Baily Has Tried Other Careers. Hospitality Kept Calling Her Back.

By day, Baily helps people get in shape. By night, she helps give them full bellies. It may sound like two very different careers, but for Baily, both are rooted in the same thing: creating an experience for people.

Her hospitality journey started when she was just 15, working as a host at a family-owned Italian restaurant. Determined to move into a position where she could earn server money, she worked her way up to serving a year later. From there, hospitality became a constant thread throughout her career, taking her from Villa Roma to Haberdish, Puerta, and now Dozo. What began as a teenage job evolved into something she kept returning to, even as she explored other professional paths, including owning her own trucking business and working in finance. Eventually, she always found her way back to the restaurant.

"I truly love being a bartender/server," Baily says.

It was during her time at Haberdish that her interest in mixology really began to take shape. She discovered that working behind the bar offered something beyond simply making a drink that tasted good. It gave her a creative outlet and another way to build an experience for the guest.

That creative side has become an important part of how she approaches her work today.

Hospitality Is About Meeting People Where They Are

Years of working with guests have taught Baily two things that continue to influence her work behind the bar: patience and an open mind. Those qualities have become especially important when creating cocktails. Rather than approaching every guest with a predetermined idea of what they should order, Baily uses her experience to adapt to what they actually want. Flavor preferences become a starting point, allowing her to shape the experience around the individual.

This approach makes sense for someone who sees hospitality as more than serving food and drinks. For Baily, the job is about understanding people and creating something that feels right for them. Her cocktail style reflects that same restraint. She describes it as "minimalist elegance." Instead of reinventing every classic cocktail, Baily prefers to start with something that already works and add her own subtle touch.

"Classics are classic for a reason," she says.

Her goal isn't to overpower a familiar drink with unnecessary additions. It's about finding the small detail that makes it her own while keeping the original cocktail recognizable. That balance between familiarity and creativity is where she finds her style.

From Food Truck to Dozo

Baily now brings that approach to Dozo, a Japanese-American izakaya in Charlotte's Dilworth neighborhood. Dozo's name reflects the spirit of an izakaya, a place centered around staying, drinking, eating, and spending time together. The restaurant combines Japanese and American influences through its food, sake program, and craft cocktails.

Its menu ranges from favorites like Hot Honey Karaage and Crab Fried Rice to Tonkatsu Caesar Salad, Fried Virginia Oysters, and A5 Wagyu Dumplings. The result is a menu that brings together familiar comfort food with Japanese-inspired flavors and unexpected combinations. But for Baily, one of the most meaningful parts of representing Dozo is the team behind it.

She points to owners Perry and John, whose passion and work ethic have helped the business grow from a food truck into a brick-and-mortar restaurant. Their approach to the business is something she is proud to be part of. She describes their leadership as passionate and fiercely committed, qualities that have helped shape the culture around Dozo as the concept has grown.

That journey from food truck to restaurant also reflects something Baily understands personally: building something in hospitality takes persistence.

It's an industry where the finished experience guests see is only one part of the story. Behind it are long hours, constant learning, adaptability, and people who care enough to keep showing up.

Making Hospitality a Craft

Baily's perspective on hospitality is also shaped by the fact that she genuinely enjoys the work. After exploring other industries and professional opportunities, she kept coming back to restaurants because this is where she feels most at home. For her, one of the biggest rewards has been simply being able to say that she loves what she does. That passion also informs what she wants people to understand about hospitality as an industry. She believes the work deserves more respect.

Hospitality professionals aren't simply serving food and drinks. They are creating experiences from beginning to end, educating guests, managing countless details, and working hard to make someone's time in their establishment memorable. For women working in the industry, she hopes that recognition grows. Her own experience has been overwhelmingly positive, particularly in being able to serve her city while educating guests along the way. But she wants future generations of women to enter hospitality knowing that the work they do has value and deserves to be taken seriously.

And she believes knowledge is one of the strongest ways to build that confidence. Her advice to women entering the field is simple: stay hungry for knowledge. Read. Research. Learn about your craft. Experiment. The more you know, the more confident you become.

And don't be afraid to treat cocktail creation like what it is: an art form.

Baily Takes Her Craft to Battle of the Babes

Baily has competed before, including a USBG competition about five years ago. But Battle of the Babes offers something different. Part of what drew her to the competition is the opportunity to learn from other women working in the field.

For Baily, there is something powerful about watching women encourage other women, share knowledge, and challenge one another creatively. That's part of what makes competitions like Battle of the Babes more than a contest. They're also opportunities for bartenders to step outside their usual environments, meet people from across the industry, and gain inspiration from each other's approaches to the craft.

And Baily plans to enjoy every minute of it. Beyond the possibility of winning, she hopes people walk away remembering how passionate she is about hospitality and, most importantly, how much fun she had doing it. Because that's ultimately what comes through in Baily's story.

She takes the craft seriously, but she doesn't lose sight of why she loves it.

Meet Baily at Battle of the Babes

Baily will represent Dozo at the 6th Annual Battle of the Babes Cocktail Competition on September 27, 2026, from 5 PM to 9 PM at Merchant + Trade, 303 S Church St. Come see Baily bring her minimalist elegance, creativity, and passion for hospitality to the competition as she joins a lineup of talented female mixologists from across the industry.

And if you want to experience Baily's hospitality before competition night, visit Dozo in Charlotte's Dilworth neighborhood for Japanese-American izakaya fare, craft cocktails, sake, and the team that helped turn a food truck into a full-service restaurant.