QuickBytes: Pivots and perseverance with Dini Utomo, senior account manager at Tech in Asia

This special edition of QuickBytes is part of “Women in Focus,” Tech in Asia’s campaign for International Women’s Day 2021. In this series, we hear from women in the Tech in Asia team who are driving the company’s growth and development. The following interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Dini Utomo, senior account manager at Tech in Asia / Photo credit: Dini Utomo

Dini Utomo is a senior account manager at Tech in Asia. In this interview, she tells us how she fought through self-doubt to find a role that she’s currently passionate about and thriving in.

For the benefit of our readers, what do you do at Tech in Asia?

Officially, I’m a senior account manager at Tech in Asia Indonesia. That said, I also have one foot in the business development department for both the Indonesia and International teams. As part of the Studios team, I help brands and startups reach Asia’s tech communities via articles, infographics, videos, and events.

I actually started in business development, but the company has helped me find my passion in project management and client servicing – and here I am now!

How did you arrive at this point in your career? Tell us about your journey and the pivotal moments along the way.

I did my master’s in the UK – it’d been my dream to study there, as my dad did his master’s and doctorate degrees in Edinburgh in the ‘90s, and I have beautiful memories of the place. After graduating, I had hopes and plans to live and work there, but unfortunately, things didn’t work out that way.

I came back to Indonesia and faced some difficulties in getting a job in Jakarta. There’s this stereotype of Indonesians who graduate from overseas universities that we’d ask for too high a salary. That alone – silly as it is – would put companies off from even considering us.

One day, I came across a role called “BizDev Hustler,” for Tech in Asia. I found the name catchy, and the company and industry showed promise. I’ll admit, I wasn’t sure if I would be a good fit after reading the job description, but I tried anyway and landed the role.

The pressure was on from day one. It was my first time having to meet individual sales targets – I found it really difficult and I almost gave up. I had my probation extended and there was a lot of self-doubt. Maybe I really wasn’t a good fit after all.

Regardless, I decided I owed it to myself to give it my best shot. I sought the advice of many colleagues across different departments, seeking to learn more about the company and how I could improve myself. Through these discussions, I found the idea of being an account manager increasingly attractive.

I remember discussing the possibility of making this role change just before Christmas in 2019 with several members of the leadership team. Suffice to say, it’s worked out great – with their help and support, I’ve done well, even getting promoted to a senior role just this year. I’m really enjoying my work and am happy and proud of myself for how I’ve overcome my struggles to get here.

What is your biggest achievement in Tech in Asia?

That’s got to be Startup Arena 2020. It was my first big-budget project, and it involved a lot of collaboration across the international and Indonesia offices to execute.

The event was a partnership between Surge, an accelerator program launched by Sequoia India, and Tech in Asia, and the whole thing took more than three months of planning. The biggest challenge was holding the whole pitch competition virtually, across four different regions – you can imagine the language barrier issues.

We initially had targets of getting 200 startups to apply for the competition and 250 attendees for the semifinals, but surged (pun intended) past that, achieving almost 400 registrations and over 1,000 audience members. [Surge] even complimented us on our ability to bring together high-quality finalists.

What about the biggest challenge you’ve faced in your career? How did you overcome it?

Do you think the tech industry has done enough to promote gender diversity and empower women?

Who is your female hero or inspiration? Why?

What is the best advice you’ve ever received?

Flipping the question around a bit – what’s the one piece of advice you’d pass down to other women looking to get into the tech space (or in general)?

For this year’s International Women’s Day, what do you #choosetochallenge? In other words, how do you intend to help further the cause of gender equality?