SPEAKER_01

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I work six days a week.

So having my day off is obviously something I plan probably a few days ahead.

And this week, for example, I'm going to go to the beach.

some sun lay by the sea.

And then I kind of have to remind myself that I never had that privilege when I was in the UK.

So to make the most of that and just something I, I enjoy having that downtime and, um,

Of course, the social scene is also quite beneficial here.

That's something to find, too.

Like, I find...

I love the restaurant.

So there's such an array of restaurants in terms of, you know, you've got all your regulars that you would have in central London, Zuma, or we have LPM and some really, really high end, great experiences within restaurants with, you know, the food and, um,

And you can go to local places where a lot of local people will eat.

Yeah, there's so much choice and it's something that I really enjoy doing.

Although I often say to my mum, there's not much bar stuffing and eating or sunbathing that we can do.

And then once you get to summer, it's so hot that you can only stay inside.

So you've got to make the most of it while the weather's okay.

Yeah, I think so.

It's not something I tend to do.

I just don't have the energy for it, to be honest.

I could probably try, but I...

Yeah, I could probably try and get myself out there, but it's not something I tend to do.

Day drinking, dancing in the day, that works for me.

So I'm in bed by nine o'clock.

So I've been fortunate with my principal.

The last three years that we've been here, we've left and gone to Spain.

So we've spent predominantly, yeah, most of our time in Spain, in Marbella.

So we'd be based just outside of Porto Bono.

Nice.

We'd have three months there, use that as our base, and then we tend to travel from there to other places.

So we did Orlando, Florida, a big Disney experience with the sun, and that was a great time.

I enjoy the aspect of travel.

I enjoy being on the plane for seven hours because it gives me a nice break.

same yeah and then as soon as i took down it's like back to it so um and again i feel like i'm repeating myself whereas any house manager listening to this will know hours are extensive but um those little uh sneaky hours on the plane are so beneficial because what else can you do other than sit there and eat and watch films yeah no completely agree long all flies sign me up like love it

Oh, I could never be tied down to a chair in an office.

It was just not me.

I've had my upbringing.

For example, I had a conversation with my dad a few days ago about my mum.

So I was telling her, I said, she just doesn't understand me, dad, and what I'm doing.

You know, he said, she's like a racehorse.

She's blinked and she's got one direction, that is work.

She does work.

Whereas we have like a...

Maybe flair.

He has an entrepreneurial flair for sure.

But for me, I like to be kind of operations driven.

I like to see things working well.

I like being amongst people.

I like new experiences.

Every day is different.

No day is the same.

And I meet a lot of very interesting people, whether I'm talking to them or not.

If I'm privy to the conversation, I find it extremely interesting and motivating.

And I like to hear stories.

people's life stories.

You know, we're working with very established, successful people, whether it be money they've made themselves or they've come from money within their family.

I think they all have objectives of what they want to achieve.

And if they share that with you, I find that really, really inspiring.

Something that

I like to be amongst driven people and, um, yeah, I find that it keeps me going.

It's exciting.

And the opportunities that I've been exposed to are something that I would never be able to expose myself on a regular salary.

You know, it's not going to just private jet myself, fly around the world, you know, and step on somewhere and, and, you know, time and time again, we're exposed to these experiences.

And, and I think a lot of it is taking it in your stride and, um,

I almost do like a Victoria Beckham pose.

And I just think, you know, I've been here before.

I've done this.

Yeah, this is fine.

This is cool.

And really I'm thinking, oh my God.

You know, you have to... Fake it till you make it.

Yeah, and be all this non-reactive.

And then with that, yeah, you experience things that,

even your mind couldn't comprehend them.

And what I find difficult with that, that flip side of the story, is when I do visit home and someone says, Hannah, how are you?

What have you been up to?

Like, what a line.

What a question.

You know, you can't, sometimes you can't answer it because of things.

Yeah, absolutely.

And I certainly do.

And I think maybe I had a preconceived idea because obviously in Dubai, well known, there's a lot of ultra high net worth individuals here and people are migrating, especially with recent political dramas around the world.

We've had a huge influx of people come to Dubai and a lot of interesting people with that too.

And

And I think maybe I had an idea that for high net worth, almost untouchable.

And I think doing this job, it's just made me realize that we're all human, right?

being exposed to that and just seeing how they operate and how they prioritize certain elements of their world and that helps them along the way in terms of health and fitness and eating in the correct way and dining and getting the sleep and then on the flip side of that I've worked with people that party non-stop and have minimal sleep or take time out in the day because they've got all the hours under the sun you know they're business owners they're not business operators

So things like that where I've been interested or it's made me wonder or... No, I completely agree.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

And I think being 10 years into this as well, in terms of like,

preferences or recognising preferences of a principal, I'm almost at the point now where I'm like, I'm not sure we're aligned.

