Introduction - chapter 2. The Who??
My name is Hillaria, or you can call me Riri, like Rihanna (but seriously though, I was called Riri before Rihanna was famous).
I was born and bred in Jakarta, Indonesia. Arts and craft has always been one of my interest - even though I thought wasn't that great at it. I had troubles colouring within the lines or making things that are "aesthetically beautiful". But I know I enjoyed the process anyway even though I always lost in every competitions. I opened an online knit shop when I was 14 - and sold absolutely nothing for the whole year. The only thing I earned was mostly criticism and a little ridicule. Even though the experiences was dispiriting and confusing at the time, in a hindsight, that business idea was far from ready to be launched.
Since then, I moved to Australia to study Bachelor of Business followed by Master of Commerce (Marketing).
I was working in fine dining for a few years ( a career that I thought I've decided on), before I moved on to education (lecturer in hospitality and workability to students who don't know the sacrifices yet hahaha). This is when I met my mentors who made me realised that all I needed was a little guidance and reassurance.
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder"
The meeting with madam mentors and other good people in my previous job made me able to see myself more objectively and I understand now that my best quality is my curiosity, persistence, and the fact that I LOVE to push the envelope really hard. Some ideas works, and some don't - everyone's aesthetic is different, and just because it's different doesn't mean it's no good. I just had to polish my style and trust on my own curiosity (easier said than done). That's when the original Happily Ever Crafter was born as my side hustle.
At the end of 2018 me and Mr. Hubs decided to get hitched, move to Singapore to start a family and be closer to his family. So by August 2019 we moved to Singapore, and here we are all caught up with the timeline!
As you can see that I'm a little bit of everything. I have a little bit of many experiences, many cultures, and little bit of every backgrounds. That reflects on Happily Ever Crafter as well - it's going to be a little bit of every different crafts!
Read more about the journey and how Happily Ever Crafter becomes what it is today in my next post: Introduction - chapter 3. The Journey.