Part of our ongoing effort to recognize employees, their work, and how they support Harvard’s mission.
If you ask Flora Ng of Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) what she enjoys most about her job, you’ll get a quick and firm response: helping students. Openly embracing this role of supporting the Harvard community, and helping fulfill the broader mission of HUDS, has helped Flora excel in her job and become an asset to the University.
On any given day you’ll find Flora at the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) Café restocking food items, helping customers, making sure the service is fast and professional, and always with a big smile on her face. She arrived from southern China nearly a decade ago to join family members already here in the United States. She’s worked at the University for about a year but before that, Flora worked in food services at a school in Newton.
Since her time began at Harvard, Flora has trained and studied to advance her skills and take on greater responsibility. Last summer, HUDS invited employees, who want to learn more culinary skills, to join a program in which they take classes in the morning and then work at a dining location in a culinary position later in the day. Flora has always had a love of cooking and was excited to be able to apply her skills in a new environment. The program also helped her move towards a role that she is even more excited about. “The classes helped my work and it was fun. But the classes also helped at home because my kids, they’ve grown up in the United States and they love American food,” Flora says with a smile. The class also helps HUDS employees achieve their ServeSafe certification which teaches food safety practices and is essential for food preparers and servers.
Having grown up in China, Flora’s native language is Cantonese. “Sometimes I’m nervous speaking because I have an accent. But the Bridge has been very helpful.” Through the Harvard Bridge Program, where she’s currently enrolled in language classes, she’s been able to advance her communication skills. The Bridge offers a wide-variety of language and career development courses which University employees are highly encouraged to take advantage of.
“A pleasure to work with,” is how Catering Event Manager Mackenzie Dorwart describes Flora. “Every day she comes to work with a can-do attitude, is extremely positive, and wants to learn. As a manager, you really can’t ask for more than that.”