You know, like you have your ways and I know that it's just not going to work for me because I remember a few months ago having a phone call about principal and we were discussing, you know, what their desires were within their home and how they like to have their clothes laid out and which angle the toothbrush goes on and blah, blah, blah.

And I thought, oh no, this is not for me.

I like to be someone that operates

Again, as I said, it's possibly my downfall at the same time, but on a personal level where I do go above and beyond with what I'm doing.

And essentially, that's probably got me to where I am today because of that work effort.

At the same time, it's been a huge sacrifice.

But I also expect an element of respect from my principals because I respect them and I go above and beyond and I do what is asked of me.

And yeah, and I like to build relationships.

I think it's really important to have a strong relationship with your principals.

Yeah, it's likely to be reflection of personal relationships because I think I put my all into everything that I do.

And then on the flip side of that, if someone doesn't, I don't know, maybe appreciate certain elements of what you're doing or you don't feel like they are, then that can be quite disappointing.

At the same time, managing staff.

In that regard, it's also difficult because I have to make sure that I treat my staff fairly.

It sounded like I wasn't very eager then to join the podcast and I totally am.

You know, expectations were if someone's unwell or they're not the standard.

I've got to really make sure that I address that in the correct way because I think sometimes when you're overly friendly, people can cross boundaries quite easily because it becomes quite a grey area.

And so that's difficult to maintain.

do the difficulty with that with having um overseas members of staff that have family at home you know it's they take long periods off so in the uae if we have for example our nannies from the philippines they'll take four weeks leave so that period is quite a long time for someone to be away especially if you've relied on them heavily so it's kind of like a harsh reminder of what they do do within the home and how much you need them and i have to place value on them and

So thanks for having me.

I'm excited to get started.

And for them to know that they're also valued and appreciated and, you know, the work that they do.

is required and they keep it all going.

Essentially, you know, they're the backbone of the home.

So as soon as they leave for four weeks, which unfortunately is maybe the downfall of having such a multicultural, diverse group of people within the home, you know, it's something that is inevitable.

They want to go home and see their families as do we as a pack.

Yeah, good.

Yeah, often we get temporary.

So we'll bring a temporary member of staff on whilst they're still within the home.

And then we'll train them up maybe for about two weeks.

We'll shadow the current housemates to see all of the operations, what we do within the home, how, you know, the principal likes certain aspects of the home and just to meet all requirements really in the best way we possibly can.

I think the other thing with being familiar with where you live and where you're from or where you're working, for example, is building that little black book.

Because as soon as you come to Dubai, it's back to zero.

And you've got to really work out, you know, where my contacts are going to be, the restaurant, how are we going to get numbers for wardrobe management, stylist, the list is endless.

So you've got to work on that pretty quickly in order to get to it.

Go on holiday for four weeks.

I recently had to work out how to bring a painting over from Cannes, so that was pretty difficult with all the team, but we did it.

No, a lot of language barriers and also interpretation of certain words and delivering instruction.

And do we play that to our advantage?

Maybe, maybe sometimes.

Yeah, that could be a good one.

What are you not very good at?

I would say from what we've spoken about in the podcast, probably personal relationships, getting close to members of staff and then creating boundaries.

So often I'll possibly backtrack and then it's not so easy once we're in too deep.

Yeah, and I think it's also parts of me where I don't want anyone to feel like I've got this almost superiority over their role.

Like, I want anyone to feel like they can come to me at any time.

Like, let's address the problems together.

Let's see where we can go with this.

What can we do to solve things rather than take a problem on themselves and then it just evolves into something a lot bigger.

So that's probably where I'm coming from with that.

But as I said, yeah, boundaries.

Once they've been given or broken, it's very, very difficult to bring that back.

Probably to have a genuine interest in delivering acts of service, whether that be within hospitality or service within the home.

Or, you know, I met someone a few weeks ago who really, really just enjoys turning beds around and creating really beautiful bedrooms.

I was like, wow, that's definitely not me.

So I think to be truly, truly, truly invested within the industry and prepared to work very hard and work extensive hours, it's something I've definitely sacrificed.

You know, my social life has been non-existent, especially in Dubai for the last two and a half, nearly three years.

And it's something that I place value on what I do because essentially I enjoy it.

So you've got to really love what you do or have a very, very keen interest because

you can obviously succeed and this job will take you places that you've never experienced before.

And for anyone, I would say just go for it and let it go if you're prepared to work.

