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WINDA MALIKA SIREGAR

Editor in chief (L'officiel Indonesia). Jakarta

At what time in your recent past have your felt more passionate and alive?

Many times, actually. 

Every morning I feel very much alive whenever I hear my children’s voices through my bedroom door. 

These voices are like my natural alarm clock, as if upon hearing them my mind would subconsciously shout: “Wake up! If you don’t wake up now, you’ll lose another minute of being with them, and you might miss that once-in-a-lifetime moment when they first say this word or do that stuff.” 

And straight out of the door I’d walk, 

all smiles and ready to face the day, 

regardless of the preceding day’s general state of mood.

What do you think people think of you?

I have no idea. Easy to please, hard to handle?

What are the funniest or most embarrassing stories your family tells about you?

Amongst the most ludicrous ones, I can hereby state that in between the ages of 3 and 4,

 I had this penchant for performing at the top of every dining table in every restaurant in every city in the world that I happen to be in,

 reciting one obligatory rendition of the song “Madu dan Racun”,

 backed with incongruous leg-and-arm movements in my futile
 attempts to articulate the lyrics.

Do you have any regrets?

Not seeing enough of my father in the last years of his life. 

Not going to Mongolia when I had the chance. 

And I regret never learning how to ride a bike.

How has being a parent changed you?

Gone are the days when I arrived for a short transit in Spain on my way home from a work trip, and in the spur of the moment I decided that the next day, instead of flying home,
 I would fly solo to Marrakesh and Casablanca. 

Or when my sister and I decided from Moscow and St. Petersburg, 

we should go to Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, and Mexico City, instead of taking the usual route home, and later on journeyed into India, China, Laos, and Cambodia. Or when I asked for a two-week leave to see a rock band’s concert in Tokyo, only to end up spending three months moving around dozens of cities and villages of Japan, sleeping in different apartments and hotels and even in Buddhist monks’ temples. Or months living on the Indomie-and-cigarettes diet just because I lost all my money to paying outrageous long-distance phone bills and playing arcade games. Or that time when, after spending two weeks with this boy in Melbourne, I called home and said I would ditch my job and not return to my day-to-day life in Jakarta, to stay with him instead 

(yes, this “boy” is my husband now LOL).

All my life I have always acted on impulse, I have always lived just from day to day, doing everything without any provision for the future. Earning money just so that I can spend it all on the same day. No regards whatsoever for what’s in store for me,
couldn’t care less about what’s gonna happen next.

And being a parent? It changes EVERYTHING.

Even for the shortest trip to another part of Jakarta, for instance, I would calculate, on the top of my head, the amount of time it would take to get there so the trip won’t hamper my twins’ lunch or dinner or nap time, and try to pick the best time and route accordingly, and silently becoming worried every time we come across a traffic jam. I would think thrice before buying myself another pair of shoes, but I would run to the store to get whatever the twins wish for in a heartbeat. It would take me a couple of weeks and a few table-of-comparisons later before I could decide on the itinerary of a short family weekend trip. 

I became one of those people who overthink everything, 

who scrutinize over the littlest things just so I can protect my twins from any discomfort.

I’m a Libra, so it’s either one extreme or the other, eh? I really, really, need to stop being too focused so far into the future, curb my newfound overanalysing and indecisive tendencies, 
and gain some of the old me back!

Talking about work, whats the hardest task as a leader in your office?

In our line of work, even though we’ve meticulously planned everything ahead, you would always encounter sudden unexpected changes whenever the deadline is near. 
So I need to be very creative, and be able to make fast decisions, and not let the rest of the team panic and fall apart by happily providing them with sensible options and alternatives to work upon, while staying true to the magazine’s theme of the month.

What do you like about your Job?

To be honest, I’ve had no prior experience in this field of work. No journalism major, no fashion studies, nothing. I am a Mathematics and Chemistry graduate. I’m a geek. But I’ve always loved art. I was born loving music. I grew up adoring works on history, archaeology, literature, architecture,… I’ve always had a nose for fashion, and for all the things in life I find most beautiful. So what I love most is meeting all those people who have the same tastes and share the same passions. Oh, the joy of meeting the young, new, fresh creative minds! Love them all, and even if one day I no longer work in this field,
 I still want to meet and talk and work and exchange ideas and be friends with them.

How would you like to be remembered?

As the person who first introduced Led Zeppelin and Puccini to my daughter Avajasmine Wrhea Btari Gunardi and my son Avisennha Wadja Btara Gunardi.