As Gengo’s Director of Marketing Communications, Nozomi’s role centers around defining and managing the company’s brand image as well as raising awareness for Gengo. To achieve this, she focuses on numerous outbound and inbound marketing activities, sales communications for our Tokyo office, as well as internal communications across the company.

Age: 29
Nationality: Japanese
Hometown: Kamakura, Japan
Languages: Japanese and English
Education: Bachelor of Arts, Whittier College; Master of Visual Culture, New York University

Where have you lived, and what were your previous roles?

I was born in Japan, but spent a few years of my childhood in New York while my father completed his MBA. I later returned to the U.S. and went to high school in Massachusetts. For college, I moved to California to get away from the cold weather and subsequently completed my master’s degree in New York. As a student, I interned at The Metropolitan Museum of Art as well as fashion brand Ralph Lauren.

After completing my master’s degree, I moved to Hawaii for a few months and returned to Japan in 2011. I worked for two years at a PR company in Tokyo, where my clients included Facebook and the Four Seasons Hotel and Resorts.

In 2013 I joined Wantedly, a Japanese social recruiting platform, where I was tasked with increasing the brand’s visibility.

How would you describe living and working in Tokyo?

The city has a similar vibe to New York, but I can eat Japanese food and speak Japanese here, too. So I get best of both worlds. However, although more tourists are starting to visit Tokyo, it still lacks the diversity that is present in New York.

Transportation in Tokyo is very efficient, and it’s convenient, easy and safe to live here, especially for women.

How long have you worked at Gengo?

I joined the company in July 2014. I started out as the marketing manager, but was recently promoted and aim to do more PR and events in the U.S. and around the world.

What drew you to the company?

I wanted to work in an environment where the meaning of diversity was understood. Most Japanese companies think that diversity just means employing people of different races. I believe that diversity includes gender, ethnicity and beliefs, too.

I also like that, through using English as our common language, it feels as if you are working in the U.S. without actually being there. Companies that provide this concept are rare in Japan as most foreign companies here are domesticated in a sense and just carry the brand name.

Finally, it’s really hard to find a company in Japan that values and respects personal life and places a value on having a work-life balance.

What do you most enjoy about your role?

I learn different things every day. I also love that I get to regularly interact with different people through meeting media and company representatives, as well as hosting events.

What have been some of your challenges, and how did you overcome them?

Having previously never worked somewhere with employees in different time zones, I initially found communication between our two offices quite difficult. As a result, I have learned how to communicate in a more constructive and succinct way.

Communicating via email or Skype bring problems of their own—it’s often difficult to tell the smaller nuances of conversation when communicating in this way.  To overcome this, I have learned how to read between the lines.

When working with people who have different backgrounds and beliefs, you often don’t know how they are going to react in certain situations. Japanese people tend to have similar reactions to the same things, so I’ve learned to customize my way of communication according to the environment.

How has Gengo changed since you started working here?

We have received funding to be able to accelerate our business, raise awareness and build a better platform for anyone around the world to use Gengo.

In addition, Japan gaining the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games has pushed Gengo to raise awareness of the need for translation, which has positioned the company in a more positive light.

What has been your biggest achievement within the company?

Before I joined the company, Gengo didn’t have a PR role or someone tasked with organizing events. I helped to build much clearer messaging and branding for employees and people outside the company. We now have a much better sense of control within Gengo.

What are you most excited about for the future at Gengo?

Expanding the numbers of employees at Gengo. Everyone here is very unique, and I’m excited to meet the future Gengons who will help take the company to the next level.

What do you think makes Gengo a great place to work?

Although we are based in Tokyo, it doesn’t really feel like we are in Japan as there are so many different nationalities in one office and our main language is English. This mixture adds uniqueness as well as character to a company.

What do you do in your spare time?  

I’m very much a homebody and love cooking and baking, especially for other people. I’ve never seen anyone unhappy while eating, and you can have great conversations with friends and family at mealtimes, too.

I also like watching documentaries, especially those that raise awareness for a particular cause or event and make you think differently about your life.

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