Never Look Back: Bakani
The Bau, Tailevu native, with maternal links to Wallis and Futuna, said as the only female staff based at the Classic Buses Nadi branch.
Wednesday 09 March 2022 | 00:06
Classic Buses Limited Nadi Branch perations Manager Siteri Bakani at the bus yard. Photo: Salote Qalubau
Never think twice about changing your career path, once you think you want to do it go for it.
This was 32-year-old Siteri Bakani’s advice to young women everywhere.
She said her brave move to change her career from Tourism to management came to fruition in 2012 when she was promoted to be Operations Manager for Classic Buses Limited Nadi Branch.
“Once you have that feeling, it will just flow through; like never let yourself have negative thoughts, be positive about what you want to do, that’s how I did it and that kept me moving. I never turned back,” she said.
The Bau, Tailevu native, with maternal links to Wallis and Futuna, said as the only female staff based at the Classic Buses Nadi branch. Her one aim was to make sure complaints were dealt with and that she served the public efficiently
“I graduated from tourism so it was a big shift then I started doing courses for management, then I joined this company in 2010 on October 9th, I was assisting the Operations Manager from Lautoka so I learned plenty of things from there,” she said.
The mother of two said she studied a Diploma in Hospitality at the Fiji National University and also did OHS (Occupational Health and Safety) courses first aid when she first joined the company at 22 years old.
“The thing I love about my job is like I gain more relationships with customers and how I tackle complaints because when I was in tourism, I was always doing reservation and I don’t usually get to deal with customers, but over here I am on call 24/7 for anything,” she said.
She also said people at her job respected her as a female.
She credited her ability to deal with customers to her background in tourism.
“Nadi route is more than 38 busses and then I have four for hotels and then we also run for Mamanuca Express and I am the Transport Co-ordinator for Mamanuca Express; it’s a one director company so I am used to it and it’s like normal to me now,” she said.
She said while her family were not supportive of her career change, they eventually came to accept her choice and her many achievements, including her current role.
