Jakarta. Succeeding in corporate America is a dream for many young women. And it is very rare to see a female Asian —especially an Indonesian woman— in top positions in the US corporate world, but Sonita Lontoh has proven that dream is possible to achieve.

Sonita has always been passionate about new technologies. When she first started out her career, she wanted to work in an area that was not only selling a product but also contributing to society. Fast forward to the present day, Sonita is an independent board director at the US solar panel giant Sunrun and workforce solutions company TrueBlue. She is also an advisor to the venture capital firm Sway Ventures. 

“When there are no successful female Asians at the highest levels, other young women will think that it is not possible. Representation matters,” Sonita recently told the Jakarta Globe.

“Representation matters because if you do not see, then you cannot be or become defined by Hollywood movies,” Sonita said.

Studies have also shown that having diverse boards is a boon for businesses, according to Sonita. 

A 2022 Women Count study shows that corporations with over a quarter of women on their executive committees realized a profit margin of 16 percent. This was more than tenfold higher than those with no female board members. A 2020 McKinsey report revealed that companies with high gender diversity on their boards were 25 percent more likely to deliver above-average profitability compared to those in the bottom quartile.

Sonita’s journey has taught her a valuable lesson: women need to have a unique point of view or something that other people have not thought of. Women should also be articulate in expressing those thoughts. 

In the past, Sonita used to serve as the CMO for personalization, 3D printing and digital manufacturing at tech giant HP. Sonita said she managed to convince HP into launching Arize, an end-to-end digital orthotic solution for podiatrists and orthopedists.

“At first, the most natural business model was to sell 3D printing solutions to other companies. But I believed that was not the only business model that HP could pursue. 3D printing is the perfect fit for anything that requires customization like orthotics and prosthetics. And HP had a really big risk appetite because they wanted to disrupt an industry," Sonita said when asked what sort of “unique point of view” she had given throughout her career journey.

"So I had a conviction that there were certain verticals where HP could be the disruptor, namely orthotics and prosthetics, which were a fragmented market in the US,” she added.

Sonita also has a message for young Indonesians out there: namely to find the intersection of passion, skills, and purpose.

“Young people should think about combining their passion with skills. But most importantly, find a purpose [in what you do]. If whatever you are doing has a purpose, you get more satisfaction out of it and you can become even better,” Sonita told the Globe.