Welcome, We’re Making Lemonade!
Welcome! Before giving you a glimpse into the whirlwind that is my life and filling you in on the nuts and bolts of this blog, let me quickly introduce myself.
The Introduction…
Hi, I am Gillian Setiawan, a 23-year-old Chinese-Indonesian dreamer trying to make a difference in the world. For the longest time, I dreamt of becoming a pediatrician. So, my being here now speaking to you about marketing might seem a little off-tangent, but I promise I’ll dive more into that later.
I was born in the beautiful city slash country of Singapore, and raised in the ever so crowded, but no less charming, city of Jakarta, Indonesia. I am the oldest of three with two adorable younger brothers. Growing up consistently attending international schools, I became trilingual, fostering English as my first (or native) language, Mandarin as my second, and Indonesian as my third.
My hobbies include dancing, cooking, and most certainly, traveling. Raised by two avid travelers, I have been fortunate enough to have visited over 30 countries. If I had to pick a top three, I’d have to say Singapore (for the nature), Japan (for the food), and Monaco (for the scenic views). I’m always open to recommendations on other countries (or specific cities) I should go visit, so feel free to reach out!
The Medical to Marketing Jumble…
Trust me, my brain was scrambled too.
For the longest time, my vision remained constant — to be a pediatrician. However, at age 17, everything changed as I left home to attend Boston College (BC) where I double-majored in Marketing, and Management & Leadership (I know… a very confusing long name for a major but hey, it was a good program), and minored in Biology.
Long story short, the answer to why a previously aspiring pediatrician turned into a marketer is simply because she was sadly not accepted into the program she’d originally wanted and had to figure life out as it goes. With this said, however, in following with the age old saying “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” I have truly fallen in love with this new direction and aim to pursue it in full force.
The NYU Chapter…
After graduating from BC, I worked as a biotech/ biopharma consultant. There, I realized that most of my experiences up till now have focused solely on developing my creativity. As such, I wanted to find a program that would simultaneously help me refine my creative ability but also progress my analytical skills. I chose NYU’s Integrated Marketing program, specifically with the Marketing Analytics concentration, as it would allow me to do exactly that.
My goal now is to eventually start my own international biotech consulting firm, aiding healthcare companies bring their potentially ground-breaking and life-changing research to the knowledge of the mass market!
This Blog…
Little medical-focused Gillian would have never guessed that she’d one day become the author of a blog. Honestly, even with writing this first post, a plethora of different juxtaposed emotions ran across my mind. There were times where I was scared but excited, anxious but calm, worried but confident, but overall, I saw this as an opportunity to grow. While this is my first time writing a blog, I’m going to continue making lemonade by approaching it with a positive spirit (Fingers crossed things don’t go south from here). As I continue to write more of these blogs, my hope is that it eventually gets easier, and that the stress and anxiety will slowly alleviate.
In the coming weeks, I will be using this space to speak to you about marketing in the age of digital, or more specifically, the aspects of it that I find interesting, and my thoughts on these topics. My aim is to help readers find inspiration and (hopefully) useful advice on topics such as content tips, media platform options, and so on.
The Closing…
Thank you for being here! I hope you enjoyed my blog post (and can’t wait for the coming ones). Welcome again and I hope you all stay a while! 🙂
