Today we’d like to introduce you to Martha Madison.
Martha, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’ve always been a “people person.” Throughout my life, I’ve always gravitated toward team activities, group events, crowded places and big cities. I’m fascinated with people and have always thrived in kinetic environments. So, restaurants and hospitality was a natural fit for me. I started working in restaurants as a teenager and, when I moved to NYC to study theatre, I supported my acting habit by bartending in busy restaurants throughout the city.
Over time, I worked my way up the ranks into management and really enjoyed the organizational aspect of the job. I found I was comfortable setting up systems and managing financials as well as interacting with guests and training new staff members. I moved to Los Angeles in 2003 and happened upon a restaurant construction site where I was hired to open a funky, new restaurant in Hollywood named Luna Park (the sister restaurant to the first location in San Francisco). This is where I met my husband, AJ Gilbert. He was the owner, and this was his third restaurant (at the time). In 2004, I booked a contract role on “Days of Our Lives,” and left Luna Park to work on the show full time. AJ and I married in the summer of 2007, and when I left the show in 2008, I returned to run daily operations at Luna Park LA. From there, we opened two more restaurants together in LA before moving to Dallas two years ago.
The Mayors House will be our seventh restaurant, and it’s slated to open in Q1 of 2020 in Oak Cliff. I am also a Director of Recruitment for One Haus (one-haus.com); a hospitality recruitment firm based out of NYC, and I still travel to LA periodically to appear as “Belle Black” on “Days of Our Lives.” It’s a busy life by design. 🙂
Has it been a smooth road?
No, it hasn’t been easy, but it has been exciting. It’s worth noting that I feel like I ended up in two of the hardest industries there are. In the entertainment industry, so much of your overall success has very little to do with merit. In general, the only thing an actor can do to book a job is to study the material and perform it the best way they know-how. The casting decisions, though, have much more to do with what’s in the mind of the group of people making that decision (ie; age, hair color, expense, geography, chemistry with other actors, whether or not they remind a producer of their mother in law, etc., etc.). In the restaurant industry, the same is true. While a restaurateur can control things like ambiance, product quality, service training, efficiencies and cost of goods, they remain at the mercy of things like weather, sporting events, traffic and economic conditions.
So, I guess my best advice to anyone doing anything that requires group approval would be to keep your focus on the things you can control, nail those and breathe through the rest. Don’t be too hard on yourself, celebrate the victories (big and small) and find time to be with the people you love the most. Balance is key. Also, exercise. Keeping that mind/body healthy and focused goes a long way when managing a busy life.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Mayor’s House Restaurant story. Tell us more about the business.
In terms of my career, I’m an actress, a restaurateur and a recruitment director. I don’t really feel defined by any one of those things though, and I never really know how to answer the question, “So what do you do?” Every day is different. In general, I feel like I spend most of my time analyzing things. For instance, as a recruiter, I spend a lot of time speaking with chefs and restaurant operators trying to determine which of my hotel or restaurant clients would be the best fit for their next career move. This takes a lot of analysis in regard to personality, skillset, geography, career goals, salary, etc. It’s essentially matchmaking, so you want to be able to anticipate how all of those variables will play out before introducing the two parties.
In regards to The Mayor’s House, we’re in the design phase. So, we’re making a lot of decisions about furniture, ambiance and lighting and trying to keep it cohesive with the history of the building and the concept we’re trying to produce. This also requires a lot of forethought about how the guest will experience each detail of the restaurant. It really is one of my favorite parts of opening a restaurant.
Regarding my career as an actress, every script and every scene requires a great deal of analysis. Understanding why each person is doing what they’re doing is essential to bringing the story to life.
So, all of this is a long way of saying that I spend a fair amount of time listening and thinking things through as best I can. I guess that’s my greatest strength in business.
What do you feel are the biggest barriers today to female leadership, in your industry or generally?
I’ve been very fortunate. I haven’t ever felt particularly stifled in business simply because I’m a woman. That said, I know that’s not the case for everyone. I am the youngest of three daughters, and we were all raised by our single, hard-working mother. My mother always supported and encouraged us to do whatever we were passionate about regardless of odds or statistics. She taught us the importance of hard work and tenacity and often remarked that if anyone else could accomplish something great, then so could we. She taught me to never think of myself as “less than.” If a man could walk on the moon, then so could I. This simple lesson really informed so many of my decisions in life, and perhaps is partly responsible for my successes along the way.
That aside, I do think there are plenty of gender inequities in society that should be highlighted. I’m happy to see so much energy around equal pay for equal work. I’m also thrilled to see more and more female-led businesses and women achieving career pinnacles like Dominique Crenn recently did when she became the first three Michelin starred, a female chef in the US. Most importantly, I love seeing so many women reach back and help the next young, female leader climb the ranks. Creating the most viable communities starts with helping each individual reach their full potential, and women are naturals when it comes to nurturing the next generation of leaders.
Contact Info:
- Address: The Mayor’s House
635 N Zang Blvd.
Dallas, TX 75208 - Website: themayorshousedallas.net
- Email: comingsoon@themayorshousedallas.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themayorshousedallas/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/themayorshousedallas/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/dallas_tmh
Image Credit:
JPI
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