Gustavo Serbia is the Founder of Stretch The String – a website dedicated to career coaching, job search, and workplace advice. Stretch The String is Gustavo’s passion and the goal of Stretch The String is to help individuals achieve their career and life goals stressing the importance of continuous self-directed learning, self-motivation, and self-discovery, pushing people beyond their self-imposed limits to become the CEO’s of their careers.
Gustavo is also the Corporate Director of Human Resources for the Crescent Hotels and Resorts group in Virginia in the United States.
With over 15 years of solid HR experience in the United States, Europe, and Hong Kong within the luxury segment, with union and non-union workforces, corporate level, and with a start-up, Gustavo has extensive experience in the hospitality, airline, entertainment and education sector at university level.
Gustavo holds a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts from New York University and a Master’s Degree in Human Resources Management from Keller Graduate School of Management. He also holds Diplomas in Business, Frontline Management and Training & Assessment Systems from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Australia and is an Adjunct Professor at Virginia Tech where he lectures on human resource management as part of the business school MBA program
We had a fabulous conversation during our podcast interview and I found out that Gustavo is an HR non-HR guy. He thinks people and business. Career coaching drives him. Seeing people succeed is his reward. He also had a fascinating start to his career as an actor and singer before transitioning into hospitality with a strong focus on learning and development before focusing on leadership in human resources.
He is fully bilingual in English and Spanish, is a tech nerd, loves baseball (Go Marlins!), and just for something completely different, has a collection of all things M&M (gifts he’s received). He’s lived in Puerto Rico, Miami, Tallahassee, New Jersey, New York City, Arizona, and Virginia.
Listen to Gustavo’s fascinating career journey, what it takes to be a successful HR professional, and his top tips for career success!
