SHINE’ing the Spotlight on… Melissa Watt Sellas

Melissa Watt Sellas is the classic example of what your parents always told you, “find a job or a career path that you’re passionate about, and you’ll never work a day in your life”. That’s Melissa, she loved every job she had.

Of course not every day was wine and roses, adversity in the travel industry is nothing new. The pilots dispute in the late 80’s lasted for many months, 9/11 changed the world forever, the Ansett collapse, three days later, changed Australian aviation forever, swine flu/bird flu/mad cow disease/SARS/MERS/Zika, they’ve dealt with a lot, but Melissa believes it’s been worth every minute!

Melissa, you’ve worked in so many areas and have held many amazing roles over the years, can you tell us a little about and the driving force behind?

I began my travel career quite by accident in Cairns, when someone noticed I could sell ice to an Eskimo, which landed me in the sales department of a five star hotel, and then two years later, moving to the regional tourist bureau, working in promotions. These roles covered my first 5 years in the travel industry, and while they were a wonderful grounding, the following 25 years in wholesale travel sales proved to be the perfect fit for my skill set. By learning the business from the ground up and in different sectors, I could do almost any job when required, as I had depth and breadth of skills.

What guided you towards working in the travel wholesale industry?

I loved the diversity and variety of wholesale. I loved selling different destinations and cultures. I loved being the middle man, liaising with suppliers one day and travel agents the next. And the professionalism of working with people who really knew their business. I loved event management and planning, running a slick sales team, hosting educationals, presenting at conferences and mentoring the next gen of wholesale travel professionals.

You lived overseas for a number of years, what was the drawcard or opportunities that made this happen for you?

I worked in Canada in the mid 90’s for an Australian wholesale travel company, which was really just a case of being in the right place at the right time, and then the last 4 years of my career I worked for Qantas Vacations in New York, which was an intercompany transfer from Qantas Holidays in Sydney, which was a combination of changes within the company, a consolidation of our wholesale brands in Australia, a reward for excelling in my then role, plus, I’d shown over many years the ability to stick at it over the hard times.

And of course a huge dose of luck, which brings me to another favourite old saying which is most opportune to me and my career:
“Luck is being prepared at all times so when the door opens, you’re ready.
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”

I had always loved New York and visited a dozen times in the previous 20 years, but I thought my dream of living and working there one day had well and truly passed me by. For this to happen at age 47 and to continue for an amazing 4+ years was truly a dream come true. Never let go of your dreams!!

Did the way people do business vary much in the States to here in Australia?

Yes and no. American travel agents are definitely a different breed to Aussie agents, but people are people, and sales and relationship building skills are very transferable all over the world. If you’re a relationship person here, you’re a relationship person there. And “there” can be anywhere in the world.

Plus, I was always a big networker in any language. I networked by caring about colleagues, suppliers and clients and always kept in touch the way you do friends.

What traits and qualities do you admire in a leader?

Honesty, integrity and empathy.

You are now technically retired – you’ve always had such a busy and full workload, what do you do now to keep yourself busy and thriving?

It sounds cliched, but family is very important to me, and I missed several years living and working overseas, so making up for lost time now is pretty great. One of my nieces had two babies while I was living in New York, and I now have four great nieces, so spending time with the next two generations makes me exceptionally happy. They are all delightful and hilarious!

Plus helping out with the previous generation, (my parents are 93 and 87) is immensely gratifying and extremely rewarding, as well as very enjoyable. I’m very lucky, my parents are both very cool people, and the ones who instilled a love of travel in me from a very young age, by insisting we travel overseas for a month every year from the year I was born. I blame them!!!

And what’s next on the agenda for Melissa Watt Sellas?

Fingers crossed, Broome and the Kimberley in October. I booked a few months ago before the thought of another lockdown, but now I’m sweating!! I’ve never been to the north of WA, I’m so excited to explore that area.

Best place you have travelled to and why?

So many wonderful places for so many different reasons:

• Koh Samui is somewhere I’ve always felt very at home and try to visit every year
• New York is my real second home, and I lost count of the number of Aussie travel peeps who passed through for a drink during my years in NYC!
• South America where I backpacked for a year with my two besties
• And of course Sri Lanka, I can highly recommend eloping, followed by a month long honeymoon!!

What’s one thing that you do for yourself every day?

Breathe!!

What mantra do you live by?

I am enough
I have enough
I do enough

To find out more about Melissa head to:

LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-watt-74679267/