A great person may emerge out of one’s self if you have already done the best of you. It is the same with one person categorized as a great person who has impacted society in several aspects such as education, communication, digital, etc. This person is Dr. N. Nurlaela Arief, MBA.
She was a person with a lot of experience in several fields, such as communications, business ethics, law, sustainability, and development. Everyone usually called her Bu Lala. She has been one of the lecturers in SBM ITB since 2019 in several courses such as Sustainability, CSR, Community Project, Environment Management system, etc. She was a lecturer at two levels, namely, undergraduate and MBA.
Before Bu Lala became a lecturer in SBM ITB, Bu Lala already had experience in PT. Biofarma. In that company, she became a Head of Corporate Communication from 2011-2019 and was also the leader or head in several projects.
During her work in PT. Biofarma, Bu Lala hadn’t only done her job, but she also created several improvements in implementing those projects. One improvement already done was her participating and contributing to the CSR development at PT. Biofarma. The CSR development project was different from the usual assignment because it focused on empowering the SME (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) or in Indonesia, we could call them UMKM.
Bu Lala led this project. SME’s empowerment was conducted by giving the business training and developing the business so that the SME could grow better and more people would know about that business. Moreover, the SME got the lesson about building business sustainability and not harming the environment. This project was one Bu Lala loved because Bu Lala could use her capabilities to impact the people by the project. This project was successful because all the SME could grow better, and several businesses had exhibitions held in England or other countries or were following international business competitions.
On the other hand, Bu Lala and her team also empowered the SME’s business sustainability. The empowerment was done by giving them education in managing the produced waste and transforming it into more beneficial things, helping the SME members to develop the tools to manage the trash, and so on. So, the SME could become more sustainable and safer for the environment.
Sustainability in SBM ITB
Bu Lala was one of those people interested in sustainability and development in SBM ITB. She also became the lecturer in the environmental management system focusing on sustainable development. Moreover, she and SBM ITB had been implementing the Principles of Responsibility Management Education (PRME) under the UN. It made SBM ITB a Green Campus or Sustainability Campus. These principles made all members of the SBM ITB could be aware more of sustainability and development goals. Bu Lala and SBM ITB had already held some projects or events to achieve it like the “Be Creative with Recycled Paper From Waste into Resources” workshop, implementing zero waste habits by decreasing plastic bottles’ usage drinks, and other actions. All actions had the target, which is to become the zero waste campus in 2025.
Avoid Hoax with PERHUMAS
Apart from being a lecturer in SBM ITB and working in PT Biofarma, Bu Lala also contributed as a leader in one national organization focusing on Human Relationship and Communication, namely, PERHUMAS. By the #IndonesiaBicaraBaik campaign, she and the PERHUMAS team would educate the millennials about how to have the right language and attitude in communicating in online communication or social media. Due to COVID-19 Pandemic, everyone used online transmission as the primary medium to work or spend their daily activities. This situation could create a new problem, which is a hoax or fake information. By this campaign, Bu Lala and the team wanted to encourage people, especially millennials, to control their actions in cyberspace, and they should rethink to like, comment, share or post something in cyberspace and could also influence their family, friends, and so on to have a right attitude in cyberspace.
On the other hand, Bu Lala and the team carried-out the 3M campaign (pakai masker, mencuci, dan menjaga jarak). This campaign supported the government in preventing people from the COVID-19 virus and always staying healthy and safe.
We got several points from Bu Lala’s experience: (1) Define what you love. Before you start the journey, you should try everything that you could try. You could define what you love and determine what journey that you must run. (2) Break your limit. Humans have a lot of weaknesses, but indeed humans also have a lot of strength. It makes us rethink how to use the power and capabilities maximally and to minimize liability. (3) Break your limit by Making an impact on society. Sometimes we think the means of breaking our limit is by forcing ourselves to be able to do everything. Those thoughts are wrong because the reality of breaking limits when we have already completed ourselves with the best knowledge, we should transform it into society, changing our capabilities to something that has a positive impact on society.
