Born in Jakarta, Indonesia, Angus moved to Australia to follow his dream of becoming a star. He started off his journey by studying Hospitality at TAFE in Brisbane. Three or so years later, he found what he loves and enjoys doing, with work, love and career in good balance. Has he achieved his goal of stardom? WE get the insight to his life and ask him many questions.
WE: First thing first, Angus isn’t your real name? why Angus?
Angus: No it’s really not. My real name in Bahasa is “ Wahyudi” which means “revelation” in this context it’s a “Revelation in the family”.
I chose the name Angus after my favorite meal at the restaurant I often went to. The manager recognized me and remembered what I usually ordered, when he sees me he asks “Angus beef burger for you?”. I love my name.
WE: Tell us a bit of life back home before coming to Australia?
Angus: I was born in Jakarta-Indonesia. I must say that I am truly a child of a multicultural family. My father is a Chinese, my mom is a Catholic and where I lived there was majority Muslim. I was fortunate to experience many cultures and absorbed the goodness from them. It makes me understand the meaning of “liberation” and helps me appreciate the sense of being “open minded”. I think I am lucky to have grown up in a very vibrant and colorful neighborhood.
WE: What is your background and what brought you to Australia?
Angus: From Jakarta, my mother and I moved to live in Bali. I had been working in the hospitality industry for 12 years. I graduated from Tourism Vocational School and got a job as the youngest travel consultant in Jakarta. I worked for an Australian owned hotel, a hair spa and I did some part time work in a nightclub in Bali. The experience provided me an understanding of the hospitality and entertainment industry, so I chose to study more in this field when I came to Australia. I am aiming to get some work in hospitality here after my graduation.
I came to Australia with big dreams and it has not been a disappointment. I love it here. It was 3 years ago that I arrived to study at TAFE and started living with my previous boyfriend. I was expecting to find a better education plus work at sorting out my “Love Life”. It was great. TAFE Queensland had chosen me to represent a campaign for International Student in Hospitality in 2015. I was interviewed and my video interview is still on YouTube channel. The only thing that wasn’t good is that unfortunately my relationship finished a year after.
WE: Apart from your education and love life that made you happy in your new life in Australia, what has Australia provided you in terms of adding to what you aim to achieve?
Angus: Coming to Australia had opened up a whole new world for me. It is an entirely different culture that I found to be refreshing. It’s open, it’s welcoming and there is a lot of opportunity. I have found a new boyfriend now and we live happily together. As a kid, I always dreamt to be a star, and here I am. I have a career that I love and I have a lot of friends that I can call family, we speak the same language and we share cultural goodness together.
WE: Who or what inspires you to want to be a better person, to do better things or be in a better place?
Angus: My Mom. She is a fighter and I love her till the end of time. She taught me to be strong, but gentle. She taught me to be resilient, careful and well counted in life. And there is this singer name Anggun, the Indonesian-born lady who moved from Indonesia to chase her dream back in the early 90’s. She chose London as the destination to find her dream and for couple years she failed, and was rejected. She then moved to France. She later became a renowned international singer and is now a French citizen. She represented France in Eurovision back in 2012. She won a World Music Award, was a judge on Asia’s Got Talent and a UN Ambassador. She has 6 French albums and has heaps of awards from Gold, Platinum and Diamond for her album sales. She is my role model who taught me to follow your dream and if she can achieve this huge dream, I can to. Maybe not in singing though, but in my “category”.
WE: What have you learnt from being a migrant in Australia?
Angus: I have learnt that in life, everything is achievable! As long as we work hard for what we want. I am one of the examples, I am a migrant, but I blend in nicely with Australia, the people and the culture. I love it here.
My current work place is one of the biggest parts of my journey so far. You can see me five days a week at the Eleven Rooftop Bar and I will be happy to serve you all there. My role there is to serve people, to make the customer happy and I go the extra mile to make it happen.
WE: What is your goal in next 5 years?
Angus: My goal is I want to be a better version of myself every day. But as a long-term goal for the next 5 years, I want to be an entertainer of some sort. I want to try out something that could be more fun and probably something I never done before. But really who can predict the future heh? I don’t want to expect anything but let’s see in 5 years time what I can achieve.
Photos by Bruno Domingues