Alexandra Croce

In 2017, Hurricane Irma destroyed the hotel where Alexandra Croce had worked the front desk for two years. Left jobless, to make ends meet she walked dogs and made deliveries, among other gigs, and applied for scholarships.

But the disaster gave her the opportunity to work toward the career she truly wanted. She secured a marketing internship with The Confidante Miami Beach (a Hyatt property) through FIU’s hospitality career fair and turned the internship into a full-time job as the hotel’s first marketing coordinator.

The daughter of a Peruvian mother and Uruguayan father, Alexandra moved from Miami Beach to Amsterdam at age 14. She says integrating herself into a society completely different from her own shaped her into an adventurous and “culturally curious” person.

In Amsterdam, Alexandra worked as a receptionist at a bed and breakfast and put together tastings and set up market stands for her mother’s Spanish wine and delicatessen company. After returning to South Florida in 2015, Alexandra enrolled in Chaplin’s 4 + 1 program to increase her chances of a well-paying career in a field she was passionate about.

Among her achievements, Alexandra participated in a “Fly-In” to Washington, D.C., where she and other top students visited lawmakers and think tanks. She also helped organize a Hospitality at Sea class and was a teaching assistant.

Alexandra says her secret to success has been building connections, going above and beyond, taking advantage of all FIU has to offer in and outside the classroom, and not giving up.

By Madeline Baró
Director
Office of Media Relations