Hilton links Waldorf Astoria ballroom tennis to youth mentoring

Waldorf Astoria New York hosted a Ballroom Tennis Invitational that combined professional sport with fundraising and career exploration through Hilton’s partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. According to Hilton, the charity received 5% of ticket proceeds, with the Hilton Global Foundation matching that contribution.

The Waldorf Astoria Racquet Club staged the event in the hotel’s historic Grand Ballroom, which was converted into a tennis venue. Hilton said the charitable funding would help broaden access to mentoring and practical career exploration for young people across the US.

The partnership also brought Gabi, a 16-year-old participant in Big Brothers Big Sisters’ New York City chapter, to the event as a “Little Reporter”. She interviewed hotel and Hilton executives, a travel journalist and professional tennis players while observing the production work behind the matches.

Hotel event offers access to production and marketing

For hospitality operators, the event brought together the use of hotel space for sport, charitable fundraising and exposure to the work involved in delivering and covering an event. Gabi’s assignment extended beyond watching the tennis to learning from the crew about camera placement, lighting, sound and individual production responsibilities.

Her interviewees included Luigi Romaniello, managing director of Waldorf Astoria New York, and Jamie Kerr, Hilton’s executive vice president of Luxury Marketing. She also spoke with travel reporter Chris Dong and the professional players.

In an account published by Hilton, Gabi said support from the production crew helped her manage nerves during the assignment. She described preparation, flexibility when plans changed and confidence in her own judgement as important lessons from the experience.

The reporting role gave her an opportunity to practise interviewing while seeing how the event was assembled. Gabi said it strengthened her interest in reporting alongside her existing enthusiasm for media, business and marketing.

Mentoring provides a foundation for career exploration

Gabi said she had been involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters for about a year. Through activities with her mentor, she had worked on collaboration and organisation while developing relationships and a more professional approach to communication.

She credited those conversations with helping her express herself more comfortably, including in front of the camera at the tennis event. In her account, mentoring offered a way to develop workplace-relevant interpersonal skills alongside academic learning.

Her next steps include writing about her experiences for Hilton’s channels, continuing her education as she enters her junior year and maintaining her Big Brothers Big Sisters mentorship. She also hopes to gain further career experience, while encouraging other young participants to commit to their mentors and make use of the opportunities available.