One thing I never thought about was what kind of boss I wanted to be.

Some lady bosses are scary because they have to show authority that they earned and they don’t want to be stepped on. Some lady bosses are quiet, and let staff dictate them like a doormat to gain popularity.

I won’t be able to judge what kind of boss I am, but one thing is for sure; I like a happy environment at work, and unless something goes wrong, I am very chilled. My staff can have the TV on in the background, my staff can have snack breaks etc. What I care about is work gets done by the end of the day, and if they don’t finish it, they will stay till 8-9 pm to do it. And even then, we’re all still laughing together and end up ordering Pizza Hut delivery and chatting about work stuff. Of course, this is easier to do in a small company. I can’t imagine a big institution having pizza parties all the time!

Some might frown upon this type of leadership as being too friendly, but I see it differently. Firstly, we’re not an office with serious accounting or auditing or banking research to do. We’re an office revolving around clothes, accessories and fashion. We are always having fun even while working.

Most of FV staff are my age, so I feel uncomfortable acting like a 40 year-old bossing them around. Yes, they work under me, but they have fast become my companions too. We spend so much time together and I have entrusted them with so much in FV, that I feel like they appreciate that trust and friendship.

And you know what, I appreciate them very very much. We have a really good team at FV and they are just amazing hard-workers! I get very pissed off when people say Malays are lazy, because you should come and meet the Malays we have in FV.

Ups and downs, no one has a whatever attitude and we all sit together and constantly throw out ideas to improve FV. What I appreciate most is that they were here from the beginning. FV is still an infant, and it’s really nice to see all of us together watching it grow. In doing that, we grow too. (literally as well, you should see our pantry!!)

I am a staff at my dad’s company. Now I see things from both perspectives when I started FV and become a boss myself. What I find crucial are these; loyalty, commitment and respect. From both sides. With those quality, just have fun watching your business grow, InsyaAllah.

If you notice, we had a transition from mannequins to models recently. This was actually a suggestion from a staff and I took action on it. It wasn’t easy!! It was hard work as we have hundreds of items to reshoot and repack and recode etc. We worked so hard and managed to finish it in one week flat. Both my editing guy and I almost broke our backs and fingers editing photos till early morning. And the rest of the girls had backaches, headaches, neckaches, stomachaches, but they kept moving and moving.

This was when I realised just how much I appreciate them. Big Boss Dean saw the girls looking like zombies too and he was so sweet! He surprised us all with a treat to go for a spa session. And everything was on him!

We all enjoyed ourselves getting pampered. Foot rub, massage, scrub, the works.

The whole 2 hours everyone kept their phones away and just went into Selfish mode for a while.It was all about us.

Well, I just kept my phone on vibrate in the steam room. Hehe. One of my dad’s mantra: A businessman should never switch off his phone because you might just lose a business opportunity that’s coming your way.

I fully agree. There were so many instances when I wanted to spend on something and the designer doesn’t pick up his phone and didn’t bother calling back even after I left a message. You should know that all the designers on FV are the ones who actually pick up their phones and respects people. We have a few (not many) realllyyy arrogant local designers/brands out there.

So, as my dad’s daughter, I too find it hard to be without my phone.

After the spa, we closed the doors of Hammam and it was back to reality.

Top: BCBG

I was so sick of looking at clothes (this was last week, I love them again now!!!!) so I visited some of our construction sites last weekend to just check on their progresses.

(No hard hat as I was just watching from afar)

Top: Mimpikita Daisy Top

Pants: PU3 Bell Bottoms

Oh goddd such a refreshing change to the world of fashion. I was actually enjoying the sun and heat!

So anyway…..do YOU guys like your boss? Just let it out, I won’t tell 😛

Note: FV staff’s comments will be ignored. I know you guys love me. No need to say….*blows nail*