1: My Story

Transcript for Ep1:

I grew up from a small comfortable and warm family that has taught me a lot how to do things differently, and be independent which Is actually a good thing. I grew to have a strong mindset and through the years that mindset grew to great expectations and set the standard bar for my family. In our family, my parents believe in gender equality. Even though I have a big brother, I need to be able to do everything by myself. And I’m expected to be able to do the things that my brother can do and this is not common in Indonesia for girls. 

For example, when I was given a car, I am expected to take care of it, from the fuelling of the oil to looking after the engine, calling the garage to fix my car. I’m not allowed to ask anyone for help and have to solve the problems myself. I grew up to be a hands-on person and am able to handle many things on my own. 

Being in a muslim family, my parents had a arranged marriage. My grandparents both from maternal and paternal sides were best friends and they wanted to be even closer. Hence they paired their only child together. My Father was a Attorney General and my Mother was a mandarin teacher and she was also a famous baker in the era.

What makes me a little bit different, is that although I got raised from a strong religion minded family, they sent me to a school that has a different religion than mine. My parents are those kind of people who have high tolerance, they don't value people based on their race, culture,  and religion. As I grow, my parents are my role models. In my family, I was able to freely express my opinion, choose what path I’m going to take, what education to study. As long as I do not do harm to others, they will always be there for me, and always support things that I do and accompany me on any occasion.  

When I was in junior high school, I was sent to Australia to complete my studies there and I continue to further my degree in the Philippines.  

I came back to Indonesia after graduating from one of the business management universities in the Philippines and applied to one of the multinational companies, and got accepted to be positioned in the General Affair Department, which controls all the administration in the whole company, like the export and import documents, licensing. To be honest it was the most  complicated department. I learnt a great deal of administration work while working in this department.

It has always been my dream to work in the art scene since I was young and every day when I go to work, I would pass by one of Indonesian famous art galleries and I was attracted by the building architecture and I would daydream about working in this place. 

After working for 3 years,  I saw an opening for a job position in this art gallery and I tried my luck to apply and I got accepted a week later.  I was very excited, and I was offered the position of the secretary of marketing director and half a year later I got a promotion to being the  assistant to the sales and marketing manager. And four months later, I was promoted to the sales and marketing manager. My experience in working in the general affairs department for the MNC has helped me in my work in the art gallery. I was able to help the art gallery handle their administration work like importation of art items, exportation of paintings, and implementing marketing strategies. 

After 3 years working in the art gallery, I took my chance to apply to the US embassy to work at the chambers of commerce department to gain more knowledge about government and International bilateral trading policies. 

After 4 years of working in the embassy, I resigned and decided to stop working for others and join my husband and his friend to further develop their company PT. Ume Sembada. Our company offers general services, trading and outsourcing. After a few years, I left Jakarta with my 2 sons and went to Surabaya to take care of my company over there. Being in an unfamiliar place, I was feeling sad, and unmotivated to do anything. I did not like Surabaya, I felt that it was a boring place and I was miserable being stuck here. One day, a client of mine invited me to his club’s event. During the event, I met some interesting people who did not have the same mindset as me. They are fun loving and I can chat with them for a long time and we can talk about many things to them. Over at the club, I found new friends, new things to do and I was happy and motivated. I started to join them in more of their activities. Eventually I started my own club and I was the president for 5 years. We organized charity events to raise funds, art activities for members and health campaigns. Through my years with my club, I get to know of many art communities, and one of which is the International Watercolour Society. 

As I was interested in watercolours, I joined the International Watercolour Society as a member. After joining them for a year, they knew that my other hobby is to travel to different countries and to learn about their culture and history. They approached me to be their public relations to help promote Indonesian watercolour artists and connect them with the world. I get sponsored to travel around the world, help to make collaborations among countries’ artists. 

Through my experience of working with the artists both local and International, I realised that art and business can be combined. Many people think that making money from art is only through selling art pieces, but this is wrong. Art is not simple as we see, there are still many areas unexplored and the art business is being underestimated. So I decided to start my own business in organising art events. Recently, I successfully organised two water colour online summits.

For the first summit, we had 60 participants both local and overseas and after the event, many companies wrote in, asking to be my next event sponsors. 

For my 2nd summit, we had over 80 participants and this attracted a Canadian company and they approached me to become their International pigment tester and cultural ambassador. 

After all the journey I’ve been through and having my parents as my role models, the things I’ve learned from them is to evaluate and observe to set goals for myself and to be independent while always having a clear plan for the future and seeing myself as a Visionary Leader. 

If my father did not have an open mind, giving me an equal status like my brother, I would not be able to study overseas and gain a broader perspective in life. 

But out of all, what affected me the most is how I’ve been surrounded by a good family that has always been my biggest support system. From joining the charity club to having my own business and organising art events, I could not have done it without my family support.

Through the ups and downs in my life, I learnt that you must learn to face the problem yourself, you don't have to wait for others to help in order to change your situation. 

I hope my story will inspire others to value people in life by treating them equally, and have a high tolerance while also having a clear mind for things ahead and anything is possible as long as you work towards it. 

You can connect with me through my facebook, Instagram and Linkedin and my links will be in the show notes. 

I look forward to seeing you in my next episode where I will be sharing with you more stories and ways to realize your full potential.