Around June 2010 I had casual discussion with Rene Soehardono and friends in Kemang. A small group discussion which gives great impact for myself. I frequently heard and read about passion, but when someone directly asked me, “What’s your passion?” At that time I still don’t have the answer… Yet. Rene said it’s ok, coz it took 9 years for himself to find his passion.
Passion is not what we’re good at, but what we enjoy the most. It’s a strong or extravagant fondness, enthusiasm, or desire for anything. To find our passion, Rene challenged all of us with #mission21: to do or try or see 1 new thing every day, and tell honestly how we feel about it. We must do it continuously in 21 days, and if we ever skip even just 1 day, we have to do it over again.
I started to write down on daily basis: trying new food, go to new places, meet new people, etc. After a review, I found out… What I enjoy the most among those things is: networking, both online & offline. I love making new friends, gathering people, and connecting them one to another. Ollie said, I should be an EO. Not wrong, coz my blogger fellows used to call me “Miss EO” back in 2002. But beyond that, I have a deep interest in social media as medium of networking and community-building. And I finally realized… That’s it, that’s my passion!
The passion that brought me to be the founder of Blogbugs Community, an Indonesian bloggers community, on May 2002. With Udhien as co-founder, my first intention making the mailing list was just to gather my fellow bloggers that I haven’t met in real life. From the first gathering at Kemang Festival on June 2002, we frequently meet at least once a week, bring new friends, and the community grew bigger than I ever expected. We even made our own free magazine, with Raditya Dika as one of the contributors. At that time, the most frequent question I often heard was: “What’s blog?” “What’s the difference between blog and blogbugs?” The questions that I don’t hear anymore because now everybody knows what blog is, and blogbugs has become a history.
The same passion also made me became one of the initiators of #StartupLokal Community. I remember one night in April 2010, my hubby Natali discussed with me about having regular gathering for people in IT industry especially startups. The trigger was when he accidently met his geeky friends several weeks before in FX. I said just do it, then we started broadcast it via twitter in less than a week. We thought there would be teens of friends coming, but surprisingly there were 33 people came. That was officially #StartupLokal v1, and up to now we consistently held #StartupLokal monthly meetup with hundreds of attendances. Everytime I hear someone asking: “What’s startup?” “What’s the difference with startuplokal?” I felt like dejavu. I believe in 3-5 years from now, I wouldn’t hear that question anymore because at that time everybody can even have their own startup, and #StartupLokal will be one of the most influential organizations for IT industry.
[caption id=“attachment_527” align=“alignnone” width=“270” caption=“#StartupLokal - Indonesia’s Local Startups Community”]
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And now… starting 1st March 2011, that passion has made me be appointed as the Community Manager of Fimela, Indonesian online fashion & lifestyle magazine. When Kevin Mintaraga sounded this startup last November over a dinner, I put a big interest in it. Why? The target market is so me! ^.^ Furthermore, it’s a collaboration of Octovate –the pioneer of word of mouth in Indonesia and Bu Dian Muljadi – a pioneer of lifestyle media who successfully brought Cosmopolitan & Harpers Bazaar to Indonesia. It becomes a perfect combination for niche target market: sophisticated womenetizen (women + netizen).
[caption id=“attachment_526” align=“alignnone” width=“300” caption=“Myself with Bu Dian Muljadi & Ben Soebiakto at Fimela Soft Launch Party, December 3rd 2010”]
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Last month Kevin BBM me asking whether I’m interested to be Community Manager of Fimela. I said let’s explore, and he gave my number to Ben Soebiakto, the man behind Octovate. Then I met Ben at Starbucks FX and we had a fruitful conversation that evening. When Ben asked whether I’m looking for a job, I said no, because I’m financially secure and I can fulfill my self-actualization very well. But because I love networking & community-building and I have interest in Fimela since its embryo, I see no reason to refuse this challenge.
At the same time I got another offer to be Public Relations Manager in the company that my hubby will be joining in next month. The owner persistently asked me via twitter, BBM, SMS, and direct phone call. He offered promising remuneration with very flexible working hours. I said I’m joining Fimela and it’s not about the money. It’s about following my passion and reaching my goal to shape a solid, positive & supportive ecosystem in Indonesia digital community. He finally can understand my decision =)
I know some of my startup fellows probably will be questioning my transition from entrepreneur to be an employee; they might think it’s a setback. But I don’t see it that way. My online boutique HamilCantik is taken care very well by my staff, and Vica will be entering school this midyear so I will have more spare time. During my spare time, I always stay connected to social media and often come to many events for networking, meeting new people, mingle with friends, coz that’s what I love to do. And now, there’s a company willing to pay me for doing what I love, and I’m more than excited to collaborate with them building the community, so it’s a flip flop ^.^ With all the resources, solid team, great mentorship, and also big support from my family, I’m optimist to give my best contribution for Fimela to takeoff. Amen! =)
[caption id=“attachment_528” align=“alignnone” width=“200” caption=“Fimela - Indonesian online fashion & lifestyle magazine”]
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