Toni Reece: Hi there. This is Toni Reece, and welcome to the Get Inspired! Project for Berks County Living Magazine. Today I have Sheila Contento with me. Welcome, Sheila.
Sheila Contento: Thank you. Thanks for having me.
Toni: Absolutely. It’s so nice to see you.
Sheila: Oh, it’s great to see you, too.
Toni: All right. So, take a moment and tell us a little bit about yourself.
Sheila: Sure. I am a native of Berks County. I actually grew up in the Exeter School District area. After graduating high school, I moved on to college and actually was recruited to play women’s soccer for Elizabethtown College. I was there for a little bit, and it just wasn’t the right fit, so I opted to completely change speed and was accepted to Penn State University main campus in the spring of my freshman year; I actually graduated from there, but prior to that, did a little study abroad as well. I was in Australia for about six months under the Penn State umbrella.
After graduating, came back to Berks for a little bit and interned with the Reading Phillies; from there, moved on to the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs and was with them for the inaugural season. After that, ended up making my way back to Berks, and came back to the Sheridan at that time in October of 2008, and have been here ever since.
Toni: Wow. So, we are…
Sheila: We are. You know it! Football season can't come quick enough.
Toni: I know. Great. Let’s go into the Project. What does inspiration mean to you?
Sheila: To me, inspiration is having that spark. Something that really ignites a passion in you, and not just from what’s going on in your head, what you’re thinking about, but you feel it all over. You feel it to your core. It’s something that brings a fire in the belly that makes you want to do more, create more, be more.
Toni: So, it’s a visceral feeling? Is it physical? You know it’s happening when you’re inspired?
Sheila: For me, yes. For me, absolutely. I think for others it could certainly happen differently, but when I know it’s happening, I know it’s happening.
Toni: Do you know the last time you were inspired?
Sheila: Actually, it was fairly recently. I believe it was over this past weekend. It has nothing to do with work or anything like that, but it actually came to me on social media, of all channels. A friend of mine who I’ve known for a couple years, not only through GRYP, but also through my affiliation with the Reading Phillies years ago, Lindsay Haggerty. I don’t know if you know her or not, but she’s local to this area as well. Over the last couple months, possibly even year, she’s been really working on a side passion of mine, which is weightlifting, and she’s actually competing in U.S. Nationals for women. I’ve been following her quite regularly. She actually just had a competition most recently, and to me, that is extremely inspiring. I mean, she’s doing it for herself, by herself, and to watch her progress I think is amazing.
Toni: That just made you feel really good to watch that.
Sheila: It did, and it sparked something in me. It’s a passion of mine, and something that I just…I look to that, and it just puts me in awe.
Toni: That’s fantastic. So, how do you take that reaction when you know you’re inspired and you know that you’ve been sucker-punched with passion, right…how have you taken that feeling and put that into practice here in Berks County?
Sheila: I think my biggest opportunity to have that kind of portrayed at Berks would be through my job, of course. What I do and where I’m at very much has me in, I don’t want to say the public eye, but certainly a lot of corporations and customers and whatnot. A lot of people have had memorable moments at our property, and that gives me a lot of points of touch in the community in that sense.
I personally am a relatively young Director of Sales. I think I actually might be one of, if not the youngest Director of Sales that that property has had. I don’t look at that as a feather in my cap by any means, but more so a weight on my shoulders, and something that really puts me in a position to prove myself and prove our property and what we do and what we’re able to create. I have a team of four people, and I know that they look to me, and I just want to be that person that they need on the good days and the bad days.
Toni: So really, your practice is not only staying inspired with this weight on your shoulders, which I’m sure will turn into a feather in your cap…
Sheila: I hope so.
Toni: …flip that around…but to stay inspired for yourself, but then also to inspire your team.
Sheila: Absolutely, and I’m very fortunate with the team that I have. We are extremely cohesive. It’s a family unit, and I think that that is crucial really with any entity from an employment standpoint, because you really do spend quite a lot of time together. To have that almost sisterhood that we’ve been able to develop at the hotel right now from a sales perspective is amazing.
Toni: Do you find the inspiration not only from yourself and then inspiring a team in the workplace moving and dripping over to a customer experience?
Sheila: Oh, absolutely. I think that with what we get to do, we are a lot of times brought into some very personal situations, whether it’s someone doing a work presentation, or someone going through some hard times like perhaps a funeral, but also, those celebratory moments at a wedding. We’re brought into a lot of different situations, and it’s very humbling to be a part of all of these little stories that are being told, even if we are just a small chapter.
Toni: That’s fantastic. Who in Berks County inspires you?
Sheila: I’d have to say my husband. He’s awesome. He is certainly my best friend, but I think even aside from that, he is a teacher actually in the Reading School District. He teaches special education, autistic learning support. He does a job that I don’t know that I could do on a daily basis. He has made some very significant changes in quite a few family’s lives in the Reading area, and continues to do so. On top of that, he’s able to juggle being a high school football coach for Daniel Boone, and maintain his family unit. I think that he’s something that his work ethic, his focus, his drive…he’s definitely an inspiration to me.
Toni: What a tribute. Anybody else you want to give a shout out to?
Sheila: I think honestly, the girls on my team. We have been through quite a lot together, and even though I am the captain, if you will, of the ship, I think it takes a whole crew to make sure that it sails. I don’t know what I would be doing without them. They certainly are some ladies I can lean on and go to, not only from a work perspective, but family perspective as well.
Toni: It’s nice to hear that with women working with women.
Sheila: It is, absolutely. We need more of that.
Toni: We do, absolutely. So, Sheila, when you think about it, what would you like your legacy to be?
Sheila: I think I would like my legacy to be that I stayed true to myself and I didn’t let people with influence influence me. I have two little girls at home, and I know that they’re watching. I just want to make them proud.
Toni: How awesome is it to be able to live your legacy right now, in this moment?
Sheila: Yeah, it’s pretty cool.
Toni: It really is. Thank you for the interview, and thank you for showing up for the Get Inspired! Project.
Sheila: Thanks for having me. It was fun.
Toni: Absolutely.
