Sharing Session with Alumni: The Journey of Building Connections and Branding

The “CARTREF 2024: Together We Create, Together We Thrive” Orientation Event for FHIK students this time invited FSRD alumni, namely Brillian Valentino (Interior Design Alumni) and Talitha Azura Istafada (Fashion Design Alumni). They became speakers to share materials on college life and the world of work to new students.

During his time at Maranatha Christian University, Brillian was diligent in participating in various activities and organizations such as Bootcamp and became Deputy Chairperson of Rerum (Interior Design Student Association) in 2019. From these activities he was able to meet people with whom he could collaborate. “Learn to collaborate with each other, through college we will both earn money,” said Brillian. He invited students to be able to build their own values ​​because values ​​can take them further than the hard skills they currently have.

Entering 2017, Brillian started his work project by selling various works that he made and collaborating with many artists. He successfully built BTSDA Studio, an interior design studio located in Gading Serpong, South Tangerang. In his work process, Brillian realized that we cannot live and do everything alone. The more people we know, the higher the value we can build. Take all the knowledge, materials, connections that can be taken during college, then in the future we can reap what we have taken so far.

The same struggle was felt by Talitha, an alumnus of the 2012 Fashion Design student. After completing her final assignment for the D3 program, namely Evolusia, Talitha continued her career by taking various programs such as short courses at Kingston University London, Diploma programs at the London Jewellry School, and Bachelor programs at the University of Muhammadiyah Bandung. This journey is what made Talitha able to collaborate with various universities and famous brands to strengthen her personal branding. She herself was once a stylist for singer Isyana Sarasvati. She was also able to collaborate with IFC (Indonesian Fashion Chamber) and was able to take offers for fashion shows and other programs both domestically and abroad.

“If there is an opportunity that you get, just take it because the opportunity only comes once,” said Talitha. From these opportunities, we can build our personal branding and value so that we can be better known by the public. When our branding is strong and well-known in the eyes of the public, we don’t need to promote ourselves anymore as experienced by Talitha herself. Thanks to her branding, Talitha’s works are displayed and used by many famous brands and influencers.

From the stories and experiences conveyed by the two speakers, new students can understand and comprehend how their connections and values ​​are very valuable for the future. They can also strengthen connections between each other in one class to continue together during their college journey.

(Reporting by Nakisha Zahra Cynthia, Justin Henry Denny Hartono)

Article by Justin Henry Denny Hartono