BETHESDA, Md. — Inside Marriott International’s global headquarters, three women who had previously pitched hotel deals on the SHaDPitch stage made their return—as hotel owners. Hours later, a team of recent college graduates walked away with $50,000 in deal equity and a path toward ownership of their own property.
In a single day, She Has a Deal proved that its model is working.
She Has a Deal (SHaD), founded by Tracy Prigmore, is a hotel investment accelerator that trains women to source, evaluate, finance and pitch real hotel deals. Its signature program, SHaDPitch, now in its seventh season, is not a business plan competition: The deals, properties and capital requirements are all real. Increasingly, the closings are also real, and it’s what made SHaDPitch 2026 feel different from previous years.
On Background
According to the 2025 Representation in Hotel Leadership report, from Penn State’s School of Hospitality Management, women’s advancement in upper-level hotel leadership has stalled. Women represent 58.6% of the hospitality workforce and 69% of hospitality management graduates, yet they hold roughly one in four C-suite roles and remain notably underrepresented in investment, development and technology leadership. At the partner and principal level, men outnumber women nearly seven to one. For Black professionals, the picture is even more challenging: despite representing 16.7% of the industry workforce, Black leaders hold just 2.1% of director-to-CEO positions, a figure that has declined since 2022. On the ownership side, the gap is even wider, with less than 2% of hotel owners being women of color. SHaD seeks to exist in direct response to those numbers.
The pitch competition featured five teams of Early Careerist, for current students and recent graduates from universities including Howard, Spelman, Penn State, Michigan State, San Diego State and Virginia Tech. The deals ranged from brand conversions with Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Hilton, Marriott International, IHG Hotels & Resorts and Choice Hotels International to independent and lifestyle concepts in markets including Chicago, Sante Fe, N.M., Dallas, Austin, and Savannah, Ga.
Sophistication of deal structures stood out. Teams presented detailed underwriting models, brand comparisons, capital stack breakdowns and operating projections that reflected months of analysis and mentorship through SHaD’s nine-step hotel investment roadmap.
On Data
The day opened with a data session that included, STR, Kalibri, HotStats (a Duetto company) and CBRE, with interactive audience polls designed to prime the room to learn more about the analysis of a hotel investment. Complex topics like net revenue, labor cost ratios and cap rates were broken down into questions the entire audience could engage with. The format was intentionally built for a mixed audience: accessible enough for a first-time attendee and substantive enough for our hotel executive peers.
When the final pitch was delivered and the judges deliberated, the day transitioned into an awards ceremony designed to feel less like a conference closing and more like a celebration. Team Heir Development, consisting of Caroline Whitfield and Whitney Williams (both Spelman College, Economics, Class of 2023) and Jessica D’Amico (Penn State, Hospitality Management, Class of 2023), was named the winner of SHaDPitch 2026. Their pitch: a Tribute Portfolio by Marriott conversion in Dallas. This was a lifestyle-forward deal that demonstrated both market sophistication and a clear understanding of what today’s travelers are looking for. The team was awarded $50,000 in deal equity through the SHaD Prosperity Fund.
The composition of Team Heir Development is worth noting. Two Spelman graduates and one Penn State graduate, all from the Class of 2023, building a hotel deal together less than three years out of college. That is the pipeline SHaD is constructing: young women who enter the program with ambition and leave with the financial literacy, deal acumen, and network to actually close.
On Trend
Several of this year’s pitches also highlighted an entrenched trend in hotel development: the untapped commercial potential in conversion and independent properties. Many of the deals featured select-service and lifestyle hotels in secondary and emerging markets where ancillary revenue, food and beverage, events, spa, wellness, and local programming, remains significantly underdeveloped. For properties in these segments, the revenue opportunity extends well beyond rooms. Building a commercial strategy that captures the full value of the guest experience is where the next generation of owners will differentiate themselves. The women pitching at SHaDPitch understand this intuitively: They are not just buying hotels; they are building experiences.
The gap in hotel ownership is well documented. What SHaDPitch demonstrates, year after year, is that the gap is not one of talent, ambition, or capability. It is one of access: to education, to mentorship, to capital, and to the networks that make deals possible. Every year, SHaD narrows that gap. And every year, more women walk off that stage and into closing rooms.
Before the winners were announced, the event highlighted Deal Milestone Spotlights celebrating three SHaD alumnae who closed on hotel properties over the past year. Jenesis Laforcarde is the owner of Jenesis House, a property that carries both her name and her vision in Sedona, AZ. Jeni Jackman closed on a Tru by Hilton in California, a ground up development that many of the former SHaD alumnae (self-included) have invested in. Venus Gervin closed on The Peridot, a Hyatt boutique hotel conversion project outside Atlanta in Stockbridge, GA. Each woman walked the stage to a video package telling the story of her deal, and each stood alongside Prigmore as the room rose to its feet. Three deals. Three new hotel owners. Three proof points that this pipeline produces results.
Emily Johnson is the founder of Elevate Hospitality Collective, a commercial strategy and wellness revenue consultancy for boutique hotels and retreat properties. She is a SHaD alum (2022) and hosted the data partner session at SHaDPitch 2026.