Parker Burke

My guest today and I worked together in Club Med Cancun in 2004/2005 with Hendel. His first season was in Club Med Sandpiper in 2004 as a Waterski G.O. Originally from Chicago and now living in Austin, Texas, please help me welcome, Parker Burke! Before Club Med, Parker obtained a degree in Business Management with a Minor in French. He even did a semester abroad in Aix-en-Provence, France in 2002 (and we never talked about this during our season in Cancun!). After Club Med, he got a Master’s degree in Hospitality & Tourism Management. You could say hospitality is in his blood because his maternal grandfather owned and operated the historic and opulent Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee. Parker had his first meeting with Club Med in New Jersey and when it came to the talent portion of the audition, he did something so weird and wild at that interview, that people requested he do it at each different village he worked at (if you don’t know, then please listen!). Parker worked for Club Med from 2004 to 2007 and worked in the resorts of Sandpiper, Cancun and Ixtapa. It wouldn’t be a My First Season interview if we didn’t talk about hurricanes and Parker had quite his share of them. Ever the optimist, he acknowledges that if it were not for Hurricane Wilma, he never would have met his future wife in Sandpiper in 2005! Parker has always had an extreme personality so lately, he has gravitated towards trail and ultra running. I ask Parker why anyone would run a 50k for “fun” and he is kind enough to answer my many questions on that subject. We talk a lot about Parker being a Waterski G.O. and how rewarding it was for him to teach disabled water skiers, moments he will cherish and never forget. We end the interview with Parker telling us the three things he misses the most about Club Med. **My First Season podcast has always been ad-free and free to listen to and is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Samsung Podcasts, Podbean App, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM, Pandora and Listen Notes. And if you like what you hear, please leave a review at Apple podcasts.

Please check out his Instagram:

Parker Burke (@jparkerburke) | Instagram

And NatureQuant which we talk about in the interview:

NatureQuant