So one of my best experiences was probably flying private jet to Cannes and going to Cannes Film Festival.

So we were in a room with...

Alicia Keys playing on the piano and sang every song.

And then we went and partied with quite a few football players.

I met Orlando Bloom.

So quite a funny, funny, quick story.

Everyone was having special photos with him and he was leaving the room.

And I thought, this is my only opportunity.

I will never have this opportunity again.

Ask Orlando Bloom to have a photo.

So I said, Orlando, please, can I have a photograph?

Yeah, sure.

I've been in Dubai three years in October.

Do you mind?

He was like, no, not at all.

And I literally peeped through

I had my arm around his shoulders and I took a selfie on my iPhone and he was just directly laughing.

He thought it was absolutely brilliant.

No, and I just thought, oh, you're standing there in your tux having a professional photo.

I'm getting right in there.

I'll never do this again.

So a little bit different for me with circumstances because I'm fortunate enough to have my mother here.

I just started listening to, is it James Huxley that does Life as a Monk?

I've just started listening to that.

And every podcast I listen to is all very slow, very tranquil.

I'm trying to like bring myself down out of this like, you know, fast paced, full on lifestyle, you know, forever running to just kind of calm down.

It's not really working, but I'm attempting.

I can't tell you how valuable the communities are.

You know, even the craziest of questions that go into the group chat, we all need the answers to them.

So she told me that she was going for a role abroad and I thought, oh God, don't leave me in the UK.

So it's amazing.

Yeah, I just bought my own apartment, so it was a big pat on the back for me.

So now I've got to live in it and pay for it.

What am I going to do?

Okay, cool.

So fortunately enough, I'd fallen, as I say, into house management.

10 years ago now.

I've been doing it for 10 years.

So something that I didn't have any intention to do.

It wasn't anything that crossed my mind originally in terms of work.

Funnily enough, as I've spoken to members of our family, my granddad was an estate manager.

And we also had a full-time nanny in our family.

So she worked all over the world.

And it was only in the last few years that I kind of discovered that.

So I think maybe there's something in our blood.

Yeah.

Yeah, possibly.

There must be something that we're all drawn to, to service maybe.

And experiences and stuff.

communities yeah definitely so what happened 10 years ago like how did you even discover this was a thing so i was probably about 17 at the time and i was starting university at 18 i believe uh took a year out and my mum was really concerned about what i was going to do for work so my mum is an academic she's extremely driven and hard working and uh one one time she'd come home from i think a football match with my brother and she walked in she said hannah i've got you a job

What do you mean you've got me a job?

And she said, I've been talking to a lady at the football and she needs an au pair.

So I said, what's an au pair?

I had no idea what an au pair was.

But she was like, well, apparently you have to live with her Monday to Friday and look after her children.

And in the daytime, you can go to university and she'll give you a car and blah, blah, blah.

I thought, oh, that sounds like it.

So off I went, and at the time, she had a daughter who was eight years old, and her eldest son was going to Miami Medical School to study.

Her middle child was at Bromsgrove, which is a boarding school in Birmingham in the United Kingdom.

And so I primarily was sole care, really, of her younger daughter when I was 18.

So she was

my principal was a single mother and she worked in London and we were up north in Tata.

So about two hours commute on the train and she would go on a Monday and come back on a Friday.

And we were like a tag team really.

And my position kind of evolved from there because she'd had numerous nannies helping and I was in the house too.

And then it became that I was the sole, sole parent,

and eventually house manager.

So I was operating internal and external shares of the household, really.

Yeah, I was driving into campus thinking I was like,

these needs you know like full-time salary a car you know I could never have got or managed to get a car myself had I have not done that role so no nice holidays accompanying her she was American so she's a director in finance and she had multiple houses in the US so I kind of company her on holidays to Miami and we do lots of trips to the north of Florida and Destin and

We had so many incredible experiences with her and she had a really good relationship with me and vice versa and I really respected her and I learned a lot from her actually.

She had an incredible aura about her.

She was a

authoritarian and you know so it's probably a little bit not in awe of her but also maybe a little bit scared and then as we got closer we developed a really really strong bond so it's something that again I hold her responsible for bringing me into the world of household management for sure.

Yeah, I ended up staying with her for eight years.

Wow.

To the point where her daughter was then like going to college and no longer required me.

But I still actually see the family and we've had holidays together since I've left and we're incredibly close.

And the amount of times I've asked her for a reference and she always comes forward.

So, yeah, I've been really grateful to her.

But for sure, she shaped me.

my experience in household management, because for me, I also did my degree and I did a master's degree.

