[Applause]
so I’m four years old living in VIN
Moshi Albania which is the northernmost
part of the country and at the time a
pretty hellish place to live conditions
under communist dictatorship were
unimaginable we were hungry and isolated
from the outside world deprived of
Education religion and basic human
rights made to feel like our only
purpose in life was to protect our
borders from an unknown threat which by
the way didn’t even exist my family had
had enough of this life and on this
night my mother father sister brother
and I joined twelve other members of our
family to do the most dangerous thing we
could possibly do attempt to escape our
country there we were 17 of us seven men
four of which we’re carrying small
children four women and two teenagers
crept out of our village and into the
treacherous Alps where we’d walk in
silence and fear for six long hours
until somehow through sheer will and
determination we made it across the
border into neighboring Montenegro where
we were safe
years later my father would be asked how
he could do something like this risk the
lives of his three small children and I
never forget his simple response to this
question he would always say I just
wanted my children to grow up with food
in their bellies but what he really met
by this humble response is that he was
willing to do whatever it took to take
our family out of the circumstances we
were in in order to live free lives
lives worth living in his opinion that
night my family decided to take control
their lives and begin to write their own
story rather than continuing as a
Elte in someone else’s this is the first
memory that I have as a little girl and
from it came my first life lesson which
is the fact that we all have the power
to author our own stories right our own
lives
and live the lives we want to live six
months after that brave escape my family
arrived in America with nothing but the
clothes on our back and one more very
important thing our culture which is
manifested in daily life through a
unique expression of Albanian
hospitality this profound approach to
hospitality is rooted in basa ambasa is
an ancient code of honor that governs
the way that Albanians behave and lends
to this generous hospitality but the
Albanian definition for hospitality is a
little different than the way
hospitality is decided it’s defined here
in the Western world in the Western
world hospitality is synonymous with
travel luxury or an elegant experience
but back home
Albania hospitality is more closely
linked with respect acceptance in the
way you make somebody feel to be known
as a hospitable person is the greatest
compliment an albanian can receive the
definition for visa welcoming guests
independent of their identity or status
and ensuring their comfort through
kindness positivity and generosity
Albanians have been known for their
heroic hospitality throughout the ages
during World War two
one of the darkest times in human
history based on visa Albanians saved
thousands of Jews during the Holocaust
and increase the Jewish population in
our country by over a hundred percent
many Albanians risk their lives to save
these families in need based on our
promise of visa it was 1997 and we were
in Hamtramck Michigan living our version
of the American Dream just in a house
with no heat
so at 13 years old I got my first job
working in a restaurant where two of my
uncle’s were line cooks and they
convinced the owner to let me work at
this restaurant on the weekends he was
okay with it as long as nobody found out
my real age and I’m glad he did because
it was at this diner that I met my first
real love restaurants you can imagine I
was instantly hooked I had fallen in
love with the pace the sounds the smells
and the personalities also the fact that
I had this unique outlet for my own
expression of Albanian hospitality in my
early career I worked in a number of
great restaurants but my favorite was
this place called ocean breeze which was
a high-performing diner in the suburbs
of Detroit and the second time I applied
to work there the owner let me come back
for a trial shift when I showed up to
the restaurant he says to me okay long
legs you’re gonna work in that section
over there and if you make it there
tonight we’ll talk okay so he’d given me
what was a toughest section in the
restaurant what made it the toughest was
it was the farthest from the kitchen but
I guess I had the lengths to do it and I
kicked butt that night and at 16 years
old I got hired as their youngest
waitress and their worst section became
my stage for the next three years here I
honed my hospitality style and felt
totally free to express my passion for
pleasing one day I look up at in my
section and I realized that a line was
forming at the front door
with people waiting to get into my
section even though there were tables
open in the rest of the restaurant this
was not common in this restaurant and at
first it was like a little embarrassed
by it so I’d go up there like just sit
down and I’ll come and say hi to you but
these people insisted on waiting in line
for my section for the hospitality and
the way that it made them feel I was so
into this too
I’d go in early every shift and make
sure that my tables and my sections were
meticulous I believe special things on
the tables for the guests I knew who was
coming and when I developed all of these
regulars my section every night that I
worked was like a party I would
introduce tables to each other like
people would come in on Thursday nights
because they knew like this other couple
was there and like we were just gonna
like have fun from like 7:00 to a it was
a blast and you know people love this it
was small acts of kindness you know if
they were bringing children I would have
crayons and paper waiting for them if I
knew somebody like decaf coffee it’d be
waiting for them when they got there so
small acts of kindness but people really
love this in fact at my high school
graduation I look up into the bleachers
to see who was calling my name and lo
and behold a group of my Friday regulars
had come to the Palace of Auburn Hills
to graduate and they brought a sign with
them that stretched across the court
