Looking to apply for the Culinary Tourism Awards of Excellence DEI Award but not sure where to start? Join Monica Maralit, CTA's DEI Board Chair and Gabrielle Mueller, Staff Lead to walk you through some helpful information about the award as well as tips for a successful application. 

This is your opportunity to ask questions about the award and how to best answer the application questions.

Speakers:

Monica Maralit
CTA's DEI Board Chair and Senior Project Coordinator at OTEC
Ontario Tourism Education Corporation (OTEC)

Monica Maralit completed her Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics, with a focus on the Japanese Language, at the University of the Philippines Diliman in 2013. In 2021, she earned an Ontario Advanced Diploma in Hospitality and Tourism Administration at Centennial College in Toronto, Canada. She recently acquired her Graduate Diploma in Tourism Development and Management and is currently completing her Master of Science in Tourism Development and Management at the Asian Institute of Tourism at the University of the Philippines.

Monica is currently working as a Senior Project Coordinator at Ontario Tourism Education Corporation (OTEC). She is also a part-time faculty member teaching tourism, hospitality, and certification courses at Queens College in Mississauga. Through the mentorship of Adam Morrison (President and CEO of OTEC), Monica also serves as one of the Board of Directors for the Culinary Tourism Alliance since 2021.

Gabrielle Mueller
Digital Media Specialist
Culinary Tourism Alliance (CTA)

Falling accidentally into the tourism world when hired to do some freelance work on the Oxford County Cheese Trail for Tourism Oxford, Gabby quickly realized that she doesn’t just love working with people, she loves telling their stories. Luckily, her background in history prepared her for all the writing that comes along with that!

Six years later, Gabby’s work with Tourism Oxford grew to full-on content creation. Leading the charge on social media, blogging, vlogging and website content, she quickly fell in love with tourism’s ability to help food producers rediscover their passion and to help their local community. 

During her time with Tourism Oxford, Gabby also became a certified Experiential Tourism coach through Southwestern Ontario Tourism Corporation’s Unlocked and Inspired Coaching Program and has become completely enamoured with helping businesses create meaningful experiences to change how people see travel. She has played a role in getting several experiences to market including the award-winning Tree to Table experience which has won Ontario’s Best Culinary Experience at the provincial and regional levels.