Today we’d like to introduce you to Caroline Strauss.
Caroline, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I was born 25 years ago in Northern Virginia, to two of the brightest people I know. My Mother, Italian and French, grew up in Puerto Rico taking care of her six younger siblings, she is the most motherly mother you will ever meet. Moving to New York for High School, she met my Father, who grew up in a traditional Jewish family. My father’s Law career ended our family up in Jupiter Florida when I was eight. I didn’t have a picture-perfect childhood in any way, and when it came time for college, I moved quickly seeking a comfortable life I wanted.
I came to Miami alone and found it extremely hard to make friends and get settled here, I started bartending and serving in Wynwood to get me through the four years of college, towards the end I started growing into a management role at Oak Tavern in the design district. When I graduated, I spent about four minutes in PR before I realized I never wanted to work at a desk and needed to be more challenged. I went back to Food & Beverage and took the role as GM at Macchialina on south beach. Working with the Pirolo’s and Chef Craig Guinta made it pretty clear to me that I was never leaving F&B. After Macchialina, I took a job with Bar Lab, managing The Anderson and then 27 Restaurant, I took something much bigger away from that team. In 2016 we founded All Day Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting children in our community by spreading awareness through the food & beverage industry. With the support of Bar Lab, we’ve launched All Day in Miami, Chicago and Los Angeles raising a little over $20,000 in the past two years. What started as a fun way to give back has turned into a significant passion project with a nice following. Even as my professional career took me to Starr Restaurants to absorb the financial and operations knowledge I wanted, and on to opening Generator Miami as Food & Beverage General Manager, All Day is still a huge part of my everyday life. We are still hosting 2-4 events a month and planning trips to work with orphans in Colombia in early 2019.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I think anyone who chooses to build their career in F&B isn’t looking for a smooth road, we thrive off of stress and the constant need to fix things. In the beginning, there were a lot of struggles at just the level of finding a good company that was taking tips from your paycheck or just not respecting the humans that worked for them. As I started taking higher positions, the obstacles were more significant, my age and gender have been a roadblock almost always. Any company I’ve joined or even jobs I was interested in pursuing weren’t taking a second look after seeing that I graduated college in 2015. To be completely honest, almost no one knows how old I am, I took all reference to age out of my professional life. It isn’t until they hear my goal is to be Forbes 30 under 30 when I get an awkward side eye and follow up questions.
My advice for any young women trying to work alongside the men in this industry who are usually 10-15 years older than you is to just to keep your head up and play just as hard as them. You’ll have to work harder than them to gain the respect, but its worth it and every time a woman makes it, we pave the way for the next female generation.
Please tell us about All Day Foundation.
I am currently the F&B GM of Generator Miami and the Founder and operator of All Day Foundation. In both positions, I specialize in bringing the team and community together to focus on the bigger picture. Whether it be running the day to day operations of our two F&B outlets to gathering sponsorship and collaboration from local businesses to fundraise, its always about how can we do this better.
I specialize in development, both staff, and the community. I am pretty known for being the team mom, I take a lot of pride in being involved and supportive of staff personal and professional goals. Im usually in the front row at any staff competitions, past colleagues events, or the one to answer late night phone calls of how to handle issues at work. A business, especially in this industry is nothing without its team, and every team needs a mom.
I am most proud of as a brand and organization, how community involved we are. No matter how corporate of a company you grow into, the knowledge and coaching you put back into community members to take somewhere else or open their own spot is the most rewarding, We make promises for staff development, and we deliver them.
Who have you been inspired by?
My mother is my biggest inspiration, not only is she the hardest working person I know, but she also has always completely immersed herself in every culture. Im still amazed every time we walk down the street, and she’s saying hi to Haitians passing by in Creole, bringing me books from Japan to be in turned with the culture when I was working at Makoto or translating anything I need for work in Spanish. She has always taught me the importance of learning new cultures and being kind to everyone and giving back as much as you can.
In a professional sense, I look up to Emily Aguilar and Jen Chaefsky a lot. They are the definitions of a badass woman in this industry and having worked in places they opened, the systems and operations they have implemented are powerful and stand true to service and standards. They are bold, driven, and never hold back what they say or do.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3120 Collins Avenue
- Website: Allday-foundation.com
- Phone: 5614273462
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @caroline_strauss, @alldayfoundation
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