Influential Women Showcases Caitlynn Traylor: Bringing Southern Hospitality And Exceptional Service To The Industry

SHREVEPORT, LA, UNITED STATES, August 26, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Catering Banquet Sales Manager Combines Restaurant Operations, Event Coordination, and Relationship-Driven Sales Across Louisiana

Shreveport, Louisiana — Caitlynn Traylor is a hospitality and catering professional with extensive experience in restaurant operations, event coordination, and relationship-driven sales. Currently serving as Catering Banquet Sales Manager for Copeland’s Cheesecake Bistro and Copeland’s of New Orleans, she specializes in delivering memorable dining and event experiences rooted in Southern hospitality and New Orleans-inspired cuisine. In her role, Caitlynn oversees catering sales, private events, marketing initiatives, networking partnerships, and client relations, helping coordinate everything from intimate gatherings to large-scale corporate functions serving thousands of guests. Her passion for hospitality is centered on creating experiences where the food and service become just as meaningful as the occasion itself.

Caitlynn’s career journey began unexpectedly after stepping away from pre-med studies to focus on raising her son. She entered the hospitality industry as a hostess at TGI Friday’s and quickly advanced into management, eventually becoming a front-of-house manager within her first year. After six years with the company, she was recruited to join Copeland’s of New Orleans, where she spent several years leading restaurant operations before transitioning into catering, sales, and marketing. Her diverse operational background gives her a unique understanding of both guest experience and business development, allowing her to successfully manage client relationships, event logistics, and community outreach across the Baton Rouge and Shreveport markets.

Beyond her professional responsibilities, Caitlynn is deeply involved in community engagement and women’s leadership initiatives. She serves as a board member for Women of Impact, a nonprofit organization focused on empowering women through outreach, networking, and personal development opportunities. She also leads local networking efforts through Alignable as a power partner, building strong connections throughout the business community. A strong advocate for positive workplace culture, collaboration, and emotional intelligence, Caitlynn is known for her people-first leadership style and her ability to bring warmth, energy, and authenticity to every interaction.

Caitlynn attributes her success to her upbringing and her parents’ work ethic, which have been the foundation of her success. Her mom worked and waitressed her dad through medical school, and her dad is still currently a doctor and a forensic pathologist. Both her parents worked extremely hard growing up, and they truly instilled that confidence and drive in her. They taught her to always give her best, no matter what she’s doing.

That philosophy became particularly important when Caitlynn had to pivot from her long-term goal of getting into medicine and pursue a career in the restaurant industry instead. She did not look at the change as something less than what she originally planned. Instead, she knew that she was going to make the best of it and go as far as she could go with it.

Caitlynn also believes that people don’t always come to Copeland’s for the food. Sometimes they come to Copeland’s for her, and that’s the goal. She places importance on the added touches that elevate experiences, such as giving thank-you cards to tables or making sure there is a sparkler and card for someone’s birthday. Those kinds of touches go a long way. That Southern Hospitality, that lagniappe that you’re not going to get from anybody else, is something Caitlynn has taken and made into who she is and how she does business.

The best career advice Caitlynn has received is to do everything with authenticity and confidence. Even if she is scared, she believes that doing the things she doesn’t want to do are when she makes the biggest impact. Being in the rooms that make her nervous are the rooms that she needs to be in the most.

Caitlynn recognizes that people may dislike the idea of “fake it till you make it,” but she believes that it truly works. The power of the tongue is real. No matter if she is nervous or thinks a job is too good for her, she does not let imposter syndrome take over. She believes she can do anything she sets her mind to and that she deserves great things.

She believes in getting up every day, looking in the mirror, and telling herself that she is beautiful, that she is going to be successful, and that she is going to be financially blessed—whatever she wants to manifest. How she acts in person is real as well. Caitlynn has been told many times that people can tell by the way she carries herself that she is confident. Sometimes she is, and sometimes she is not, but people would never know the times that she is not. Her approach is simple: just don’t let them see you sweat.

For young women entering the hospitality industry, Caitlynn encourages them to apply themselves. Knowledge is power, and there is never a finish line. She believes the most trusted leaders are those who can confidently execute all levels of job responsibilities, and employees as well as colleagues take notice when a leader is able to do so.

Caitlynn encourages young women not to shrink themselves, but to take up space, push the boundaries, and be their truest selves. She believes that is how innovation begins—when women are bold enough to speak up, present solutions, and not be intimidated by thinking outside of the box.

Staffing is a huge opportunity in Caitlynn’s field right now, and she believes that is probably true across the board. Ever since COVID, it has been harder to have people staffed for in-person jobs. She believes working remotely became popular, understandably so.

Caitlynn also recognizes that hospitality remains a very male-dominated field, meaning she sometimes encounters managers, vendors, or guests who challenge her or speak to her differently simply because she is a woman. She has experienced situations where someone speaks to her in a disrespectful manner until a male manager enters the room, and then the interaction changes.

There can also be a lack of respect, with people assuming that just because she is a buttoned-up lady, she does not know what she is doing in her career field. There have been instances where Caitlynn shows up in a pencil skirt and people assume she cannot do her job because of her gender or how she presents herself.

However, she can roll up her sleeves, cook, push orders out, set up venues, and do any job that needs to be done. She would never have somebody work for her or do something for her that she would not do herself. Once people see that the skill level is there and that she is not just a pretty face plastered to sell the food, that is where she starts earning respect.

Integrity is a major value for Caitlynn in both her work and personal life. She defines integrity as doing the right thing even when no one is looking and treating everyone fairly by holding the same standard.

Serious personal commitment is another important value and is also one of her company’s core values. Caitlynn has taken that value into her personal life as well. For her, it means making the effort to always show up as her best self. She recognizes that no one will be 100 percent every day, and that’s okay. As long as she gives her best every single day, whatever that may look like, that is what matters.

Caitlynn believes that the needs of the business have to come before personal feelings. Having a fight with her husband or having a bad day does not mean she gets to take it out on colleagues or clients or be in a bad mood at work. She needs to leave that at the door. She applies the same concept to her home life in reverse, working hard not to bring frustrations from work home and take them out on her family, because they deserve her best self as well.

For Caitlynn, both are serious personal commitments—one to her family and one to her career—and she believes a proper work-life balance is a must.

Finally, Southern Hospitality is a value that Caitlynn believes has contributed to her success. While she does not think everyone views it as a value, she does. She is known for giving people that Southern charm and that little something extra. She calls that lagniappe, something people are not going to get from anybody else. Caitlynn has taken that concept and made it into who she is and how she does business.

Learn More about Caitlynn Traylor:

Through her Influential Women profile, https://influentialwomen.com/connect/Caitlynn-Traylor

Influential Women

Influential Women provides a platform where women from all backgrounds can connect, share their perspectives, and create content that empowers themselves and others. Through storytelling, thought leadership, and creative expression, Influential Women amplifies voices that inspire change.

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Written By: EIN Presswire