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Tuesday mornings aren't exactly high-traffic times at South Florida casinos.
Things were a little different yesterday, though, when dozens packed into a huge tent just outside the
Seminole Casino Hollywood's front door for an odd giveaway, even for a casino. The winner of this contest would get a job.
Though these days it seems a little obscured by the towering Hard Rock Hotel & Casino down the road, Seminole Casino Hollywood was a first of its kind -- the first
[jump]
real-life Indian casino in the entire U.S. of A.
And,
apparently, its proprietors want to rebrand. Part of that
strategy? A very public campaign to find that person who'll be
the casino's new face.
"We're looking for
someone who's going to be our brand ambassador," said Steve Bailey, the
casino's special events manager. "We get confused with Hard Rock all
the time."
Last spring, the casino plastered
newspapers and billboards with ads heralding the concept, which it calls
the "Face of Classic $100,000 Dream Job Giveaway" ("classic" being a
term it's using to distinguish it from other Seminole casinos).
The
winner gets a $100k job. It's a year contract, which might be
renewable.
About a thousand people applied,
with a diverse array of applications -- some, Bailey said, had "pictures
we probably shouldn't have been getting."
It's
hard to know whether a better economy would have inspired such a
massive turnout of what casino officials say are high-caliber
applicants. Bailey said he didn't think so.
One
of the finalists was Tonya Taylor. She's a single mom, born in
Tennessee, raised in Miami-Dade County (though she's mum on the question of
her age). She said her career involves mostly musical theater and
broadcasting. At the moment, her main gig is singing in a band called Soul
Survivors, who do mostly corporate parties.
When
she saw billboards and newspaper ads hyping the job contest, she put
together a video documentary.
She said if she's
not chosen for this job, she'll still be coming around.
"If
they don't tell me yes today, I will be back Monday," she said.
"I feel happy to be in the top ten."
As
candidates awaited the results, TV cameras bounced around underneath
sparkly beaded chandeliers. More than 50 business-casual-clad people
milled about while the likes of C&C Music Factory wafted over the
speakers.
Shortly before noon, a suit-clad
casino exec walked in with a giant check for no less than
$100,000. Hastily,
he and several others revealed the winner: Tonya Taylor. She
was, as one might imagine, elated as she accepted the check.
Some
of the nine who didn't get a giant check (though all got a grand for
their troubles) weren't entirely devastated that they didn't make it.
"It's
not like I'm unemployed and needing to survive," said Catherine
Gestowitz, who lives in Hollywood and works as a sales operations
specialist at Elizabeth Arden. "It was disappointing, but it was a great
experience."
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