What is your favorite travel memory?
Swimming with turtles in Barbados with a group of more than 80 university students during my first year at university. We were specially selected to visit other campuses overseas and spent 10 days exploring each country with guides from each campus and the tourism ministry. Meeting so many amazing people back then (connections that remain to this day) and getting private touring experiences of two countries sparked my desire to travel internationally.
How have you changed/grown since working for your current company?
My view of the world has grown considerably; the theoretical things I thought I knew are now concrete. Seeing details or pictures of a foreign culture might give you many facts and examples, but none of that is guaranteed to be helpful in the real world. When you arrive and see and experience things for yourself, that is when reality makes itself known and expands what your mind is capable of.
What is the best story you've heard from a return student?
The time spent in the home of an old couple who had never met a foreigner before. Hours of conversation were spent learning about each other, using broken language, Google Translate, and many gestures. The hospitality and kindness they showed brought the returned student to tears, even long after. They called him their adopted son and treated him like family for his entire stay.
If you could go on any program that your company offers, which one would you choose and why?
An international exchange with another country in Asia where we operate, like Thailand or Singapore, or helping to establish operations somewhere new. Very few people are chosen for such opportunities. It is a high honor to be trusted that much by your company to launch new operations that mean employment for many and expansion of your company's vision and reach.
What makes your company unique? When were you especially proud of your team?
More than 50 years of experience in the industry and now more than 50% market share across the entire country.
My team won the Bronze award for Company of the Year, the only team from our sub-company to be recognized that year. It was a huge honor given the size of the larger company. It validated all the hard work we put in together and bonded us closer.
What do you believe to be the biggest factor in being a successful company?
Respect and fair treatment of all staff equally, not elitism or favoritism. There is a graphic used to demonstrate how hierarchy works in a company that has always stuck with me: there is a tree that represents the hierarchy of employees within a company, with the CEO at the top of the tree, and all employees are represented by birds. When the CEO drops a "special present," it falls on those below him. They repeat the action, and so on, until the line workers at the very bottom of the tree are nearly drowning in "special presents." Those at the top need to remember how their actions affect those below them and that they were once in that position as well.