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1. My entrepreneurial father encouraged his children to become international in an environment where we often met foreigners.
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​2. I had a super-smart older brother who read encyclopedias like novels. My mother told me, "You have to study hard because your brother took the most of your brain." I believed her and became a hard worker.

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3. When I was two years old, one of my drawings got selected for an exhibition curated by the local town hall. My mother was delighted - "She is a genius artist!" - and encouraged me to pursue art. 
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4. At the age of three, I suffered third-degree burns on my left arm and neck due to an accident. My parents taught me to hide them. When I became a teenager, my father told me, "I don't think any man will marry you, but you can live with us forever." I didn't want to do that, so I thought, "I have to be financially independent."
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5. I excelled in sports, but I couldn't wear short-sleeved sportswear since I had to hide the burn scars. I declined to participate in any tournaments and eventually gave up on my wish of becoming an athlete or a dancer.
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6. After I failed to be accepted by the elite Tokyo University of the Arts, my father sent me to an English Intensive school in Vermont, USA, without asking my wish. After eight months, I moved to New York City and felt at home for the first time. 
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7. I enjoyed a successful career as an illustrator in my 20s to 40s and worked with many leading corporations and organizations including New York Times, American Express, and United Nations.
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8. Contrary to my father's prophecy, I had a colorful love life and got married twice. Even though both ended in divorce, I learned a lot from my ex-husbands.
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9. I always wanted to have children, but I could not conceive (a long story). But, I was lucky to have adopted a half Asian - half white newborn girl who grew up to be a remarkable woman. 
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10. I worked at an art gallery in the Chelsea section of Manhattan owned by a successful Japanese woman. I learned the joy of working with Japanese clientele.
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11. After my father's sudden passing in 2013, I took over one of the two small companies he left behind, a shipping and remittance business for Filipinos living in Japan. I managed the company by commuting between New York and Tokyo for two and a half years. My father's best friend, a former president of Marubeni Philippines, taught me everything about how to run a company. I restructured the company from the ground up.
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12. Two years later, my brother, who was only two years older than me, passed away. This event made me examine my life. I sold the company to the direct competitor, returned to New York City, and founded a business and creative agency, CoCollaborations, to bridge Japan and the U.S.

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13. Then the pandemic arrived! In the summer of 2021, I bought a small old house in Upstate New York and started a new life. 

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