Thank you for your Donation!

Starkey Crest

 

Dear Starkey Patron;

Starkey International and I extend our sincere appreciation to you for your donation to Restoring the Art (RTA) Student Assistance Fund.  RTA is a not-for-profit and maintains its 501c(3) status.  Starkey and 4,000 other small vocational schools lost all funding support in the recent economic turn and we are most grateful for your generosity. 

All donations will be utilized to support student’s efforts in attending Starkey and entering the Private Service Industry as an educated professional.  Service has long been seen as a non-educable and domestic population, which continues to serve a servant mentality and a historical slave cycle.  To continue to have service providers available to the high-net-worth, Service must continue to be elevated to an educated “Service as an Expertise” and as a Profession.

My great appreciation,

First Lady of Service, Mary Louise Starkey

Mary Louise Starkey
First Lady of Service
CEO Starkey International

How hard can it be to perform simple tasks?

Mary Starkey Tea ServiceI am frustrated today with the level of knowledge a few of my current students have exhibited.  Now in week four and having completed approximately 150 hours of Starkey education, they have not taken on the conscientiousness or service savvy one would hope for.  While they are indeed serious students, how hard can it be to just bring in my daily lunch without someone holding their hand?  Sound familiar?  “How hard can it be to perform simple tasks?”

In the world of education we all want to be shown exactly how things are done in order to be successful.  However, in private service, each Principal may give these students unique directions on how to accomplish a specific task.  Now, this is week four, as I stated, and I have held the hand of the first three students who have carried out this somewhat simplified task.  They each request that they be individually instructed, as opposed to learning from each other.  On the other side of the coin, these are not beginners to service we are educating; these are bright Household Management students expecting to take over the overall management of sophisticated homes.  Are we ever in trouble!  In reading other industry newsletters over the years, one reads about how to polish silver, wash a fine piece of china, and of course iron a shirt.  On the NBC Today Show, Ms. Martha Stewart said a white shirt could be ironed in 10 minutes but Matt Lauer was still stumbling after 20 minutes.

But we are speaking of just bringing in lunch here, not a highly technical, product proven skill!  So I began to consider the number of factors associated with bringing in lunch.  They have to include:  intrusion into someone’s space, privacy of the activities being performed within the space, is the person hungry, what is the lunch, how do you interrupt to ask if I am interested in eating, knowing what the culinary offering of the Chef is, how the food was prepared, what is in the recipe, what beverage would go with the food, where to position the tray, how to put the tray in front of me without disturbing me as I am on the phone, taking just the plate off the tray, and placing it before me as to accommodate a small amount of available desk space, where to stand when doing so, and if one should speak to me or not — to just name a few of the factors.  This is a great exercise in service delivery.

In the end, Service Management is 60% psychologically understanding who you are serving and their specific expectations.  The balance is technical and you really have to know your Principal.

Quality of Instruction

Starkey's Quality EducationOver many years Starkey has learned what it takes to actually put together a high quality of Private Service education.  It’s a grand puzzle.   Educators must have a high level of service management in their backgrounds and have specialized and proven abilities in at least three of the primary areas of service including: Administration, Housekeeping, Culinary, Clothing, Entertaining and Personal Care.  In addition, there must be adjunct educators in Property and Grounds, Maintenance, Transportation and Travel, and Safety and Protection.  Starkey has chosen two 30 year veteran service experts to lead its educational programs, including one with diplomatic presidential household and culinary service in their background and the other with a five star housekeeping and personal care expertise.  In addition, we have identified twenty adjunct educators and presenters to complete our curriculum of experts.  Our full time Personal Statement educator has a Master’s Degree in Industrial /Organizational Psychology and Career Counseling.  The facility must be appropriate for Private Service; our culinary support, classrooms, and computers must support the students.  The financing must be in place to serve our potential students, and our educational text books and service management tools must be seasoned and correct.   Our residential housing must support the student’s quality of life so that they might succeed.  Finally, our availability of positions and the type of positions must be appropriate for our level and the ability of our Graduates, both new and seasoned.  Our placements must be successful, fulfilling, and long lasting!   It has only taken us 30 years to get it right!

Quality of Instruction

Starkey's Quality EducationOver many years Starkey has learned what it takes to actually put together a high quality of Private Service education.  It’s a grand puzzle.   Educators must have a high level of service management in their backgrounds and have specialized and proven abilities in at least three of the primary areas of service including: Administration, Housekeeping, Culinary, Clothing, Entertaining and Personal Care.  In addition, there must be adjunct educators in Property and Grounds, Maintenance, Transportation and Travel, and Safety and Protection.  Starkey has chosen two 30 year veteran service experts to lead its educational programs, including one with diplomatic presidential household and culinary service in their background and the other with a five star housekeeping and personal care expertise.  In addition, we have identified twenty adjunct educators and presenters to complete our curriculum of experts.  Our full time Personal Statement educator has a Master’s Degree in Industrial /Organizational Psychology and Career Counseling.  The facility must be appropriate for Private Service; our culinary support, classrooms, and computers must support the students.  The financing must be in place to serve our potential students, and our educational text books and service management tools must be seasoned and correct.   Our residential housing must support the student’s quality of life so that they might succeed.  Finally, our availability of positions and the type of positions must be appropriate for our level and the ability of our Graduates, both new and seasoned.  Our placements must be successful, fulfilling, and long lasting!   It has only taken us 30 years to get it right!

Starkey’s Unique Employer Clientele

Starkey's Unique ClienteleStarkey International has always led the way in leading edge Service Management Education and Placement.  Starkey seeks those who desire the highest of standards in Service Delivery.  Every school seeks a particular Style of Client for placement of their Graduates.  Starkey has nourished their clientele, who are considered to be the overall high net worth community, for over 30 years.  These employers typically have assets of $200 million or more.  Their unique expectations continue to exceed those abilities of candidates who have not been educated in Private Service.  Starkey’s clientele want the best of the best and are willing to pay well for high quality candidates.  To learn more about the High Net Worth, read Richistan by Robert Frank, Senior Writer for The Wall Street Journal.