No Vacancy Live! · 2026-06-27 · 1h 3m
Deena Baikowitz is a cat whisperer, networking extraordinaire, and the funnest, loudest (the good kind) person you'll ever meet. She joins Friday Night Audit alongside myself, Craig Sullivan and Suzanne Bagnera, PhD, CHA, CED from Toronto (where she's "in exile" from New York) and the crew immediately put her to work on the pet peeves hotel tournament. The parallels between training introverted cats and introverted people are uncanny. Slow blink. Build trust. Don't stare. Feed them. Deena's done it for both species. Hotel networking events are broken: greasy sticky fingers on the shrimp, then a handshake, then touching your phone. Someone needs to design a clean-hands networking menu. Deena volunteered. We're here for it. The pet peeves tournament is down to the Four Horsemen of Misery - and constantly hidden lamp switches just demolished anti-theft hangers 71-29. The hotel industry is listening now She speaks five and a half languages (people training and cat training), does coaches, comedy, and will absolutely work a room for you at any conference. Find her: Fireball Deena on Instagram, LinkedIn, or in the indentation at the middle of any crowd.
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