The first time Lucreatia Hoffman set foot on a plane was as a flight attendant. The 21-year-old Beacon Valley resident said that four months after starting a career as an Emirates flight attendant, she still feels like she is walking in a dream.
“I still feel like it’s a dream because I did not think I was going to even get the invitation,” she said.
Long road to the sky
The road to becoming an Emirates cabin crew member was not smooth for the former Oval North learner, but it began when she was 10 years old, when an aftercare outing was a visit to the airport.
Hoffman (21) said she saw the Emirates flight attendants traversing the airport and was mesmerised.
“I was fascinated by the way they looked, their professionalism, the way they walked. They had pride in the uniform they were wearing for the company, and since that day, I could never get it out of my mind that I wanted to wear that uniform,” said Hoffman.
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This aspiration was forgotten though as she became older and life knocked her down. During her tumultuous final years of high school, a series of losses caused her to lose her focus and her way.
The first loss was that of her father who succumbed to cancer. He passed away on 12 December 2021, just before she received her grade 11 results. A month later, in January 2022 as she began matric, her grandfather also died.
“Both of my father figures in my life weren’t there anymore, so my life felt like it was basically useless,” she said.
Grief stricken
The grief led to a dark period where she struggled with drinking and smoking, and even contemplated self-harm.
“I started drinking a lot, smoking and stuff but luckily I had my grandma and my mom and, they were extremely strict, so they got me on the right path again, but it still felt like my life was just falling apart. And then one day I was just extremely emotional when I was alone at home,” Hoffman said.
Depressing thoughts invaded her mind and Hoffman picked up a lighter and seriously considered burning herself.
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“I just felt like I should do something about just hurting. I didn’t have my father figures and what was going through my mind was ‘who’s going to walk me down the aisle one day?’ Because I wanted my dad and my grandpa to walk me down the aisle, but I didn’t have either one of them, and things like that kept going through my mind.
“I just wanted to finish the hurt. I just wanted to take a lighter and burn myself. That’s what I thought but I just started praying and instead I threw the lighter in the bin.”
Recovery
Hoffman eventually told her mother about what happened and her mother connected her with a reverend who counselled her. After that, she slowly picked herself up again.
“She helped me through that phase of my life, and then I never went back there again but I still kind of felt alone. Everything just slowly but surely came back together, but it actually officially came together when I landed the job at Emirates. Then everything felt right.”
Hoffman had been working at her previous job when her colleague said something that reminded her of her childhood dream.
“I was at my old job and one of the people that work there told me that I look like I could fit very well as an air hostess,” Hoffman said.
She immediately thought of Emirates and checked the company out online. Fortuitously, the airline was advertising its open day in Cape Town just as Hoffman looked them up.
Path ordained
“I always told myself, I’ll never get in there because the courses are extremely expensive but I just applied, just to see how it was going to work out, not with the intention that I was going to get in,” Hoffman said.
Throughout the vigorous vetting process, Hoffman battled the overwhelming thought that she did not deserve the job and that she would not fit in. Her mother and grandmother however kept encouraging her and she persevered.
“I spoke to the recruiter. I told her I didn’t feel like I belong there, because everybody I spoke to there had degrees, they had certificates and they were used to flying and I just felt like I wasn’t supposed to be there. But she told me, ‘Look, here you are. If you are here today, you are meant to be here. Whatever happens after this is what God’s giving you. God is giving you this opportunity, so take it with both hands and see where it gets you at the end of the day.”
Despite Hoffman’s fears, her application was successful and Emirates gave her all expenses paid training.
“I didn’t have to give out one cent of my own money. The only money that I gave out is for me to eat,” Hoffman said.
Globe trotter
Now she flies all over the world and in the four months that she has been working for Emirates, she has visited places like Egypt, China, the Philippines, England and Singapore, where she has had layovers. She’s been to dozens of other places all over the world but hasn’t had the chance to explore them because the trips were in and outs.
“I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity because, wow, to be able to travel the world, see everything, meet different people, it’s beautiful, absolutely beautiful. People say that it’s extremely stressful and that it is basically waitressing in the sky, but it’s more than that. I love serving people, I love talking and interacting with people, so I love the job.”
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