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Member Spotlights: (Alphabetical by Last Name)

November 28, 2025 | Latest News

 

 

 

Member Spotlight:
Peggy Benoit
Owner
True Louisiana Tours LLC 

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Peggy started working in tourism in 1988 at Oak Alley Plantation and spent over a decade there in various positions before taking a job in loan servicing at Whitney Bank. This job was short lived once she realized that tourism was her passion. 

In 1999 she began working for the Bayou Lafourche Area CVB, now known as Louisiana’s Cajun Bayou Tourism. She spent 16 years there as Tourism Sales Manager and then spent 7 years at Carmel Inn & Suites as Director of Sales while also working as Director of Business Development for TripShock…a position she held for 10 years. 

Peggy started True Louisiana Tours as a sideline to her other jobs, and, after the pandemic, she decided to dedicate herself to her own company & passions. 

Peggy has served on the LTA Board and Past President of the E.D. White Historic Site, Louisiana State Museum – Thibodaux.  She joined MSWIT in 2014 and serves on the Board as Historian for MSWIT New Orleans & also serves on MSWIT Capital Region Chapter.

She and her devoted husband Linton have been married for 30 years and have two grown sons, Donnie and Roy as well as a grandson Dakoda who will be graduating high school in the spring. 

Peggy’s favorite part of being a MSWIT member is the relationships acquired. “There’s always someone I can turn to for advice on both a professional and personal level.”

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Member Spotlight:
Leslie Brewer
Sales & Marketing Director
Destrehan Plantation + Houmas House Estate & Gardens

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Leslie Brewer’s hometown just happened to be one of the most well-known international tourist destinations – New Orleans. This is where she began her tourism career, which has continued for more than 34 years.  She currently holds the position of Director of Marketing and Sales at Destrehan Plantation, Living History Museum in Destrehan, La. and Houmas House Estate and Gardens, Darrow, La.

Her strong background in group sales, operations and business development is the product of over 30 years of work in the hospitality and tourism industry.

Leslie’s past experience includes Chairperson for the Tour and Travel Development Committee for the Asheville CVB, Tour & Travel Sales Mgr. for The Biltmore, DOS for the Culinary Institute of New Orleans, Tour & Travel Sales Mgr. for Harrah’s Casino, Dir. of Operations & Sales for Longue Vue House & Gardens, GM of Grenoble House & DOS at the Park Inn Int’l. 

Leslie has served on the Louisiana Tourist Development Commission and officer/board of La. Attraction Assn., La. Travel Promotion Assn, Louisiana B & B Assn, Hospitality Education Networking Assn (formerly HSMA). She currently serves on the Boards of La. Travel Association and both MSWIT – N.O. and MSWIT Central Region. 

“As a member for over 30 years, MSWIT has always allowed me great networking opportunities as well has helped me build long lasting relationships.”

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Member Spotlight:
Sandra Dartus, CFEE
Event Consultant – Fostering Community Partnerships

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Sandra Savoye Dartus has spent her career bringing people together through the power of events, culture, and community. A passionate advocate for New Orleans and the people who shape its spirit, she specializes in creating experiences that celebrate the city while making a meaningful difference.

Today, Sandra serves as the Community Engagement and Planning Coordinator for the New Orleans Jazz Museum’s Improvisations Gala, where she builds relationships and develops partnerships that help sustain the museum’s mission. Over the years, her consulting work has supported beloved celebrations such as FestiGals, NOLA ChristmasFest, and the Louisiana Pirate Festival — always with a focus on empowerment, collaboration, and cultural authenticity.

Sandra is best known for her longtime leadership as the original Executive Director of French Quarter Festivals, Inc., for the first 20 years of French Quarter Festival and led the effort to create Christmas New Orleans Style (now Holiday New Orleans Style) and Satchmo SummerFest into treasured traditions with major economic and cultural impact. She was also the founding director of the New Orleans Wine & Food Experience and the Dallas City Arts Celebration, and has produced Caroling in Jackson Square for several years.

Her work has earned her numerous honors, including recognition as one of New Orleans’ “300 for 300” in the Tricentennial Tribute, the Spirit of Hospitality Lifetime Achievement Award, Ambassador of the Year for the New Orleans Chamber, and several distinctions celebrating her leadership, creativity, and service. She has even been honored with her own scholarship fund and a festival in her name — a testament to how deeply she is woven into New Orleans’ cultural fabric.

