As vice president of Carnival Cruise Line ANZ, Kara Glamore has huge influence in the Australian cruise industry.
Yet, even with her seismic professional success, Glamore believes that, when it comes to your career, the person you most need to make happy is yourself.
Ahead of this year’s Women in Travel awards, Glamore speaks candidly to Travel Weekly on her biggest career lessons to date.
P.S – If you’re inspired to enter – move fast. There’s not long left.
As a winner of the Cruise award last year, what does this mean to you?
I feel so honoured to have been chosen as the winner of the Cruise category in 2022/23. It felt gratifying to be able to showcase the positive Carnival Cruise Line comeback story considering the 2.5 year pause and subsequent setback the entire category experienced during COVID. I feel proud that I led the Carnival Cruise Line team to drive the ANZ business back to double-digit growth with less than 1 full year back in the market. To see this story of resilience recognised felt like a success not only for the brand but for the industry.
Best advice you’ve received that has helped you in career?
The best advice I read that has stuck with me throughout the years of my career advancement was that “you can have it all but not all at the same time”. I believe women put a lot of pressure on themselves to do it all. We feel we need to always be striving for career advancement, be the parent that attends every event, the partner of the year, the social butterfly, and be able to maintain a healthy and forever youthful existence. I’ve realised that most importantly you must be happy in yourself (not in the eyes of others) and accept that there will be swings and roundabouts. You need to set priorities but be able to let things go. You need to be forgiving of yourself and understand that perfection is impossible. It is highly likely that your 8o per cent is already delivering at 100 per cent. Cherish and focus on what you can do, not what you can’t.
CCL has won awards for GPTW for women, what do you do to create that culture?
I am proud to work for an organisation that recognises women’s achievements on true merits vs delivering on industry quotas. As a female executive at Carnival Cruise Line, I lead with transparency, respect and honesty to contribute to a positive culture and working environment.
Understanding impostor syndrome is alive and well in any organisation, especially in women. I try to help my team recognise their potential by understanding their strengths, encouraging them to act on their ambitions and learning to accept praise. I’m happy to say an outcome of this approach resulted in a few fellow colleagues entering the Women in Travel awards for 23/24.
Are you into self-development? What do you do to carry on growing?
Self-development is an ongoing process for me. There is no endpoint. In my mind, there is only upside to continuous learning and self-progression. Whether about the world, business, culture, or yourself.
I’ve evolved from self-help and business books to online courses, and in the last few years, podcasts. I also enjoy the varied thinking I observe from colleagues and my team.
I continually keep my eyes open for influential people that visit Australia. For example, I recently saw Adam Grant speak on his Think Again book tour and had the great fortune of being invited by Gary (Vee) Vaynerchuck to participate in an Executive Roundtable panel he was moderating during his tour of Australia last year.
Why do we need WIT awards?
I fear that if we didn’t have the WIT awards, fewer women would participate in awards overall, as they would discount the potential of their good work amongst a male and female set. Even if its only a female cohort amongst the WIT entries, it may help initiate engagement to allow women the opportunity to write their story to get a sense of validation that their work can be recognised and appreciated in the travel sector.
This interview is part of our Women in Travel series ahead of the 2024 Women in Travel Awards. The awards celebrate women who have achieved astronomic success in their professional arenas, celebrating their invaluable contribution to the industry through leadership, innovation and courage.
This year the theme is ‘Follow her lead’ and we’ll be championing the power of community and women in the industry working together to create the best experiences possible for Australian travellers.
Women from all levels of business are encouraged to enter the awards program, which features 20 categories covering every corner of the industry. That includes three new categories, Rail, Tech and Woman of Year.
What are you waiting for, ENTER NOW!
Buy your earlybird tickets HERE.
