Konthea is our first local Managing Director who has been working with us for almost 8 years at JWOC. Before she became in the position, she has been working for various roles. We had a conversation with her to find out how excited she is after her first month in the new role, and what she will do in order to help our community.
- Can you introduce yourself a little bit?
My name is Konthea and I have been working at JWOC for almost 8 years. I graduated from a Bachelor’s degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). I’ve been holding various positions at JWOC, starting with the Community Project Manager, Education Manager, Program Manager, and now Managing Director.
2. How do you feel when you get promoted to be a Managing Director at JWOC?
It is exciting to be in this position as a female leader and it is also concerning to step up to another role. I need to think about what I will be doing and what are the areas of learning, areas of improvement and what I need to do in order to take this new role effectively.
3. What are the types of things you do on a daily basis?
Normally, as in the new role, the things that I do on my daily basis are supporting my team to resolve programs’ barriers. This includes lots of discussions, making decisions, and providing needed support to ensure that the staff are on the right track. Aside from that are things related to writing reports, updating policy, and capacity building among all staff and myself.
4. What has been exciting and/or challenging this new role?
Well, there are some exciting things such as new opportunities to learn related to the financial system. I have to involve myself more in fundraising, and I have more opportunity to learn more about strategy, rather than operational tasks. However, there are also several challenges in this new role; the main challenge of all is COVID-19 as we need to ensure that we have enough budget for program expenses and to stay connected with the community. As now our students are learning online and we cannot do much related to social events, we are now we mostly working with operational tasks such as online classes, counselling and emergency relief.
5. How has your experience working for JWOC been so far?
It was great that I have improved myself both professionally and personally. In my time at JWOC I have matured, improved my critical thinking and I have helped a lot of people as well. Importantly, it fulfills my life.
6. What do you want to achieve from this role?
I want to make sure that this organization will run smoothly and that our youth will get what they deserve: education, employment, and engagement with the community.
7. What will you do to support the JWOC team?
As a manager, what I have to do is to ensure that the team has the capacity to take care of their roles, to help them when they need support, and to ensure that their activities contribute meaningfully to JWOC’s Mission and Vision.
8. What advice would you give to the youth?
What I want to share with youth is that when you do anything, you need to think about the community, the quality of what you are doing, and what you will learn from it. Everything that you do requires your energy and your heart, so you must do it effectively and the benefit will come back to you unexpectedly.
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