Three simple questions, but please excuse the details.

I’m 24 years old, female, living in Jakarta Indonesia, and a sophomore in college studying communication management. I’m quite knowledgeable at basic business administration, public relations, marketing, world cultures, philosophy and public speaking, and am a gifted trilingual.

Previous jobs I’ve had include hosting a radio talk show, producing a theatre production, hosting concerts and seminars as master of ceremony (MC), interpreting, translating, make up artist, and HR intern at a small company marketing consumer goods. The problem is, I’ve never achieved anything consistently significant in these jobs because they’re mostly project based and I didn’t network enough to consistently have projects on my plate. And because I always seem to be starting over, I’ve never made enough money to support myself either.

Other challenges that have stopped me from launching a career were mostly personal, such as abusive relationships, family conflict, and very frequent international relocations in my late teens & early twenties. While I’ve done my best to detach my private life from my professional setting, I still subconsciously carry a lot of emotional baggage that I don’t even know is there. This has affected the way I make decisions and relate to people. I am, however, getting help in dealing with this baggage, and expect that I will recover once I start seeing results in my professional life (i.e. reputation, sustainable achievements, and money).

I had meant to start working last year, but abandoned a pending job offer orted the plan when I got trapped into producing a theater production for a businessman who casted this vision of a great theater company but did nothing to follow it up. Before this, my confidence level in entering the workforce had been recovering and I was excited about starting to work… but since the theater company didn’t work out as expected, I feel like a loser who had been cheated on again. However, I don’t want to create an identity as one who never finishes what she started, so we decided to press on by doing street performances for charity. In the meantime I will spend less time working there and more time on finding a real job that I love, makes a difference in the lives of others, and makes money.

The thing is, at this point I feel lost, and need to recover my confidence that had corroded when the theater company missed my expectations. If I didn’t feel that way, I could probably see my options more clearly and have more courage to make wise decisions.

I want a career that fits my talent and passion (i.e. writing, speaking, and conceptualising creative ideas). Other than creative writing and public speaking, I don’t really have much experience or expertise, but I do know a little bit about a lot of stuff and am a fast learner. People have told me that I am intelligent, good looking, and drive extra miles to produce excellent results. I prefer jobs that aren’t set in an office, are deadline oriented but flexible with hours and methods, and facilitate me to meet a myriad people who are beneficial to my professional network.

Anyhow, it boils down to these three questions:
1. What jobs should I consider, where can I learn more about them, and how can I network so that I can consistently have plenty of options when it comes to choosing my projects?
2. Which competitive edges should I sell, so that people will want to hire me although I’m about to hit quarter life and have limited experience?
3. What are some practical things I can do to pick myself up so I don’t get too bogged down with the emotional baggage and have more confidence & energy to break through with my career?

Thank you so much! God bless you.