Whether pursuing her studies in the United Kingdom, working and living in Japan, or now serving as a culinary instructor in her hometown, Eugénia Florinda Leão, a graduate of UTM, has consistently upheld one of the core values instilled by her alma mater: serving as a tourism ambassador for Macao and promoting the city’s diverse gastronomic culture and distinctive charm
Eugénia graduated from IFT, the predecessor of UTM, with a diploma in Tourism Management. She later completed her bachelor's degree at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, followed by a master’s degree in Tourism Marketing from the University of Surrey.
Upon returning to Macao, she joined the Marketing Department of the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO), where she focused on developing the Japanese market, an area in which she had already built strong foundations during her time at UTM when she studied Japanese and interned at a travel agency in the Japanese prefecture of Miyazaki.
She then relocated to Japan, where she spent nearly a decade living and working. During this time, she founded a private kitchen and launched cooking classes to introduce Macanese and traditional local dishes to Japanese audiences. Her efforts garnered widespread media attention, including appearances on NHK’s Macanese cuisine cooking TV programmes and interviews with various media outlets, helping to raise Macao’s culinary profile on the international stage.
After returning to the city, Eugénia worked in various roles across local hotels and integrated resorts, with a focus on F&B training. In recent years, she has shifted her focus to building her own culinary career, offering cooking workshops on Macanese, Japanese, and Southeast Asian cuisines for both residents and tourists. Her Portuguese egg tart classes—conducted in Cantonese, Mandarin, English, or Japanese—have attracted learners from Macao, mainland China, the United States, Japan, and beyond. She also actively promotes local cuisine as Eugénia’s Kitchen on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Xiaohongshu, expanding her reach to a wider digital audience.
“Macao was named a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy and has been actively developing its ‘gastronomy + tourism’ strategy. Thus, through classes on traditional local recipes such as Portuguese egg tarts and Macanese cuisine, I hope to help both residents and visitors better understand and appreciate the city’s culinary heritage,” she said.
This sense of mission, she said, is deeply rooted in her academic journey at UTM. “We received extensive training in tourism-related subjects, which naturally instilled a sense of responsibility—to become ambassadors for Macao,” she recalled. “As someone born and raised in Macao, I feel an even greater duty to preserve and pass on our unique culinary traditions.”
Contributing to the growth of alma mater
Eugénia has remained closely connected with UTM since graduation. This April, she participated in a lecture series of the Shunde Collaboration Center of the Tourism Education and Training Base for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area—co-organised by UTM and Shunde Polytechnic University—where she shared insights on the history and evolution of Macanese cuisine, and the “gastronomy + tourism” development.
“Every time I return to UTM, it feels like coming home,” she said. “I hope I can continue contributing to the growth of the University.”
She also welcomes UTM’s rapid transformation. Compared to her student days, the University now offers a broader range of degree programmes, catering to the increasingly diverse needs of Macao’s evolving industries. “Back then, there was no Culinary Arts Management programme—if there had been, I would have definitely enrolled,” she remarked. “Students today are fortunate to have so many more options and opportunities.”
Eugénia encourages UTM students and young professionals to keep learning, stay passionate, and set clear, achievable goals. “The most important thing is to be happy doing what you love. When you’re truly passionate about something, you’ll naturally give it your all. That’s how I feel about cooking,” she added.