APU INA STORIES: PARADISI
Writer: Andrew Ariel Darwin | Illustrator: Carina Audrey Budiarto | Editor: Reinardus Darren | Photographer: Sita Rizky
Promoting Sustainable living, Eco-Friendliness, and encouraging a Healthier Lifestyle for the people, granted APU’s Project B aid, Paradisi is a sustainable organization founded by Mara, Tazkia and Vanessa working towards increasing the awareness of harmful chemicals found in household products (in particular, on soaps) and the environmental impacts from our daily life, whilst promoting sustainable living. Their idea is to produce a product that brings positive impact to society with as little capital as possible. Sounds intriguing right? Read more below!
To begin with, when was Paradisi created?
It started back in 2019 when Mara and I (Tazkia) began to work closely during the INA Week. Due to our great chemistry when working with each other, we realized that both of us had similar goals to contribute to society. After many endless discussions, we finally came up with the original concept of Paradisi where we wanted to focus more on improving sanitation quality. However, we were fully aware that their original concept was not strong enough to make a contribution to society. Hence, it was only when we welcomed their third founder Vanessa, Paradisi was able to improve its concept significantly. After some twists and turns, the three of us decided to join the APU Project B to seek guidance provided by the Student Office as well as the necessary funds.
So, why was Paradisi created?
Paradisi was originally born out of the founders' concern on sanitation quality in Indonesia. However, due to the pandemic we were unable to execute our original plan. Hence, we shifted our focus to promote a more sustainable living, eco-friendly, and healthier lifestyle taking advantage of the use of social media. We are aware that our chosen topics might not be as popular as other issues to advocate. However, we believe that we could elevate these topics through our creativity to ensure that we could get our points across to society. We are now happy to see that Paradisi has grown into a project that not only works to promote good things but also places for people to learn to explore their creativity.
Every organization has a purpose, but what is Paradisi’s goal?
We aim to increase awareness to be more mindful of the toxic chemicals found in household products (more specifically on soaps) and the environmental impacts from our daily life, whilst promoting sustainable living. The idea is to produce a simple product with as little capital as possible, but still bring positive impacts to the society.
Everyone faces difficulties, what are the main obstacles that stand between Paradisi and its mission, and how do they plan to overcome them?
Our mission is to spread positive messages to the world through a soap that can unite APU communities from the production process until the hands of participants, a soap that increases awareness of healthy, sustainable, and environmentally friendly living. However, in this pandemic, we struggle to spread our messages to our target audiences (APU communities). This can be seen from our events, where many people wanted to join but we had to limit the number of participants adhering to the health protocols set by APU. Moreover, it was also difficult for us to provide information on social media that inspires our target audiences.
The solution that we came up with for the former problem was that even though the participants were limited, we give our best service and make it an inclusive exhibition where participants can freely comment and ask questions. For the latter problem, to get social media engagement, we make our Instagram account as eye-catching as possible and make it an aesthetic, minimalist, simple, and elegant design and information.
With the pandemic and its conundrum, what is the main motivation that keeps Paradisi going?
Our main motivation is the desire to grow together as an organization. During the pandemic, there were a lot of hurdles, such as having to cancel our plans and not being able to interact closely with our members. However, we persist by reflecting on our faults, getting feedback from our members, and through the guidance of our supervisor. We honestly have no regrets as we ultimately managed to deliver our messages across to our target audiences and grow together as a team.
Lastly, Is there anything that you wish more people knew about your organization or the issues you are trying to solve?
Tazkia: “I wish APU communities know that Paradisi is more than just a soap-making organization. When people think of Paradisi, the first thing that comes up is organic soap. However, Paradisi is more than that; we are an organization that raises awareness on environmental issues and healthier lifestyles. These are the messages that we would like to share with the communities.”
Vanessa: “It saddens me that people care so little about the environment. I admit that making big changes to save the environment can be inconvenient, but people often underestimate the small actions that each one of us can do. Through Paradisi, we motivate every individual to save the environment in their own ways. No matter how small your actions are, if we do them together, it will bring big impacts.”
Mara: “I would like Paradisi to be seen as not just an environmental organization, but as an organization that encourages individuals to have fun and express their creativity while saving the environment. We create elegant and unique designs to deliver our messages that can be easily understood by our target audiences. In other words, we are delivering the message of how environment communication through creativity can bring significant influence.”