Nguyen Hoang Tu Quyen (Brita) - a young female bartender won the Asian regional championship in the Opirh Cocktail Competition in 2019. Few people know that the champion had to skip meals for two days to have money for gas to go to work, to pursue her passion. If you are struggling to find your passion, perhaps the following story is for you.
Nguyen Hoang Tu Quyen (25 years old) is currently living and working in Ho Chi Minh City.
Dropped out of school to find his passion
After a semester of studying Law, Tu Quyen felt that it was not suitable for her, so she decided to quit school to go to work. She did many different jobs such as personal trainer, serving at restaurants. Quyen started taking courses, seriously investing in her career when she had the opportunity to approach the job of making drinks while serving at a coffee shop.
“At that time, a friend 'invited' me to become a bartender simply because it was easy to get a job.” Although she said she had never been to a bar before and knew nothing about alcohol, she still decided to challenge herself. When her relatives and friends heard the news, they tried to dissuade her: “No woman would be a bartender, working late and coming home late, it would be difficult to get married later. It’s just for fun, but if you want to be stable, you should do some office work.”
After half a year of mixing drinks, Brita felt that this job was really suitable for her. However, according to her, this is a job that requires perseverance, flexibility and dexterity, so the first days of her career she found it quite difficult.
The nature of bartending is working at night, meeting many different people, in an environment with lots of smoke and alcohol.
She usually started work at 5 pm and finished at 3 am. She said she had to stand for many hours and use her arms frequently, so she felt pain all over her body after leaving work to return home. At this time, she also started living on her own and working two jobs at the same time. The burden of making a living and the pressure of a small salary forced her to find a way to manage her finances well, but she failed.
Tu Quyen accepted the trade-off. She decided to save money for gas to go to work in exchange for only eating one meal a day. After skipping two consecutive days, she suffered from a stomach ache that she would remember for the rest of her life. The price she had to pay for pursuing her passion made Tu Quyen remind herself to always eat well before starting any work.
"I am an introvert, so the hardest thing for me at first was learning how to talk to customers," Quyen shared. She tried hard during the first two years to overcome the biggest challenge for her in this job. Quyen said: "The biggest lesson I learned after a period of working as a bartender is to always maintain a happy source of energy, adjust and balance my emotions so that even when I get home at 3am, I still don't feel exhausted."
Bartending opens up many new opportunities
For Tu Quyen, being a bartender is an attractive job because of the opportunity to meet many different people: "I get to talk to them - people I've never met before and learn more through those stories. Most people who come to the bar have a lot of things on their mind, but thanks to a little alcohol, they can also share their thoughts with a stranger they've never met before."
When asked what she felt was the most memorable thing during her 5 years of pursuing a career in bartending, she recalled: "I feel lucky because thanks to participating in the Opirh Cocktail Competition 2019, I had the opportunity to set foot in Europe when I was only 22 years old." It is known that Tu Quyen won second place at the national tournament, then continued to win the Asian regional championship and competed internationally in Italy in 2019.
Tu Quyen and her teacher. It is known that 5 years ago, this was also the person who inspired, accompanied and encouraged her throughout her career.
Not only did bartending open up great career opportunities, it also brought her the chance to meet the person she loved. She said that when she entered the final round of the Song Cai Competition in 2020, she was confident that she had victory in her hands. However, when the results were announced, she herself was shocked because she did not win. The person she did not expect - Thanh Nam, her current boyfriend - won the championship.
Sharing with Travellive reporter, Quyen said that she only started to pay attention to Thanh Nam after he won the tournament. She revealed that she was attracted to guys who were more talented and capable than her. After a period of chatting and getting to know each other, she found that this guy was talented and interesting, so the two started to date. The couple often accompanied each other in events and workshops sharing about mixing.
Tu Quyen and her boyfriend Thanh Nam often share their work stories on social platforms.
Although she loves bartending, there are times when she feels like she can’t learn anything new if she just hangs around in bars. After 5 years of pursuing a career in bartending, she decided to take a “gap year” to do this job. Explaining the reason for the change, she said: “After a while, I needed a break to experience other jobs and discover myself more.”
Over the past year, Tu Quyen has gained experience working in the media - marketing, event organization, etc. She realized that besides bartending, this is also a field that interests her. And she also affirmed that bartending is the job she will pursue in the long term. Therefore, the couple Quyen - Nam have built communication channels on various platforms to share more widely about the story of working as a bartender.
She also shared that in 2023, they decided to temporarily leave Saigon to travel across Vietnam. This trip, the two will visit different regions and provinces to both experience tourism and learn about herbal ingredients used in mixing.
