Salamander Middleburg in Virginia sits on 340 acres and is about an hour car ride from Washington , D . C . Photo credit : Justin Kriel
Devadas said . “ Unlike some other brands , it really is our effort .”
COURAGE UNDER FIRE Salamander puts forth the same effort with its employees as it does its guests . Better wages are table stakes these days ; hospitality companies succeed on the working environment they create and how they foster careers . “ We ’ re present ; we ’ re there ,” said Johnson , who is known to be as involved making C-level hiring decisions as ones for front-line positions . “ We recognize employees and treat them on the same level as everybody else .”
Opportunity matters and Salamander does not allow its employees to remain static . That means a front-desk worker at Hotel Bennett might next week be supervising the front-desk at Aurora Anguilla . It ’ s a virtuous cycle that benefits both the company and the employee . “ It keeps them fresh ; it keeps them hungry ; and it allows them to accelerate their own ambitions ,” Johnson said .
Community engagement also has a huge role with Salamander properties . It ’ s a must to be part of the local fabric , Johnson said . For instance , in Jamaica , where Salamander has Half Moon , the hotel and Johnson personally are involved in the early childhood development center , where they have donated computers to classrooms , to name one gesture . “ Because of that , Jamaica gives back to us , because they know that we want to be there ,” she said .
In Aspen , Johnson attends the Aspen Ideas Festival , a week-long event that includes discussions , seminars , panels and tutorials from journalists and politicians to musicians and artists .
One topic that Johnson does not shy away from is diversity , equity and inclusion ( DEI ). She doesn ’ t just champion it ; it is a tentpole of her business and goes beyond hiring . “ We need diversity of guests coming to our hotels , we need diversity of those working in our hotels and that has been our mission ,” she said . “ My face is out there and I ’ m telling the story .”
Her own story is now a book , published by Simon & Schuster and released in September . “ Walk Through Fire : A Memoir of Love , Loss , and Triumph ” is an unvarnished account of Johnson ’ s life story , from her humble beginnings to becoming a billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist .
In mythology , the salamander is said to be able to pass through fire and come out the other side unharmed and unscathed . Turns out , Johnson has a lot of salamander in her : the book chronicles her father leaving the family for another woman , then , later , a marriage to Robert Johnson filled , as Johnson writes , with infidelities and emotional abuse .
Johnson has described writing the book as therapy . In fact , Johnson calls Lisa Dickey , who co-wrote the book , her own therapist . “ When Simon & Schuster asked me to do this , I said I can ’ t do it alone ,” she said . “ It ’ s too painful — the things that I have suppressed . [ Dickey ] was able to pull things out of me that I couldn ’ t have done on my own .”
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