Next Step Connections - Feature story
Abiodun "Abi" W. , 23 years old from Nigeria has been living five years in the United States, studying at Alabama A&M University. She holds a B.S in Marketing and associate degree in Culinary Arts and is now doing her MBA.
Abi came to Shanghai with Next Step Connections to do a three-month internship in May 2009. Her long-term goal is to open her own cafe/bakery in the United States. Next Step Connections placed Abiodun with successful serial restaurateur Kelley Lee.
" Everything was well organized by Next Step Connections: parties, trips, housing. It was really useful as I could just focus on my project." Abi
Valentina from Next Step Connections and Abi at the newly-opened Boxing Cat Brewery Cafe in Shanghai.
"I like Shanghai a lot. It's a nice place to live and I would love to come back. At first, I have been working on the websites of a Mexican restaurant and another Italian Restaurant owned by my boss here in Shanghai. But most important I have participated in the opening of the Boxing Cat Brewery, the latest project of Kelley. I have learned about everything: from management to human ressources to customer service and I am now helping to find a new location for a new project." Abi
Abi and the Boxing Cat Brewery's staff.
" Everyone has been very nice to me.Sometimes it was difficult to communicate because of the language, but all of them are my friends, it's my family. I really want to come back. It was my first experience in a restaurant/bar. I realized there is so much more work to do than I thought, but I really love it, I am meeting people, I always have something to do, I extended my set of skills."
" I am now going back to the US and plan to finish my MBA, continue my culinary education and continue the steps in opening my own cafe and bakery. ' Abi, June 2009
