Q: What was your first job and what did you learn from it that you still use today?
A: Retail Assistant at The Disney Store in Miranda in Sydney. I was only 15 at the time and the job taught me that it was all in the detail – from how the product was presented in the store to the level of customer service you needed to deliver each day.
Since then I have always looked at the detail and try to ensure that I cover all bases
Q: What’s the first thing you do when you start a new position?
A: Try to absorb as much information as possible. Information (and all the details) is the key to learning your new role and that then helps you do your job well.
Q: What advice would you give someone wanting to start a career in travel now?
A: Go for it! Try different roles – reservations, sales, marketing, PR – and see what you love the most. Take the time to learn the roles. The more skills and knowledge you have, the more flexibility you have to transfer those skills across different organisations.
Q: What did the pandemic teach you about yourself?
A: Utilise your skillset and be open to change. Pre-pandemic, I was in a role as an Event Manager. It was a role that I loved but with the event industry at a standstill I had to utilise my sales and marketing background to get additional work.
Using those skills again made me realise that I had missed that part of the travel industry and it was something that I wanted to do again.
Q: If you hadn’t gone into travel, what career path might you have taken?
A: Sports marketing and events. After university I was convinced that I was going to go into the sport sector as I loved events and the excitement and atmosphere they created.
I still love going to live sporting events, but it seems my passion for travel was stronger.
Q: How do you think the travel industry is looking at this moment in time?
A: It looks exciting and busy – from new cruise ships, new hotels, airlines travelling to different destinations and so many more reasons to travel.
I am also excited about the tourism themes – sport tourism, cultural tourism, wine tourism, etc. It gives new ways at looking at your trip and selling a different perspective.
Q: Who would you most like to sit next to on a plane, living or dead?
A: My Dad. He worked in the airline industry for more than 45 years and always had great stories to tell. Unfortunately, he is not with us anymore, but I would give anything to have one more conversation with him.
Q: What are some of your favourite spots around the world?
A: Hong Kong (of course) for the diversity, vibrancy and events. I am travelling there next month and will be able to experience ‘Super March’, a month of exciting events including the Rugby Sevens, Liv Golf, Arts Central and Art Basel, just to name a few.
I also love Hawaii for my rest and relaxation, Paris for the culture and beauty, and Orlando for Walt Disney World.
Q: What is your best travel story?
A: I have plenty but one of my favourites is when I was working for Qantas at the international airport and I was managing a flight departure to Tokyo.
It was close to the departure time; all passengers were on board and the flight crew advised me that there was no sake on board and they couldn’t leave without it. I called the catering department and their response was – “what is sake?”
Q: What are you most looking forward to about working with HKTB?
A: I am excited to be working with the team here to promote an incredible destination. For me, destination marketing is the best type as you are not promoting a certain hotel, landmark or theme park – you are promoting it all.
As Hong Kong is such a dynamic and vibrant place, there will never come a time when we won’t know what to promote – from food and wine, luxury, culture, the outdoors, cruising…the list just goes on.
