After completing her B.A. from Occidental
College in Los Angeles, CA, USA
in Comparative Literature, she studied Japanese language and
culture in Tokyo at Waseda
Foreign Language Institute, earning
her Diploma for Advanced Study of Japanese in 1976, as well
as her professional stage
name and teaching certificate from
the Iwai School of Japanese Classical Dance in 1974. She was
awarded the Japanese Ministry
of Education (Mombusho) scholarship
and was able to complete her M.A. in Classical Theater and
Dance in 1980 at the Waseda
University Graduate School, Literature
Dept. under Dr. Masakatsu Gunji.
Her professional career started
as Creative Director of Earthguide
Japan Inc., a multi-media screen
engineering/presentation company
for Coca-Cola. After
successfully promoting the brand
business of multi-national cosmetics
companies as marketing manager
for the Aramis Div. of the Estee Lauder Group and in
product development and management
at L'Oreal Japan for brands, Lancome,
Institut de Beaute, and Helena Rubinstein, she was invited
in 1987 to join the management
consulting firm, Vaubel & Partners
Ltd. under the Deutsche Bank as
a consultant, specializing in the luxury consumer goods
industry. Later the company name
was changed to Roland Berger & Partners
Ltd. in 1990.
In 1992, she was
appointed as Vice President of
Apparel Division of Reebok Japan Inc. and grew
the sports and fitness apparel
business until 1994. Then, in the
fall of the same year Ginza Shorou Gallery was started,
and she became advisor for this
family business. While establishing
the gallery specializing in calligraphy, sumi-e (black ink)
painting, and Japanese painting,
she started her A to Z Sado Enterprises
Ltd. the following
year. As partner, she has set
up the Legacy Memoirs business
under Breakthrough Seminars Inc.
in oral history and publishing of personal/family memoirs
from 1998, transfering the Ellen
Epstein methodology into Japanese.
Workshops focused on interviewing skills were also conducted
from 2004 that could be effectively
applied in business.
Currently this business is carried
on by her proteges. In 2003 she
successfully transferred the STAR (Success Through Action and
Responsibility) workshop of
Jack Canfield, author of the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" into
Japanese with a team of empowered women and serves as business
partner and facilitator of STAR International Japan. From 2004
to 2005, CEDS (Competitive Excellence with DiversityStrategy)
has been developed for the Japanese market through a tie-up
of NPO GEWEL and K.Iwata Associates Inc. to bring diversity
consulting/training to Japanese corporations and multi-nationals
of foreign subsidiaries.
Currently in the non-profit area, she serves as Vice-President
of NPO GEWEL, Global Enhancement of Women's Executive Leadership, which has
been officially established and acknowledged in January of 2004. GEWEL is
also the international alliance partner for the Global Summit of Women 2006
in Berlin. She currently serves as chairman of PR and Communications committee
(2006-2008)of Zonta International, District 26 covering 42 Zonta Clubs in
Japan and acts as the chair of UN/International Committee for Zonta Club
of Tokyo III, consisting of women executives and professionals of Japan to
advance the status of women worldwide.
She has won the second prize for the Toastmasters International District
76 All Japan Speech Contest in May, 2004 and continues to speak for various
organizations such as the Women's Network of several corporations, such as
GE Japan, Eli Lilly Japan, Accenture, etc. She founded the KeyForce Toastmasters
Club, dedicated to improve the communications and leadership skills of women
in 1999. As director of NPO JKSK board (2006-2008), she has interviewed male
and female leaders of top corporations on Diversity as shown in the website
of JKSK (Empowering Women, Empowering Society). She serves as council member
of the Girl Scouts of Japan (2006-2008). Other affiliations are with the
Tokyo Chamber of Commerce & Industry Businesswomen's Club, Asian Pacific
American Leadership Institute (APAWLI) in the USA, the International House
of Japan, and Japan Oral History Association as a charter member/treasurer
and currently as co-chair of
the Workshop Committee. Her newest achievement is the Master's certification
from Koryu Toyokai Suibokuka Temae in elegant ikebana flower arrangement
accompanied by waka poetry chanting.
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