Take a risk, find out what you can [1]
Saturday, November 30, 2002 - 09:26. Updated on Friday, February 19, 2016 - 18:38.
From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 17, no. 3, November 2002.
Looking for a career that offered more challenges, and taking a chance on a new opportunity, led Melenaite Fifita, out of the office and into not one job, but three jobs rolled into one.
The former tourism research officer, known as “Naite” to her friends, has become the new Marketing and Sales Manager for the Pacific Royale Hotel, as well as Manager of the hotel’s new business centre, and a marketing and sales person for the newly-established Tonfön telephone provider.
Naite (31) is now finding out what challenges are, by making the marketing decisions on the local and international level for the hotel, as well as looking after the business centre that offers an internet and e-mail service, and at the same time helping Tonfön with its promotions.
When she looks back, Natie realises how exciting changing jobs can be, because in her previous job she mainly stayed in the office. But now this Pahu girl finds herself out and about on a hectic work schedule.
She jumped from a six-year career of being a researcher at the Research and Statistics Department at the Tonga Visitors Bureau, to becoming a marketing person, who can speak three languages—Tongan, English and German.
Naite said that the idea of looking for something more exciting and challenging did not come to her mind until she went to Germany to study Export Management for three years.
“As I was studying in Germany I was astonished with marketing and sales, because I saw how exciting it was, and how determined, ambitious and uncompromising you have to be if you want to be successful—and that’s what drove me to work towards this,” she said.
The program was funded by the German Government and made available through the Tourism Council of the South Pacific.
Naite left Tonga Visitors Bureau early this year and hit off her marketing career at the Pacific Royale Hotel in June, and at Tonfön in August.
“I think life is too short to put off what you have to do…living life is about taking a risk once in a while and finding out what you really can become,” said Naite.
And Naite did just that, because here is a single woman who is pursuing her career first, and will think about settling down later.