Is there a talent pool more beloved — and more lampooned — than “Hooters girls”?
Cheryl Whiting-Kish, who stepped into the chief people officer role for parent company HOA Brands in summer 2022, has been with the company for decades. To use the wing franchise’s turn of phrase, she donned the orange shorts around 1987. She worked her way up to training general manager and ran operations in the field, she said, before becoming the first female vice president of HOA Brands in the 1990s — notably, in the human resources department. Even after she started her own consulting firm, she kept close to the flock as a Hooters company consultant.
Now, she wants to put Hooters girls on a similar path to success and nurture them at every step of the talent life cycle.
Prior to being appointed CPO, Whiting-Kish had been working as HOA Brands’ senior vice president of organizational effectiveness since October 2019. What keeps bringing her back to HR?
In one sense, it’s empowerment — and wanting to imbue a new generation of Hooters girls with that confidence. “Those who have worn the orange shorts are very proud of the brand. We feel very strong in our decision to be in control of our life and our choices, our own agency,” she said over the phone.
Consumers may have a singular image of the restaurant’s waitresses at the forefront of their mind, but Whiting-Kish emphasizes that the reality is so much more complex.
Whiting-Kish mentioned Hooters’...
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