Meet Patrick Huey | Global Wellness Leader, Writer & Restless Wanderer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Patrick Huey and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Patrick, what habits do you feel helped you succeed?
I created a podcast called “At the Podium with Patrick Huey” in the middle of the Pandemic. I shot the first episodes right after January 6, 2021. The world at that time felt dark and bleak. As a nation we were so divided, and the certainties that I had taken for granted for most of my life, suddenly felt very uncertain. I envisioned using “At the Podium” to bring human-to-human compassion back into our conversation. I wanted to design a space where I could highlight the stories of people in my life who were doing the extraordinary work of transformation not just of themselves, but of their neighborhoods, their families, their careers, their souls. We have tackled subjects such as drug and alcohol addiction, how to still live when your soulmate dies in your arms, and how to forgive your father who is sitting in a prison cell because he killed your mother. How to take control of your creative destiny as an artist. How as a gay, black man to navigate the tangled journeys of surrogacy to reach fatherhood. How to give voice to the voiceless and give life to the dreams of the forgotten children in our midst. I knew that if we could hear these stories, we could reconnect to the common bonds of humanity that knit us together. Every person who has since come on the show, has inspired me in some way (even if I didn’t always agree with their positions), because they have made me think differently about who I am in the world, and many have challenged the assumptions I have held as bedrock. Their stories invited me to engage in the active work of empathy and listening without judgment. Mostly, I have been inspired by each guest’s generosity to sit with me week after week and plumb the depths of their own life’s struggles, their leaps of faith and their victories to shine a light for us all to follow.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My career as a Global Spa and Wellness Director happened by accident. I was pursuing a career as an actor, first in New York and then in Los Angeles, when I started my hospitality journey. I worked as a bellman at Ian Schrager’s Royalton Hotel in Manhattan at 44 West 44th Street. Then at the Paramount and finally at Morgans Hotel. For five years I worked for Ian’s hotels, until I left New York to get my MFA from The Yale School of Drama. When I graduated from Yale and moved to Los Angeles, I of course got a job in a hotel. This time, they hired me to work in the spa as a receptionist. People were always surprised that a Yale grad would take an entry level, hourly paying job in a spa. What was I supposed to do? I couldn’t eat my diploma, and the schedule was flexible enough to allow me to audition. So while I was auditioning to be in your latest McDonald’s commercial, I was quietly being promoted at work and getting great job opportunities within the spa industry. Four years later, I had the opportunity to join the opening team of Four Seasons Westlake Village as their assistant spa director. As with all opportunities, I had to decide – keep auditioning or take this job (which was a serious job) with Four Seasons. I chose the latter, and life changed. I began on an 18 year journey that would take me from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Then Miami and the Caribbean. Then to Southeast Asia and back to Los Angeles. My career has taken me to over 30 countries, hundreds of cities, and introduced me to the face of humanity. And the needs, I have learned, are all the same; people want to be seen, valued and loved.

My career has not been hard necessarily. I feel like it happened while I was looking the other way. But I will say that I have achieved much in my career and life, by simply saying “yes” to the unexpected opportunities and turns that came my way. I didn’t agonize over decisions, because I felt the doors opening for me did so for a reason. I am also the recipient of many people investing me, forgiving my mistakes, and seeing greater things for me than I thought could be possible.

I guess my biggest lesson, or what people should know, is that life is meant to be a surprise. It never works out according to plan, but I have never been disappointed. I have never been to the Emmy Awards, but I’ve hiked mountains in Sri Lanka. I have never acted in a feature film, but I have volunteered at a shelter for homeless youth in Hollywood. There is no star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame that bears my name, but I have left an imprint on the lives of the many people who I have come across in my life in the spa industry. And they have left an imprint on me.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I have to say if someone was coming to visit me in Los Angeles, we’d have to drive Sunset Boulevard from the east side all the way to the beach. Driving down Sunset is like driving through the grittiness of the east side of town, through the heart of Hollywood and the drama of West Hollywood. The manicured lawns of Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Brentwood and the Palisades all the way to the beach. You see the city at its best and worst. Which is which? You can decide. For dinner, we are having Bludso’s BBQ (ribs, collard greens, Mac & Cheese, cornbread) at my friend’s Shyamala’s house in Hancock Park because in LA we love a dinner party. And to work off the guilt of the BBQ we will hike Runyon Canyon and maybe brunch the next day at Toast on 3rd Street.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My mother is an amazing woman. She taught me how to read from about three years old. She put a guitar in my hand at the age of six, paid for my classical piano lessons for over a decade, and then made me stick with the saxophone when I wanted quit. Even when I as a queer, black teenage boy who wanted to be a cheerleader in Alief, TX in 1984, she may not have liked it, but she showed up to every game and defended me when people in the stands would shout out “F*g!” to me on the field. She took me to church every Wednesday and Sunday and made sure my jeans were always pressed for school. Mostly, she believed in me and half-stepping was never an option with her. There were no second place ribbons with my mom. I had to be the best, and if not, I had better have tried my best. So, she deserves more than a little credit, she deserves a whole heap of thanks and gratitude and love.

I also have to thank the amazing team at the International Spa Association (ISPA). I have served on the Board of Directors since 2016, and became Chairman of the Board in 2020. They have taught me to use the word “I” less often than the word “We.” They have taught me that as a leader, you must not always serve your interests, but serve the people whom you wish to lead. And they have taught me the importance of restraint and cooler heads prevailing.

Website: https://www.patrickhueyleadership.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepatrickhuey/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-huey-1a989123

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaZIEbeLUKk9_vQWI9TzXlw

Image Credits
International Spa Association