She arrived in America with limited English and started as a hotel housekeeper; decades later she became a Hard Rock Hotel president

Allie Evangelista arrived in the United States from Brazil with limited English, one suitcase and $3,000, beginning a career in hospitality with a housekeeping job at a Homewood Suites by Hilton in Orlando, Florida. She had studied hospitality and tourism in Brazil and had previously participated in a Disney exchange program, but she had never imagined that her career would eventually lead into the casino industry. Evangelista worked her way through hotel operations before being recruited in 2006 for a position in slot operations, despite having never seen a slot machine before. Over the following years, she moved through casino management roles in several states and eventually became a four-time general manager before taking on her biggest challenge yet: leading the development of Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol in Virginia. The property began as a temporary casino operation and eventually expanded into a major resort, allowing Evangelista to build a casino workforce and operation almost entirely from the ground up.How Allie Evangelista worked her way from housekeeper to hotel managementAccording to CDC Gaming, Evangelista's first job in the United States was as a housekeeper at a Homewood Suites by Hilton in Orlando. She had arrived from Brazil after studying hospitality and tourism and participating in a Disney exchange program, and initially saw the hotel's front desk as the next step she wanted to reach. She progressed from housekeeping to an inspector position before moving into front-office work at the Renaissance WorldGate Hotel and later the Radisson Hotel Orlando. Evangelista has described herself as someone who consistently sought more responsibility and more work rather than treating one position simply as a stepping stone to another. Her approach eventually brought her into hotel management and put her in a position to make an unexpected transition into the gaming industry. The move was significant because she had built her career around hospitality rather than casino operations, yet the skills she had developed in guest service, hotel management and leading employees proved transferable to the gaming business.Why Evangelista initially hesitated when she was offered a casino jobIn 2006, while working in hospitality, Evangelista was contacted about an assistant slot-operations position with Ameristar Casinos in St. Charles, Missouri. The opportunity came despite the fact that she had never seen a slot machine before. According to her account, her first reaction was to question whether the offer could really be what it appeared to be, but her general manager encouraged her to accept it and told her the opportunity could change her life. Evangelista made the move and began learning an entirely new side of the hospitality industry. She eventually became a Slot Operations Manager and expanded her experience beyond slots into table games. During her time with Ameristar and its successor operations, she worked in Missouri and Iowa and continued building her education, including earning an MBA from Lindenwood University and a master's degree in human resources management from Washington University in St. Louis. Her casino career then progressed into increasingly senior management positions, eventually leading to general manager roles at The Meadows in Pennsylvania, Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course in Ohio and Hollywood Casino Perryville in Maryland. By the time she was approached about Bristol, she had already developed experience running casino properties rather than simply working within a single department.What it took to build Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol from the ground upEvangelista's move to Bristol, Virginia, gave her a very different challenge from managing an established casino. She was appointed president of Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol and became responsible for helping develop Virginia's first operating casino. The project initially opened as a temporary casino operation in the former Bristol Mall before the permanent resort opened in November 2024. Evangelista has recalled that when she began working on the Bristol project, there was effectively no established casino operation for her to inherit. She described setting up an early office in a changing room in the men's section of the former department store, using basic equipment while assembling the leadership team and beginning the process of recruiting employees. The completed resort now includes a casino with nearly 1,500 slot machines and more than 50 table games, along with a sportsbook, hotel accommodations and a large entertainment venue. Hard Rock had originally projected that construction of the permanent resort would create approximately 900 to 1,000 construction-specific jobs, while the completed property was expected to support more than 1,200 full- and part-time positions. By the resort's opening in November 2024, the workforce had grown to around 1,400 employees. Many of the employees came from the Bristol area, a region whose economy had been heavily affected by the decline of coal mining. For Evangelista, that local connection has become one of the most meaningful parts of the job. She has spoken about seeing employees use their new income to make major changes in their lives, including buying homes or being able to afford experiences they previously could not. Her own career has become part of the message she gives those employees: someone who arrived in America without English as her first language and began in housekeeping could eventually become the president responsible for opening a major casino resort. What started as a job she never expected to take ultimately became a career spanning hospitality, gaming and senior executive leadership.Catch the latest World News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.