And what's always been difficult is kind of that,

pull with having my mum as an academic and an expectation that I was to do you know a stereotypical role and possibly be sat in an office and you know travel myself and maybe live in London and aspire to do something and I did a law degree so yeah maybe in law or accountancy or something similar but there's always been something that just

drawn me to health management and taught me that.

And I've now, in my late years, made the decision that it's definitely something that I want to stick at and really, you know, put my all into before pizza life events, whether I decide to have children or whatever that may be.

So the other thing that I'm very, very mindful of is balancing social time and this role.

Because essentially, you know, the role is your, it can be your life.

and how dedicated you are to the position and the hours that you have.

And the expectation of travel is very, very difficult to manage in the real world of that.

Social, friends, family have expectations of you, and it's not something you can always do, you know?

And I find it's really difficult to gauge, actually, because every family you meet, every household you work for is obviously different in their own special way.

And I think, you know, some more formal than others, the expectations are that, you know, you deliver service or you're close to the family, the children or the animals or, you know, whatever that expectation is.

And I think in my experience, what's always happened to me and maybe a downfall of, you

not entirely my personality, but possibly how I work is that I am very personable and I tend to get quite close and integrated within the family.

And you become so integrated that they rely on you heavily and then it's difficult to almost come back.

So then there was an expectation that, you know, possibly I'd use that, but then COVID struck.

So for me, COVID was almost like my saving grace because what ended up making me take the jump and all the links that I saved to buy.

And in all honesty, I've not looked back.

It's a very, very different experience to what I experienced in the UK.

maybe naively of me because of where I was positioned location-wise, possibly in the UK, I've not had experiences or many experiences with lots of different cultures.

And that's something that's very, very normalized in the UAE.

So you often work in households where there is an array of, you know, people with different backgrounds, religions, cultures, and

there's one being mindful of that there's also being educated about that there's also working with that and having you know experiences on so many different levels and that's something that you know even three years in I'm still every day I'm learning and it could be something as interpretation of certain foods in the kitchen or how to clean certain objects or so that can be complicated but also quite interesting because as you go you're obviously learning and

taking on new ideas and concepts from all the people that you work with.

So it's different for sure.

To some degree, yeah.

Only because in terms of what I touched on earlier with working, again, with different cultures, locations, working hours, we also have to, you know, be mindful of prayer time, contractors having prayer time.

They have long, extensive days.

So when, for example, in the current household that I'm in, we've been doing interior work on the property.

So we've had a lot of exterior staff.

come into the home, you know, and the heat.

We have to deal with the heat.

So if they're working outside, it's regular water breaks, regular rest.

They must come out of the heat and take time out.

You know, even simple things like we've been correcting a pool and tiling a pool and hours in which people work here are really, really extensive.

It's something that doesn't correlate with the UK.

I know we do lots of hours anyway, whether we're in England or the UAE, but here there's a kind of underwritten expectation that people apply themselves to the job and we've just got to be mindful that we don't ignore people.

The same goes for in the home.

I've had many

many objects where I've had to locate them you know we've had people come in to do work and all of a sudden the bike's missing and it's been on the balcony outside and I'm like oh god it

Where did that go?

And, you know, they're not aware of instructing or informing because there's a level of shyness or whether they feel uncomfortable, you know, requesting or making certain requests, for example.

So a lot of complications come into managing work.

So I'd say my household experience here has been different in that regard.

There's less transparency and expectations are high and

work is not as fast paced, I would say, as it is in the UK if you were to have external contractors come in.

So again, you can get given timelines that could take three times longer than what was specified in the beginning.

So that can cause a lot of headaches, especially as a house manager, because you've got to liaise between the principal and the work.

No, all local staff.

So the only expat staff that I work with is a nutritionist and PC, personal trainer.

Yes.

So they're from the UK.

But in terms of our cleaners, drivers, it's India and the Philippines.

Yeah, for sure.

I mean...

I think it's around 97% of households in the UAE are staff.

We really, really, you know, even normal household incomes, regular household incomes, whatever you want to call it, we all heavily rely on external help because essentially there are a lot of people that don't have families here.

So whether that be someone that feels, you know, nervous about driving, I think Sheikh Zayed Road or Main Road here is voted one of the most dangerous in the world.

So it's quite common that people don't want to drive themselves and therefore people

hire a driver because they trust that that person knows the road better than they do or you know nannies is also difficult in the sense that we have many second language English workers so if someone has a desire that they want their child to be raised with someone first language English it

People have their preferences here and it's certainly something that is required in terms of external help because without it, it's just so difficult to even get along, you know?

And then your staff almost become family because you're so close to them, you know?

And they're looking after children or your children.

And yeah, we really heavily rely on households now, basically.

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