sign read sava for president so it’s
like I’m your waitress but this is one
of my chair most cherished memories and
it was made possible by the power of
hospitality but reflecting back on those
years I wasn’t just waiting on tables I
was truly taking care of people while
honoring my culture and also
conditioning myself for my next big
chapter it had been 10 years since I
started my career in restaurants when in
2007 I landed in Ann Arbor to open my
first eatery and my product was my
signature hospitality but when I say
eatery don’t let me oversell the joint
to you this is a I don’t know if anyone
in this audience remembers this rest
right oh my husband does because I met
him there this is a sliver sliver sliver
of real estate on the dead end of town
on the second floor of an old building
no windows and a makeshift kitchen me as
a tenant I was high-risk I was 23 years
old and I lacked most of the credentials
and skills necessary to run a real
restaurant but I was willing to pay the
exorbitant rent that I think was
especially calculated for my high-risk
situation and I couldn’t have been more
grateful for the opportunity I wasn’t
concerned about the rent or the skills
that I lacked because I was totally
confident that the power of my
hospitality and the extent to which I
was willing to hustle would make up for
anything I lacked now I want to take a
moment for hustle because this is kind
of one of my words and here sometimes
the word gets a bad rep so I turned to a
reliable source for a definition the
urban dictionary of course
and here’s what they had to say about
hustle to have courage confidence self
belief and self-determination to go out
there and work it out until you find the
opportunities that you want in life
so hustle I did for too long hard years
to get this restaurant off the ground I
worked so hard in this place and had to
weather so many storms and you guessed
it all of the skills that I left when I
went into business I would learn one by
one the hard way
once my doors were opened and just as we
had come up for air
two years later we realized that another
massive storm was lurking when I’m
reading a story in the paper about a CVS
with plans to move into downtown Ann
Arbor and the opening statement read
this
a New York City company wants to
demolish 209 to 211 South State Street
in downtown Ann Arbor to build a CVS
Pharmacy there according to documents
submitted to the city and made public on
Monday that was me and my restaurant and
we were going bust so I got to ask you
guys what’s a hustler to do when
something like this happens I’m sorry
what does a hustler do when something
like this happens hey awesome right they
hustle they get up they get out there
they start looking for solutions when
they can’t find them they create them
they get to work so after a real good
cry I pounded the pavement
and started looking for a new home that
I could move my restaurant into right
away I hustled as hard as I could to
find a new space and two months later we
were running out of time and I had come
up with nothing
then one day I catch a breaking story in
the paper about a local restaurant whose
investor group was looking for a new
operator to come in take over the lease
of this restaurant and launched a new
concept this restaurant happened to be
directly the across the street for mine
the only catch was it was ten times the
size of my scrappy cafe but by now I had
done my homework
I knew the inventory I knew it was out
there and I knew I needed to make a move
on this opportunity my gut told me to
make the call and I’m the type of gal
that listens to my gut so I dialed a
contact in the listing a guy named Bill
who I’d never met before say he answers
he says hi this is Bill I say hello this
is your new restaurant operator
he wasn’t thought I was crazy and met
conversation went on for a few minutes
but when once he finally shut me up we
were able to meet for coffee that day
and two weeks later I was slated to
present my pitch for taking over this
restaurant in front of the rest of the
investors at this point I’m 25
unpolished
and underfinanced but Bill saw something
in me I think he knew I was a hustler
and so I stood up there in front of
these eleven investors never been so
nervous in my life because I needed this
to happen this was like my next rent
payment and I knew it was gonna take a
miracle but I stood up there and I gave
these people my word my basa that i
would do whatever it took to make that
restaurant a success and because i
believed in me they believed in me and
almost instantly I was handed the keys
this real restaurant with two kitchens
three levels and over 300 seats and all
I had to do was figure out how to run
the place thanks to the success of at
restaurant we’ve since built a small
hospitality empire using a few of my
core values the first one the power of
hustle what that means working hard and
never quitting the second one the power
of hospitality being good to people
these simple values have underpinned my
life story that I’ve written for myself
with the belief the insane belief that
each and every one of us the power to
write our own story along the way many
people try to write my story for me
predicting how things would end or
better yet telling me how they would end
but these people they didn’t know where
I came from they didn’t know what I was
made of and they didn’t know where I was
going there is no road map for a hustler
like me to achieve what I’ve achieved
just like there was no road map the
night that my family walked into the
unknown in desperate search of an outlet
to escape our country there was no road
map for that but these great journeys
the greatest journeys of life they begin
with a belief the belief that we can and
when we believe that we can something
amazing happens
we begin to act like somebody who can we
show the behaviors of a person who can
we start making decisions like someone
who can
we look like a person in control of
their lives writing their own story and
from this comes true personal power and
freedom so I look to you guys tonight
and I say pick up your pen and be the
author of your own story thank you
[Applause]
so I’m four years old living in VIN
