More than three decades ago, Masita Ghani served passengers 9,000m in the air as a Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight attendant, even modelling the iconic sarong kebaya batik uniform in a calendar collection.
At 56, she now spends her days serving customers at the Aliff Nasi Lemak stall in Serangoon Gardens Market.
“When my friends found out I was going to be a hawker, some of them had their doubts,” Masita told Berita Harian.
“They would say, ‘What a waste! You worked at SQ… why would you want to be a hawker?'”
She admitted that running a stall alongside her 53-year-old husband, Mohammad Firuz Samuri, never crossed her mind — just like how becoming a flight attendant for SIA had once seemed an impossible dream.
But her parents supported the unexpected decision. “My late father once asked me, ‘Do you think you can succeed?'” she recalled.
“Because after I left SIA, I had stable jobs with good pay at Sephora and Chomel. But I told him I had to try. If I didn’t try, I would never know.”
Spending time with child a key priority
Masita, who started flying at 21 and served for 10 years, revealed that her career change was fueled by the desire to spend more time with her only child, who was in Primary 1 at the time.
Her years as a flight attendant also equipped her with essential customer service skills, she said, as her friendly attitude allowed her to build good relationships with customers at her stall.
“It’s challenging, but deep down, I kept asking myself what I wanted in life… Will you be happy working?” she reflected. “What’s the point of working just for the sake of working?”
“Only sometimes, I get stressed out with my husband,” she joked.
Now, after 10 years at the stall, Masita hopes to run her own small cafe serving nasi lemak, mee rebus, and goreng pisang, while keeping the flavors authentic.
“This is all for my child’s future,” she said. “Life in Singapore isn’t easy; it takes a lot of money. I want my child to have a better life than I did.”
She added: “The choice is yours. If you want something, you have to be ambitious. If you don’t do anything, nothing will happen. Right? So you have to work hard.”
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This article was first published in The New Paper. Permission required for reproduction.
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