"07.07.2017 was the day I won a lottery ticket and moved to Dubai."
The story all began, the day I learned to serve the perfect Negroni.
For a brief chapter of my life, I used to work as a bartender in Cape Town, South Africa. I was nineteen years old at the time. Young, naïve, and passionate, but admittedly lacking a sense of direction in life. In my quest for self-discovery, I tried to navigate decisions based on where I aspired to be in the future, all while savouring the unpredictable journey life had laid out before me.
In hindsight, I am not ashamed to acknowledge that I began my hospitality career at the bottom; quite literally scrubbing toilets to pass the time. Working my way from housekeeping to front office receptionist; I guess I did all kinds of random jobs just to get to where I am now. After working six months at a youth hostel, I decided to follow my curiosity for hospitality by working behind the bar. With the salary savings I had left throughout my entire duration of working at the youth hostel, I chose to invest it all in obtaining my international bar tenders accreditation. This impulsive decision did not seem to make much sense for anyone, particularly my parents. However, deep down I knew it was an endeavor I wanted to pursue. The course spanned ten days of hands-on practical training, whereby on the last day we were given a ‘stress test’ in order to test our speed behind the bar. During this event, all of the top restaurant owners around the city participated as prospective employers looking to recruit new staff to join their team. I remember some big-shot restauranteur approached me to order a ‘sex on the beach’. Nervously, I rushed into preparing the drink and messed up the key ingredient which turned the entire drink red. The guy was compassionate and drank it anyway, however I knew I was better than this. The next guy came along, sat at the bar as if he had every spirit memorised by heart and demanded a ‘sex on the beach’ as well. Determined to give it another shot, I smiled enthusiastically and said to him “Don’t worry, I am going to give you the best sex on the beach you’ve ever had.” Then I cringed, trying to think how sexually inappropriate that just came across to my future employer. He smiled, and I got right to it. They say practice makes perfect. And that’s exactly what I served him. He slid me his business card, and the rest became history.
This spontaneous incident, led me to work my next job as a bar tender together with one of my favourite mentors, Chris Illus. This person taught me everything I know behind the bar. We spent countless hours working together on new techniques and cocktail recipes which he learned while being nominated as one of the Top 10 mixologists in South Africa in 2017. I felt inspired going to work with him everyday. But at the time, busting tables and working behind the bar was all I knew. I yearned for something more…a greater opportunity to develop my passion.
One night, everything changed. I worked a late shift behind the bar. The restaurant was just about to close its doors for the night, I remember taking off my apron to get ready to clock-out. Suddenly, Chris turned to me and asked if I would not mind staying an extra five minutes to help him polish the wine glasses on the racks. I rolled my eyes and shrugged.
Little did I know, that those five minutes changed the entire trajectory of my life.
Abruptly, three men in suits walked in and sat at the bar. Chris and I exchanged hesitant looks. “Sorry guys we’re closed –” I began, when Chris interrupted me and said “It’s okay, one drink can't hurt."
As I greeted the three gentlemen to struck up a conversation, I detected two of them were British, and one of them was from Atlanta, Georgia. We immediately hit it off. In that moment, I had a gut feeling that I had just met the person that would end up changing my future, and his name was Yomi Egbeleye.
That night, our ‘small talk’ transformed into a beautiful conversation about everything good about life; mostly centred around the theme of 'pursuing your passion'. Until it led to the point of him asking me what I aspire to do in the future. I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly the conversation became so meaningful to me.
“The truth is, I want to do more than just bar tendering…my dream is to eventually go to college. I found a business school in Amsterdam, well, it’s more of a Hotelschool actually. I just know that this is my biggest passion, and hospitality is what I want to pour my energy into.” I began to explain.
“Hotelschool?” The one British guy named Charles, interrupted me and exchanged a cheerful glance with Yomi.
“Well, why go to Hotelschool, when you can just come work for us. We are opening a luxury 5-star hotel in Dubai. We work as headhunters for Marriott International UAE, and we actually came to Cape Town on a recruitment trip to gather new employees to join the team. Why don’t you join?” Charles persuaded.
“Dubai…” I mumbled, while lost in my own train of thought as to what that city must even be like. All I could picture in my head was a vivid imagine of the iconic Burj Khalifa, surrounded by dark grey skies. In my mind, the Burj was surrounded by kinetic energy, caused by a storm that was approaching. Lightening struck the Burj, the moment I realized how in sync this opportunity was with my passion.
“Look, I don’t know…I mean, I just met you tonight at the bar. I’m not going to just jump on a plane tomorrow and move to Dubai, that's just crazy.” I joked, trying to brush off the irrational thought of how impulsive this all sounded.
“But, I thought you said your biggest passion is hospitality? What better opportunity is there other than moving to one of the best cities in the world, which is considered the mecca of hospitality and getting offered international exposure on the highest-level.” Yomi suddenly became Coach Carter and pitched to me my dreams across the bar that night, as if he knew exactly what I wanted to hear.
“Alright, alright, let me first get you guys a drink.” I played off the conversation, feeling a bit intimidated by where this was all leading to. I could feel the energy aligning.
“We’ll take three Negronis, please.” Charles smiled, “Let’s see how well you can make this drink, no pressure.” He jokingly added.
Out of all the drinks they could have ordered that night, a Negroni was by far my favourite drink to make. It was the first ever cocktail recipe I learned at bar tendering school; Campari, vermouth and Gin. Piece of cake.
Chris whispered in my ear, “Remember the trick I taught you.”
I smiled back, “Say less.”
I instantly grabbed my blade and sliced three perfectly oval slices of orange peels. I grabbed my lighter and squeezed the orange zest towards the direction of the glass to ignite a spark of fire on the rim. The oils released from the peel enhanced the scent of the vermouth. Vualá, the perfect cocktail.
Towards the end of the night, as everyone was about to leave, Yomi pulled me aside. Until today, I was not sure whether it was the Negroni I served him or the passion I expressed during our brief interaction, but he slid me his business card which ironically read 'Renaissance Hotel' engraved on the back.
“Listen, if you are serious about your future in hospitality, you will meet me tomorrow morning before we leave. We have to be at the airport at ten, meet us for coffee before and I will explain to you everything you want to know about the company and why you need to take this opportunity.” As we shook hands, I suddenly got reminded of my favourite novel; The Alchemist.
I felt a strong sense of familiarity and relatability, when the protagonist character of Santiago meets Melchizedek, the man who ends up changing the path of his destiny. It was described in the story that ‘an old man sat down at his side and tried to strike up a conversation’ portrayed wearing dark mysterious clothing, almost ‘arab-looking’. The man introduces Santiago to the key concepts of Personal Legends, the Soul of the World, and the notion of Beginner’s Luck. He also gives Santiago two magical stones, Urim and Thummim, which represent ‘yes’ and ‘no’ respectively, to help guide him along his journey. Melchizedek’s overall purpose in Santiago’s story was to encourage him to pursue his passion of finding the hidden treasure near the pyramids in Egypt. Yomi’s proposal of me moving to Dubai seemed synonymous in comparison.
I recalled the interpretation of destiny described in the story;
“The Soul of the World is nourished by people’s happiness. And also by unhappiness; envy and jealousy. To realize one’s destiny is a person’s only real obligation. All things are one. And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
At that moment, I just knew, that this was no coincidence. This was a subliminal sign from the universe conspiring to help me achieve what I wanted.
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