purpose on the red carpet

The USC President Jessica Chaijaya is proving that influence and impact can share the same stage.

At the 79th Cannes Film Festival, the red carpet is as long and luminous as ever. But for Jessica Chaijaya, walking it was never the point. The Indonesian-born, Dublin-based president of the United Society Council arrived at this year’s edition with a delegation of philanthropists from Indonesia, Australia, and China. The purpose was not to be seen, but to be heard. Their mission: to support the first TIME Charity Gala during the festival and to amplify a cause that, for Chaijaya, is deeply personal.

The cause is No More Plastic, an initiative campaigning against the ocean pollution crisis that is devastating marine ecosystems worldwide. For someone who grew up in Indonesia, a nation of more than seventeen thousand islands, its identity inseparable from the sea. This is not abstract advocacy: it is a homecoming of sorts, using one of the world’s most visible stages to speak for a landscape she carries within her.

USC, the organisation Chaijaya leads, operates at the intersection of cultural diplomacy, philanthropy, and international leadership. Over several years, she has built a network spanning Cannes, Monaco, Paris, London, and Davos, connecting leaders, creatives, and changemakers through humanitarian initiatives. The approach is deliberate: visibility is not the goal but the vehicle.

This year’s Cannes programme reflected that philosophy. Across a series of private events, such as a networking lunch at the Majestic’s Ciro beach club, a dinner at Fouquet’s following the red carpet, an intimate lunch at a Michelin-starred restaurant on the Côte d’Azur, and the TIME Charity Gala itself, Chaijaya brought together guests who share her belief that wealth and influence carry an obligation to give back.

The gala evening, held in support of the No More Plastic Foundation, was both celebratory and purposeful. Distinguished guests gathered not merely for the spectacle of Cannes but for a collective acknowledgement that the environmental crisis requires action from those with the platforms and resources to drive change.

Chaijaya is also reshaping what representation looks like at Cannes. As one of the very few Indonesian diaspora figures actively embedded in European philanthropic circles, her presence challenges the festival’s traditionally Western-centric social landscape. Last year, USC invited Indonesian singer Syahrini to Cannes, generating significant attention back home. This year, the delegation included nineteen-year-old Kyra Kolim, a creative writing student and aspiring filmmaker, embodying Chaijaya’s commitment to bringing younger voices onto the international stage.

It is a vision rooted in something Chaijaya returns to often: that true influence is not measured by visibility alone but by the willingness to use it meaningfully. At a festival defined by image, she is making a quiet case for substance.

photography. Courtesy of USC + Maria Biardzka
words. Maria Biardzka