 For Mayâs entry of âMeet the Staffâ, we will be introducing Vendy Rinaldy Yusuf, one of our long term restaurant and bar staff. If you have stayed with us before, you will probably know him as the chatty bartender who loves mixing cocktails, football, and showing off his magic skills and card tricks.
Vendy was born in February 1989 in the city of Tomohon, the capital of the Minahasa highland region, and known as the city of flowers due to its world famous annual flower festival. Growing up in the highlands, Vendy loves nature and the great outdoors, however working in tourism was never on his agenda while growing up. snor
His career in tourism began with a stint at âThe Ritzy Hotelâ in Manado, where he worked as a waiter in the restaurant and delivering room service to guest rooms. It was in 2009 that he saw an opening for Siladen Resort & Spa, and decided that working in a reputable resort was the best way to establish a career in hospitality. He quickly impressed everyone with his thirst for knowledge and his passion for delivering the best possible dining experience to the guests.
The rest is history, and Vendy has been an important part of the team for ten years now. He loves to experiment with making new cocktails, and because he loves chatting to new people and hearing their stories, his English skills are among the best of all the staff at Siladen.
Since joining Siladen Resort & Spa, Vendy has discovered that he enjoys diving and tries to join the dive boats or snorkel off the jetty whenever he gets the chance. He enjoys diving in Bunaken Marine Park because of the exceptionally high levels of marine biodiversity, and he can often be found flicking through the critter identification books that can be found in the bar â trying to identify what he has seen.
Outside of his working hours, Vendy can often be spotted running around the resort or kampung with his camera. He is a passionate photographer, and will often make the extra effort to wake up earlier than needed to capture a beautiful sunrise or spend an evening on the beach to get the perfect image of the night sky. His passion for photography began with a 2.3 megapixel camera phone, but even with such basic equipment he could capture beautiful shots.
Once he started showing off his artwork to friends and family, he gained their support to peruse this exciting (but expensive) hobby. After a few years of saving, he saved up enough to buy a DSLR camera so he could further explore his passion and capture more beautiful images than ever before. We are so impressed with his work, we wanted to feature it on our website. You can find Vendyâs personal image gallery here.
Another of Vendyâs passions is football, and he could somewhat be described as a fanatic for the Italian Serie A team, AS Roma. As he spends a lot of time working in the bar, he has a few opportunities to watch the matches, and as we welcome many Italian guests to Siladen, he always has people to talk to about his favourite team.
 As Vendy is from Tomohon, he will always go home on his days off from work, where he is reunited with his wife, Helen, and his young son, Joachim. Helen also worked with us for many years, but decided to leave when she learnt she was having their first child.
Once at home, Vendy prefers to relax with his family â enjoying the cooler climate of the Minahasa highland region while playing with Joachim. Visiting home also gives him the perfect opportunity to visit extended family and friends, and of course, he doesnât go anywhere without his camera.
For me, Siladen is my second home. Everyone on the island are so kind to me, and as a workplace, Siladen Resort is a great place for me to grow, learn new things, and make new friends from all over the world.
Thank you for trusting me and giving me the chances to grow over these past ten wonderful years.
Vendy Rinaldy Yusuf
