UNS — Working as a Project Manager in Boeing Commercial Airplanes, the best company in an airplane company has never come into the alumnus of social science program, Veronika W.R. Andrews. Graduating from the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) in 1989, Veronica started her career as a manager in a hotel in Bandung. Her English skills soon captured the eyes of her then patrons, expatriates hired by then PT Nurtanio (now PT Dirgantara Indonesia), who asked her to teach their children.
Her success in earning second and third income to help finance her windowed mother in Surakarta, however, did not last long because Vero, her short name, needed to face the bitter reality of failed marriage. Vero, however, did not let this low point in life drag her down. She continued working her career until she met her now-husband, an expatriate who was also hired by Nurtanio. After her second marriage and her husband’s contract expiration with PT. Nurtanio, Vero followed him back to the US, together with her sons.
Starting life in the US, far from families, in a foreign land, with a foreign language, and raising three children of her own was a challenge for the strong Veronika Andrews. The challenge that she defeated well. After realizing that her English is no longer sufficient to live in the country, Vero was quick to catch up, starting to learn English, finding a job, and learning daily life. “People speak fast, and I could not understand them. Then I decided to learn English again,” she stated.
Early on, Veronika has decided that working for Boeing was her dream after hearing stories brought back by her husband, who then worked for Boeing. She then laid out her plan to achieve the dream. Veronika took a course in a college to study computer programming. She also found a job to support her new education, an institution that provides support to children with problematic families. However, success was not easily served. Again, Veronika needed to move and followed her husband. This time to Brazil, before they returned to the US, allowing Veronika to catch up on her education where she left.
Veronika’s hard work captured her college attention. She then landed a job as a computer laboratory assistant while working other jobs, the so-called graveyard shift that allowed her to have more study time, travel agent, and dentist’s assistant. But she soon realized that working at a small business as an Asian is not an easy task. She received unequal treatment and was always vulnerable to termination of work despite her job quality. “It was as if the place needed to reduce employee, I will be the first that got fired,” she stated.
These experiences again never dragged her down but instead strengthened her will to work in a large multinational company that pays attention to employee inclusivity, none other than Boeing. Attempts after attempts, Veronika succeeded in securing her dream career in 2007 as a Data Management Specialist for Boeing with a contract of three months.
“I was delighted and proud, someone from a small city like Solo could be accepted to work in a company as big as Boeing. I directly inform my family in Solo,” she said.
One dream down, but the journey did not stop. Before completing her first contract with her dream company, Vero was quick to find another career opportunity in the firm. At last, she secured two positions and chose to be Integrated Schedules Specialist for Being 747/767 project in 2008. Hard work, people-oriented, and willingness to share ideas finally brought the Surakarta-born woman into her current position, Project Manager. She then took on another journey for her next dream an MBA from the University of Phoenix. Veronika also received numerous awards in her career, Boeing Global Diversity and Inclusion Award 2018 and Society of Asian Science and Engineers (SASE) Advocate Awards 2019. She is also the President of Boeing Asian Pacific Association (BAPA) and Vice President of the Boeing Indonesian Association (BIA).
In the Guest Lecture “Success in The West: The Journey, The Struggles, The Failures, The Victories” on Tuesday (25/1/2022) through Zoom Cloud Meeting held by UNS, Vero also shared her biggest struggle with a health condition that once forced her to take a break from her beloved career. In the guest lecture, she emphasized the importance of never giving up and believing in one’s dream. The survivor of pancreatic cancer also stated that it is important to have a hobby, to work hard, and have fun, and share her hobby: photography that also received numerous awards in Flickr and Pixabay.
“Let me conclude this with a quote, dream as high as the sky so that when you fall, you will fall among the stars. Soekarno-Hatta,” she concluded. Humas UNS
Reporter: Ida Fitriyah
Editor: Dwi Hastuti