Saturday 28 February 2015

Khao Lakkkkk

So Aiman decided to take me away from work and fly me to Phuket for the loong weekend last weekend.

Sorry, no. Not Phuket. 

Khao Lak. 

MasyaAllah, it was too pretty there that I couldn't stop snapping photos of everything I set my eyes on. Even the fishes in their pond looked pretty! Unfortunately, the phone camera can never quite capture what we see right before our eyes. So I thought why bother, it's probably a sign for me to put my phone away and have some husband and wife time.

....FULL BAR WIFI at the beach?! Seriously?!

Aiman who?
hahahaha! Thank god I married someone who understands my crazy need to always have access to my phone. Once we went for Kim's wedding at Janda Baik, we were supposed to stay over. But we eneded up driving back down to KL that night itself after the reception because there was no network up there in Janda Baik! I know it's supposed to be romantic and all but...but...

Aiman knows I'm that psycho who needs to have access to my family 24 hours - even if I don't talk to them every minute, I know there is connection and I can call/whatsapp them anytime. Before boarding a flight, I'll be whatsapping with the family group chat till that very minute when they tell us to shut off our phone. With Aiman, every week when he's about to fly back to Johor for work I'll be on whatsapp with him till he flies off (well, not that he replies till the very last minute la) :P

Back to Khao Lak, we decided to stay at JW Marriot and my goodnees when we arrived we surely were treated like kings and queens. We got to the airport and the Marriot taxi was already waiting for us to take us to the hotel and on the way to the hotel the driver received a call from the receptionist who called to actually check if Aiman and I are doing ok. Service tip top! Mind you we have not even paid for the hotel.

Upon arrival at the hotel we were attended to from the checking in all the way till the room. The hotel was a PARADISE! I went ooh and ahh whilst the receptionist patiently explained to us that Marriot has the longest pool in South East Asia. So imagine, everything in the mega huge gorgeous beautiful perfect hotel is connected through the pool, no gate no doors whatsoever! How awesome is that?! It's like a gateless community but in the hotel. #jakun. Got to the room and the first thing we were shown was our room access straight into the pool - the drinks bar and jacuzzi was just a few backstrokes away. Spoiled much? *haihhhhhhh*
Each room came with a float and of course my dearest husband was kind enough to blow it up for me. We decided that the first thing we should do was to swim around the entire hotel. It has this unique thing about it where you basically get to see people swimming around at all times but at the same time you don't feel like it's crowded but instead you still get that personal-space-private feeling to it.
The beach area I was told was rebuilt post tsunami and MasyaAllah, everything about the beach was just so so so perfect. Yup, we could swim our way from the room to the beach area :P The beach was clean and just nice, not too crowded and well designed with the palm trees and comfortable beach chairs for us to just get some sun tan. Not to mention, there was also a restaurant by the beach that sells ice cream and shakes and pizza and salmon wraps and cold fruits and....full bar wifi.
All in all, I would so recommend this place for honeymooners! We literally did not leave the hotel. Well, there was no need for it though. Definitely going back there! :))

Wednesday 18 February 2015

DOUBLE A CAFE

Aiman is one who is very very (and I mean VERY) passionate about coffee. If coffee was human, he'd probably end up marrying each and everyone of those coffee beans. He's so passionate that he joins coffee-making classes and even bought himself a manual coffee machine to be used at home. Since then, goodbye 3-in-1, you've lost Aiman's heart to the coffee machine. 

I on the other hand have always loved the cafe-hopping-and-coffee lifestyle since my London days. Not quite a coffee drinker though, but I love everything about coffee - the aroma that wakes everyone up in the tube every morning, the sight of people having the happiest conversation over coffee and cake, my boss buying all of us coffee to prepare for when the market opens,  the gorgeous latte art on each coffee cups and the warm comforting feeling it gives out during winter. Everything about coffee and cakes are beautiful! :)

Put together, a day after Aiman's birthday few weeks back, he mentioned about opening a cafe of his own and I just happened to have a location in my head with a very excited eager tone. Few hours later, we went to sleep that night DETERMINED, MOTIVATED and with a name for our then only-a-dream Cafe. 

Alia. Aiman. That makes up our company name - ALIAAIMAN VENTURES

First letter of our names combined - A and A. 
DOUBLE A CAFE 

Follow us on instagram at @doubleacafe to check out how we're progressing! 

Thursday 12 February 2015

3rd National Aspiration and Leadership Symposium 2015 (#NALS2015)

Last weekend was my first time speaking in front of 1,600 young student leaders at the National Aspiration & Leadership Symposium (NALS). When I first got invited to speak at the event, I was shocked. I thought maybe they were actually looking for a different Alia Ishak. I had a look at the list of speakers, YB KJ, Dato' Seri Hishamuddin, Saiful Bahari Baharom and....they definitely got the wrong Alia!

Jokes aside, I was impressed from up on stage seeing the number of young leaders who made time on Saturday to attend NALS. Their level of energy was just amazing! Reminded me of YCM and I guess that's probably what the speakers usually feel. Proud to see so many enthusiastic young blood ready to learn, feel motivated and get inspired to rule the world!
On the panel with me were Michael Teoh, Rahman Hussin and Rizmel. So you can see the demographic of the session - political leaders (Rahman and Rizmel) vs non political leaders (Michael and I). We had to share our thoughts on Credibility in Youth Leadership. Whilst Rahman's and Rizmel's were more skewed to the political goals, Michael and I touched more on the corporate and entrepreneur side. 

