Ana Cardona Duran

Server and bartender at Ellie Bird, the Falls Church sister restaurant of Michelin-starred Rooster & Owl.

• Serve and bartend in a fast-paced, fine-dining environment within a Michelin-starred restaurant group, delivering attentive, high-standard guest service.

• Trained and onboarded numerous new servers, helping maintain consistent service standards across the team.

• Adapt quickly to dynamic situations, solving problems on the spot while maintaining service quality.

VIP service at an upscale events and nightlife venue.

• Curated personalized experiences for high-profile clientele, leveraging attention to detail to enhance guest engagement and satisfaction.

• Adapted quickly to dynamic situations, solving problems on the spot while maintaining a high standard of service quality.

• Maintained thorough understanding of and adherence to local sanitation and ABC (alcohol service) regulations.

Supervised a team of 17 technicians across two departments, owning training, scheduling, reporting, and inventory.

• Trained, coached, and assisted a team of 17 technicians across two departments, organizing and delegating workload multi-seasonally to increase efficiency by 12%.

• Built automated performance reports that analyze key metrics to track corrective actions and improve department goals.

• Developed and standardized SOPs and training documentation, reducing new-hire onboarding time by 30%.

• Managed purchasing and inventory control for lab materials, forecasting supply needs to ensure zero stockouts and raise work output by 10%.

• Rapidly mastered the in-house software that centralized all order information, leveraging it to optimize business workflows.

• Acted as primary liaison between upper management, seasonal workers, and cross-departmental supervisory staff, facilitating communication and ensuring seamless logistics coordination.

Production and fulfillment technician in a high-volume commercial photo lab.

• Operated and maintained printing equipment, including roll-fed photo printers and press printers, ensuring high-quality production standards.

• Produced and assembled canvas gallery wraps, vinyl grommet banners, mugs, keychains, and other specialized print products with precision and attention to detail.

• Performed shipping tasks, including boxing, weighing, and scanning orders, maintaining efficient workflow in high-volume environments.

• Packaged and prepared customer orders by matching prints and products with invoices, ensuring 100% accuracy and timely delivery.

• Identified workflow inefficiencies and implemented digital tracking improvements, reducing fulfillment time by 50%.

Supported research, programs, and events at a U.S. Department of Defense regional study center.

• Prepared and implemented a bilingual electronic survey on threat perceptions in Latin America & the Caribbean using Mailchimp, building a user-friendly interface that maximized data collection from the Perry Center Alumni Network and troubleshooting user and system issues.

• Developed an executive summary on human rights violations by interpreting data brought to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights; the summary was later used in Human Rights courses at the Perry Center.

• Coordinated, set up, and supported operations for multilateral events and programs, each with 10-50 attendees.

• Supported Dr. Pat Paterson in promoting his published research.

• Served as the first point of contact for guests, welcoming and seating them according to the server table-assignment process.

• Worked collaboratively with a team of 16 servers to ensure smooth operations and excellent customer service.

• Managed high-volume inbound calls, assisting guests with reservations, inquiries, and special requests.

• Trained incoming hosts to maintain consistent quality of service.