Join us to hear how Dr. Mari Elka Pangestu continues to break thick concrete ceilings over the last 3 decades, as a minority in many ways – Chinese, female, Christian in the world’s most populous Muslim country and in the male-dominated government. She was the first Indonesian female to have obtained a Ph.D. in economics overseas. With her strong sense of right and wrong, she was able to drive and motivate herself to navigate through extremely difficult situations. More importantly, how she was able to manage work-life balance and build a loving family – get up close into her family life conversations with our co-host Arya, her son.
“Value your integrity and credibility, it’s the most important thing for me. You cannot bargain on this one. So I was known for being clear on my views but I learned how to do it politely in the Suharto era, you don’t do it confrontationally. I was known to be vocal in those days (speak your mind during the authoritarian era)….Fortunately, I was never jailed….”
Dr. Mari Elka Pangestu is the Managing Director of Development Policy and Partnerships in the World Bank. Previously she served as Minister of Trade in Indonesia from 2004 to 2011 and Minister of Tourism and Creative Industry from 2011 to 2014.
She has had vast experience of over 30 years in academia, second track processes, international organizations and government working in areas related to international trade, investment and development in multilateral, regional and national settings.
Most recently, she was a Senior Fellow at the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs, as well as Professor of International Economics at the University of Indonesia, adjunct professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University and a Board Member of Indonesia Bureau of Economic Research (IBER), as well as Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Jakarta.
She is highly regarded as an international expert on a range of global issues. She served as Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington D.C and as advisor to the Global Commission on the Geopolitics of Energy Transformation of International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in Abu Dhabi. Her record of board and task force service includes the Leadership Council of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), co-chair of the expert group for the High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, the panel of the WHO health initiative, the Equal Access Initiative, commissioner for the Low Carbon Development Initiative of Indonesia and executive board member of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). She has also served on the board of a number of private sector companies.
You can find Dr. Mari on LinkedIn
Wisdoms Takeaway
- Be confident of your ability, believe in yourself
- Value your integrity and credibility
- No matter what you do, excel in it, deliver well and build credibility over time
- Mentorship is very important
- You should always be financially independent
- Having a network is important but maintaining them is more important – tips – write down their non-work details so you can have better conversations, join associations or communities that you are interested in, always be helpful first to others, and be open, you never know who you meet randomly like airplane rides.
- There are unfortunately unconscious bias for women, the most important thing is to do your homework (find out first where the biggest dissent will come from, that is how she survived)