Featuring: Suralda van Zyl
Suralda was born in Pretoria but spent most of her childhood travelling since her dad was a fighter-pilot. She spent most of her primary school years in Israel at the American International School. Her holidays were spent travelling to exotic places such as Greece and Cyprus. After returning to South African and completing her matric, Suralda started teaching in Evander near Secunda. When she was in Matric, Suralda; like many women of that period; had few career choices, 3 of which were to be a teacher; a nurse or a stay-at-home mom. None of those options appealed to Suralda, but she chose to complete a Teaching Diploma. However her childhood dream of being pilot wouldn’t let her rest easy. She spent a year in Education before taking the plunge and following her heart. In order to achieve her dream, she had to move to Limpopo and then to Natal. But she did it. She joined the Air Force as a glorified Air Hostess for the VIP Wing and worked her way up the ranks; learning as she went; working as hard as she could. She fulfilled her dream and became an Air Force Pilot. She made a name for herself in the Air Force, flying all over the world and even went to Dubai for the International Defence Exhibition – which she assisted in logistically co-ordinating. Super Suralda spent 17 years in the Air Force with her last appointment being at the Protocol Office for the Ministry of Defence where she met and travelled with Barack Obama when he was Govenor. Suralda left the Air Force as a Colonel in order to pursue her hobby and interest in hospitality. She has been in this industry for 10 years now and has seen it all. Suralda has been with Beerhouse for 12 months now and is still going strong. Suralda really is a superhero… and her children would absolutely agree that her super-power is mind-reading. She is worse than the FBI: she knows everything… or will find out somehow. And her alter-BeerEgo is her twin: an Agar Black Mamba – quiet and reserved but with some surprises up their sleeves.
3 reasons why Super-Suralda loves being a General Manager at Beerhouse:
1. “I love the fact that it is new and different to Pretoria – I don’t like ordinary.”
2. “I enjoy the staff. We are close and have a lot of fun.”
3. “There is calm and minimal animosity and it is enjoyable to come to work – that is always important to me.”
Suralda’s WHY… her reasons for working at Beerhouse are as straight-forward as the Air Force Colonel in her: “I love working with figures and I am organised administratively. But I enjoy the restaurant vibe so now I have the best of both worlds.”
We’re celebrating #WomensMonth2017 with our SuperWoman Heroines. Pop on down to Beerhouse Centurion and have a #Beer with Colonel Suralda. She’s an icon, a true inspiration that women can achieve anything we want to; so do something different… a #sidehustle… join the #SheLovesBeer revolution! #GirlsRule everything, including #Beer and are driving the #BeerRevolution.