By Charlize Althea Garcia, May 13, 2025
On the week of his graduation, Jonathan Joyner, an alumnus of the Collins College of Hospitality, received news of a job offer from Disney to work as a Guest Services manager. On Friday, he graduated; on Monday, he started his first day.
Joyner graduated in 2015 with a bachelor’s in hospitality management. Currently, he is a theme park duty manager at Disneyland. He transferred to Cal Poly Pomona in 2012 after moving from northern California with his wife and four kids.
As an older student with a family, he committed himself to making the most of his education. Joyner joined as many clubs as he could and became part of the Collins ambassador program, a program designed to provide Collins College students leadership opportunities. Through his connections and skills of networking, he was offered a job at Disneyland.
“You can do wonderful things,” Joyner said. “You can get paid a lot of money to do things. But if you don’t enjoy it, if you’re not around people who also enjoy it, if you’re not smiling, then why? Why go through that grind? We actually spend more time at work than we do at home and with our loved ones. So, I wanted it to be something that was worthwhile to me.”
Disney wasn’t the first job that Joyner applied for. After submitting his application for the job, he exhibited doubt within himself witnessing his peers receive acceptance letters as he went through two weeks with no response.
“We’re always going to want something more and want to grow and progress,” Joyner said. “That’s perfect. That’s wonderful. The goal is, how do I start learning how to be OK with that? It’s OK to be anxious. Don’t let it drive you. It’s OK. Take care of yourself. And when the time comes, the door will open.”
Growing up with architects for parents, Manuel Hernandez believed from a very young age he would grow up to be one, too. But after a conversation with his career counselor, he soon realized hospitality management was the right place for him.
Hernandez was a commuter student who became overly active in Greek Life, Club Management Association of America, the National Society of Minorities in Hospitality, the Hospitality Management Council and the ambassador program of the college. During summers, he interned at Morongo Casino and Mariott.
After Hernandez graduated in 2017, he was accepted to the Marriott college program in a sales capacity. But when COVID-19 hit, Hernandez left the hospitality industry to work for a financial firm. The COVID-19 virus had huge implications for the future of hospitality as more than 670,000 hotel industry jobs and 4 million hospitality jobs were lost, leaving many like Hernandez in the field questioning their life and career choices because of the stagnant job growth during that time. But even through the adversity of the pandemic, he was able to find his way back to Marriott.
“If I were in their shoes, I would be just as excited as I was in 2017 when graduating,” Hernandez said.
Though he knew exactly where he was going after graduation, he learned he was becoming a father. Feelings of apprehension for the future career-wise were soon replaced with thoughts of being a dad. Regardless, he delivered the commencement speech for his class, denoting his Colombian roots with the intent to motivate his fellow peers. Eight years later, Hernandez carries the same love and hope for the hospitality industry.
Audrey Nieves began at Collins College in 2018 as a server trainer for the restaurant Eureka! Now, she’s an event sales manager for the same restaurant.
She first worked with artists at the Hollywood Bowk during post-events and private parties. Closer to 2021, she went on to work for SoFi Stadium, planning events and catering for private events, NFL games and concerts.
After transferring from Citrus College, Nieves first majored in psychology. Involved in the music program as a performer in student ensembles, she considered switching her major to music. She described that moment in time as confusing because she didn’t know where her true passion lied, only that she wanted to graduate. Nieves committed to trying different things, taking different classes to find out what she was really good at.
“You’re not stuck anywhere,” Nieves said. “You’re not bound to one thing. There’s always room no matter how old you are to change your career path, to change what you’re doing.”
She credits her place in life to the connections she made at Collins College and emphasized the importance of keeping an open line of communication and keeping an eye out for opportunity.
“As long as you keep putting the work in, as long as you stay focused, you’re going to find that job, Nieves said. “Whether it’s now, whether it’s in two months, whether it’s in two years, that is aligned with your goals, aligned with your financial needs, aligned with you completely, it’s out there. It just might take a little while, and that’s OK.
Feature image by Darren Loo