One could say that Sina Lorn has been shaping her destiny and charting a path for herself ever since she was a child. Growing up in a small village in rural Cambodia, everyday involved a four-kilometre bike ride to school at the crack of dawn when it was still dark. There were no streetlights to guide her on the journey and the torrential downpours of rain during the wet season only added to her woes.
Looking back at her childhood, Sina considers it a trying and valuable character-building part of her early life. She grew up to be incredibly independent and mature because she also spent six months every year taking care of her parents’ home while they went away for work.
“My family had expected me to forego my higher education and support them in earning a living. But inadvertently, I broke social norms and conventions when I moved away to Siem Reap for university instead,” says Sina who became the first woman her family to attend and graduate from university, and the only girl from her village to graduate high school during that time.
Flashforward to the present, Sina currently serves as the Assistant Country Manager for Cambodia and has over 15 years of experience working in the travel industry, the last 13 of which she has spent continuously growing her career at Discova.
