Ghina Hana Sabrina aims to empower youths in Indonesia to fully cultivate their potential in business. After graduating from the University of Westminster, London, with a BA in Digital Media and Communications in 2017, Ghina returned to Indonesia and joined the social media & editorial team at Whiteboard Journal, later becoming a managing editor.
Inspired by the intersection of storytelling, community, and creativity, she co-founded DIAL, a creative consultancy specialising in visual design, communication, and creative strategy. She also leads initiatives like Gen8, a youth-led movement empowering young entrepreneurs to accelerate Indonesia’s economic growth through education, mentorship, and community building.
Throughout her journey, Ghina has leveraged both her UK education and her network of fellow UK alumni to build a career that bridges creativity, entrepreneurship, and cross-industry collaboration in Jakarta.
Read on to hear how studying in the UK helped shape her creative mindset, global awareness, and collaborative approach to her work.
I started to become interested in the UK when my parents sent me on a study trip as a teenager. “In middle school, I took a study trip to London for two weeks to learn English. And I fell in love with the city instantly.” I took Digital Media and Communications because, at that time, I felt like “the digital part of the media was supposed to be something brand new, and it's going to be big.”
I took a bet. And it was a good one.
The UK is home to leading media around the world, such as the BBC and many others. I was able to learn firsthand from these industry leaders. They had a lot of guest lecturers and offered mentorship, where we can consult and discuss directly. There wasn’t a lot of bureaucracy to learn from the experts; they were very open to teaching young minds like myself, either via email, WhatsApp, or meeting for coffee.
Academically, I was able to gain a lot of valuable knowledge from practitioners and have easy access to well-known figures through our uni programmes. While most of the things I learned during my course often have different context from what’s happening in Indonesia, the way UK academia cultivates critical thinking and a research-driven mindset has stayed with me.
“It’s shaped how I approach every project today, such as questioning assumptions, looking at issues from multiple angles, and grounding ideas in thoughtful, evidence-based strategies that work in our local context.”
One of the things that I do enjoy with the education system there is the ability to make friends easily from other universities, through free open lectures and just learn from the best of the best together. Not only that, beyond the classrooms, many of my most valuable learnings came from experiences outside the lecture halls. Being a student came with its own perks, from free or discounted access to museums, event venues, and even certain shops and restaurants, opening doors to opportunities that might not have been accessible otherwise. These experiences became an extension of my education.
Outside of academic experience, culturally and socially, London is a global cultural hub. I was surrounded by people from diverse backgrounds.
“I got to experience firsthand the journey of emerging artists, like musicians, artists, filmmakers that are big now. I also got to experience working for well-known companies, such as the Financial Times lifestyle magazine, How to Spend It. It was a lot of work, but I’m grateful for the experience."
Having studied in the UK completely shaped how I see and navigate the world. I think also because the UK curriculum encourages you to be self-sufficient, so it goes down to how you need to be disciplined with your work, and you could assess yourself and your quality of work. I still bring that kind of thinking to my work right now.