April 2011 Goddess of the Month
Lolo Kartikasari
Lolo Kartikasari
There is no word that can describe the creativity and ingenuity of this goddess. A passionate mother, a daughter, a sister, a lover, a friend, an entrepreneur, a stylist, an attorney, a creative writer and a community leader are amongst few of many Lolo’s roles in life. Over the last couple of years she has gone through remarkable transformations in all aspects of her life. A quote from Coco Chanel that completely inspires and motivates her to constantly thrive in being her best says ,”The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.” This powerful quote has encouraged Lolo to grow and express herself, create, share and inspire others around her.
Lolo has many admirable qualities that are very inspiring and empowering to all of us women. Besides being a wonderful mother to her daughter Caitlin, she constantly amazes us with her ability to juggle her work for the community, her fashion work, her own personal life and her new online blog/business Martini and Milk. A goddess whose role models are goddesses. Lolo’s lifetime inspirations are including strong female figures such as R.A Kartini (a pioneer of women’s rights in Indonesia), Coco Chanel ( a pioneer in French fashion design world with modern philosophy), her grandmothers princess Chamdaliyah (Indonesia’s creative make-up artist in the 1950s) and Soendari Abdul Rachman (one of the first female members in the Indonesian parliament in the 1950s). The success of these women, their dedications and their contributions to their communities have all shaped Lolo into becoming the community leader she desires to be.
Presently Lolo’s latest project is coordinating an Indonesian folktale story-telling event to familiarize Indonesian native roots and culture to the large population of American-born Indonesian children residing in southern California area. It all starts from her own home. Frequently she would sit with her daughter Caitlin and retell these traditional folktales (passed down by generations and were told to her by her parents when she was a child) as animated as she possibly could in English language. The folktales have plenty of great moral and spiritual lessons for children so Lolo launched a brilliant idea of doing this story-telling event. This is one of her ways to serve and give to her community. Educating the next generation on culture and the essence of life.
Her passion for her community starts within her own circle. She surrounds herself with very loving and driven people. Her good friends, her sisters, her parents and her beautiful daughter Caitlin are her motivators and pillars of strength. Caitlin is her life so with great understanding that Cait observes her on a daily basis she thrives to be the best being always. Lolo is grateful for all their love for her and being the shoulders she can cry on when she needs to. Openness and honesty is the key of the relationships between Lolo and them. As a non-religious yet highly spiritual being, she believes that all of the love that she carries with her were passed on through generations by her ancestors knowing that everyone has a part to do to benefit the community.
As one of the friends in her circle I am happy and proud to see Lolo’s accomplishments and transformations in the last couple of years. She really has the awareness that being a “whole” person is the ability to be authentic to herself as well as to others balanced with recognizing her role to support the community. Her motherly compassion also shines through the work that she does (be it in fashion world or community projects) in promoting creativity all around. To this nurturing goddess of creativity we give our love and respect always.