mehvish arifeen

I am transitioning from a long and successful career in entrepreneurship and consulting to hospitality. I have over a decade of experience in customer management leadership, business strategy, and operations development. 

Due to my background in managing people across functions and building and scaling my own wellness start-up in a highly challenging environment, I am excellent at building holistic and sustainable service ecosystems and communities. Through effective communication and problem-solving processes built in line with the strategic priorities of the operation, I am an effective relationship builder and have the ability to cultivate understanding and seamless workflows between customers, management, and front-line staff. 

I currently work as a business freelance consultant for service-centered marketplace platforms such as GlamSquad and as a Customer Relations Manager at OijiMi, a Michelin-star Korean restaurant in Flatiron. 

I believe I could be an excellent fit for an operations, and member relations management role, leveraging my passion for building and operating holistic and inclusive hospitality ecosystems, and my skills as an operator and people-centric leader.

GLAMSQUAD            NewYork

Mobilization and Recruitment Consultant                Feb 2023-Present

Streamlining Communication and Understanding between Management and Service Providers

• Identifying labor force participation challenges faced by trained and certified beauty professionals in the NewYork area to help increase earrings and participation in the economy as beauty service providers on GlamSquad; a digital beauty services platform.  
• Designing and implementing mobilization and recruitment strategy by understanding the behaviors, constraints, and needs of beauty professionals by immigrant demographics  analysis 

OIJI MI                                                                                                    Manhattan, NewYork              

Guest Relations Manager                                  Jan 2023 Present Customer Relations and Reservation Management                

• Welcoming, directing, checking in and seating all guests at their assigned tables
• Responsible for managing guest book and reservations on Resy OS, along with receiving and managing high volume of queries on phone and email 
• Maximizing guest reservations and accommodation by constantly optimizing table turns and assignments 
• Thorough knowledge of guests profiles, celebrations, preferences and dietary restrictions and effectively liaising with the service team, kitchen and management continuously
• Assisting in serving, turning, clearing and resetting tables according to standards of excellence
• Support operations manager in problem solving in real-time any guest related and service concerns

ACOUSTIK GARDEN LOUNGE                                                          Brooklyn, NewYork              

Bartender, Barback & Server                                                   Aug 2022-Dec 2022

Bartending and Customer Service

• Assessed customer needs and preferences to make appropriate beverage recommendations that were added to the cocktail menu increasing sales. Provide guests with craft cocktails while upselling
• Open and close the bar; managing credit/cash payment accounts, inventory management as well as hygiene and cleanliness
• Make every drink served, developed a strong knowledge of the food menu, place food orders, and also serve food
• Assistant management with recruiting, training new bartenders and servers on all drinks and service SOPS

IFC, WORLD BANK & INVEST2INNOVATE LLC (I2I)                  Washington DC & Pakistan CEO (2020-2022), Startup Advisor and Consultant (2022-Present)                           Sep 2020-Present              

Strategy and Multi Stakeholder Management

• Operations scale and management coach to over 50 founders and entrepreneurs across health  and wellness sector in MENA  
• Trained 300 entrepreneurs and 30 incubators for IFC through a curriculum on investment readiness and business development. Program success led to expansion in MENA region, resulting in 50 women entrepreneurs executing successful fundraising strategies
• Led program expansion to MENA countries, driving local and regional cross-functional projects & increasing revenues by 3x 
• As CEO of I2I, restructured corporate governance to resolve urgent financial liabilities. Defined standard operating procedures to ensure timely financial audits, consolidated financial streams, and optimized financial forecasting

GHARPAR TECH (Home Beauty Gig Platform)                         Pakistan  Co-Founder, COO         Apr 2016 – Mar 2020

Leadership and Innovation               

• Conceptualized and built Pakistan’s first “Uber for beauty services”. Piloted with 6 beauticians, 250 clients, and a 60% customer repeat rate. Secured seed capital of USD $500,000
• Spearheaded GharPar's scale-up and rapid market expansion into three of Pakistan’s largest cities leading to a customer base of 30,000 clients, 125 beauticians and 150 daily orders within four years
• Recruited, trained, and incentivized 250 beauticians to perform services in a challenging socio-cultural environment. Built a revenue-sharing and rewards structure that mobilized women to join the gig economy. Increased beautician utilization by 2.5X
• Created and optimized operational processes, best practices for service/appointment dispatch, service delivery quality control, sales reporting, beautician HR controls and inventory management

EVIDENCE FOR POLICY DESIGN, HARVARD UNIVERSITY   Boston, MA & Pakistan Project Management & Analytics                                        Dec 2014-Apr 2016    

• Introduced client data collection through tablets for 150 clients which led to rapid analysis of daily entrepreneur performance trends, shortening loan disbursement time and optimizing school cash-flow management

EDUCATION

THE FLETCHER SCHOOL OF LAW AND DIPLOMACY          Medford, MA

Master’s of Law and Diplomacy   Aug 2012–May 2014

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES (UCLA) Los Angeles, CA 

Bachelors of Arts in International Development Studies and Ethnomusicology           Sep 2006–Aug 2010

LICENSES 

STATE FOOD HANDLERS LICENSE                                                                                                                New York         

#22-18624OL  December 2022

ABC BARTENDING Manhattan, NewYork

ATAP Certification and Diploma