Project #5, Biography

                 I interviewed my cousin Fiona Wiraatmadja because I think that she’s unique. Interviewing your own parents sounds common, don’t you think? Well, cousin Fiona lives on a glamorous lane of life after going through so many things and making decisions on her own. I think of her past jobs and talents, and presumed that she’s the perfect person to be interviewed. Born on October 21, 1986, Jakarta, meant she reached such high accomplishments &n succeeded to make her goals in such a young age.

                “I have 2 siblings,” Fiona said. “I’m the eldest of 3 siblings.” Her brother Ivan is a year & a half younger than her. He’s now starting to step into his dad’s shoes, for he had started working with him as a business partner. Her sister Andrea and herself are 9 years apart, but love never fails to fill such extensive gap. “The most important people in my life are my family. Because without their support I wouldn’t have been where I am today.”

                 The young Fiona is just an ordinary teen with big dreams and fascinating talents. Like what Thomas Edison said, success is made of 1% inspiration and 99% expiration. It figures, she may not be the genius, but she’s never off the top 10 of every grade. She graduated from university on 2007 with a summa cum laude, after completing her double degree in accounting & finance in 3 years, which made her the youngest graduate with such an award. She also came first in the national young pianist competition at the age of 10 and was fortunate enough to have held a few recitals as a young musician. “Fiona is brilliant and very well educated, she works hard to accomplish her goals and is very responsible,” My father, from the perspective of a business partner. “She also has an ability for dealing with stress.”

After graduating from university, Fiona found a job in Merril Lynch bank of London. But due to the recent financial crisis she had to re-evaluate her priorities and decided to leave her job in finance industry to further pursue her passion in culinary arts (2009). “Leaving my job was the most significant and hard experience,” Fiona reported.”It lets me experience and realize that one should never stop believing in his or herself.”

From each of her past workplaces she learned something valuable. Currently, her occupation is as a food writer for Travel & Gourmet magazine. “I write about culinary trends, review restaurants, & anything in between,” the girl explained. “It’s an exciting job as it gives me insight about the industry from different ends of spectrum.” But between her busy schedule, she still makes time and tries to spend more of her life with her family and friends. “My sister’s thoughtful, for she always think about me wherever she goes and ask me whether I need anything all the time, and she’s also bizarrely crazy, because of her wild and loud behavior. She could laugh on her own sometimes, which is funny!” her sister Andrea speaks out. “She’s also lovable because that’s just the way she is.” This proves on how much Fiona loves and cares about her family & tries to spend time with them. So now if I say that she’s a good and sophisticated role model, you know why. A patisserie, a consultant chef, a jewelry line designer, a food writer, and a businesswoman. How cool can she get?




1. I learned how to write well and use more complicated, sophisticated and vivid words. I also learned how to arrange my words & sentences in a logical order. This project also helped me to learn more about my cousin, know her more and stuff. I also learned to write paragraphs with language features.