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Jessica Huwae: Shining light for career women
JP/Tertiani ZB SimanjuntakFor Jessica Huwae success as a novelist did not come overnight
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JP/Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak
For Jessica Huwae success as a novelist did not come overnight.
Perhaps luck was a factor, but it was hard work and keen observation that resulted in success.
She has written three novels. The most recent, Galila, is now available at major book stores. All received good reviews from critics, fellow authors and readers.
The strong point of her works lies in her ability to connect with her readership: Working women.
Jessica's first work, Soulmate.com, which was recently reprinted for the seventh time, addresses the often overlooked issues of urban women who have great careers and are financially secure, but do not have a 'Mr. Right, right now'. Although not autobiographical, some of the themes were related to concerns she had.
'You want to know why you're still single at 25, but it didn't bother me much at 28,' said the youngest of three who was born in Jakarta.
She met her husband, Reza Taher, when she was 28. The couple got married in 2010. The marriage, however, was not the only biggest life decision she had ever made.
Jessica had started a promising career even before she graduated as an English major from the University of Indonesia (UI). She was an intern at an English course but she just needed a more challenging opportunity. She was accepted to be the only intern at a woman's magazine in 2000 and the internship was extended to one year because her writing style and work ethic were loved by the magazine.
She was recruited as a permanent employee at its well-established sister magazine and worked there for four years before taking on the role of chief editor of a new magazine targeting fashionable college girls.
She stayed another three years with the company before a newspaper publishing firm hired her to help them lure more women readers.
'They told me that the newspaper needed a woman's touch. I mostly worked on women's issues and health, but I also had more to do: supplementary pieces and portal news. I was one of the few women also involved in the opinion/editorials. I was juggling too many things. So, I quit in my third year,' said Jessica.
The decision to dedicate her life to writing was made easier thanks to her faith.
'The belief that God is in control liberated me in many aspects of my life. I've been focusing on my career and there had been many leaps.
'Now I cannot expect my old salary, but my happiness rate is what matter,' she said.
One of her employers offered her a package that was hard to say no to, but came with one condition that made it easy to do so.
'They asked me to stop writing. I still have ongoing contract with the Gramedia publishing company and will soon sign on another writing project,' said Jessica.
She waited seven years after publishing her first novel to write Galila.
The novel itself was more of an outlet to her angst over her personal life. As a child to a Maluku ethnic father and a Batak mother, she never felt like she belonged to either clan. And relatives from her mother side always told her to marry a Batak man, which would make her more 'acceptable'. Instead, she married a man from Palembang.
After her father died, Jessica went to visit her father's hometown in Saparua, which she said was 'beautiful, not underprivileged but too quiet for a developing city and the singing voice of the people'.
'Galila is not only a story about a young woman who made it in Jakarta as a singer and found love. It's also a story about Maluku and its customs, the issues surrounding marriage and a happy ending,' she said.
But before she finished the novel, she was intrigued by the fact that some of her friends, who had joined the student movement in 1998, had become unscrupulous legislators and bureaucrats. One had even made national headlines for involvement in a corruption.
'I wrote several short stories about things in life that didn't happen as planned. With a chapter from Galila I published the collection of the short stories into a book titled Skenario Remang-remang [Twilight Scenario],' she explained.
With her husband and two friends, Jessica set up dailysylvia.com, a website that focuses on working women.
It has financial advice, fashion tips, profiles of women and even tips on how to look for a job or start a company.
'In a good month we can have up to 100,000 hits on the website. But we're not satisfied yet. I hope in the future our website will become a must-read for career-minded women.'
