Down Under Transplant Takes Top Role as Hotel Caterer

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During the last 20 years, Rosanna Harrison has made a name for herself in the hospitality industry, winning awards for catering work at a host of area hotels. But when asked how she ended up in the business, Harrison is candid.

“It was an accident,” said the former school teacher, who got her start at a resort outside Sydney, Australia, to supplement her low-paying salary.

That accident turned into a successful career, with Harrison going on to stints at hotels up and down Southern California, including the JW Marriott Resort & Spa in Palm Desert, the Westin Bonaventure in downtown Los Angeles and the Catamaran Resort Hotel and Spa in San Diego.

After relocating for countless jobs, Harrison is happy to be back near Los Angeles in her new position as director of catering and convention services for Portofino Hotel & Yacht Club in Redondo Beach.

“This was my opportunity to go back to a place that I love,” she said. “I’m very much an L.A. girl but with an international twist.”

Harrison will oversee a team at the boutique hotel of catering and convention managers who organize large-scale events such as destination weddings or business conferences.

“It’s a real gem,” Harrison said of Portofino. “I feel very fortunate to be part of the team.”

A native of the Land Down Under, Harrison moved to the United States to attend Provo, Utah’s Brigham Young University, where she earned an educational psychology degree in 1986. After going back to Australia for a brief stint, during which she took the resort position, she returned to the States for good in 1990. Casting aside her teaching work, she joined Renaissance Hotels as a member of its convention services department.

“I’d always had a yearning to live in the United States,” Harrison said. “It was kind of a dream come true.”

Harrison, 45, lives in San Pedro with her husband, Art. She is an avid aerobics exerciser and kickboxer, and spends her weekends volunteering with the Humane Society as a self-proclaimed “cat saver.”

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