THE PIVOT — Origins
*I was an ex-enthusiast of oil and gas who moved to tech, found my way back to climate policy, and am now building at the climate × AI intersection.* THE BEGINNING - Studied Bioprocess (Chemical) Engineering at UI, but spent most of my extracurricular energy in oil and gas: Petrobowl, leading IATMI student chapter, interning at petroleum labs and an energy company - Graduated cum laude, but by 2018 I was questioning whether the industry aligned with where energy systems needed to go THE SWITCH - Joined Traveloka, one of Southeast Asia’s biggest travel tech companies, in product management, completely unrelated to my engineering degree - Learned product thinking, cross-functional coordination, stakeholder management, and design thinking, all skills I use every day today THE BRIDGE - Resigned in early 2020 to prepare for my Master’s application. Then the pandemic hit - That year became a bridge: pivoted fully into climate by joining Climate Policy Initiative, then Recycling Technologies as their first Indonesian hire - In parallel, started coordinating Student Energy’s Global Youth Energy Outlook across Southeast Asia, which led to presenting at COP26 in Glasgow THE JOURNEY - Pursued my master’s at ETH Zürich (2021–2023) as the first Indonesian on an ESOP merit scholarship - McKinsey sustainability internship and Climateworks Centre consultancy for OJK - Since September 2023: NewClimate Institute in Berlin, co-authoring the Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor, leading Indonesia’s Climate Action Tracker assessment, and proposing frameworks for aligning private finance with the Paris Agreement THE INTERSECTION - In parallel with climate policy work, started conceptualizing, designing, and shipping AI-assisted digital products independently: Deck of Salsa, Spark, Peelsonality, Article 6 Observatory, Positive What If, and our wedding invitation - At NewClimate, co-led the establishment of an internal AI working group: developed org-wide guidelines, training materials, ran a staff survey, and serve as the go-to person for AI-related inquiries - These threads connect under a single belief: making digital product creation more accessible to domain experts who deeply understand the problem but lack traditional technical backgrounds. I’m also exploring what becomes possible when climate domain depth meets hands-on AI implementation