Beyond her professional achievements, Sandra is a devoted volunteer and community leader. She currently serves as President of the Board of Directors for Historic BK House & Gardens and proudly supports organizations throughout the city that preserve history, uplift women, and nurture the tourism and hospitality workforce of the future. She is passionate about travel and her grandchildren.

At the heart of everything she does is a simple belief: when people come together with purpose and passion, great things happen — and New Orleans inspires the best of both.

Sandra became a MSWIT member when it was MidSouth Women in Travel in the 80’s when membership was a small group of mostly travel agents.  She’s watched us blossom into Women in Tourism and become 180 + members strong, encompassing virtually every segment of the industry and developing a culture of camaraderie and support that’s so rare, especially among women competitors.

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Member Spotlight: 
Christy Dillard
Event Guru
Game On Social Hub

MSWIT’s current President, Christy Dillard, has been in the business of fun for over 25 years with Game On Social Hub… (previously known as Laser Tag). She says she doesn’t sell a product, she sells an experience! 

Christy helps people host one-of-a-kind events from 5-500 guests – one was even her wedding!  She likes to say “if you think Game On Social Hub is just for kids- you’re missing out on some amazing fun. Where else can you go and the only responsibility you have is trying to NOT get shot by your friends, or which drink or food you want? Why should the kids have all the fun?”

Christy is a boy mom of 2 and has been married to hubby Ricky Dillard for 20 years…as well as her co-worker for 24 years. She is a founding member of Dance Fleur Elite Dance team which participates in parades, fundraisers and special performances. 

Christy is a Houma Indian and can dance traditional Native American dance. She also is a part of her dad’s band- The Gray Hawk Band, where she sings backup as well as plays the trumpet. This is only a little of the onion that is Christy!

Her favorite thing about being a part of MSWIT is the amazing sisterhood that is this organization. 

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Member Spotlight: 

Laine Garner
Sr. Vice President of Sales, Membership & Education
Louisiana Travel Association

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Laine has been at LTA for 17 years. Among many of her responsibilities, she represents LTA members at national trade shows in the group market for both domestic and international travel as well as promoting small businesses across the state at shows for the S.M.E.R.F. market! 

Laine has been married to her husband, Robert, for 30 years and has a son, Jonathan, who is now 18 years old. 

Laine’s favorite part of being a MSWIT member has been getting to know all the great women in our club and assisting them with marketing and educational opportunities LTA provides to its members!

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Member Spotlight:

Dr. Yvette Green
Professor
Department Chair, School of Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Administration
Director, Hospitality Research Center
University of New Orleans

Dr. Green has been at UNO for 24 years.  Before her career in academia, Dr. Green has professional experience in restaurant management, banquets and catering, and resort mananagement.   She serves as the Academic Advisor for the Louisiana Association Education Foundattion as well as a member of the Board of Directors for the Greater New Orlenas Chapter of the Louisiana Restaurant Association.  Dr. Green is faculty advisor for the UNO Hospitality Student Association and is a member of Skal International New Orleans and International Council of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Association.

Dr. Green conducts industry training seminars and serves as team ambassador for the National Restaurant Association ProStart Leadership Invitational. She has published numerous articles in hospitality and tourism management journals as well as presented her research at hospitality and tourism conferences worldwide.

Dr. Green is also Yvette, Doc or Granty (if you knew her back in grad school). MSWIT has been honored to have Yvette as an active member since 2017 and we loved having her as a model in our Biennial Fashion Show.   Her favorite part about attending MSWIT meetings is the camaraderie, sisterhood, education and opportunities to connect with awesome like-minded women who are making a difference every day.

She is married to Ronald Green for 29yrs and has two great teenagers, Camille, 16, and Ronald, 13, who are attending Kenner Discovery Health and Science Academy. Yvette’s favorite hobby is to unwind with puzzle books. She is a pescatarian who loves all things chocolate and sweets. Her favorite vacations are traveling to see family or taking a trip to the beach to read a good book with her toes in the sand. Finally, she is learning all about the world of Pokémon and catching them with her kids.

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Member Spotlight:                                                                                                                                                                  

Nikki Jackson
Director of Sales and Marketing
Hotel Indigo New Orleans French Quarter 

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Nikki has been in hospitality for over 30 years.  

She began her career as a Front Desk Agent and moved her way up to sales over the years. She has a great love for our Louisiana hospitality industry. It’s “home” for her. 

