Tokyo Speaks

Episode 88 – One Woman’s Passion for Social Impact

Episode 88: Angela Ortiz is the founder of the volunteer-led nonprofit, Place to Grow, and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Senior Manager at Adidas Japan. In this episode, we discuss the following topics with Angela:

  • Growing up in Japan’s countryside as a Colombian-American with her parents and 10 siblings
  • Becoming a mother at 19 years old
  • Finding impetus in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of March 11, 2011.
  • Pursuing a career in social impact
  • Creating her nonprofit Place to Grow
  • Writing her first book on social impact

This episode is sponsored by Code Chrysalis. 

[Place to Grow]

https://placetogrow-ngo.org/

Place to Grow: 8 principles that will make you an effective leader in social impact

by Angela Ortiz

[Guest host: Oulimata Gueye] 

@lasenegarujin

[Social Links & RSS]

RSS Feed: https://www.tokyospeaks.com/feed.xml

Instagram: @tokyospeaks_

Twitter: @tokyospeaks_

[Support via Ko-fi]

https://ko-fi.com/tokyospeaks

Episode 87 – Black-Owned Anime Studio Makes History in Japan

Episode 87: In 2016, Arthell Isom and his twin brother, Darnell Isom, founded D’ART Shtajio Inc. – the first foreign-owned anime studio in Japan. Arthell and his studio has worked on projects for Netflix, Grammy Award-winning music artist, The Weeknd, and was recently featured in Pharrell and Jay-Z’s “Entrepreneur” music video. In this episode we discuss the following topics:

  • Arthell’s love for illustration and background painting for anime
  • Studying at the Academy of Arts University in San Francisco
  • Black culture & anime
  • Working on an animation project for The Weeknd
  • Being featured in Pharrell and Jay-Z’s music video
  • Working for Ghost in the Shell Art Director, Hiromasa Ogura
  • Founding in his own anime studio in Japan

This episode is sponsored by Code Chrysalis. 

[Follow D’ART Shtajio]

https://dartshtajio.com/

[Guest host: Danté Carver] 

@dantecarverofficial

[Guest host: Mega Robinson]

@megadesu_

[Social Links & RSS]

RSS Feed: https://www.tokyospeaks.com/feed.xml

Instagram: @tokyospeaks_

Twitter: @tokyospeaks_

[Support via Ko-fi]

https://ko-fi.com/tokyospeaks

Episode 85 – Getting to Know the Organizers of Black Lives Matter Tokyo

Episode 85: Sierra Todd and Jaime Smith are organizers of the Black Lives Matter Tokyo Peaceful March. On June 14, 2020, Sierra and Jaime—along with the rest of their team—put on Tokyo’s largest Black Lives Matter event, which drew more than 3,000 attendees. In this episode, we discuss the follow topics:

  • How Black Lives Matter Tokyo started
  • Preparing for the peaceful march
  • Post-march reflections (challenges and lessons learned)
  • Sierra and Jaime’s backgrounds 
  • Being Black and Queer
[Read more…]

Episode 84 – Destigmatizing Periods

Episode 84: Marina Yoshimura is the Founder and President of PERIOD@Tokyo, which is a chapter of the parent organization PERIOD. In this episode, Marina tells us why she decided to start a chapter of PERIOD in Japan. We’ll also discuss various aspects of menstruation (periods) such as deep-rooted stigma, education, health, first-time experiences, and accessibility of period products. 

Guest host, Chalice Davis (also known as singer/songwriter Afrodyty), gives this episode another level of depth by sharing a horrific menstrual experience and condition that undermined her health in 2019. 

[Read more…]

Episode 83 – Cyberpunk Girl: Using Tech to Inspire

Steffie Harner is a Software Engineer at Code Chrysalis; Co-Founder of Startup Lady Japan; and Cyberpunk content creator/influencer. Steffie came to Japan simply to fulfill her childhood dreams, but a series of events led her to co-founding a nonprofit organization for female entrepreneurs and a new career in software engineering. In this episode, we chat with Steffie about the following:

  • Co-founding Startup Lady Japan
  • Becoming a software engineer
  • Her life and career in Silicon Valley
  • Her love for Cyberpunk and digital content creation
[Read more…]

Episode 82 – COVID-19 Tokyo: Community Check-In

Episode 82: Returning guests, Robin Lewis, Kayoko Hirano, and Yan Fan, join Tokyo Speaks remotely to talk about how they’re adjusting to this new reality caused by the Coronavirus (COVID-19). Although we all are dealing with a global pandemic that has impacted every aspect of our lives, Robin, Kayako, and Yan share some ways that we can still be productive, healthy, and helpful to others in their time of need.  

[Read more…]

Episode 81 – Forging Your Own Path

Episode 81: Amber Chook is Co-founder of Zebra Global and Founder of TEDxRoppongi (an independently-organized TEDx event in Tokyo). Amber moved to Mie, Japan from Harbin, China at the age of 15, and she was placed in a high school that had low expectations for its graduates.

Instead of following the standard path for women in the area, getting married and becoming a housewife, Amber pushed aside her high school responsibilities and religiously studied English on her own; then eventually pursued her college education at Hosei University in Tokyo. 

In this episode, we discuss topics such as:

  • Growing up in China and Japan
  • Her interest and career in Blockchain technology
  • Women empowerment in the tech/fin-tech sector
  • Her passion for social impact
[Read more…]

Episode 80 – Machine Learning Tokyo

Episode 80: The featured guests are Machine Learning Tokyo (MLT) members Suzana Ilić (co-founder), Dimitris Katsios, and Asir Saeed. MLT is a Tokyo-based nonprofit organization dedicated to democratizing Machine Learning (ML). They are a team of engineers and researchers–now with a community of 5,000 people–and the winner of the Rakuten Technology & Innovation Silver Award 2019. 

In this episode, we discuss the following topics: 

  • What is Machine Learning  
  • What kind of knowledge base is needed to excel in Machine Learning
  • How to participate in MLT study sessions and events
  • Diversity, inclusion and ethics in Machine Learning
  • Future career opportunities 
[Read more…]

Episode 79 – Foreign Moms in Tokyo

Episode 79: Ebony Norwood-Brown and Barbara Kobayashi are teachers and foreign moms residing in Tokyo. This episode is all about their experiences of motherhood – more specifically, motherhood from the perspective of two foreign (American) women. We discuss topics such as:

  • Prenatal care in Japan
  • Family/spousal relationships
  • Work-life balance
  • Japanese traditions related to pregnancy and birth
  • Raising biracial and multiracial kids in a homogenous society
[Read more…]