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In 2000, soon after launching AsiaXPAT, I was sitting in my office when our manager informed me that there was a lady at the front door. She was asking to see ‘the boss.’ In walked a diminutive woman. She then boldly stated that she could convince substantial numbers of domestic helpers in Hong Kong to register on AsiaXPAT and find western employers looking for helpers.
And that was the beginning of a 20-year business relationship that is still going strong.
The lady was Sally, or Ate Sally, as hundreds of thousands of helpers from Hong Kong know her. And over the years she has personally interviewed and found jobs for many thousands of domestic helpers in Hong Kong.
Sally is both passionate and relentless in her mission to assist helpers with finding expat employers. It is not unusual for her to be on her phone or laptop until 4 am communicating with helpers who are only permitted to use their mobiles after midnight.
On weekends, Sally runs the AsiaXPAT DH control centre personally interviewing the hundreds of helpers in HK who attend our office desperately seeking new employers. She demonstrates tremendous empathy as she understands the pressure the helpers are under to find a position before they are forced to return to their home countries.
Yet she is all business and will not hesitate to chastise a helper who is registering and filling out the bio-data registration form inaccurately.
‘You said you had no experience with infants, but you have ticked the box saying you have. You can’t just tick all the boxes just because you want to increase your chances of finding an employer. You need to be honest otherwise if you do find an employer and they realize you don’t have the skills you will be terminated. And as you know, terminated helpers have a tough time finding another job in Hong Kong.’
Sally cut her teeth in the business world, arriving as an expat from the Philippines to work in the accounting department of Fu Yuen Trading Company. Before joining us at AsiaXPAT, she was employed by Free Limited exporting cosmetics to Europe. There she learned the marketing skills that have served her well in her role at AsiaXPAT.
Sally is also a savvy investor with property holdings in both Hong Kong and the Philippines. She also set up a business in Baguio that is operated by her family that purchases vegetables from local farmers and delivers them to wholesalers in Manila.
Sally and her husband do not have children of their own. However, they have sponsored eleven of their nieces and nephews in the Philippines right through to university. Two are doctors (one working in the UK), there are several engineers, nurses, and medical technicians.
Despite her success and achievements and having battled through some health problems in recent years, the work is never done. Ate Sally can still be found roaming around Central on the weekend, speaking to helpers. Or perhaps she's holding court in the AsiaXPAT office, patiently guiding fresh domestic helpers in Hong Kong through the process of securing new jobs.
If you need a domestic helper or driver, please get in touch with Sally and our DH Team.