In our weekly series of ‘Ladies Day’ features, we are celebrating the incredible women who work with us at Emperor Divers.
We are sharing their stories and telling you more about them, their lives and the work they do. Some may be familiar faces from our boats and dive centres, a familiar voice or name from our reservations team or perhaps someone from ‘behind the scenes’.
This week we speak to a lady whose career has seen her fall under all three of those categories, Nicole Veltman.
Nicole (or Nic to everyone at Emperor) has excelled in roles as a dive guide, cruise director, sales manager and is now in charge of our wonderful reservations team.
The wide range of positions she has held give her a fantastic knowledge of the diving industry and make her perfect to oversee the smooth running of our bookings and customer service.
“I think the more roles you have experienced in any company, you get a great understanding of each of the wheels turning the machine,” Nic explains.
“Knowing what people like and do not like while being onboard is a great advantage when talking to them.
“I think the hardest of being the reservations manager is when people are not happy with their experience – wherever they are in their journey with us.
“But I do find we try our utmost best to turn it around and have people come back again with a smile.”
It was a case of love at first sight with diving that first set Nic on her way to a career in the industry.
“I was traveling in Thailand when I did my Open Water and Advanced courses,” she says.
“Even though I had quite some trouble equalizing, I knew I had found my passion. This is what I wanted to do for a living.
“I got to see the weirdest creatures, meet new people, dive amazing places and see beautiful sunsets every day.
“However, no matter how much I loved meeting new people, there came a time to put some roots down in one place. To find my tribe some might say!
“We have an amazing team, all-round from the people that scrub the decks to the people running the company. People care for each other and feel proud to be part of the Emperor Divers team.”
Having performed so many different roles, and seen so much within the industry, Nic is a great person to ask for diving tips. And her answer links very nicely with her most memorable liveaboard experience.
Her advice? – “Always be ready for the unexpected no matter how many dives you have done. No matter what you have seen or how often, nature will always surprise when you least expect it.”
And her best memory? – “The very first time I met a whaleshark under water.
“I was teaching an Advanced course student and a shadow appeared in my peripheral vision. Thinking it was my student I turned my head.
“I did see my student looking at me and signing ok. But right next to him was a huge blob so I immediately signed to look next to him. I don’t know who was more excited to see this baby whaleshark of about five metres, him or me.
“Even after being lucky enough to see many more since, this experience still brings a massive smile to my face.”
As for her future plans, well they are quite simple.
“Dive more!”
Nic, we couldn’t agree more.