AirAsia: Creating unity through passion

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Yvonne (front) and her AirAsia family on board a flight.

KUCHING: Family – that’s what Yvonne Lady Diana John Brian Anthony calls her more than 16,500 colleagues at AirAsia — also known as AirAsia Allstars.

This 32-year-old Iban woman from Bintulu forms part of AirAsia’s Corporate Culture team, where she helps knit AirAsia’s corporate culture among colleagues from 38 nationalities.

She grew up in the state but moved to Kuala Lumpur with her family after completing her secondary school education.

Yvonne said she learned since young that embracing what the diverse races had to offer kept Malaysians united.

When she joined the low-cost carrier in 2008, she was determined to use her position in the Corporate Culture Department to bring people closer together.

Fostering camaraderie among the staff was easy for the extrovert Yvonne as she loves the outdoors, running marathons, ultra trail racing, climbing mountains, mountain racing, diving, and travelling.

She now interacts with nearly 7,000 Malaysian AirAsia Allstars via, among others, station briefings, sports, and staff-engagement events.

“Outdoor activities give participants something that a classroom or people (HR) training can’t give. Participants learn how to trust completely, become aware of the importance of safety, team work, and have greater conscious of others’ needs and conditions,” she said.

In return, she added, unity prevailed.

“We ensure that all events be represented by our other airlines throughout the region, such as Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Japan, and India. Through these activities, they understand AirAsia’s corporate culture, which is ‘All for One, and One for All’.”

Yvonne added that all Allstars were encouraged to give back to the community where they are located.

Among some of the recent projects include the Mount Papandayan ‘Tough Enough to Wear Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness’ hike in Indonesia, where 86 Allstars participated.

Each climber, besides scaling the mountain, donated five books for the school library and contributed to the purchase of school bags and stationeries for the underprivileged children there.

“The spirit of unity gives one a sense of belonging and high self-esteem. Those who hesitated before to take charge now organise their own events among their local communities.

“My job gives me a lot of satisfaction because I am able to see all the Allstars come into the company as individuals but grew into the AirAsia family.”

The best example of Yvonne’s fruits of labour is the recent Kuching City Day Parade. Together with the Kuching station team, about 70 Allstars from Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia built a float, practised dancing, learned each other’s culture, and donned traditional costumes of the various nations for the parade.

It took them three weeks to get the coordination right, and their efforts paid off when they came in second for costumes, and consolation prize for the float.

“It doesn’t matter where you are from or what you do, we can all work together by accepting the differences and find ways to make things work.

“AirAsia’s participation in the event truly keeps up to the slogan of the parade – ‘Celebrating People’. In AirAsia, we celebrate our unity through our diversity.

“The parade is not just about traditional costumes from all regions and the fancy float. It is about us as one family, side by side — from corporate staff to guest service assistants and officers, cabin crews, pilots, ramp agents, aircraft engineers, and security.”