The Story of Thao Nguyen Class 1 KOTO Hanoi

Before Thao became a KOTO trainee she worked on the street 12 hours a day, 7 days a week selling postcards but did not earn enough money for food and other basic living expenses. Besides that, working on the street was dangerous especially for a 13 years old girl like Thao.

 Thao joined our program in 2001 and graduated at the end of 2002 and was employed at the Sofitel Metropole Hanoi as a Senior Food & Beverage Attendant. After three years she had a strong desire to return to KOTO to contribute to the Know One Teach One philosophy by passing on her knowledge to the current trainees. Thao was employed at KOTO on Van Mieu as a Front of House staff member and quickly progressed to become Restaurant Manager.

 Thao was given the chance to travel to Switzerland for work experience in a fine dining restaurant and traveled to some parts of Switzerland to expand her knowledge.

 In 2007 Thao won the KOTO Ambassador Award which enabled her to move to Melbourne, Australia in June 2009 to study an Advance Diploma in Hospitality Management at Box Hill Institute. Apart from studying she is also working at the Sofitel Melbourne. Thao is now thriving on the challenges and is loving the experience. After finishing her advanced diploma she hopes to gain another scholarship to undertake a degree in Business at RMIT in Australia.

Thao says:

Studying abroad is a fantastic experience. It helps me to expand my knowledge, gain life experiences, meet people and make friends, learn about many different cultures and much more. Living and studying abroad is exciting but not easy. With the skills I was taught at KOTO such as life skills, team work, English skills as well as working with foreigners have helped me a lot for my overseas life. In addition, KOTO is always being there and providing support when I needed which is a great motivation for me to move on.

 Looking back KOTO has changed my life and it has given me many great opportunities. I am proud to be a KOTO class 1 graduate.