Speaker: Cynthia Usui, founder of First Step
Hosting Committees: Women in Business; Tourism Industry
Registration/Cancellation Deadline: Monday, June 22 (15:00)
This event will be hosted as a webinar. Instructions for joining the virtual meeting will be sent to registered attendees after the above stated deadline.
Event Overview
Cynthia Usui is a force of nature. She has been profiled to global audiences in the Financial Times and to domestic audiences in The Asahi Shimbun. She has been covered in Oggi magazine, and NHK even produced a drama based on her experiences. She has published one book and has another on the way. And, on top of all that, she has forged a rewarding career in Japan’s hospitality industry.
But achieving all this required a lot of hard work and deep reflection. Cynthia came to Japan as a student under the Japanese government Monbugakusho program, supported by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Later, while working here at a trading company, she met her future husband. When his career as a Japanese diplomat took off, Cynthia put hers on hold and followed him around the world as a diplomat’s wife. After a 17-year career as a stay-at-home mom—and yes, career is the right word, as Cynthia will explain—she decided to rejoin the regular workforce.
This discussion, moderated by Women in Business Committee Vice-Chair Deborah Hayden, will be a story of disappointment, struggle, hardship, and incredible fortitude. Cynthia will explain how she had to take the knocks on the chin and slowly build her own personal brand—from scratch, brick by brick—to become what she is today: a published author and sought-after figure with a solid career in the hospitality industry, courted by the world’s media.
We hope Cynthia’s story will inspire others and help women, in all walks of life, realize that the seemingly impossible is, in fact, possible.
More about Cynthia
When she rejoined the regular workforce after a 17-year career as a stay-at-home mom, Cynthia began as a junior banquet coordinator at Tokyo American Club. She then moved to the ANA InterContinental Tokyo, where she rose from the position of sales manager to assistant director for new business development in just three years.
Her basic hospitality program has received government grants, and she continues to mentor program participants through a weekly online talk show.
Cynthia’s first book, Eight Things Full-Time Housewives Should Do Before Entering the Workforce (original Japanese title Sengyou Shufu ga Shuushoku Suru made ni Yatteoku beki Yatsu no Koto), became an eight-episode NHK drama entitled Shufu Katsu! in 2018. Her second book, a manga essay recounting her experiences raising her daughter, is scheduled for release in July.
LinkedIn profile:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/薄井シンシア-cynthia-usui-003b8755/
Corinne Johnson and Jiana Leung, Co-Chairs
Elizabeth Handover, Deborah Hayden, Debbie Reilly, Makiko Tachimori (Fukui), Eric Waters, and Yoshiko Zoet-Suzuki, Vice-Chairs
ACCJ Women in Business Committee
Cynthia Usui and Steven Clark Dewire, Co-Chairs
Sanae Sekiya, Vice-Chair
ACCJ Tourism Industry Committee
NOTE 1: This event is ON THE RECORD.
NOTE 2: Please note that, as with all guest presentations, the content and comments of the speakers reflect their own opinions and do not necessarily represent the opinions or policies of the ACCJ.