Vivian Lo: View from the top

For a very petite woman, Cathay Pacific’s Vivian Lo has big dreams. She does so many things one can only imagine.

As she walked in for makeup, the concierge helped her set her wardrobe down, she very quickly gave specific instructions for her hair and makeup and then afterwards, turned and smiled as she shyly confessed, “I’m very specific.” This same attitude also flows to her sense of style, food and lifestyle. Vivian likes to spend on clothes but she only visits about two to three shops for majority of her clothes. Among her favorites is designer Vivienne Tam (Vivian claims to be a Vivienne Tam fanatic!). She also likes Emporio Armani, Paul Smith Black series and Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti. Her daily schedule is packed with different events and activities. At the moment, she takes up flying lessons, French lessons and painting lessons with the same teacher. Her French teacher teaches her how to paint in French which, for her, is delightful since she hits two birds with one stone. She also takes up ballroom dancing and to get a quick break from her busy work hours and meetings. When it comes to food, Vivian has a very particular palate as well.

Her seemingly regimented lifestyle and ultra specific tastes shouldn’t let anyone conclude that Vivian doesn’t know anything about adventure. Imagine this delicate creature taking on the steering wheel of a plane, flying it and loving it. She also paints fantastic abstract works of art whose bold colors and strokes and spatters require a whole lot of muscle. “I work hard and I try to live a full life.”

As Cathay Pacific’s country manager, Vivian has been stationed in the Philippines for two and a half years already (originally based in Hong Kong). She claims that she feels very much at home in the Philippines, and how much she loves the diversity in the country. Vivian has a very important job, as a generalist, she gets to see over different divisions of the company. She has been with Cathay Pacific for 13 years and is now on her ninth job title within the company. She has been assigned to a wide range of departments in Cathay Pacific with her first assignment in the engineering department (because of her economics background) to airline planning (planning schedules and destinations) and also being involved in traffic rights negotiations — being in conferences with important and influential people. Being where she is now, she feels that she is doing her part to promote the country’s many good qualities. She shares that despite the fact that the Philippines gets its share of bad press, she feels a sense of responsibility to help show how the Philippines has so much beauty to offer. “I’m a veritable optimist and I never forget to smile no matter how trying the environment is. I guess the energy is contagious. I really love and care about my team and my friends here, which makes my life here in the Philippines extremely meaningful and blissful.”

Being in her field has allowed her to travel to so many places and among her favorites are Greece and Paris. For someone who has done so much and been to so many places, anyone who talks to Vivian will find she is simply someone who has seen beauty across cultures and continents.

For Vivian, the goal always is to create a kind of fusion between a sharp business mind and discerning feminine charm. She also wants to achieve a collaboration of both systematic practices of the West and the heart and service of the East. The goal is to put the two together to achieve the best results.

So what’s the secret to her success? Vivian finds that alongside balance and inspiration, it is truly passion that keeps her going. She believes that the secret is to improve and to keep on improving, never allowing any hint of complacency to take over. In Vivian’s own words, it is “a relentless pursuit for perfection that continuously improves oneself. An impossible blend admittedly — but life will be bland if you won’t even dream.”

That’s Vivian Lo. She is Cathay Pacific’s country manager extraordinaire, living a full life, flying in a class of her own.