Moshi Albania which is the northernmost
part of the country and at the time a
pretty hellish place to live conditions
under communist dictatorship were
unimaginable we were hungry and isolated
from the outside world deprived of
Education religion and basic human
rights made to feel like our only
purpose in life was to protect our
borders from an unknown threat which by
the way didn’t even exist my family had
had enough of this life and on this
night my mother father sister brother
and I joined twelve other members of our
family to do the most dangerous thing we
could possibly do attempt to escape our
country there we were 17 of us seven men
four of which we’re carrying small
children four women and two teenagers
crept out of our village and into the
treacherous Alps where we’d walk in
silence and fear for six long hours
until somehow through sheer will and
determination we made it across the
border into neighboring Montenegro where
we were safe
years later my father would be asked how
he could do something like this risk the
lives of his three small children and I
never forget his simple response to this
question he would always say I just
wanted my children to grow up with food
in their bellies but what he really met
by this humble response is that he was
willing to do whatever it took to take
our family out of the circumstances we
were in in order to live free lives
lives worth living in his opinion that
night my family decided to take control
their lives and begin to write their own
story rather than continuing as a
Elte in someone else’s this is the first
memory that I have as a little girl and
from it came my first life lesson which
is the fact that we all have the power
to author our own stories right our own
lives
and live the lives we want to live six
months after that brave escape my family
arrived in America with nothing but the
clothes on our back and one more very
important thing our culture which is
manifested in daily life through a
unique expression of Albanian
hospitality this profound approach to
hospitality is rooted in basa ambasa is
an ancient code of honor that governs
the way that Albanians behave and lends
to this generous hospitality but the
Albanian definition for hospitality is a
little different than the way
hospitality is decided it’s defined here
in the Western world in the Western
world hospitality is synonymous with
travel luxury or an elegant experience
but back home
Albania hospitality is more closely
linked with respect acceptance in the
way you make somebody feel to be known
as a hospitable person is the greatest
compliment an albanian can receive the
definition for visa welcoming guests
independent of their identity or status
and ensuring their comfort through
kindness positivity and generosity
Albanians have been known for their
heroic hospitality throughout the ages
during World War two
one of the darkest times in human
history based on visa Albanians saved
thousands of Jews during the Holocaust
and increase the Jewish population in
our country by over a hundred percent
many Albanians risk their lives to save
these families in need based on our
promise of visa it was 1997 and we were
in Hamtramck Michigan living our version
of the American Dream just in a house
with no heat
so at 13 years old I got my first job
working in a restaurant where two of my
uncle’s were line cooks and they
convinced the owner to let me work at
this restaurant on the weekends he was
okay with it as long as nobody found out
my real age and I’m glad he did because
it was at this diner that I met my first
real love restaurants you can imagine I
was instantly hooked I had fallen in
love with the pace the sounds the smells
and the personalities also the fact that
I had this unique outlet for my own
expression of Albanian hospitality in my
early career I worked in a number of
great restaurants but my favorite was
this place called ocean breeze which was
a high-performing diner in the suburbs
of Detroit and the second time I applied
to work there the owner let me come back
for a trial shift when I showed up to
the restaurant he says to me okay long
legs you’re gonna work in that section
over there and if you make it there
tonight we’ll talk okay so he’d given me
what was a toughest section in the
restaurant what made it the toughest was
it was the farthest from the kitchen but
I guess I had the lengths to do it and I
kicked butt that night and at 16 years
old I got hired as their youngest
waitress and their worst section became
my stage for the next three years here I
honed my hospitality style and felt
totally free to express my passion for
pleasing one day I look up at in my
section and I realized that a line was
forming at the front door
with people waiting to get into my
section even though there were tables
open in the rest of the restaurant this
was not common in this restaurant and at
first it was like a little embarrassed
by it so I’d go up there like just sit
down and I’ll come and say hi to you but
these people insisted on waiting in line
for my section for the hospitality and
the way that it made them feel I was so
into this too
I’d go in early every shift and make
sure that my tables and my sections were
meticulous I believe special things on
the tables for the guests I knew who was
coming and when I developed all of these
regulars my section every night that I
worked was like a party I would
introduce tables to each other like
people would come in on Thursday nights
because they knew like this other couple
was there and like we were just gonna
like have fun from like 7:00 to a it was
a blast and you know people love this it
was small acts of kindness you know if
they were bringing children I would have
crayons and paper waiting for them if I
knew somebody like decaf coffee it’d be
waiting for them when they got there so
small acts of kindness but people really
love this in fact at my high school
graduation I look up into the bleachers
to see who was calling my name and lo
and behold a group of my Friday regulars
had come to the Palace of Auburn Hills
to graduate and they brought a sign with
them that stretched across the court
sign read sava for president so it’s
