Michael Cohen

Hometown: Alpine, NJ

Internship: Guest Services Agent, Boston Park Plaza

“Completing an internship in a large Boston property was an incredible experience and learning curve towards where I wanted to be in the Industry. Also, attending the SHA Dean’s Lecture Series was a tremendous help in learning first-hand perspectives from those who had been in the industry for multiple years, and not only how they got to where they are, but why they stuck with it.”

What is your current profession or title? I’m an Administrative Analyst for Greystar Real Estate Partners. We are one of the largest rental housing management companies in the globe, with approximately 800,000 apartments under management globally, and an additional $9 Billion of assets owned. I do anything admin related for their entire portfolio in NJ, and Yonkers NY, which consists of roughly 10,000 units. I just recently obtained my NJ real estate license this past October, and hold 2 years of operational experience in Hotels. I also obtained my life coaching certification during the pandemic, and am hoping to use all of the experience I have thus far in addition to a few more years in the Multi-Family Industry to start an affordable wellness resort to lower mental illness rates in Millennials and gen z!

Why did you choose SHA? How did your SHA education impact your career? There are so many reasons why I chose SHA. My father went to BU undergrad and got his bachelors from COM, and passed away when I was 2, so part of me wanted to follow in his foot steps. I did summer session at SHA during my undergrad career, and instantly fell in love with the city of Boston, the school, and everything that it stands for. I feel as if people underestimate the diversity that Boston brings with it, between the true culture of Chinatown and Little Italy (which in my mind is the best Little Italy in the country) and the amount of connections you could make with people from all over the world that come to Boston every year to study or work at one of it’s dozens of incredible institutions, whether it’s BU, Northeastern, Harvard, MIT, BC, or any other school. Not to mention the restaurant and hotel scene is so overseen as one of the most highly demanded and sought after hospitality markets in the country, due to the high supply of education and all of the major companies that have planted offices in town, paving way for people to come visit from all over the globe for conferences and business trips.

Regarding my career, SHA prepared me for the theoretical and back of house structure that I know I am going to be using much more so further on in my career when I begin to work more with larger picture projects at my company, but more importantly my on-site internship prepared me for what it would be like to experience life in Hospitality and the struggles that go along with operational work in the field. Having that internship on my resume paved the way for the start of my career, but also opened my eyes to the sacrifices that so many hospitality workers make globally and I am truly blessed to be in the same Industry as them.

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