By Heidi Rains
Up Front and Personal
Heidi Rains is a San Diego native, a wiz of a home
cook and brings life to the desert with a beautiful
garden. Her herbs have been tasted by many and used
by some of the top mixologists in town. She has spent
her whole life living, eating & working in fine-dining
restaurants, cocktailing & bartending on the Strip and she has a thirst for all things delicious.
Anesa Causevic…..Atomic Bosnian Bombshell! We’ve all heard of the “European Work Ethic” and being a European girl myself, I know what it’s like to feel compelled to constantly move! move! move! Well, when I asked Anesa why she chose to keep her full-time hostess gig at MGM Grand even after getting another full-time cocktail shift (on graveyard no less!) at Caesars Palace, her answer really stuck with me. She responded casually, “If I am physically able to work both jobs then why would I pass up that opportunity?” This is not a single mother working to support a family nor does she come across as particularly crazy, so I knew that it was her innate genetic coding that summoned this drive to succeed! So how does this young drop-dead gorgeous girl with two jobs maintain her sardonic sense of humor and keep smiling throughout her long days? Well, I found Anesa resting in the booth of a fine dining restaurant between shifts and mined her for details about her life in war-torn Bosnia, taking care of her ailing mother here in Vegas and how she finds the energy to work so hard and still have fun! Tell me about your early days in Bosnia and what brought your family to Vegas? I have little recollection of the war and I was separated from my mother when she went to Germany to find work and left my sister and me in Bosnia. Eventually we were smuggled back to Germany under the seats of a car by a German officer who helped my mother. I remember being terrified by a Serbian militia man with a huge gun, but thankfully he didn’t see us so we made it in. Because we couldn’t gain citizenship in Germany, we were able to gain political asylum in the US. When the war was over we never had any reason to go back so we stayed in Portland, Oregon. In 2005, we moved to Las Vegas for more opportunities but it was then that my mom’s mental health deteriorated from PTSD from the war. Although I excelled in school, I was unable to afford college and could not get grants due to clerical problems www.lvfnbpro.com
with my Bosnian paperwork. It was then that I realized I needed to work hard to succeed in life. Eventually it became clear that it was up to me to care for my mentally ailing mother and so I started working in the service industry. First was for Mario Batali at Otto at The Venetian and then a union hostess job at Fiamma in MGM Grand. I then received the opportunity to work cocktails at Caesars Palace on graveyard with another union shift and I happily took it. How do you manage two full-time shifts and still keep a positive attitude? I do work a lot of double shifts and it is very tiring, but I was able to allow my mother the opportunity to live in a nice home and I believe her wellbeing is most important. The lifestyle that I’ve created for my mom has helped with her mental illness. Creating a good environment for her benefits us both.
Like most Europeans, you travel a lot. Where are some of your favorite destinations and how do you use your experiences to connect with hotel guests? I love seeing differently parts of the world and being around different cultures instead of just clocking in and clocking out. Ultimately, I’d like get a job where I could travel the world. I really enjoy going to tropical places and love going back home to Europe. I really like going to places where I can relax on the beach in a hut. Traveling really helps me connect with guests on a personal level and also when you go to different resorts you learn how to treat guests. I compare and contrast service standards and use those experiences to better service my guests. What do you love most about the service industry and conversely, what are some of your pet peeves with regard to guest interaction? Honestly, I love having fun with guests. As a hostess it’s a way of keeping myself entertained. I like to have personal interactions with guests and make them laugh…if possible. I like to mess with people and catch them off guard to disarm them and make things fun. You meet so many people every day so to keep from becoming a robot you need to make it fun. For my cocktail job my main pet peeve would be….two words…Poker Players! I am also not a fan of very pushy guests who want to run things and question my abilities to do my job. But I always keep smiling! And by the way…good luck trying to break me because I have been through a lot! Being as ambitious as you are, what are your plans for the future? I want to run my own service related business because I think I would be a great leader. I have compassion for people and empathy so I know that I would help others succeed as well as myself. This does not need to be a million dollar operation but something that will keep me happy. I don’t need to be a millionaire to be rich!
May 2015 I The Las Vegas Food & Beverage Professional 17