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.
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