Nikki is a graduate of the Louisiana Travel Association’s Louisiana Tourism Leadership Academy’s Inaugural class of 2015 which is a program that unites accomplished leaders who have significantly impacted Louisiana’s tourism industry. Through LTLA, these experts share their knowledge, educate, and train the next generation of tourism leaders, ensuring a bright future for our state’s travel sector.

Outside of Nikki’s sales career, she has been a Brazilian Samba dancer since she was 18 years old, and is currently a NOLA LOLA Dancer.  She says dancing stimulates the mind, body and soul.  “It has been proven to increase cognitive strengths and prolong life; that is the miracle of dance and why I love it so much”.  

Nikki is also a mother to a beautiful daughter and grandmother to a precious little guy. They are the reasons for everything she does!  

Nikki has been a member of MSWIT since 2014 and has met so many amazing women in hospitality. Many of these women she considers her mentors and have taught her so much about this industry, especially in her role as Director of Sales.  She loves the monthly meetings and spending time with all our likeminded women.

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Member Spotlight:  

Amy Kirk Duvoisin
Events and Sponsorship Manager, WWOZ-FM
President & Founder – Joan of Arc Project a.k.a. the Joan of Arc Parade on Twelfth Night in the FQ
 

Amy has been a busy woman since she moved to New Orleans in 2004. She has worked for Louisiana Children’s Museum, Pelican Publishing, IHeart Radio (then Clear Channel), French Market Corporation, Jefferson Performing Arts, and now at WWOZ as their Events and Sponsorship Manager.  Every summer since 2022, she teaches a storytelling and social media course for the Young Public Scholars Program at Tulane University. 

In 2008, she founded the Joan of Arc Project, which produces the annual Joan of Arc Parade (on Joan’s birthday, January 6th), Joan of Art Contest, and Salon de Jeanne d’Arc conference. Amy’s story is about entrepreneurship and cultural tourism, taking advantage of the opportunity to combine history and fun in an authentic, non-commercial manner.  While the Joan of Arc procession kicks off the Mardi Gras season, it’s not a typical parade. Throws are hand-made and every element has a story, from what people wear to the themes of the vignettes or groups within the parade.  People now come in just for this event and it really showcases our French Heritage connection.

She has served on the boards of Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival, FestiGals, AFP, FQBA, and currently serves on the board of Alliance Francaise New Orleans. 

When not coordinating events for WWOZ or Joan of Arc, or doing freelance writing, marketing, or fundraising, she is hanging out with her awesome teenage daughter; digging in the dirt in her Metairie yard; exploring local cuisine with her husband, reading, and exploring and experiencing our bountiful local arts and culture. 

What Amy likes best about being a member of MSWIT are the amazing women who support each other and try to continue to make New Orleans the most interesting place to visit, experience, and live! 

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Member Spotlight:

Tanya Leader
VP of Sales & Services
Visit the Northshore

Tanya Leader joined the St. Tammany Parish Tourist and Convention Commission in 2001, bringing with her a background in recruitment, public engagement, event planning, and organizational leadership from her earlier role as an Enrollment Counselor Coordinator at her alma mater, Southeastern Louisiana University. She began her tourism career as Visitor Services Manager before transitioning into the sales department. In 2010, she was promoted to Vice President of Sales, and in 2023, her leadership expanded to include management of the Visitor Services team.

Tanya is a proud graduate of Leadership St. Tammany and the Louisiana Tourism Leadership Academy. Most recently she earned the prestigious Certified Destination Management Executive (CDME) credential from Destinations International.

Known by her family as the “Appetizer Queen,” Tanya is always ready to whip up a quick nibble and entertain. On most weekends, Tanya can be found welcoming guests at 30 by Ninety Theatre, a nonprofit community playhouse co-founded by her husband, Jason, over a decade ago. The theater remains a cherished passion project for both.

Favorite Part of MSWIT: The support and mentorship that is genuinely shared with each other.

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Member Spotlight:
Meg Ruch
Retired Travel Counselor

Meg became a travel agent nearly 50 years ago and worked as a Travel Counselor for various local agencies.  Her longest amount of years were with AAA Travel and most recently, Professional Travel Consultants.

Meg has been a member of MSWIT since 1979 and proudly holds the record as the longest active (consecutive years) member of our great organization.   Had we kept meeting attendance records back then, we are certain she would hold that top record as well just based on the past 10 years!   As long as she wasn’t traveling or sick…Meg attended meetings!

As our most tenured member, Meg has always been our go-to person for historical information and traditionally installs the new board every two years.  When she was asked what she liked most about our club, her quick response was “While there are many competitive businesses within our membership, there is great comradery with the ladies that are in the same field.”

