In this episode of the Suite Spot, we welcome Micajah Sturdivant, CEO of MMI Hospitality, as the newest addition to the TMG Hospitality Trailblazers series. With a background in hospitality and hotel management spanning generations in his family, Micajah gives audiences a unique take on how hospitality has evolved over the decades and how MMI Hospitality has cemented itself as a pioneer in the industry. Episode Transcript Our podcast is produced as an audio resource. Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and human editing and may contain errors. Before republishing quotes, we ask that you reference the audio. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Suite Spot. Happy 2025. This is your host, Ryan Embree. We are here back in the new year with a great new episode at continuing. I think we've been doing this for about two years now. This TMG Hospitality Trailblazers series, as a reminder of this is your first time, this is all about the hospitality trailblazers that have been blazing a path in hospitality. Our guests has been doing it for over five decades, we're gonna talk about in a second, but it's about those people and management companies and brands that are pushing our industry forward. As we get into a new year, I think this is the best way to kick it off. So without further ado, I'm gonna bring in our guest today, CEO of MMI Hospitality, Micajah Sturdivant. Micajah, thank you so much for being with me on the Suite Spot today. Micajah Sturdivant: No, it's a great honor. Thank you for having me. Ryan Embree: Yeah, we're excited. We're gonna, we're gonna talk a lot because we got a lot of history to cover with your hospitality group, MMI. But before we do that, this is your first time on the Suite Spot. First time guest, hopefully first of many visits, but as, as I always like to do as is tradition. Talk about a little bit about your background and hospitality and the journey that led you to MMI Hospitality. Micajah Sturdivant: No, I appreciate the invitation and opportunity to share about our organization that originally was founded in 1956 when Kemmons Wilson was conceptualizing Holiday Inn. My grandfather and his roommate from grad school were early adopters to the idea of what the Holiday Inn and Internet Interstate system expansion could really provide, not only for the travelers, but from their perspective and specifically my grandfather. The opportunity for a Mississippi workforce that was going through a major transformation in the late 1940s and 50s where primarily agriculture focused economy was modernizing. In many ways, technology was being brought in and it was negatively impacting opportunities for workforce to have a quality meaning of quality lifestyle. And so saw that the opportunity within hospitality could be a great employer and so was one of the first Holiday Inn franchisees. That company has since grown to work with all the major franchisors as owner and operator, as well as adding a contract food service management company and a restaurant brand as well. So it's a mixed bag across the spectrum hospitality. But in many ways, they're businesses that were born out of one another or very much build off of the knowledge and information that our corporate shared services team is able to provide across the entire enterprise. Ryan Embree: Yeah, absolutely. Well, you know, hospitality, I mean, even 50 years ago, it was definitely a profession. I mean, we talk about hotels being the oldest profession out there. So a lot of rich history, storied history there. I'm sure you've seen a lot of evolution. I mean, there's been tons of changes just within the last couple years with this being part of your family. Talk to us a little bit about how you were first introduced into hospitality and how you ended up where yo...