Wahono Kolopaking or Nano, as people call him, was born in 1974 and spent his childhood and teenage years in Bogor City, West Java, Indonesia. Nano had always been among plural and multi-cultural environments. His mother is German, born in a small town called Trier and came from a pious, working family. Nano’s father is of Sundanese Javanese descent, born in Bandung District, and grew up in Banjarnegara District, Central Java in a veteran, religious family. Even though Nano came from a Muslim family, Nano underwent his elementary and middle education at a Catholic school in Bogor. He learned to be tolerant, value different opinions, and socialize in the school’s pluralistic setting. After graduating high school, Nano could not continue to higher education and so went on to work at a medicinal store near his house. A year later, in 1994, Nano continued his education at a vocational higher learning institution in Bandung, West Java, majoring in hospitality and tourism and succeeded in gaining his diploma 3 years later. His passion for keeping on learning brought Nano to enroll at the Economic Faculty of a state university in Jakarta in 2001 whilst working at an education-focused foundation. Nano achieved his bachelor’s degree in economics in 2004.
Nano’s hospitality and tourism education led him to start his career as a hotelier, a trainee at a Singaporean hotel for 6 months in 1996. Thus, working there was his first experience at the regional level and interacting with the global community. Upon graduating from his vocational education in 1998 in Bandung, Nano worked at a service apartment in Jakarta as a Housekeeper. But God had other plans. Nano was forced to leave his employment as the apartment had to reduce its workforce due to political situations and conditions. In the following months, Nano had the opportunity to work as a part-time receptionist at an education-focused foundation in South Jakarta. During that time, Nano slowly gained insights and interest in learning and exploring a career in the not-for-profit and social development sector. Nano spent 9 years there and went on to commence his career journey at numerous nonprofit and philanthropic organizations such as Putera Sampoerna Foundation, Ancora Foundation, Indonesian International Education Foundation, JAPFA Foundation, and Tanoto Foundation; all the while remaining active in various community development and humanitarian projects at national, regional, and international levels. His work demanded many business trips and interactions with parties that were assorted socially, culturally, and geographically and honed his journalistic, human interest, social and documentary photography skills. These photography skills ultimately bolstered and supported Nano in carrying out his work.
