Those who attended the 2022 CA Regional Congress will recall the wonderful Subud symbol cookies made by Haryanti Jones, Chair of the Los Angeles Subud Center. The cookies were both beautiful and challenging to make! However, Haryanti’s special joy is making cakes – and now she has founded her own company based on this passion. Here’s her story.

After graduating with a degree in pharmacy from University of Indonesia, Haryanti realized that her interest and talent was in marketing. She enjoys marketing’s dynamic quality, which arises from understanding the psychology of people to achieve persuasion. And, she loves that it involves both art and business acumen. 

When she and Luke Jones were married in 2019 and she moved with him to the US, Haryanti joined Luke’s business, Advocate Travel Marketing, which serves global customers such as the Kenya National Tourism Board and the Hilton Moorea Resort in French Polynesia (aka Tahiti). Although the Covid pandemic reduced demand for travel services in 2020, they picked up clients in Africa and the Middle East.

Haryanti got intrigued by videos of cakes posted, and was inspired to try her hand at cake decorating. When she made her first holiday cake, friends and family who saw her photos on social media were amazed that she could do this creative work. Haryanti realized that she had discovered a talent that both she and others could enjoy. By mid-2021, she

began developing a business. She started thinking about how to build a brand and find the right name. In Indonesian, the word “lezat” means “delicious” which perfectly describes her cakes. She built a portfolio of cakes for special occasions: anniversaries, birthdays, and all kinds of holidays.

In October 2021, she procured her license to sell cakes as a Cottage Food Corporation in the County of Los Angeles which permits her to bake and sell from home. She developed her website to showcase her creations and manage online sales, baking to order for pick-up or delivery.

Although she offers cakes, cupcakes and cookies, most orders are for cakes, which offer the biggest canvas for creating something unique and customized. Customers may have an idea for a cake format or design, or they may ask her to create one. A key selling point is that all products are made using more than 90% organic ingredients. With a focus on customers aged 30-50, being visible on the internet is crucial to growing the business. Customers find her via Google search, as well as on Instagram and Facebook.

Haryanti uses what she has learned about building an image and reaching a target market to communicate based on the customer’s “side of the table”. Her “brand house” (above) is an important baseline tool, which encompasses the key messages and goals of the enterprise.

While she is currently able to meet most challenges and opportunities, Haryanti anticipates needing to hire staff to expand in future. At that point, she will need to figure out what can be delegated vs. what she must do personally.

Haryanti recalled that Ibu Rahayu has talked about understanding your talents, and that to know your talent takes time for the soul to progress. She provided reference to Ibu’s talk 99 NWH 01 (excerpt below):

With her skills, focus and talent, it will surely be an exciting and satisfying journey!

by Luqman Katz

At 21 yrs old, I hitchhiked 3000 miles from New York to Carmel Valley, CA. Why? I was going to attend SFAI, the art institute. A friend told me of this spiritual group called “Soyo” (so I thought). Well, turns out it was called Subud. Anyone hear of it? It was love at first experience and 50 years later, here I still stand. 

I eventually moved to London for a masters degree program in sculpture. There, I was a member of the Islington Group (at the time, there were over 10 Subud centers in the Greater London area). I was chairman there for a term, and half of the committee members were Americans!

Five years later, back in the states with a family and no means of support, I joined up with the Subud enterprise in Carmel Valley and learned cabinet making and carpentry. And this is what I did for the next 40 years. It was a delight, really. It fulfilled my creative bent and I learned to let my hands do the thinking for me. You know, it’s a what are your hands for kind of deal, and it works!

Recently, I have been the Chair of the Los Angeles Wilshire Center, helping develop new tenants, who have brought income to fund needed repairs to the building.

As your regional chair for these next two years, I would like to experience a return to the main reason we are all in this thing, the Latihan. Raphaela Riparetti (our new vice-chair) and I had a lunch meeting with our Regional Helpers about this and they couldn’t agree more. So, while we trudge through all the t crossing and i dotting, we’d like to emphasize the work of our helpers. I would love to have them travel more to visit all of you and to hold kejiwaan days up and down our coast.

Mo’ money and mo’ money will emerge to facilitate this, God willing and Amen!!!!!!

Pictured above: Luqman shows the new LA Roof to Farah Hess (then Chair of the Region’s Property Management Committee)

Three years ago, Hooman Baratipour arrived in California from Iran. A few months later he met up with Amir Rofougaran, the main owner of The 1909, where the Topanga branch of Subud LA meets for latihan every Tuesday night. Amir lived just down the road from where Hooman was living at the time. Through Amir, Hooman became interested in Subud and was opened on August 25, 2015.

For a while, Hooman was working for Amir at The 1909 doing various building and other jobs, all the while learning English, as he did not speak a word when he arrived from Iran.

However, a short time ago, he made a radical departure into his own new business. In November, he and a friend bought a coffee shop, the LO/CAL Café. The owner, a physiotherapist whose practice is next door to the coffee shop, could not cope with running both businesses.  The best part is that the cafe serves Stumptown coffee, which many believe to be the best coffee in the US.

So, next time you are in the area,  visit LO/CAL Café at 2214 Pico Blvd, Santa Monica, CA 90405, to have some great coffee or sample the food and say hello to Hooman!  For more details, see  http://www.local-coffee.com/

contributed by Robert Mertens and Luqman Katz

For many years, Subud LA has wanted to present Subud’s face to the world through signage on our Subud house on Wilshire Blvd.  Lorenzo and Henrietta Music started the campaign for new signs with a significant gift some years ago, and the fund had grown to about $13,000 though additional donations recently.

Aswan Karapetian has designed two attractive and compelling signs to grace our building on Wilshire Boulevard, and the vision is about to become real.

After vigorous negotiation with possible contractors, a bid was accepted for approximately $18,000 to do the job. Below is an email from Luqman Katz, LA Chair, telling our California committee about the completion of the LA sign fund drive.

The Subud hall is opposite the extensive La Brea Tar Pits Park and museum, and also the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Thousands of people walk by the Subud center every day without being very aware that there is something called Subud inside.  This is now changing.

Thank you to the Subud LA members and to everyone in Subud CA and across the US who have contributed and pledged to get the signs up and Subud’s name out.

Blessings,

Robert Mertens, Chairman Subud California

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Letter from Luqman Katz to Regional Committee, Feb 21, 2016,

We in LA would like to thank you for the offer of a bridge loan to cover the deficit for our signage expenses. Likewise, we were all very touched by the pledges and checks coming from individual council members. This helped us all feel supported by and connected to Subud California.

Prior to our accepting this loan, Hanafi Fraval took it upon himself to contact via phone and email members throughout the USA, including the Subud USA committee. The net result, which we have just found out, should cover our shortfall. The combined pledges and actual checks coming in from Seattle to North Carolina, Washington DC and cities in-between, has been humbling and reinforcing of the idea that we are all in this together.

This being the case, we would like to put on hold borrowing additional funds at this time, with the understanding that if necessary we could reactivate your offer. This is all very exciting for us and has rekindled energy in the group who is even discussing raising funds for the painting of our building.

I should mention here that our full-time tenants continue to tell us how pleased they are with us and our building and “would like to be felt as partners, not just renters” and have offered to contribute to the painting of our building.

So again thank you to all our regional sisters and brothers for your support. Aswan will be meeting with the sign company to finalize the details and I have booked the electrician to proceed with his work. Both signs will be lit with LED lighting and on timers, so will be energy efficient.

Your brother

Luqman, Chair, Los Angeles Subud