UP-CLOSE with Clara Fontaine, operations managress at Sun Resort & Properties |23 September 2014

‘You cannot expect to reap something if you did not work hard to sow it’


Clara Fontaine is a wife, a young mother, and a hardworking professional living in Beau Vallon. She is the operations managress at Sun Resorts & Properties, a self-catering small hotel at Beau Vallon which combines authentic Seychellois charm with modern amenities across 12 spacious suites and 8 superior rooms.

Clara’s husband is Danny Fontaine and she has two children – a baby girl named Amie and a teenage son Allesandre. She comes from a very close family of three consisting of a brother and a sister. She is the eldest child so her siblings look up to her as their role model. So she does her best to leave footprints which hopefully will lead them to follow a good path.

Clara describes herself as reserved but friendly to everyone. She said she is choosy to whom she opens up to.  

Childhood days
“Growing up was wonderful. My childhood memory would bring me to my grandmother’s place, climbing rocks and trees. I would eagerly wait for the ‘santol’ and ‘prune de France’ season. My cousin and I would wake up so early so we could compete who would pick the best fruits. Being girls we enjoyed playing tea party with our dolls. We would take our mothers’ bed sheet, lay it down under a tree then steal our parents’ food and milk to bring to our tea party. It was so much fun,” said Clara.

She said they never had a PlayStation or a mobile phone. They had a TV which played cassettes and they were never allowed to watch TV without supervision. She said their parents were strict so not one bad word was allowed out of their mouths.

“It was the era where children had to say good morning to elders and elders had respect for the young. What really made my childhood special, was how I learned to bond with people, to appreciate what was given to us and taking nothing for granted. I appreciated that a lot.

“Another of my best childhood moments would be growing up with my cousin Rebecca and spending our time at the tracking station. For us that was the meeting ground with all our friends and we would play hide and seek on the premises and hide from our parents when we did not want to stop playing to go home. At Halloween, which is mostly an American celebration, there was so much fun as it was the only time in my childhood that I ever celebrated Halloween,” said Clara.

As a young teenager Clara said she was pretty responsible.
“I’ve always had a sense of responsibility because for a long time I was an only child until the age of 14. I guess that it’s an instinct that automatically comes out when you are the eldest of the family and you are always looking out for your siblings,” she said.

School days
Clara spent most of her primary and secondary school years at Beau Vallon. She described her school years there as memorable.

“I made friends with whom to date I still share a very close bond with even if we do not meet on a daily basis. There was much discipline in the school. We would think twice before we attempted a little mischief because we were scared of the disciplinary measures which would follow.

“I hated sport activities and it was my weakness. I barely knew how to play volleyball, let alone football or basketball. Hence I was always among the last to be picked out when choosing teams for a competition. Biology was my favourite subject and Miss Sheila Cetoupe made the subject interesting. She managed to make us remained focus till the end of our secondary school years. Until now I still love the subject,” said Clara.

Post-secondary school
Clara then joined the Seychelles Polytechnic for her post-secondary education. She studied Business Secretarial for two years and even though she had chosen that school she had not quite decided what she wanted to do in life as a career.

“It was while walking through my classroom for the first time that I knew I had made the perfect choice. There were around 20 girls in my classroom, all so eager to learn and compete for the best grades. Laura, Sylvette, and Lindy were the three classmates I always looked up to for inspiration on the days that I felt low and the subjects where getting a little challenging.

“Feet flat on the floor, hands high on the keyboard, keep your hands straight, do not look at your keyboard,” these were the words of Mrs Georgette Gendron that pushed us to become perfect typists. In her class there was no failure, there was only hard work so as to come out as the best of the best. My favourite subject was Business Studies and Book Keeping. It was homework after homework and sometimes I disliked Mrs Kathleen Lawrence because she was depriving me of my sleep as I had to look for that $1 that was not making my financial records balance. She was a tough one, not one word during class while she was teaching. But we had much respect for her teaching and disciplinary skills as we all passed our exams with flying colours,” said Clara.

My school years at the Poly were great ones because when I was admitted there I knew from that point on I was responsible for my future and had to work hard for it.