like I’m your waitress but this is one
of my chair most cherished memories and
it was made possible by the power of
hospitality but reflecting back on those
years I wasn’t just waiting on tables I
was truly taking care of people while
honoring my culture and also
conditioning myself for my next big
chapter it had been 10 years since I
started my career in restaurants when in
2007 I landed in Ann Arbor to open my
first eatery and my product was my
signature hospitality but when I say
eatery don’t let me oversell the joint
to you this is a I don’t know if anyone
in this audience remembers this rest
right oh my husband does because I met
him there this is a sliver sliver sliver
of real estate on the dead end of town
on the second floor of an old building
no windows and a makeshift kitchen me as
a tenant I was high-risk I was 23 years
old and I lacked most of the credentials
and skills necessary to run a real
restaurant but I was willing to pay the
exorbitant rent that I think was
especially calculated for my high-risk
situation and I couldn’t have been more
grateful for the opportunity I wasn’t
concerned about the rent or the skills
that I lacked because I was totally
confident that the power of my
hospitality and the extent to which I
was willing to hustle would make up for
anything I lacked now I want to take a
moment for hustle because this is kind
of one of my words and here sometimes
the word gets a bad rep so I turned to a
reliable source for a definition the
urban dictionary of course
and here’s what they had to say about
hustle to have courage confidence self
belief and self-determination to go out
there and work it out until you find the
opportunities that you want in life
so hustle I did for too long hard years
to get this restaurant off the ground I
worked so hard in this place and had to
weather so many storms and you guessed
it all of the skills that I left when I
went into business I would learn one by
one the hard way
once my doors were opened and just as we
had come up for air
two years later we realized that another
massive storm was lurking when I’m
reading a story in the paper about a CVS
with plans to move into downtown Ann
Arbor and the opening statement read
this
a New York City company wants to
demolish 209 to 211 South State Street
in downtown Ann Arbor to build a CVS
Pharmacy there according to documents
submitted to the city and made public on
Monday that was me and my restaurant and
we were going bust so I got to ask you
guys what’s a hustler to do when
something like this happens I’m sorry
what does a hustler do when something
like this happens hey awesome right they
hustle they get up they get out there
they start looking for solutions when
they can’t find them they create them
they get to work so after a real good
cry I pounded the pavement
and started looking for a new home that
I could move my restaurant into right
away I hustled as hard as I could to
find a new space and two months later we
were running out of time and I had come
up with nothing
then one day I catch a breaking story in
the paper about a local restaurant whose
investor group was looking for a new
operator to come in take over the lease
of this restaurant and launched a new
concept this restaurant happened to be
directly the across the street for mine
the only catch was it was ten times the
size of my scrappy cafe but by now I had
done my homework
I knew the inventory I knew it was out
there and I knew I needed to make a move
on this opportunity my gut told me to
make the call and I’m the type of gal
that listens to my gut so I dialed a
contact in the listing a guy named Bill
who I’d never met before say he answers
he says hi this is Bill I say hello this
is your new restaurant operator
he wasn’t thought I was crazy and met
conversation went on for a few minutes
but when once he finally shut me up we
were able to meet for coffee that day
and two weeks later I was slated to
present my pitch for taking over this
restaurant in front of the rest of the
investors at this point I’m 25
unpolished
and underfinanced but Bill saw something
in me I think he knew I was a hustler
and so I stood up there in front of
these eleven investors never been so
nervous in my life because I needed this
to happen this was like my next rent
payment and I knew it was gonna take a
miracle but I stood up there and I gave
these people my word my basa that i
would do whatever it took to make that
restaurant a success and because i
believed in me they believed in me and
almost instantly I was handed the keys
this real restaurant with two kitchens
three levels and over 300 seats and all
I had to do was figure out how to run
the place thanks to the success of at
restaurant we’ve since built a small
hospitality empire using a few of my
core values the first one the power of
hustle what that means working hard and
never quitting the second one the power
of hospitality being good to people
these simple values have underpinned my
life story that I’ve written for myself
with the belief the insane belief that
each and every one of us the power to
write our own story along the way many
people try to write my story for me
predicting how things would end or
better yet telling me how they would end
but these people they didn’t know where
I came from they didn’t know what I was
made of and they didn’t know where I was
going there is no road map for a hustler
like me to achieve what I’ve achieved
just like there was no road map the
night that my family walked into the
unknown in desperate search of an outlet
to escape our country there was no road
map for that but these great journeys
the greatest journeys of life they begin
with a belief the belief that we can and
when we believe that we can something
amazing happens
we begin to act like somebody who can we
show the behaviors of a person who can
we start making decisions like someone
who can
we look like a person in control of
their lives writing their own story and
from this comes true personal power and
freedom so I look to you guys tonight
and I say pick up your pen and be the
author of your own story thank you
[Applause]
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