — Days Inn — as a General Manager.
He attributes his successful career to his most important qualities: honesty, trustworthiness, and a hard-working attitude, as well as the struggle that he had to go through, “when you come from [a public housing neighborhood], you know how to adapt to any situation and make it yours. It’s something that they teach you in the streets, to always be alert, to always know how to get yourself out of the problem.”
Working in the hotel industry has taught Anthony invaluable lessons and skills that he brings everywhere he goes. He pointed out, “coming from where I come from, to be heard, you have to yell.” So, he learned from being a waiter — one of the first hotel jobs he had — that he needs to pay attention to his tones and hand gestures when speaking with customers, who come from all corners of the world and bring with them different attitudes.
Anthony has come a long way since his youth. He was in juvie for 4 months at the age of 17 and was made a provider for his younger siblings at the age of 22, after both his mother and grandmother passed away only two weeks apart from each other. Even though he has met a lot of different kinds of people and heard much wisdom, he said he will never forget the lesson he got from his counselor when he was locked up — a push that he needed to navigate his life in a different direction: “People, places, and things — you have to change all three, otherwise you will always be in the same place.” It’s plain to see that Anthony has taken this to heart, and Urban Upbound has been happy to support him in a quest to achieve his lifelong dream.
