You've Come a Long Way, Daisy!

There are 16,618 miles between Jakarta, Indonesia, and Aggieland—16,765 if you swing through Tyler, TX, on the way.  So you’ll understand what we mean when we say Communications Specialist Daisy Enggina came a long way to be an Aggie!

Looking back on it, Daisy’s journey to College Station started when she joined the theater department at her private, all-girl high school.  Her senior-year stint on the production team saw her in charge of advertising and promoting the shows, a job that involved everything from creating flyers to doing radio spots to selling tickets.  By the time the dust settled at the end of that year, she knew what she wanted to do for a living.  A marketer had been born.

Going to college abroad was a major decision, especially since it meant putting a lot of distance between Daisy and her big, religiously diverse, extended family.  “Twenty-five percent of them are Christian, and the rest are Muslim,” she smiles.  “We celebrated all the holidays—Christian and Muslim—together.  My immediate family was small—just my parents, my two sisters, and me—but when the extended family gets together, there are almost 100 of us!”

Fortunately for Daisy, a brand-new family was waiting for her here in Aggieland.  Of course, she had a few stops to make along the way.

Texas Bound

Daisy’s older sister, Arika Pravitasari, was accepted to Tyler Junior College (TJC).  Daisy, on the other hand, had her eye on Japan and managed to win a full scholarship to a university there.  That was wonderful, exciting, all well and good ... except the scholarship didn’t cover living expenses, and living in Japan isn’t cheap.  To complicate matters further, Daisy doesn’t speak Japanese,  which meant she wouldn’t be able to get a job to support herself.  Scratch Plan A.

Daisy  moved on to Plan B.  Possibly figuring a little family was better than none, or possibly because the United States offered the lowest combined tuition and living expenses, she decided to follow in Arika’s footsteps.  Off she went to TJC, where she studied Business Administration—because that school doesn’t have a marketing major—and supported herself as a chemistry lab assistant, math tutor, and RA (“a real learning experience”).  There was just one catch:  She had to take an art class.  As it turned out, that class marked a real turning point in her life, thanks to the inspiration provided by her professor, Mr. White.  Once he gave her the desire to develop her artistic talent, there was no stopping her.

As successful as she was academically and artistically, listening to Daisy talk about the challenges faced by international students studying in the U.S. can be sobering.  “It’s hard,” she explains, “because you can’t get a job off campus.  I didn’t always have enough money to buy food.”  Fortunately, her church sponsored daily breakfasts, and Daisy persevered in spite of the difficulties.

After community college, Daisy got a scholarship to UT Tyler, where she went to study marketing.  Before long, she was designing t-shirts for the wide range of clients served by a local printer.  She also snagged a marketing internship at UT-Tyler in what is now Student Life and Leadership.  Unbeknownst to Daisy, who was away on vacation at the time, her supervisor in Student Life entered some of the young intern’s work in an advertising contest.  Although she didn’t win, Daisy’s pieces stood out; she was the only student among a field of professionals.  As a matter of fact, the judges from the East Texas Advertising Foundation were so impressed, they gave her one of their prestigious awards ... and a scholarship.

Aggie at Last

One year after graduation from UT-Tyler, Daisy was still on an F-1 student visa, which allowed her an optional year of occupational training.  So she was on the lookout for a practicum.  Enter A&M’s Director of Multicultural Services, C. J. Woods, and Associate Director, Jennifer Ford.  The department was hunting a communications specialist, and the gifted graduate seemed like the perfect fit.  In August 2007, Woods and Ford became her sponsors, extending the training visa into a full-fledged working visa ... and the rest is history.  The funky, cutting-edge marketing campaigns Daisy designs are recognized all across campus.

Landing a job at A&M was quite an accomplishment, but Daisy isn’t one to rest on her laurels.  She immediately set her sights on admission to the prestigious Mays Business School graduate marketing program, but with only 5 international-student slots in each class, she had to wait a year for an opening.  She also had overcome the challenges posed by tests like the GRE and GMAT, both of which are designed for people whose first language is English.  Then there was the fact that international students are actually required to post higher scores than their native counterparts, if they want be admitted.  Challenges notwithstanding, this spring Daisy made her move; she passed the GRE, applied to the program, and was accepted.  That’s when she started making her triumphant, “I bleed maroon!” phone calls to friends and family.

What does she like most about being an Aggie?  “Aggies are more mature.  They love their school,” she enthuses.   “They love being Aggies and connect instantly with other Aggies.”

When asked what she would like to tell her fellow Aggies, Daisy had this to say:  “Always pursue your passion.  Don’t give up, no matter how many obstacles you face, or how long you have to try to achieve your goal.  And remember:  You often learn the most in the hard times.”

If you would like to see some of Daisy's design work or find out more about the Department of Multicultural Services, please visit the department's website at http://dms.tamu.edu/.

Contributed by:
Kathy DiSanto, Communications Specialist
Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs