Back when I was in high school, I was just thinking, with the retirement age rising to 67 by 2046, young people will soon work for 50 years or more. I realize that choosing the profession I want to follow and university courses that will get me there is a decision of paramount importance. But I cannot help thinking that it’s too much for an inexperienced 23-year-old me to make.

Few days ago, I had the opportunity to have a 2-hour call with Mediana Nuarika, Head of Innovation & Strategic Partnership, and Soft Skills Trainer of MDI Tack. The conversations we had have led to new insight. According to Mediana Nuarika, it takes confidence, curiosity, and courage to finally have your own starting point.

(Mediana Nuarika Daniel, Head of Innovation & Strategic Partnership, Soft Skills Trainer of MDI Tack, Founder of Trainingmarket.ID)

Started out as Ketua OSIS, Mediana believes that her interest in organizational skill, and English, have also brought young Mediana to where she is now. In college, she believed that her decision to jump into the Marketing Communication field was the best match she ever made while her parents requested her to study English literature. According to Mediana, she led herself by implementing the Ikigai Concept; everyone has their own uniqueness, and it’s better to follow your heart and seize the opportunity by focusing developing skill, passion and finding the market that will lead you to not only financially secured but also happily being yourself.

Started her career as a Corporate Trainer when she was 19 years old, Mediana Nuarika never imagined that her starting point would be that very young. She managed to work as an English tutor for professionals during her college and had the opportunity to meet so many people in the business world. From that on, she began to understand more about professionalism and the business world.

According to her, becoming an English Trainer for professionals (English for Specific Purposes) is not that challenging because she enjoyed and mastered it. The opportunity to be an English mentor for head of office, director, etc. have made 19 years old Mediana even became more confident.

After several years working in training and development, Mediana who’s also called Mei decided to take an opportunity as a Marketing Staff in a Medical Devices Company. As a Marketing Communication graduate from Binus, she was glad that she could finally try the opportunity based on her study field. She worked very hard to make things work. She believed that the ability to communicate complex theories clearly and work under pressure would drive you to be the most valuable employee in your company.

This was something that brought 23 years old Mediana to get an offer as a marketing manager at a very young age by her own client. She always remembers what her client said, “Age is just a number, not an indicator of potential, performance, or skills and every job has its own cost of learning.”. From that on, Mediana has got to take the opportunity, because she believed that if she didn’t try, then she would never find out. For her, risk is just part of success. You will not go anywhere if you do not want to take risks of choices you make.

After 2 years of being a marketing manager, Mediana decided to go back to where she was before, a trainer. Mediana believed that a life is worth living when it is combined with a passion. If you want to make every day of your life meaningful, you need to find your calling. So, she said to me, “Training and human development is my first love and I decided to come to where I was.”

Here she is now, working her life’s calling as a soft skills trainer, and Head of Innovation & Strategic Partnership at MDI Tack.

She empowered, “And one thing that I have learned over ten-plus years of doing this work is that a key component to excel is building your confidence and the confidence of others, and in your ability to move forward.”

This year, Mediana moved forward into another level of what she called life’s calling for her through Trainingmarket.id . Trainingmarket.ID is a marketplace and a brand-new professional training platform, a digital business line from MDI Tack (www.mditack.co.id). TrainingMarket.id will bring trainees together with mentors who have the same dream career with them, so that trainees will have the opportunity to consult and undergo work simulations with their trainers, before deciding to focus on their dream career.

All in all, it is okay to have dreams and plans, but be brave enough to start and test yourself, what is the purpose of all? Reading this inspirational story from Mediana, I am encouraged a lot. What about you? Are you inspired to determine your career? Remember, it is not about what you do, but how you do it. It is now or never!

Written by Mega Hutagalung