World of work
“As soon as I completed my last school year I was offered a job by ‘Helicopter Seychelles’ as passenger attendant. It was not in the line of work I studied for but I wanted a job. To me waiting for the perfect job is not my style. It is after going through the process of working that in the end you will be able to determine which job suits you best. Every job brings its own job satisfaction,” said Clara.

As a passenger attendant Clara was required to check in clients (which sometimes included very top VIPs) and to load and unload the helicopters. That job required top customer service skills and it was a great challenge for her.

After six months as passenger attendant a post became vacant in the company as personal assistant to the managing director and I gladly accepted the offer.
Even though her managing director was strict, that was no problem as by nature Clara said she is a perfectionist. So she tried her utmost to ensure things were done correctly and perfectly. She said the challenge was to make sure that she kept her multi-tasking consistent and always delivered her work on time.
 
“They were the best years of my time at Helicopter Seychelles,” she said.

When Helicopter Seychelles merged with Zil Air, another helicopter operator in Seychelles, Clara became the marketing coordinator where her role was to help push sales and services and customer service.

Taking up Sun Resort & Properties
In 2013, there was a call to help her family manage their businesses so Clara entered the hotel industry where she started managing Sun Resorts & Properties at Beau Vallon, a small hotel of 20 rooms.

“I never attended any hotel school but I have knowledge in management as I did a basic business management course. So my challenge was to be innovative to improve the hotel by pushing sales and lowering cost. I thought it would be much easier as I already had sales, marketing and administrative backgrounds,” she said.

But Clara discovered the hotel business is so much more challenging because there are so much more competitions to deal with. This challenge makes the level of customer service demanding and more experience is needed to manage staff.

“Like all jobs there are the positive and negatives sides to it. As I knew the negatives were my weakness, I learned how to overcome them,” said Clara.

Away from the job
Apart from managing the hotel Clara also helps her husband with his administrative work. Being a mother of two is also quite challenging for Clara as she has a newborn baby who requires close attention. She also has a teenage boy who requires guidance and good advice, so the responsibility is high and demanding.  
“As a mum at home, I love to cook and most of all I like to bake, but I’m not a professional,” she said laughing

I manage to satisfy my taste buds. As I am not really an outdoor person, I prefer staying in and I am hooked on BBC Food TV programme. As soon as I channel off, I will be in the kitchen trying to mimic a master chef with apprentice skills. If I’m not in the kitchen I can be found scribbling on a piece of paper or glass trying to create a work of art. I can also be found in my garden moving the plants around or cutting, pruning, and planting. I am 24/7 on the move, I do not know how to relax,” she said.

Although she does not like crowds, Clara said she appreciates her friends so they get together occasionally. Dancing is her passion but she said she does not need a party or disco to dance.

“I will put on my own music and dance, it is a form of exercise that lifts up the spirits and makes your soul happy,” said Clara.

Never done learning
As Clara likes to keep abreast with her education every now and then, she enrolls with Aldec for courses. But she said it, however, takes dedication and discipline to attend all classes especially when you’re tired coming off work and thinking if you should go and cook dinner or go to class. Sometimes one can be so tired that you sleep through class. Having a job and going back to school for evening class is really tough. She is advising young people to take every opportunity they get to go to school and to educate themselves. One thing no one can ever take away from you is your education. Now with the new baby it will be hard to take on classes for a while.

My mantra for work
“In anything we do it is trial and error. That rule applies in both our life and our career. To be successful one must always work hard. You cannot expect to reap something if you did not work hard to sow it. I am a young professional, today I see a lot of young people waiting for that right job, right salary in order for them to work. Do not wait. Every job is an experience. Knowledge is power and whatever you learn will be useful to you – maybe not now but in the future. There is no easy job. All work is hard. Do not feel discouraged because you had a few bad days. It is only after the bad days that you will later see the good ones because you have now learned how to do it differently.

“To be successful is one thing, but to maintain success in another. Accomplish as much as you can in one day,” concluded Clara.

By Marylene Julie