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Reaves learned hospitality from the proverbial hand that rocks the world — her grandmother.
“She was my hero,” Reaves says. “She introduced me to hospitality without me realizing it.”
Born in Philadelphia, Reaves relocated early on with her mother to Clayton County, Ga., near Atlanta. With her dad a busy firefighter and her mom keeping up the house, Reaves spent a lot of time with her grandmother, Elizabeth Swans Smith.
“She had me write out her Christmas cards,” Reaves remembers. “It taught me to be thoughtful. She called people on their birthdays. She showed me how to do everyday things you need to do at a hotel for it to be memorable — how to greet guests, how to cook for them, how to keep a very clean house.”
After graduating from Jonesboro High School, Reaves enrolled at Georgia State on a HOPE Scholarship. Her courses led her to a volunteer job interviewing tourists for the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau.
There, a Hyatt Regency rooms executive noticed Reaves’s bright smile and authentic warmth. Before long, she was working the Hyatt’s front desk.
“That started my career,” Reaves remembers. “It was a paying job. I knew I was going to be one rich girl.”
Debby Cannon, one of Reaves’ professors and the director of Georgia State’s Cecil B. Day School of Hospitality Administration, took a special interest in her.
“When Davonne started working as a front desk agent at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta, we had a real bond. I’d started my hotel career there and loved that hotel,” Cannon says. “I always knew Davonne would be on a fast track in the hotel industry. Even as a student, she would see problems as opportunities.”
Reaves smiles when she speaks of Cannon.
“I’m one of her groupies,” Reaves says. “And I love my alma mater. If I hadn’t gone to Georgia State, I don’t think anybody would have ever heard of me.”
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