A Thai mother-daughter trio who graduated from the North Queensland Toyota Cowboys’ Dream, Believe, Achieve program are making success a family affair at The Ville Resort-Casino.
Noi Rath moved to Australia with daughters Nun, Donna and Nina from their small village in Thailand 10 years ago to marry her husband and help her daughters achieve a better education.
Now Noi works full-time alongside Donna and Nina at The Ville after the family members each completed their Certificate III in Hospitality with the Dream, Believe, Achieve training and employment program over several years.
Noi took eldest daughters Donna and Nun along to an information session to learn more about the program after they finished high school, where she was so impressed that she put her own hand up to get involved.
She completed the program alongside Donna, helping consolidate her previous experience of running a Thai restaurant for 15 years and also improving her English.
“I could speak a little bit of English, but I could not read, I could not write and so I learned slowly about that and everyone in the program helped me,” Noi said.
“I did some volunteering for a Cowboys event in 2017… that was the first time I did a big function and I really liked it, so I asked the events manager if I could put a resume in.
“I’ve learned a lot from events, and I like to see people happy, and when everyone comes to functions they’re happy and so I’m happy.”
After witnessing the program help secure her mother and sister full time jobs, youngest daughter Nina decided to follow in their footsteps.
She’s also now employed full-time at The Ville after she graduated as part of last year’s cohort.
Nina said she was inspired by her mum’s stories of what she was experiencing working in the event space and has grown in confidence since completing the program.
“I always wanted to learn hospitality but at my school there weren’t any subjects because not many people were interested,” she said.
“Mum was telling me about her work and how she got to go and do all these events, and that got me excited.
“She’d give me a heads up on what I needed to know before I go in (to study) because I’m always shy and nervous around new people.
“I remember my first day signing up for it, I didn’t know where to go so I took Donna with me who was telling me how to do this and that.”
The trio say when they’re at work they try to think of each other as colleagues so they can each remain individual and true to themselves.
They’re part of a large family of Dream, Believe, Achieve alumni working at The Ville with the employer having now hosted more than 16,000 work placement hours.
The program’s ability to continuously provide ongoing employment through industry partners is a key reason Dream, Believe, Achieve was named Community Training Initiative of the Year at the regional finals of the Queensland Training Awards last week.
The program is now in the running to win the Queensland final of the award which will be announced at a gala dinner in September.
For more information about the Dream, Believe, Achieve program and to enrol, visit cowboys.com.au/DBA
