Meet Gita
This October, Gita is fundraising for our Fund an Education Program. Get to know her and her motivation to empower women in Indonesia’s Villages.
Rumah SukkhaCitta Foundation: Hi Gita, please tell us a bit about yourself. What made you who you are today? What do other people need to know about you?
Gita: Wow, that’s a big question. I guess what people need to know about me is that I am autistic. I only started speaking once I was six years old.
But I am very fortunate that I had my mom. As a trained anthropologist, she would always take the time to explain things to me. Why people said what they said, why people treated me the way they did.
She gave me the gift of a unique perspective: She made me see that the world simply isn’t fair. And that some groups, especially women, often have to face bigger hurdles to success than others.
It’s not a gloomy outlook. It’s empowering. Seeing reality for what it is, allowed me to not feel bad about myself. But to observe and understand why the world is how it is. And what we, in small and big ways, can do to make it better.
“Education does not fix everything. But it allows women to get a glimpse of what’s possible. To see how far they can go. And it is something they will own for the rest of their life.“
Rumah SukkhaCitta Foundation: You decided to support our Craft Education and Scholarship program through your fundraiser. Why did this cause resonate with you?
I know for a fact that people in Indonesia’s villages are just as intelligent and gifted as people everywhere else. They just don’t have the same kind of access to opportunity as people elsewhere. Especially women.
I know that education is by no means a silver bullet to solve this issue. It’s not like you give a girl access to school and she will thrive automatically. It will always depend on her surrounding, family and other factors outside her control.
But education allows women to get a glimpse of what’s possible. To see how far they can go. And it is something they will own for the rest of their life.
Rumah SukkhaCitta Foundation: We know that women empowerment is also a big part of your professional life. Can you tell us more about that?
Well, yes I am a gender-lens investor. That means, I invest in women-owned start-ups that usually have a much harder time getting access to capital. Because the reality is that 98% of VC funding currently goes to men, usually guys from the Global North.
And what’s not commonly talked about: These men are usually given second chances. They failed their first, second, or even third start-up - and they can still successfully obtain funding for their next venture.
Women usually are not so lucky. They fail once, and most VCs will never support them again.
And I think that’s such a shame. Because failure is maybe the most vital factor of growing as an entrepreneur, and as a person. It makes us face ourselves and shows who we truly are. Through my company, I want to give women the chance to fail. And of course ultimately support businesses that will change our world for the better.