I shared my thoughts about the importance of having Integrity, especially when working in a Banking and Customer Service sector as well as my experiences as a student leader in UKEC and Chairman of YCM. I've always believed that you have to do what you love, only then would you wake up excited, eager and happy to go to work every single day. When you're happy, every negative becomes a positive. Additionally, to do more than just study whilst you're in University - be proactive, get involved and boost up that CV of yours. 

My experience working in London tells me that paper qualification for Asian students doesn't really mean much because everyone scores string of As these days! What can differentiate you is your extra curricular and how those experiences further build your character. These value-added characteristics are what (potential) employers look for in a person. 
All in all, I had a priceless experience speaking with the very energetic and inspiring line of youth leaders moderated by the ever so cheerful Danni Rais. I'm not a fan of politics, not a fan of even talking about politics (I will become that person who will question you whichever party you are for, just because haha!), but I have to give it to Rahman and Rizmel - they shared some very crucial points about doing something you are passionate about and going down to the ground and getting your hands dirty. 

I've learned that it doesn't matter who you work for, what is important is you have to always make a conscious effort and have the best of intentions in making sure you do things the right way and InsyaAllah you will go far - (slowly but) surely. Religion has taught me that Allah SWT will always know your truest intentions. Humans tend to always remember that one bad thing but have less capability in acknowledging the good and right deeds that you do. Just do good (deeds the right way) anyway. Allah SWT knows all your intentions :) 

Once again, thank you for the very kind invitation NALS! I had a blast with the 1,600 attendees :)))

Saturday 7 February 2015

Thursday 5 February 2015

Leadership - Just a random thought

I get inspired very very easily.

I love seeing people achieving success just by doing things the right way. I love seeing people doing work happily. I love seeing teamwork and cheerful team working together. How long it takes to achieve something doesn't matter (of course unless you have a deadline then that is no exception), what is important is doing things with the highest level of integrity and passion. No doubt we've seen people get away with doing things the not-really-right way just because - just because they may be related to someone. Just because they may hold a certain position somewhere....

...And nobody does anything to stop it. Sometimes not because you don't want to, but because you cannot do it alone. And well, you probably have better things to do than to battle and tell someone not to do something wrong. 

By something wrong, I mean doing something unfavourable intentionally.  

Over the weekend Aiman and I had a random conversation about leadership and we agreed that sometimes, people do things just to gain popularity and attention, without thinking of the implication to the wider group.

When heading  YCM previously, I did feel that if anything happens to YCM internally and externally, no matter whose fault it is, it will always be MY FAULT. Why? I was then the Chairman. I was the face of YCM and I am called a Chairman for a reason, and that includes the responsibility and accountability that I need to take if anything ever went wrong. I was taught a lot about leadership then. It is more than just a title, and if it is the title that you are chasing for, then don't. Believe me, staying home with people not knowing you because you are not active is much much much better than being a leader for designation sake and is not ready to take accountability and responsibility.

You take on the positions because you want to make good, happy, positive and  great changes or even share happiness through your high-integrity actions and you know you can. Not because you want people to know you. The more people know you, the more haters you'll have too btw. And if you are not careful with your actions, that so-you-think-is-glamorous position will bite you back hard.

 First rule of leadership - everything is your fault.

(Even if it was your inefficient staff or even the cat who stepped on that computer keyboard and accidentally sent a deal-breaker email).

If you can accept this, you are ready for the (popular) designation. It's a lot of hard work and very little hours of sleep mind you.

Sunday 1 February 2015

#aliaaiman: Our little baby

No, I am not pregnant.

As I am typing this, Aiman is fast asleep next to me and a little feverish after our final event, slightly less than 24 hours ago. Last night was yet another amazing reception that went very well, which also marked the end of our one-month wedding saga, we're one month old today Alhamdulillah! :)))

Happy one month sayang!
 
Ever since Aiman and I got married, we have been discussing crazy ideas to motivate and further improve ourselves - as a couple. Somehow rather, marriage has changed us both a little, if not drastically. If previously we both took on roles as Chairman of YCM because we had crazy ideas to contribute back to our Corporate Malaysia, we now feel the desire to do something, together.
 
What I love most about being married is because the both of you will start understanding the crazy side of each other. We both can be so crazy with each other that the crazy random ideas we have during our random chats sometimes translate into adventures that we want to explore - no matter how crazy (or sometimes impossible) it may sound.
 
One weekend last year, we had this random idea to start something together. Of course not knowing if it was possible or not la. We're no guru in new startups, we've only run YCM if anything and that probably gave us the confidence to kickstart something. After all, you never know if it's meant for you until you give opportunities a try. We actually started off talking about Plan A and before we knew it we were thinking of next steps and what is required in order to make this random idea work.
 
Of course soon after (probably right the next day) we forgot about it and was so caught up with wedding preparations.
 
But hey what do you know, in January and in between our 2 receptions, on my birthday and after many thoughts and months put into this
 
 
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we finally registered our little baby, our little company.
 
ALIAAIMAN VENTURES
 
May He continue to guide and protect both Aiman and I in exploring this crazy world.
Bismillahhirrahmanirrahim.