THANK YOU… LIA ENRIQUEZ, AAA’s BAZAAR QUEEN
By Monette Quiogue
Lia and I started our first term in the board together. She was my BOT partner in crime, in kwento and in our committee work. And was my regular seatmate during our face-to-face board meetings.
After surviving our newbie years on the board, we eventually “grew up”. Lia held the position of Treasurer of the board for several years, a role where her organizational skills, attention to detail, grace under pressure truly came in handy.
And though she was an excellent and efficient treasurer, Lia is best known for leading the Bazaar Committee for several years. After finishing my duties as Jubilarians Committee chairperson, I would always volunteer to help her with the bazaar and I saw first hand what an amazing job she did. She patiently dealt with various personalities—from the office staff to the hotel staff to the vendors. She was always so cool and calm, and knew just when to inject some much-needed sense of authority. Those all-nighters at Dusit during bazaar set-ups were exhausting but also, fun. Yes there were stressful moments, like when we were told that the guy who had the key to the supply cabinet where the tapes for the rugs were kept would not be in until 6am or when certain vendors would not follow the 5-foot height limit for their booths. Lia handled all this with just the right blend of coolness and firmness. She and I would often play “good cop, bad cop” (can you guess who was who?) complete with our 5-foot long sticks that we wielded as we went to every booth to check if they were crossing the lines (literally) of our masking tape booth borders. And, though she tried every year to turn down the Bazaar Committee, the board never let her.
Lia and I both completed our last term in 2022. And though she’s no longer part of the Board of Trustees, she just couldn’t completely walk away from her “baby” and is still helping the bazaar committee, and yes I’m still there with her.