Joey Worley
35, Director of Food and Beverage, Windsor Court Hotel
New Orleans
As is often the case for English majors, Worley’s career deviated quite a bit from his studies. At least he figured it out early and became a server assistant at 19 years old while attending College of Charleston. Almost immediately, a position in the hospitality industry sounded more appetizing than burying his head in a book. “I’ve held just about every food-and-beverage-related position you can find in a hotel,” says Worley, director of food and beverage at Windsor Court Hotel in New Orleans, where he moved in 2014 after stints at Belmond Charleston Place in Charleston, South Carolina, and Keswick Hall and Golf Club near Charlottesville, Virginia, where he was awarded two Gold Keys for outstanding sales performance, as well as the hotel’s Associate of the Month honor on three separate occasions. He’s just as likely to help plate a meal for 200 guests as he is to brainstorm with sales and catering teams. As a testament to his creativity and passion, he assisted with a dinner in 2005 for 800 people aboard the USS Yorktown in Charleston’s brutal July heat, and last fall, the team at Windsor Court held a reception for breast cancer survivors, which had special meaning for Worley, whose aunt is a breast cancer survivor.
