Suzanna Seng has grown to welcome change. It is unsurprising to hear this from someone who has gone from being a cabin crew member to a pilot within a decade.
The Singaporean qualified to be a first officer with Etihad Airways last September. But when the 29-year-old first moved to Abu Dhabi in 2005 after studying geology in Melbourne for three years, she came to work as cabin crew for the airline.
"My mum said we paid so much for your university fees, so go out and get a job, and that's what I did," she says.
"Cabin crew has always been a profession that people think is glamorous and for pretty girls. I was more of a rugged tomboy, so it didn't occur to me that I could do it. But I got the job and I moved here."
So at the young age of 20, Ms Seng arrived in Abu Dhabi at a time when Etihad was expanding very fast. "There were approximately 800 members of staff back then. I was cabin crew number 455 - that's how small the airline was at the time."
After being a cabin crew member for just a year, Ms Seng was hungry for more. Opportunities for cabin managers came up and she decided to go for it.
"I have a very restless personality," she says. "It was just another position to go for as I continuously want to challenge myself. I'd rather be out of my comfort zone and accept a challenge than stand still."
Her positive outlook and can-do attitude won her the position, a job she describes as "a lot of fun".
"I learnt so many different skills that enabled me to develop a lot. You're not just responsible for service and safety these days - you're also a brand ambassador," she reflects. However, after just three years, the restless Ms Seng began to feel the sense of stagnation she dreads and started to look for other positions in middle management at the airline.
This is when the cadet pilot position came up. "It was never my ambition to become a pilot - it was one of those jobs that I thought was cool but never thought it could be for me," says Ms Seng.
"I didn't even consider what it would take to become a pilot or how far this career would go, but when the cadetship came up I thought it was a challenge just to get through the selection process."
Having made her way through to the final stages of the interview process, the panel interviewers asked why she wanted to be a pilot. She gave an answer that she immediately wished she could take back.
"I said I didn't actually want to be a pilot, but that it was a challenge and that when you give me a challenge I'll make sure that I do it well," she recalls.
"That was my personal motivation. After I said that they started scribbling in their notepads and I thought I should have said that I really wanted to be a pilot since I was a kid," she laughs. However, her candid answer did her no harm as she passed the assessment first time and started her training - a process that took three years to complete.
"Throughout training you imagine how it feels the first time you land a plane with passengers onboard. When it actually happens, though, your stress levels are so high that I just zoned out everything behind me.
"It's only afterwards when the captain patted me on the back and said 'well done' that it occurred to me I'd just landed a plane with 140 passengers on board," she explains.
For someone like Ms Seng, who is always hungry to learn more, being a pilot is the perfect career. As she says, there are many different avenues that she can take within this same role.
"I cannot see myself getting bored any time soon. There's so much studying. At the moment I'm happy doing what I am - it fulfils my restlessness," she adds.
business@thenational.ae
Company%20Profile
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COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Other must-tries
Tomato and walnut salad
A lesson in simple, seasonal eating. Wedges of tomato, chunks of cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, coriander or parsley leaves, and perhaps some fresh dill are drizzled with a crushed walnut and garlic dressing. Do consider yourself warned: if you eat this salad in Georgia during the summer months, the tomatoes will be so ripe and flavourful that every tomato you eat from that day forth will taste lacklustre in comparison.
Badrijani nigvzit
A delicious vegetarian snack or starter. It consists of thinly sliced, fried then cooled aubergine smothered with a thick and creamy walnut sauce and folded or rolled. Take note, even though it seems like you should be able to pick these morsels up with your hands, they’re not as durable as they look. A knife and fork is the way to go.
Pkhali
This healthy little dish (a nice antidote to the khachapuri) is usually made with steamed then chopped cabbage, spinach, beetroot or green beans, combined with walnuts, garlic and herbs to make a vegetable pâté or paste. The mix is then often formed into rounds, chilled in the fridge and topped with pomegranate seeds before being served.
Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Developer: Treyarch, Raven Software
Publisher: Activision
Console: PlayStation 4 & 5, Windows, Xbox One & Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
How The Debt Panel's advice helped readers in 2019
December 11: 'My husband died, so what happens to the Dh240,000 he owes in the UAE?'
JL, a housewife from India, wrote to us about her husband, who died earlier this month. He left behind an outstanding loan of Dh240,000 and she was hoping to pay it off with an insurance policy he had taken out. She also wanted to recover some of her husband’s end-of-service liabilities to help support her and her son.
“I have no words to thank you for helping me out,” she wrote to The Debt Panel after receiving the panellists' comments. “The advice has given me an idea of the present status of the loan and how to take it up further. I will draft a letter and send it to the email ID on the bank’s website along with the death certificate. I hope and pray to find a way out of this.”
November 26: ‘I owe Dh100,000 because my employer has not paid me for a year’
SL, a financial services employee from India, left the UAE in June after quitting his job because his employer had not paid him since November 2018. He owes Dh103,800 on four debts and was told by the panellists he may be able to use the insolvency law to solve his issue.
SL thanked the panellists for their efforts. "Indeed, I have some clarity on the consequence of the case and the next steps to take regarding my situation," he says. "Hopefully, I will be able to provide a positive testimony soon."
October 15: 'I lost my job and left the UAE owing Dh71,000. Can I return?'
MS, an energy sector employee from South Africa, left the UAE in August after losing his Dh12,000 job. He was struggling to meet the repayments while securing a new position in the UAE and feared he would be detained if he returned. He has now secured a new job and will return to the Emirates this month.
“The insolvency law is indeed a relief to hear,” he says. "I will not apply for insolvency at this stage. I have been able to pay something towards my loan and credit card. As it stands, I only have a one-month deficit, which I will be able to recover by the end of December."
COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
MATCH INFO
Inter Milan 1 (Martinez 18' pen)
Juventus 2 (Dybala 4', Higuain 80')
Business Insights
- Canada and Mexico are significant energy suppliers to the US, providing the majority of oil and natural gas imports
- The introduction of tariffs could hinder the US's clean energy initiatives by raising input costs for materials like nickel
- US domestic suppliers might benefit from higher prices, but overall oil consumption is expected to decrease due to elevated costs
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Company%20profile
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THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
TO A LAND UNKNOWN
Director: Mahdi Fleifel
Starring: Mahmoud Bakri, Aram Sabbah, Mohammad Alsurafa
Rating: 4.5/5
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Habib El Qalb
Assi Al Hallani
(Rotana)
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
The bio:
Favourite holiday destination: I really enjoyed Sri Lanka and Vietnam but my dream destination is the Maldives.
Favourite food: My mum’s Chinese cooking.
Favourite film: Robocop, followed by The Terminator.
Hobbies: Off-roading, scuba diving, playing squash and going to the gym.
Springtime in a Broken Mirror,
Mario Benedetti, Penguin Modern Classics
Biography
Favourite Meal: Chicken Caesar salad
Hobbies: Travelling, going to the gym
Inspiration: Father, who was a captain in the UAE army
Favourite read: Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter
Favourite film: The Founder, about the establishment of McDonald's
NYBL PROFILE
Company name: Nybl
Date started: November 2018
Founder: Noor Alnahhas, Michael LeTan, Hafsa Yazdni, Sufyaan Abdul Haseeb, Waleed Rifaat, Mohammed Shono
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Software Technology / Artificial Intelligence
Initial investment: $500,000
Funding round: Series B (raising $5m)
Partners/Incubators: Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 4, Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 6, AI Venture Labs Cohort 1, Microsoft Scale-up
