A windy path, and what it taught me.
I was born in Jakarta to an Indonesian mother and an Indian father, and grew up across several countries. Most of my formative years were spent in Shanghai, which is where design, technology, music and art all arrived at once.
Out of high school I packed two suitcases and moved to the US to study Human Computer Interaction at the University of Washington. Hard work, persistence and a fair amount of luck took me to Silicon Valley, where I spent six years as a product designer at two large B2B companies.
The pandemic turned things upside down and made me question what I actually wanted. It ended with me leaving the US for Dubai, which is where I live now.
What a path like that leaves you with is the ability to read people across cultures. Nuance, mindset and behaviour tend to be legible to me in a way they might not be otherwise, almost a bird's eye view of how people work. That has become the core of how I design.
Everywhere I've been
- Lived
- Visited
Drag to turn it. Tap a named city for the story, or any other dot for the name.
- Lived in Jakarta, Indonesia. Born here.
- Lived in Sydney, Australia. Second and third grade, while my dad was working here.
- Lived in Melbourne, Australia. Here as a child, while my dad finished his MBA.
- Lived in Hong Kong, Hong Kong. Fifth grade.
- Lived in Shanghai, China. My teen years, middle school through high school. Where design, technology, music and art all arrived at once.
- Lived in Seattle, United States. Moved here out of high school for a Human Computer Interaction degree at the University of Washington.
- Lived in San Francisco, United States. Six years in the Bay Area as a product designer, at Salesforce and Palo Alto Networks.
- Lived in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Designing AI products at RAKBANK, in the bank's AI lab.
- Visited Singapore, Singapore.
- Visited Manila, Philippines.
- Visited Hanoi, Vietnam.
- Visited Bangkok, Thailand.
- Visited Phuket, Thailand.
- Visited Bali, Indonesia.
- Visited Semarang, Indonesia.
- Visited Beijing, China.
- Visited Shenzhen, China.
- Visited Tokyo, Japan.
- Visited Kyoto, Japan.
- Visited Kolkata, India.
- Visited Delhi, India.
- Visited Bangalore, India.
- Visited Helsinki, Finland.
- Visited Tallinn, Estonia.
- Visited New York, United States.
- Visited New Orleans, United States.
- Visited Los Angeles, United States.