Management

Maya van der Poel was born in the Cape Winelands and finished her schooling to Grade 12 at Paarl Girls High. She went on to complete a diploma in Hospitality Management and then went off to “experience the world.” She ended in Scotland where she worked with the renowned chef and hotelier Pete Gottgens... and it was there that she “fell in love with the Hospitality industry.” She returned to South Africa in 2007, began working for Village & Life and has “not looked back since.”

Debbie matriculated from St John’s Diocesan School for Girls in Pietermaritzburg. After school she obtained her BComm Degree from the University of Port Elizabeth. She started working in Cape Town in 1997 in the finance field and after 3 years worked independently as a freelance accountant for 7 years. Debbie started at Village & Life in January 2009 as the accountant for Mouille Point & De Waterkant Villages. She lives in Camps Bay and is an abstract oil painter and she plays a couple of musical instruments, her favourite being the bongo drum.

Valencia grew up in the heart of Cape Town and matriculated at Heideveld Senior Secondary School. After a short computer course she met her husband and moved to Heidelberg where she started her career in the tourism industry. Before joining Village & Life she worked intensively in F&B and reception. She is an outdoor person and loves spending time with her children.

Alastair is originally from Natal and, after matriculating, went on to complete a three-year Higher Diploma in Hospitality Management in Cape Town. His experience includes a stint with a hotel group in Natal, operating his own catering-related business, working in his family's boutique hotel and also running the ever-popular Theo’s restaurant in Mouille Point. Alastair comes from a family of hoteliers going all the way back to his great-grand parents. He has been with Village & Life for a year and “loves working with people.”