Since 2007, Bali WISE has been dedicated to providing free, quality education to empowered young women across Indonesia. Over the past two decades, 2,030 young women have benefited from this life-changing program. One of these successful alumni is Lily Ripo, a graduate from Intake 57 (April–September 2024). On Thursday, June 4, 2026, Lily returned to campus to lead an inspiring “Alumni Sharing Session” for the 31 students of Intake 65. The visit brought back cherished memories for Lily while serving as a powerful source of motivation for the current intake.
Grounded in Growth: Life before Bali WISE
The session began with a brief introduction by Lily. She started by sharing her life story before joining Bali WISE, emphasizing to Intake 65 that success does not begin at the top. She spoke openly about living below the poverty line and struggling in a job that limited her opportunities for growth. Although she had known about the Bali WISE program since 2018, it took her six years to finally muster the courage to apply.
Next, Lily described how she faced initial obstacles in the admissions process due to health requirements. She initially failed the medical admissions stage, but she refused to give up. Instead, she took the initiative to undergo an independent medical re-examination on her own. Once she was declared fully healthy, she presented the new medical results back to Bali WISE and was accepted as a student for Intake 57.
Lily also highlighted the financial challenges her family faced when she was about to leave for the Bali WISE campus. They sold their pig and borrowed money from relatives to cover her travel expenses and living costs. It truly illustrates the real effort required to make a dream a reality.
Cultivating Character & Skills: Life During the Program
During the next session, Lily described her time at Bali WISE. It was a period of tremendous growth for her, especially as she learned to live and work alongside peers from vastly diverse cultural, regional, and religious backgrounds. One key point she emphasized was that this collaboration is essential, because every student shares the exact same ultimate goal: a better future.
Lily also shared how she balanced her academic studies in class with daily responsibilities, such as cleaning duty and cooking duty. She described how these practical experiences shaped her into a disciplined, responsible, and punctual person. She then encouraged the students to make the absolute most of every campus resource during their three-month foundational studies.
Moving on to her three-month practical training in the Front Office department, Lily shared how the internship immediately immersed her in the high-pressure, challenging realities of the hospitality industry. Challenges came from demanding guests, as well as seniors and supervisors. However, she consistently demonstrated dedication throughout the training period, handling everything from the smallest to the largest tasks. This provided invaluable insights for Intake 65, who are about to begin their own training phase.
Embracing the Horizon: Navigating Real-World Career Setbacks
In the final session, Lily highlighted the reality of entering the competitive hospitality industry after graduation. Lily shared that after graduating alongside her 29 classmates from Intake 57, the real test of resilience began in the working world.
Her career journey began as a daily worker in Canggu, a role that unfortunately ended after only a few months. As an ordinary person, she naturally felt like a failure. But instead of giving up, she turned that experience into motivation and successfully secured her next daily worker position at a five-star resort in Nusa Dua.
The next challenge, however, came at this second job. Despite spending 20 months giving her all, a promotion to a permanent staff position never materialized. Lily made the strategic decision to resign. She once again felt like a failure and questioned her professionalism. But once again, her perseverance ultimately led her to her current role as a permanent staff member at a resort in Labuan Bajo. This sweet victory served as the perfect conclusion to the event.
A Shared Journey: Strength for the Future
During this Alumna Sharing Session, Lily truly brought to life what it takes to achieve a dream by openly discussing the struggles, failures, and successes along the way. She presented herself as someone who started entirely from scratch. Her journey through both the academic and training programs demonstrated how a dream can bridge social and cultural divides, while also helping students overcome self-imposed limitations.
In pursuing any dream, failures and successes are always part of the journey. Lily showed that failure is never an indicator of permanent defeat, but is instead a necessary experience to build a stronger professional identity.
Her story stands as a true testament to the real struggles faced by herself and other alumni. It serves as a powerful reminder and a source of strength for Intake 65, as well as all future intakes who will walk this exact same path.
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