“Even though I’m working in government, I have this entrepreneurial spirit about the work and the challenges we face in keeping the environment safe.”

Lia Zakiyyah is Former Deputy to the Assistant, President of Indonesia’s Special Envoy on Climate Change, Climate Leader at the Climate Reality Project, and Associate Researcher at Institute of Sustainable Earth and Resources University of Indonesia.

JA people came to my high school explained the company program, and asked who wanted to join. Later they asked who wanted to be president of the company and I just raised my hand. I didn’t know what it was all about yet, but I raised my hand. But I didn’t regret it–JA was really exciting. It required a lot of teamwork, and at first we didn’t really have any idea what to do. We printed holiday cards, we made dried plants, we organized school events–anything that could make money. I was still learning about teamwork about the company should or could do. As the president I had to oversee all aspects of the company: finance, human resources, marketing, but at the same time try to not micromanage the other team members. I didn’t really realize how hard that would be, but I learned. I think the two most important things I took away from my JA experience were that I become much more confident in my decision making and I learned how to create team work within the team.