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Girls & Tech Book Launch
“I think I have picked the wrong subject (in university), I’m not good with IT.” I’ve heard this complaint a lot of time, often from girls. This is not about the subject, it’s all about mindset. We all know that IT industry is overwhelmingly filled with men. When girls see that, they immediately label IT as ‘made for men’ and difficult. Some of the girls never wanted to have anything to do with technology because of this perspective. I spend my teenage years knowing what I wanted to do: building websites. This idea came naturally after spending most of my time interacting with people on the internet and see how…
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A New Beginning: From Washington DC to New York City
People often go to India or Nepal for spiritual search. But to me, I had my spiritual journey in the United States of America. I was invited by US State Department as one of 28 delegates from 28 countries (Argentina, Bangladesh, Benin, Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, Egypt, France, Ghana, Greece, Honduras, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Kuwait, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, Pakistan, the Palestinian Territories, Paraguay, Philippines, Portugal, South Sudan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, and Uzbekistan) to participate in IVLP (International Visitor Leadership Program), with a focus in entrepreneurship. We call the program, ‘A New Beginning 2013’ #ANB13 I’ve been invited to similar program before, so I have guessed a bit of…
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Unleashing Women Power with Technology
Just like Michelangelo who already can see ‘an angel’ inside a marble stone that later we know as statue of ‘David’, I also can see how women potential can sparks with technology. Women have highly potential traits like the ability to multitask; able to use time effectively, they have more empathy, they will think about the community wellbeing first before themselves. All the qualities that will be more powerful when combined with technology. I wasn’t born knowing that someday I will be a web developer and co-found tech startups. But gradually I build the love of using technology from a very early age. My dad bought me my first laptop…
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Things to do Before You Turn 30
I’m inspired by this post by Dimas about what you should do before 30. By reading the title of this post alone, you should know a little bit about my age :)) So here we go, my version of what you should do before 30: Backpack out of the country My first time backpacking was when I turn 24. Me and my best girls pack our bag and went to Kuala Lumpur, Phuket, Bangkok and Singapore. I brought a real backpack, which I regret later because it was too heavy. I remember we must eat cheap sandwiches for breakfast because we splurge on seafood dinner the night before :)) My…
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From the First ASEAN Youth Entrepreneurs Seminar & Exposition Brunei
This is my second time visiting Brunei. The last time was to speak at Think Big Innovate 2012. And few days ago I’m back to Brunei to speak about entrepreneurship to ASEAN young entrepreneurs on the first ASEAN Youth Entrepreneurs Seminar and Exposition. I thought this time I’m going to focus on one message: about being perfect. I always say that I’m an imperfectionist. I start small and quick, far from perfect, because I believe perfection is a journey. So, this ‘lean startup’ spirit is the one that I want to spread in the forum. Speaking with me was Muzamir Mustafa and Azura Liyana, both entrepreneurs from Malaysia. From the…
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Why Teachers must Write
Saya merasa di Indonesia, menulis belum mendapat ruang yang cukup di sekolah. Padahal saat ini semua dilakukan dengan menulis. Mulai dari menulis email, menulis pesan via whatsapp/bbm, ngetwit sampai update status. Semua membutuhkan keahlian menulis. Jika tidak biasa menulis, bisa-bisa yang ditulis akan menimbulkan kebingungan dan salah kaprah banyak orang, pesan dalam tulisan tidak akan sampai dengan baik. Belajar menulis bukan soal menulisnya itu sendiri, tapi belajar menganalisa, belajar berpikir, belajar berkomunikasi secara efektif. Saya percaya salah satu orang yang harus jago nulis adalah guru, terutama guru di sekolah, dalam berbagai mata pelajaran. Kenapa? Karena guru lah yang berhadapan dengan murid setiap harinya. Guru berpeluang membuat murid mempunyai kebiasaan menulis…
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Kartini Next Generation Award 2013: Inspiring Women in ICT
It’s an honor for me to receive the Kartini Next Generation 2013 Special Award – Inspiring Woman in ICT by Ministry of Communications and Information Technology Republic of Indonesia with other inspiring women in several sectors like education, entrepreneurship, social community and creative media. My love to technology started when my dad bought me my first laptop when I was 13 years old. I started to get connected to internet, find new friends all over the world, curious on how to make a website, starting my first web consultant company in highschool with the name ‘Kalong design’ :)) Creating websites with Geocities for my teachers. Not many people knows, because…
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The Spirit of Kartini: Make Your Dreams Come True
“I have longed to make the acquaintance of a “modern girl,” that proud, independent girl who has all my sympathy! She who, happy and self-reliant, lightly and alertly steps on her way through life, full of enthusiasm and warm feeling; working not only for her own well-being and happiness, but for the greater good of humanity as a whole.” — Kartini, 1899 That was the first mail Kartini sent to Stella more than 100 years ago. This young Javanese Princess already can mention how ‘modern girl’ in her vision, should be: happy, self-reliant, full of enthusiasm and working not only for herself but also for her community. Think about other…
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The Tale of Productivity
I was in a movie when @AlexisBrille chat me, showing her new blog, new videos, new tutorials, and I remember my own blog. The last time I change the theme was a year ago and I think it’s time for a little bit of ‘redecoration’. So, even though I was enjoying the movie, at the back of my mind, I can’t wait to go home. I’ve been wanting to do a single column blog and I’ve found a suitable Theme for that. I tweak a little bit, making my new logo, choosing slim web font as I like, fix menus, widgets and all the details. And I’m done. It is…
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The Power of Being Quiet
On my Discover Bahrain trip, I was one of 20 delegates from 20 different countries around the world. So it was a very dynamic group. As soon as we met as a group, it is clear that I become more quiet. In contrary to my usually cheerful & chatty blog posts and tweets, it has been my nature to be more quiet as soon as the group is growing more than 5 people. I prefer observing with my own thoughts. Dr Hala, one of Discover Bahrain committee said, “Indonesians are quiet!” – and it got me thinking. At first, I thought, Indonesian are more quiet because they think they can’t…
