Elaina Morris: President and CEO of Ascend Hospitality Group

When I came to Bellevue, I saw builders. I saw people creating companies, futures and community at the same time. When I was expecting my daughter in 2011, I knew this was where I wanted to raise my children and where I wanted to build something meaningful.

I launched WiggleWorks because I believed families deserved intentional spaces. Over time, I realized my work wasn’t just about customers — it was about workforce opportunity. It was about the families behind the front desk, in the kitchen and serving the tables.

Bellevue felt like a place where ambition and community could coexist. I wanted to prove that business could strengthen both.

Because not every child’s future runs through a four-year college — and we need to respect that.

While serving with the Bellevue Schools Foundation, I helped establish an Innovation Fund focused on career and technical education. We had apprenticeship programs in tech and automotive, but not in culinary, even though our schools had commercial kitchens and talented students ready to learn.

Hospitality is not a fallback career — it’s a viable, sustainable profession. In a moment when tech layoffs across Seattle and Bellevue have disrupted what once felt like guaranteed stability, hospitality offers something different: the opportunity to earn while you learn, to build leadership skills, financial literacy and real management experience from day one.

Workforce equity means recognizing talent wherever it exists and creating pathways that lead to livable wages, dignity and long-term growth — whether or not a four-year degree is part of the plan.

That belief is also why we launched AHG Cares, the philanthropic arm of Ascend Hospitality Group. Our mission at AHG is to bring people together through culinary experiences that raise the bar and improve standards in hospitality. But our core values — “You matter. Team matters. Service matters. Performance matters.” — extend far beyond the dining room.

We’ve formalized apprenticeship pathways, youth mentoring initiatives, community events and back-to-school programs. Rather than separating philanthropy from business, we integrate it. Elevating the communities we serve means investing fully in both our team members and our neighbors.

And it’s personal. My daughter McKenna even interned at Ascend, seeing firsthand what it means to build a culture of service and leadership. That experience reinforced for me that what we’re creating isn’t just a company — it’s a place where the next generation can learn what dignity in work truly looks like.

It starts with recognizing the dignity of hourly work. Our industry depends on people who are often invisible in larger economic conversations. Many of our team members are supporting families, building careers or starting over. So we designed our company around that reality.

We offer access to healthcare at reduced hour thresholds. We promote from within intentionally. We survey our entire workforce twice a year — and we act on what we learn. We invest in professional development beyond technical skills because we want careers, not just jobs.

Through AHG Cares, our team members participate in community initiatives that reinforce purpose. Service isn’t something we perform for guests; it’s who we are. You can’t train someone to care, but you can create an environment where care is valued and rewarded.

When someone walks into Ascend Prime, they see elevated dining and breathtaking 360-degree views. What they don’t always see is the ecosystem behind it: apprentices learning, managers who started as hosts and employees gaining stability and confidence.

We’re not just serving meals. We’re setting bigger tables where our people, our community and our guests all feel valued.

Isarn and Cafe Juanita in Kirkland. Din Tai Fung in Bellevue. In that order.