The fourth of a five-daughter Kuy family from Rovieng (Preah Vihear Province), Vann Srey Sophal, known as “Sophal” by her colleagues and friends, was granted an Enfants du Mekong scholarship to complete her high-school studies in 2018, when she turned 18.
Her personal story reflects the importance of officially-recognized vocational training centers around Cambodia, giving access to hospitality careers to young people from remote villages, and in her case from ethnic minority community.
Selected by Spoons Cambodia for their hospitality training course in Siem Reap, she started an internship at Templation Angkor Resort in 2019, and was quickly recognized for her dedication.
Hard-working and always willing to learn, Sophal is now part of Templation Angkor Resort lounge & restaurant team since 2019. "I just love to see happiness on our guests' faces when I wait on them", she said during a service break recently; "Like the rest of our Food & Beverage team, I can see how really appreciated a refreshing drink and a revigorating meal can be after a hot day around our beautiful temples."
With reading and country travels being her main hobbies, Sophal is proud of her ethnic minority background -- she speaks the Kyu language at home, Khmer and ever-improving English at work --, and proud to be part of the 44-strong female workforce at Templation. Happy Women’s Day to her and to all!
A global holiday celebrated every year on March 8, International Women's Day (IWD) is a celebration of gender equality and promotion of women's rights.
Originally linked to the universal female suffrage movement in North America and Europe in the 1900s, the day was made into a national holiday in Soviet Union in 1919, embraced by the worldwide feminist movement in the late 1960s, and became a mainstream celebration since its promotion by the United Nations in 1977.
Cambodia is one of the countries that recognize IWD as an official public holiday, along with Angola, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Burkina Faso, China (for women only), Cuba, Georgia, Berlin and Western Pomerania in Germany, Guinea-Bissau, Eritrea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Madagascar (for women only), Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Nepal, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Zambia. In Australia, Cameroon, Croatia, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Vietnam, and Chile, while not being a public holiday, IWD is widely observed.
Sophal with the female team at Templation, March 2024.