Mile High

With her side-shaved head and eclectic dress sense, Taneesha might be the most unconventional flight attendant that we’ve ever met. We caught her the day before she was about to return to her hometown in London, and she laments that she sometimes doesn’t have enough time to fully explore a country before moving on to the next destination. Nonetheless, it’s a job that lets her experience different lifestyles and cultures, and broadens her views on the world and the way people live in it, she says. Taneesha has a strict dress code at work, but she tries to personalise her uniform by tailoring it to fit her perfectly, and by making sure she is well-groomed. “I make sure my makeup looks natural, dewy and fresh, and finally, a good set of clean cuticles and manicured nails always helps. I feel that no matter what you’re wearing, whether it’s a work uniform or a party dress, you should always add a bit of your personality to it.” Taneesha often has to make people happy at work, but it goes beyond that: she has a “great and genuine love for teeth and smiles”, and she’s going to continue her post-graduate studies to become a dentist. No matter what she does, Taneesha believes in staying true to herself and who she is as a person. “Don’t let the work environment or the colleagues around you change the person you are,” she says. “I’ve learnt that’s it okay to be myself at work; people are more drawn to the true you than the person you think you should be. Fact!” She counts her mother as her role model, and also her best friend, and perhaps that’s where she’s learnt to be selfless in life. “I believe that when things are going well in your life, you should always be there for other people that are maybe not as content as yourself.” Beyond that, her travels have taught her several things to live by. ”Never refuse an invitation, never resist the unfamiliar, never cease to be polite, and never outstay your welcome.”