Another graduate of the NGO Pour un Sourire d’Enfant (PSE), Navy is carving out an excellent career at Khéma La Poste.
Although born in Svay Rieng, Navy grew up in Stung Meanchey in Phnom Penh after her parents moved there a year after she was born. While close to the famous city rubbish dump, it turned out to be a good move for Navy as her new home was also close to PSE’s establishment, which gave her access to a primary education and then to the NGO’s vocational training institute.
“I had been advised to train in the catering industry, because it was a sector where there was a high demand for qualified personnel,” explained the young woman who consequently decided to enrol in the two-year “Food and Beverage” training course at the institute. On the family side, while her parents had struggled to make ends meet in Svay Rieng, the move to Phnom Penh gave them the chance to open a small street restaurant selling noodles, fried food and local dishes, and with it a more secure living. If the restaurant business was not quite her original vocation, Navy confides that she now believes she made the right choice:
“As a child, I wanted to become a doctor, but studies were too expensive and, in the end, I think I have found my path in the restaurant business”.
After training at PSE, Navy almost immediately found a job in an Italian restaurant on Phnom Penh’s riverside. It was a small restaurant with a family atmosphere. “I didn’t just serve, sometimes I worked in the kitchen because there were a lot of customers. That’s how I learned to cook some Italian dishes like pasta, pizzas and salads,” she confided. However, after six years and some weariness of working in a place with little hope of development, she decided to take a break after giving birth to her first child.
“I left that job because I had had a baby and wanted to take care of it. Also I was stagnating in my job. I wanted to learn a bit more than just front service,” she explains.
After a few months, she found a job in one of the Halal restaurants in the Cambodian capital. There, she learned some basic management skills, how to organise a front of house, how to welcome customers properly and look after the staff. Unfortunately, despite some initial success, the restaurant had to close its doors due to a lack of customers. That was in 2017, the year she came to join Thalias.
“Following the closure of the Halal restaurant, I looked for work on the internet and sent my application to Thalias. I saw that Khéma La Poste was looking for staff when it opened and I was hired fairly quickly,” she said.
“I feel good because I really feel like I’m evolving thanks to the regular training and refresher courses”.
Moreover, Navy also feels well supported and appreciates the special relationship she enjoys with her team and her superior, Sok Kanthei. For her, it is important to be led by someone who listens. “Our boss is there to help us in our work and sometimes to listen to our little personal concerns and I find that comforting,” she said. On the family side, despite a busy schedule, Navy enjoys spending time with her two children and her parents.
“We all live together, my mother takes care of my two little ones while I’m at work and I try to give them time whenever I can”.
But she says, she is also touched by the fever of learning. “In my spare time, I like to go on the internet and look for videos or tutorials that can help me improve in my work,” she said. Looking to the future, she confided that it comes as no great surprise that she wants to continue her career with the group and perhaps join the new restaurant that Thalias will soon be running as part of its partnership with Meridian.
