Community-Minded Management
Breana Grosz takes the lead as new General Manager of International Market Place
Though Breana Grosz may not have anticipated her promotion to General Manager of International Market Place last June, her colleagues were already keyed-in to her potential for the role.
“The previous GM, Michael Fenley, was fantastic,” said Grosz, “I think he knew I was possibly destined for this seat prior to realizing it myself.”
Though Grosz has now spent almost four years working her way up the ranks of International Market Place, her path to her current career was far from traditional. Graduating from the pre-med track at Michigan State University and obtaining her nursing assistant license, Grosz first worked leading life-enrichment activities at an Alzheimer’s care home before relocating to Los Angeles, California, where she ran one of UCLA’s surgical pathology labs.
“Inclusive communities are what I’m all about”
Inspired by her creative friends who were pursuing their dreams in less traditional career paths, as well as her father’s entrepreneurship, Grosz moved to Waikiki and worked as a waitress before landing a position as a medical equipment sales representative. The position took her to every OR on the island where she helped physicians test out her equipment.
“I think that taught me such a valuable lesson on how to handle stressful situations,” said Grosz. “There’s a patient on the table and it’s your responsibility to make sure the equipment works so that the procedure can keep going.”
Hoping to branch out further from the medical field and utilize more of her writing skills, Grosz joined the Bennet Group as an account executive where she enjoyed learning more about local cultural and community efforts through the firm’s clients, including Nainoa Thompson of the Polynesian Voyaging Society.
Through her position, she also became acquainted with several individuals from International Market Place’s construction team. The rest, as they say, is history.
“If you would have asked me back in college ‘where do you see yourself?’ I would have never said Hawai’i, and I never would have said managing a shopping center,” said Grosz, “but I think all of those experiences have led me to something that has been really fulfilling and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.”
Originally founded in 1957, the center was undergoing a modern transformation when Grosz first joined the company as an Owner’s Representative Assistant. The updated center includes nods to Hawai’i’s culture and history in everything from the plants, to the architecture, to its nightly hula performances.
Having come to the GM position after gaining a strong marketing background within the company, Grosz has had to learn to navigate the new facets of her position.
“We know what we don’t know,” said Grosz, “I’m in a position, gratefully, that most people have a lot more experience in, so I combat that potential challenge by asking questions and reaching out to mentors—several of the GMs of the hotels around here and people who have done this role or similar roles—asking them, ‘what’s your biggest challenge?’ and then trying to anticipate some of those things to just better prepare myself.”
For Grosz, the position has proved fulfilling. Allowing her to engage with the community, both through initiatives at IMP and through her personal involvement with local organizations. She currently serves as the Vice Chair of Women in Lodging through HTLA and serves on the boards of both the Waikiki Improvement Association and the Waikiki Community Center. She’s also involved with ACCESS surf, which helps people with disabilities surf and swim.
“My grandma means a lot to me,” said Grosz, “she’s no longer with us, but she had a stroke when she was 60 and it left her wheelchair bound, so helping people that have different capabilities—one might say disabilities—is really important to me. Inclusive communities are what I’m all about.”
