Founder and President of The Red Carnation Hotel Collection, Beatrice Tollman, has built one of the most successful and admired hotel collections in the world. As one of the most widely respected and acclaimed women in hospitality, Beatrice has been widely praised for her contribution to the industry, with recognitions including The Leading Hotels of the World’s ‘Leading Legend’ accolade and a Catey Lifetime Achievement Award. Beatrice was studying to become a nursery school teacher when she fell in love with the late Stanley Tollman, a second-generation hotelier known for wearing a red carnation in his lapel. As newlyweds of modest beginnings, the couple leased a small Johannesburg property in 1954 and Beatrice took charge of the kitchen. As something of a trailblazer, at the age of 22 Beatrice was running her own hotel kitchen – something unheard of for women in South Africa at the time – meticulously tasting each dish and sampling various methods and techniques until they were perfected.