Zouk's marketing manager and poster girl Tracy Phillips is leaving her job this Thursday after 10 1/2 years to pursue her interests.

The 31-year-old, who is a familiar face in the local clubbing scene, will be taking time off to take up a course in apparel merchandising at the Textile and Fashion Industry Training Centre in Leng Kee Road next month.

She will also be working as a freelance creative consultant in the areas of music, fashion and design.

The former business student from Nanyang Polytechnic tells Life!: 'It has been a fruitful decade at Zouk but I feel that it's time for a change in my lifestyle.' She had tendered her resignation in January.

Her job involves advertising and promotions as well as coming up with ideas to make sure the club, which celebrated its 18th anniversary this month, remains vibrant.

She says: 'People assume that when you work at a club, you party most of the time.

'In reality, I start work at 10.30am from Mondays to Fridays, clocking between 12 and 15 hours a day.'

The former St Joseph's Convent student joined the club in September 1998 as a marketing assistant after a year's stint as a production assistant in a local film production company.

'I was a regular partygoer at Zouk before I joined the club,' she says. 'What drew me to the job was the club's music, people and culture.'

In 2000, the Zoukette was promoted to assistant marketing manager and marketing manager a year later.

Then 23 years old, she also took care of the nightspot's public relations.

Although partygoers say she has been instrumental in many of the club's events, especially the seven-year-old Flea & Easy flea market held there once every three months, she insists 'Zouk's success has all along been a team effort'.

Her boss and Zouk's founder Lincoln Cheng, 61, tells Life! the management has already planned for her departure.

'Tracy has certainly contributed immensely to the success of the club and she will be sorely missed,' he says.

Zouk's assistant marketing manager, Ms Mari Muramoto, 28, will lead the marketing team from Friday.

Before joining Zouk a year ago, she had worked for fashion label Diesel in Tokyo for three years.

After spending a third of her life at Zouk, will Ms Phillips miss it?

She says: 'I will definitely miss the people whom I have worked with over the years. I practically grew up in Zouk and they are like my family.

'But I am moving on for new challenges.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times.