Spreading her wings
The job: Captain, Emirates Airlines
Kalina Comenho, Brazilian, mum of one
While there are plenty of women working in the airline industry around the world - from flight attendants to ground staff - men still dominate when it comes to a career in the cockpit. It all changed for Emirates Airline when they hired Kalina Comenho six years ago. Just last year Kalina became the airline's first woman in command. For Kalina, the fourth in a family of five from Recife, Brazil, aviation has always been a fascination. "When I was 12 years old my younger brother and I would spend hours playing with our model planes. My mother always encouraged us to believe in ourselves and to follow our passion. I was passionate about aviation."
At 16, Kalina moved to America to live with a great aunt, in order to study and improve her English. A few years later she returned to Brazil and started working for Varig - Brazil's flagship carrier at the time. "I worked in ground dispatch and as cabin crew over the next six years to finance my flying. I was confident and determined and would stop at nothing. By 1991 Varig took me on as their first woman pilot. Although it was a male-dominated society, I never felt daunted. Being a woman has never stopped me from living my dream - if anything, it's made me more determined."
Kalina met her husband, also a pilot, and they were married in 1993. Their daughter Caroline was born five years later. "Having two pilot parents meant there was always one parent home for Caroline."
After 15 years flying jets as a First Officer for Varig, Kalina felt her career was not progressing. "There was little hope of promotion because the airline was stagnating," she continues. "My mother passed away in 2004. I still miss her. She always encouraged me to be strong and confident and to chase my dream. I applied to Emirates, the fastest growing airline in the world. It wasn't a consideration to me, or to Emirates, that there were no women flying Emirates aircraft at the time - being a good pilot requires aptitude and professionalism; qualities that, in my mind, are not gender specific." Kalina was hired by Emirates as the first female First Officer on the Boeing 777 and moved to Dubai with her family in 2006. In just four and a half years she made Captain, once again being the first woman in Emirates to do so.
"As mother and Captain I feel I have the best of all worlds. I still love aviation and while being a woman was a novelty for a while, I have always been treated with respect. As soon as I leave the cockpit I have the gratifying feeling of knowing I have done a good job. The rest of my life I devote to nurturing my daughter Caroline, now 14, into the strong, beautiful, independent woman she is becoming."
Kalina believes in leading by example. A pioneer in many ways, her efforts were rewarded in March 2012 by being presented with a ‘Woman Pilot Excellence' award for leadership in aviation at the 15th Global Women Leaders Conference.
Barasti bar's Charlie's Angel
The job: A security offer, Le Meridien Mina Seyahi Beach Resort and Marina
Normelita Juarez, Filipino, 36, mum of one
Normelita Juarez is a Filipino Security Officer at Dubai's Le Meridien Mina Seyahi Beach Resort and Marina. Armed with a black belt in karate, this 36 year-old solo mum is one of a small number of women security guards in the UAE. "Security is not a common occupation for women anywhere in the world," she admits. "But being a minority has its advantages."
Tough and disciplined, this pint-sized protector reckons she is something of a secret weapon in the hotel's arsenal of staff. "Barasti Bar is popular at weekends and people can get hot-tempered. Often just the presence of a woman can diffuse a situation. If there is trouble between men, for example, they are far more likely to be reasonable when a woman approaches them. Female customers are also more accepting when a woman searches her bag or checks her ID. "
Normelita has been in Dubai for almost two years. "Security is something I just sort of fell into. I've always been strong-minded and independent," she says. "While finishing high school in Manila I studied martial arts and after five years of intense training I graduated to black belt. I enjoyed the discipline, sense of power and control it gave me. Security was an obvious use of this skill.
"I left home at 17 to start security training. My first job was with a Japanese electrical company in Manila. It was disappointing because I was more a telephone operator than security guard and the wages were low. By then I had two children I needed to support on my own. I got a security job with the Radisson Hotel in Dubai and moved here in 2000. My kids, now aged ten and four, are cared for by relatives in Manila. I miss them very much, but what can I do? The money I send home pays for their upkeep and an education I couldn't otherwise afford."
On arrival in the UAE, Normelita completed a compulsory security guard course with the Dubai Police. "I was the only woman on the course," she says. "We covered some defense and fire fighting but it was mostly information on cultural issues. After 18 months with the Radisson I moved to Le Meridien Mina Seyahi in October 2011."
"Thursday evenings after 10pm is when my job really starts. I can hold my own, but if needed, my supervisor and male colleagues step in. I never feel isolated; in fact, I prefer the company of men. I can't walk in high heels and I detest dresses; I'm happiest as one of the boys in my dark suit and glasses."
Women in construction
The job: Construction engineer and managing director of Space in Motion
Isabell Boersing, German, 42, single
German-born Isabell Boersing is Managing Director of her own company, Space in Motion. As a construction engineer and interior designer, hers is a man's world. "During my 16-year career, I have met many women in interior design, but I've only ever come across two other women working as site engineers," she says, "and that was in Germany. Here in Dubai, it's not uncommon for me to oversee up to 200 men on any given project - from engineers to site managers to labourers. There are no women." Yet, as a strapping blonde with a hard hat, safety boots and drawings tucked under her arm, Isabell has experienced nothing but the highest of respect.
Isabell was born in Hamburg and raised in the Netherlands. She studied Interior Design at the University of Applied Sciences in Rosenheim and was soon employed by a small architectural consultancy firm. "I was one of a team of four women and we were all involved in each stage of the building process, from pencil sketch to quantity surveying to site management. I liked being part of a team, but I soon learned that I'm also capable of taking on entire jobs on my own."
Isabell describes herself as practical and visually motivated. "Things should not only look great, they also need to be functional. One of my greatest inspirations comes from nature - horses. I first got involved with horses at six years old and they have been something of an obsession ever since. A horse, to me, is the perfect example of great design. It has elegance, grace and beauty; aspects that spill over and inspire my work."
Isabell became involved with Arabian thoroughbreds in her early 30s and travelled frequently to the Middle East. "One of my more vivid memories was in Qatar, 2004, one balmy evening sitting under a date palm admiring a small peaceful herd of Arabian thoroughbreds. I was captivated by the Middle East and from that moment decided that this was where I wanted to live and work. Three years later I secured a job with Munich-based Henn Architects to set up a branch in Dubai."
In 2007, at the height of the construction boom, Isabell left a steady relationship in Germany and brought her horses and her life to Dubai. "The challenge was exciting. I worked incredibly hard over the next two years, learning and establishing contacts on the way. When the downturn hit I agreed to work part time and by 2011 I had built-up enough contacts to start my own company."
"I am passionate and dedicated to my job. Getting married and having a family has never been a priority. Financial independence, self-reliance and personal freedom are more important to me. I prefer being master of my own destiny."
