Uncategorized – Page 2 – Grit – Passion & Perseverance

Speak Authentically, With a Foreign Accent

I joined Toastmasters this summer. Toastmasters is a non-profit organization with many “clubs” all over the world, and provides a platform for people to improve their public speaking and leadership skills. I came across a post about Toastmasters on Facebook, and wanting to know more about it, visited one of their clubs in Manhattan. IContinue reading “Speak Authentically, With a Foreign Accent”

There is No Such Thing as Too Many Books

My father loved books. He worked for a traditional publishing company in Japan. He would say, “It makes me sigh, when I think about how many more books I will be able to read for the rest of my life and how many great books are out there…”I inherited the love for books from myContinue reading “There is No Such Thing as Too Many Books”

Find Your Voice

About three weeks ago, after a yoga class, I was going up a staircase when, halfway up, I heard a nice, deep sound coming from above. I looked up and found a slender lady tapping the stairs with her foot on the top of the staircase. I recognized her – she was in the sameContinue reading “Find Your Voice”

A Double Standard Women Need to Deal with

There is a famous case study done by a Columbia Business School professor, in which he divided his class into two groups, and presented the same exact case study of a successful venture capitalist. The only difference was that the person was presented as Howard to one group, and as Heidi to the other. HowardContinue reading “A Double Standard Women Need to Deal with”

Hola! Embrace Different Cultures

I spent about a half of 2015 in Mexico City. The bank I work for was establishing a Mexico subsidiary there, and I was in the project team to build IT solutions for the new bank. That was one of the most memorable projects in my 20+ years career as an IT professional. Despite allContinue reading “Hola! Embrace Different Cultures”

Women In Tech

There are much less women in the IT industry than men. I manage an IT team in a Japanese bank. When we have openings and are to hire, most of the resumes we receive are from male candidates. Why? Somehow, less women consider the tech career. According to a 2018 survey, ratios of women inContinue reading “Women In Tech”

A Sign of Bravery

I published my first English Kindle book in August. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X2V8SLX Between May and August this year, I published three Kindle books in Japanese. The first book was a memoir looking back at my life in the U.S. The second was about women at work and women in leadership. The third book was about my day-to-dayContinue reading “A Sign of Bravery”

Introduction

Hi, there! My name is Suzie. I’m starting this blog because one of the Toastmasters Level 4 electives is to write a compelling blog. I’ve been writing Japanese blogs; however, writing an English blog is new to me, and to be honest, it will be quite challenging, since writing in English takes me twice asContinue reading “Introduction”