Meg has been married to Dave Ruch for 42 years and they reside in Old Jefferson,  just a short walk to the river.  They have five 4- legged kids… 2 black Labs, 2 beige rescue Poodles and a rescue feral Tabby cat! In her spare time, Meg has always loved to cook and enjoys looking at new recipes!

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Member Spotlight:

Lois Sutton
Co-Publisher
French Quarterly Magazine
 

An honors graduate of the University of Texas School of Communications, Lois moved to New Orleans in 1969 with her family.  She worked in several positions over the years but many of our members know Lois Sutton as the Publisher of Where Magazine for 26 years!   When that publication ended its presence in our area, she became partners with Donna Horowitz as Co-Publisher of French Quarterly Magazine.

Additionally, she is owner of a beautiful French Quarter gallery, Vintage 329 on Royal Street across from the police station. This unique store carries vintage jewelry including Chanel, Tiffany, YSL, etc. “Vintage” showcases exquisite mid-century barware, sunglasses, paintings and posters, as well.

Before being rooted in the New Orleans Tourism Industry with these great media publications, Lois was Regional Marketing Director for Merrill Lynch Realty’s Southwestern Region.   However, one of her most unique jobs was Regional Marketing Director at Chuck E Cheese! She handled parties, got to take Chucky to school events and her lucky children got unlimited tokens. 

She’s very excited that her son Scott just came out with a book called The Pursuit of Home, a guide to buying and selling real estate. He owns a real estate company in Manhattan and has 20 years of experience selling high-end property. Recently, he opened his own New York company called Magnetic.

Lois is a true Taurus and both UT and Merril Lynch had “Bulls” for their mascots…so she just couldn’t get away from the bull. 

She loves palates, needlepoint, early morning walks, candy and her seven beautiful grandchildren!

What Lois likes most about being a MSWIT member is the camaraderie and interesting events.

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Member Spotlight:

Judy Weitz
Owner/CEO
Compucast Web 

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Judy has been called the local Pioneer of Internet Marketing as she created the very first website promoting New Orleans on the “World Wide Web” back in 1994 (before most people even used email!).

Compucast Web has built at least 1000 websites over the past 30 years for clients primarily in the tourism industry in addition to creating popular marketing portal sites such as ExperienceNewOrleans.com, MardiGrasNewOrleans.com  NewOrleansRestaurants.com + more!

She has been married to her husband Marc for nearly 50 years and has two sons, Matthew and Michael, and 5 beautiful grandkids!  Judy has sponsored the MSWIT website for the past 15 years and loves the relationships she has made over the years!

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Member Spotlight:
Kristyn Williams
Hotard Coaches – Charter Sales
UNO HRT Graduate Student
 

Kristyn has worked in the hospitality industry since she turned 18. She loves every part of the industry and is completing her Master’s in Hospitality Management at UNO this December after completing a bachelor’s degree at the same institution in 2018. 

Kristyn began working at Hotard Coaches 3+ years ago in the Charter Sales Department working with Conventions and DMC’s market.  In addition to custom bus transfers for delegates, she has been instrumental with the coordination of many shuttle bus services for major conventions in town.   MSWIT member Shannon Dallas says, “Kristyn is a Ray of Sunshine around the office, always polite and pleasant.”

It wasn’t long after she became a member of the Hotard team that we were so fortunate to have her become a member of MSWIT!

She is an advocate for hospitality, has room for everyone and likes to inspire more people to pursue this path.  Kristyn enjoys making people happy and can’t see herself in any other industry in the world. 

She hopes to have more time after graduating to attend more MSWIT and other tourism industry functions and make even more connections across the hospitality landscape.  When Kristyn is not working or studying, she enjoys being with her family including her “four-legged fur baby” named Spirit!

Kristyn looks forward to wherever the wind takes her… as long as it’s still hospitality related!

MSWIT member Dr. Yvette Green added these   special remarks… Kristyn is a pure delight to work with. I am so proud of the hospitality professional that she has become. Kristyn is a creative problem solver who understands the hospitality and tourism industry well. Personally, she is kind, caring, and a genuine warm-hearted person. She has an amazing personality and is very funny. We are fortunate to have Kristyn as an alum of our Bachelor of Science in Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism program, a candidate for the Master of Science in Hospitality and Tourism Management and a graduate assistant in our department. I am going to be so happy to see her graduate, however, I am going to miss her so much as she leaves our office to start the next chapter in her career. Kristyn rocks!!!