About Me

Hi! I’m Nila.

I love traveling, scuba-diving, reading and taking photos.

I love solo-traveling, because I can go to anywhere I want and spend hours in one spot, be it in a Buddhist temple or under a tree by the street, observing my surroundings, watching people, or talking to the local people who happen to be near me. I love making friends with the locals wherever I travel. For me, what makes travel experience memorable is the interaction with the locals and the conversation that we have with them.

I’ve been blessed to have the chance and opportunity to visit 34 countries in the world. Some of them I visited more than once, because I just love them so much, so keep coming back to those places :). Traveling makes me who I am now. I become more tolerant to other people, and most importantly, I know myself better. Things that I love most, things that I hate most, and things that make me cry or feel touched by. All of those experiences are so beautiful and I embrace every minute and every step of my travel.

I used to be a corporate slave. And I loved dressing up to work, wearing fancy blazer and high heels, working hard and making clients or supervisors impressed with my work. But currently, I went out of my comfort zone and tried being a full time social entrepreneur. I set up a non-profit organization, named Taman Bacaan Pelangi [Rainbow Reading Gardens], establishing children’s libraries for the kids who live in remote areas in Eastern Indonesia. In seven years, the organization has grown fast and established 42 libraries across 15 islands, benefitting over 12,700 children and distributing more than 100,000 books.

Not only that. People say that it’s more satisfying if our work is inline with our passion. So, to marry my passion in travel and education, I created “Travel Sparks”, a social enterprise in travel that carries the spirit of “Travel With A Cause”. Travel Sparks was a culmination of years of spending hours laying on the beach alone, looking out to the blue sea, listening to the sound of waves and thinking of what type of business that I want to do in life that will also make a difference on this planet.

For my work, I’m honored to receive some awards, such as “10 Iconic Women 2016” award, Forbes Indonesia’s 10 Inspiring Women 2015, the “Kartini Next Generation 2013” award from the Ministry of Communication & IT and Ministry of Women Empowerment & Child Protection, and many more. In 2016, I was also recognized as one of the 10 finalists of the EY Entrepreneur of The Year 2016, a prestigious award from Ernst & Young.

I will continue doing what I love and making a positive impact in the lives of others at the same time. Come and join me in this adventure of life! 🙂

You can reach me at nilatanzil at hotmail dot com and my social media accounts @nilatanzil 🙂

Cheers,
Nila