Blog Mention In New Paper

TNP Design: PRADIP. TNP Picture: JONATHAN CHOO.

IT'S not the size, it's the stamina that matters for this woman.

And she is speaking from 15 years of experience.

In an industry dominated by men, Ms Vikki Huang has always had to put in twice as much compared to her co-workers.

And that meant physical work as well.

When she was only 18, and working as a bar apprentice at Crazy Elephant at Clarke Quay, a male colleague told her she would have to carry heavy materials around.

Not wanting to be seen as the weaker sex, she made sure she put in an equal amount of work. This included lugging two bags of ice up six flights of stairs, changing beer barrels, and learning how to flair (flip bottles)

Now, the 33-year-old is the operations manager of Helipad, a new two-storey club at The Central. The club will be launched later this month.

Meeting her, one of first things that strikes you is how petite she is, at 1.5m tall.

But she can tell you that what is more important in her line of work is having a tough mind.

She believes that women who want to join the industry should be mentally prepared for the challenges.

She said: 'You have to keep an open mind.

'If you are too conservative on issues like alcohol or handling the manners of drunken people who can sometimes get out of hand, then don't bother being in this industry.'

On her long service record, she said: 'It was hard at first, but now that I have proven herself and worked my way up to this point, guys in the industry tend to show me more respect.'

Ms Huang said she is aware few women will stay in this industry long enough to get to a managerial position.

She said part of the reason women tend to shun the nightlife scene is because it is physically demanding. Training as a bartender can be tough because you also have to lift heavy goods.

Furthermore, some women are afraid of getting harassed, a problem which she said she has avoided, thanks to 'a good security team' at the places where she has worked.

TOUGH JOB

Ms Huang's success did not come overnight.

After getting her diploma in tourism studies from Shatec, she joined Crazy Elephant and had to wash beer glasses, mop up spills and move crates of bottles.

But it was there that she got her first taste of bartending and continued working the counter in clubs such as Sultan of Swing, Venom and Onyx.

These clubs may have shut down, but Ms Huang continued to work her way within the scene and got her big break at Centro at One Fullerton where she was promoted to a supervisory position.

When Centro also closed its doors, she moved on to Gotham Penthouse at Clarke Quay, where she became the operations manager, taking charge of everything, from the staff members to the cleanliness of the toilets.

Her last post was as the operations manager of The Cannery at Clarke Quay, where she was in charge of all the managers of the individual outlets under the group. She was the only female manager there.

BETTER THAN THE GUYS

Mr Kenni Koh, 33, a bar consultant and trainer, was Ms Huang's mentor at Centro back in 2002 when she was the only female bartender on the team.

He told The New Paper: 'She's the only woman I know who can be better than the guys.

'She's very strong and she can work very long hours which is hard for most girls to take.

'I would like to see more girls like her in terms of knowledge, strength and mindset because the industry lacks female managers.'

One blogger named Cookiss99, even wrote an entry on her blog titled 'Vikki the MOS superstar'.

She wrote in that entry: 'I wanna be like Miss Vikki when I grow up!!! Long live Superstar Vikki!'

But Ms Huang said she doesn't consider herself to be successful.

'Maybe, when I buy a Maserati and a bungalow,' she joked.

The little luxuries she spend on are her shoes and Rolex watches.

Beaming, she said: 'Being able to be self-sufficient makes me very happy. And that is enough.'

However, she would not reveal how much she makes a month.

Would she encourage her female friends to join the industry?

She said with a smile: 'Why not? It would be better for male patrons to have more eye candy when they have their drinks at the bar.'

Besides, when it comes to sorting out potentially ugly fights or difficult situations, having 'a woman's touch' works.

Ms Huang said that, sometimes, all it takes to calm someone down is to place a hand on the arm of an agitated person and say four golden words: 'Please give me face.'

Laughing, she said, 'It would be funny to see a male manager using the same method to calm another man down.

'Most men will feel uncomfortable when they are touched this way by another man.'

PLANS

Ms Huang thinks there is still room to grow for her.

She plans to get into bar consultancy and her dream is to set up a school to improve the standards of service staff members.

She said: 'We have to be ready to provide first-class service, before the IRs (integrated resorts) are going to open.'

Putting career and friends as her top priorities, Ms Huang shows no panic when it comes to her non-existent love life.

'I have never, and will never date a customer or a co-worker. It is important to keep a good reputation in this industry where most people know each other,' she said.

The writer, a mass communications graduate, is a freelancer