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BUSINESS CHICKS latte magazine
MY WAY
JOINING THE
H
eidi has a job that many would dream about. It
sees her travelling the world and staying in ex-
otic, luxurious resorts, surrounded by young,
talented, multilingual and multicultural people, and a
with a job description that includes wining and dining
on gourmet food and champagne.
But it hasn't all been easy for the Sydney girl, with
dual Australian and German citizenship, who studied
and lived in Japan for three years, speaks three lan-
guages and who now heads up Club Med in Australia
and New Zealand.
A professed fi tness fan, who loves the outdoors and
entertaining friends is apt at juggling given she also
spends sometimes up to 80 hours a week at her job,
and travels overseas monthly.
But it is her passion for the Club Med brand and its'
people that drives her, and the unique human value
that it represents that maintains her enthusiasm. It's
this passion that relentlessly pushes her on to spur
Australian couples and families to choose Club Med as
their next holiday destination.
Having risen from the position of Marketing Manag-
er to General Manager 4 years ago, Heidi gives kudos
to her life changing move to Japan, marking it as the
life experience which taught her about independence
and responsibility.
She moved to Japan at 21 leaving behind family,
friends, a job and a home, to learn to speak Japanese
and create a new life for herself and believes her in-
teraction with the kind and generous Japanese people
forged her empathy for all things Japanese, be it food,
style or culture.
Within two weeks, she was employed, and had a
place called home, and was on her way to fl uency in a
very diffi cult language.
But the experience gave her a strong sense of re-
sponsibility, for her own life, her own actions and a
determination to make things happen for herself.
It's a tough gig, in an industry full of challenges such as 9/11, bird flu,
swine flu, airline collapses and now the GFC. But one enormously
focused woman who's successfully combining work and play is Heidi
Kunkel, General Manager, Club Med Australia and New Zealand.
"I have always had a
very clear ambition
to become General
Manager. When I was
young, I had no idea
how I was going to get
there, but I knew it was
what I wanted."
Club
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