In the past five years post global pandemic, we’ve watched the culture of community change drastically.

Some folks are now out of the house more than ever. Others are still embracing their inner homebodies that got to flourish for months on end in lockdown.

And yet despite our varying levels of sociability, we all require community and a sense of creativity to survive. How many studies have we seen that tout friendship and community increase our longevity?

Someone who I met recently who really lives and breathes this philosophy is Liz Mendez, founder of Aldea Hospitality.

We met cohosting an event with beCo in Chicago that was all about celebrating the hospitality community, providing new outlooks on how to enrich their lives outside work, and performing it in a “late night” format that embraced creativity in all kinds of ways.

Liz is a community member who not only knows how to reflect culture in all of her experiences (from sommelier, to wine bar owner, to now consultant and coach for folks building hospitality businesses), but also helps shape it herself.

She recognizes not only do folks in food & bev need additional creative outlets outside their work to fill their cups emotionally, but also fiscally.

Words like “moonlighting” and “side hustle” are falling to the wayside as folks universally are looking to build careers that look more like portfolios to show off all of their personal brand facets. Liz calls it being a “hospitality hyphenate.”

Let’s embrace how we can each find our own “hyphenate” lanes—not only for ourselves, but to enrich the communities and culture that literally give us life.