Bonus Episode #32- Hospitality Meets Team Zenith - Teamwork, Triangle Formation and Choke Holds

Hospitality Meets... with Phil Street

Guests: Emma Sharma, Meghan Ellis Smith, Fernando Odio, Chelsy Rafael, Isabelle White – aka Team Zenith

Host: Phil Street

What’s Inside:

• The Edge Hotel School students who beat the Swiss at their own game
• From cruise ship dreams to CEO goals
• The EM Cup – Europe’s most competitive hospitality battle
• Public speaking disasters, bonding breakthroughs, and backstage mind games
• How Team Zenith went from forgotten intro to unforgettable champions
• A story of belief, banana-shaped confidence curves, and near-chokehold celebrations

Topics Covered:

• How each student found their way to hospitality (spoiler: not one dull route)
• Why public humiliation at a student conference was actually a blessing
• What it takes to pitch to 500 people and survive a Dragon’s Den Q&A
• The intense selection process (TikToks, debates, interviews – they did it all)
• The Triangle Hands legend and branding brilliance of Team Zenith
• Why realistic ideas beat Swiss-level fantasy pitches

Highlight Moments:

• “Alex said if we didn’t win, he’d quit his job.”
• “We told the other teams we had no idea what we were doing. Classic mind games.”
• “I said we were going to win… but I completely forgot my lines!”
• “Winning felt amazing. Nearly died from a celebratory hug, but amazing.”

A massive thank you to the Edge Hotel School (And previous guest Adrian Martin) for setting this up. Hospitality Meets sends heartfelt congratulations to Team Zenith for this extraordinary achievement

Enjoy!

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