GM of the Cascades hotel at Sun City, Vanessa Hoover, says she gained her leadership skills from her mother.

“My mother was my role model and I’m sure that she contributed to my success in my career.” As the only daughter raised in a strict, religious family in Durban, Hoover said her mother always had high expectations for her and her brothers.

“My mother really had such a strong moral code; she was so self-disciplined and really dedicated to my brothers and me. And it’s because of her that I am a strong and effective leader today.”

But this isn’t how she would always have described herself. At 19 when she got her first job at a five-star hotel in Durban, Hoover told Tourism Update that she was incredibly timid. “I was too scared to even say boo to anyone,” she laughed, describing how nervous she was working under incredibly tough bosses.

“It was the most humbling experience of my life,” but she said it had made her a better leader in her own hotels. “I can put myself in the shoes of my staff because I also used to wake up at five in the morning to take a train and catch a taxi to get to my first job. So if you are late to work I can excuse it once, and I may even excuse it twice – because I understand.” When she started out she said her superiors insisted on staff at a five-star hotel looking the part, something she still believes today.

“I like to see people taking pride in the place where we work. Here at Sun City we have The Palace, which is absolutely mind blowing, and I think the way staff present themselves should equal that experience.”

Hoover said the Cascades was undergoing refurbishment but it had all slowed down due to the lockdown, giving her much-needed ‘me time’. “I was relatively new at the Cascades and the refurbishment was taking up so much of my time. I didn’t even notice that I was leaving no time for myself.”

She has made the most of lockdown and meditates, works out, walks her beloved dog Jessie every day, and even finds time to pick up a brush and work on her painting skills.

“It’s so difficult to achieve that balance between work and home, and I’m grateful that I have the opportunity now to put more work into myself.”

Currently she misses her family, whom she usually sees as often as possible. She is a doting aunt to three nephews and said: “I draw so much positive energy from them; I am a very proud aunt.”

Hoover said she hoped to inspire her nephews and other young people with the same lessons she was taught by her mother. “My mother really taught me to be courageous and not to be afraid of failing.”