Her Confidence Her Way

Her Confidence Her Way

Japanese

I am all about Empower, Motivate and Inspire women.
Oh yes, that’s my name, Emi!
『こんな私なんかじゃ無理』と思う自分から『今の私で大丈夫』~I’m enough~と思える自分! 女性がパワフルに自分を信じて生きがい+充実感あるワークライフを生きるをフルサポート。
I still ask myself… “who am I to do this” or “there is no way I can do this”
I am not 100% confident all the time but I thing I learn about myself….
I am good enough! 
I said Yes to things that makes me excited and I am living a meaningful and purposeful life.
As a working mom, I decided not to choose one or the other!
Do you want to know the trick?
I don’t balance my work-life.  I don’t like the word balancing!
My answer is Work-Life blend.
If you are interested more, keep reading!

『私なんかじゃ無理…』

『私の英語に自信ないし…』

『特別な才能なんてないし…』

『なんでこんなこともできないんだろう』

『失敗して格好悪いとこ見られたら恥ずかい』

こんなことが理由で,今までやりたい事も出来ず、自分に制限をかけて、キャリアのプロモーションを何度か逃し、

日本人,一人しかいない、アメリカのオフィスで、恥ずかしい、悔しい、悲しい経験をしながら、

『このままじゃダメだ』と思いたち、パーソナルデベロプメント（自己啓発）の本を読だり、リーダシップトレーニングを受けりメンターシップを重ね、女性の自信について、女性の働き方、ワークライフの追求をしてきました。

私は、初めて留学に来た時、あまりの自信のなさに現地のアメリカ人と会話をするのがこわくなり落ち込む日々がありました。自分の発音にアクセントがあるから恥ずかしい、人前で話すと誰かが私のことを馬鹿にしているんじゃないか、現地の人とどうやって会話に入っていけるの？ミーティングで私の意見なんて聞いてくれる人なんかいないか。そして大学卒業後、日系の職に就いたものの、ただ単に『何でもいいから仕事を見つけないと』という焦りの気持ち、自分が何をしたいかも分からない、不安の気持ちから、なんと1日で仕事を辞めるという, ありえない経験をしてきました。

そんなつらい経験を乗り越え、今ではアメリカでプロモーションを重ね、リーダシップのポジションの地位に就き、マネージャーとして教育機関で働きリードしています。１０年プラス以上のリアルな経験から、自分の持つGifted Talentにフォーカスし、どんな失敗、チャレンジという壁にぶつかっても自分を責めるのではなく、自分の味方でいれる、自分に正直に生きることができる自信を持つ大切さを学びました。もっとたくさんの女性に、『自分を制限せず、生きがいを見つけ、本当にやりたいことをして充実感のあるワーク・ライフを生きる』をサポートしていきます。

I’m a mom of two little girls and I have been married to my wonderful husband for over 10 years now. Family means everything to me and I am so grateful for what I have.
I’m a full time working mom and I’m super passionate about helping Japanese women to live a purposeful and meaningful life that they enjoy living with confidence.  
Many people ask me this question:
“how do you do it?

My story of how I live my purposeful & meaningful Work-Life 

My answer is…. I simply don’t. I mess up all the time. I’m not anywhere near this peaceful and Pinterest perfect mom!! No, I don’t make those cute lunch a.k.a Character Bento (キャラ弁).
My house is filled with kids toys… plus having not so organized husband really doesn’t help much. BUT instead of seeing this as a mess, I try to see things in a positive way. It is my motto to focus on what I can control and embrace the life that I get to live in. I’m a lifelong learner and I didn’t’ have this type of mindset before and I’m super excited that I get to share my journey of creating a purposeful life that I enjoy living.

As a working mom, I face so many challenges and guilts, and you might be able to relate many of my stories.

One time, I was trying to do more work and pushing my time to leave the office… then I drove over 1 hour and 30 minutes to pick up my daughter for her dance lesson. I was so mad about myself that I didn’t leave the time that I should have left and I was just rushing my daughter to get her in and out for a class. She ended up having only 15 minutes of dance lesson (normally a 45 minutes).
I knew my daughter would say “mom, why were you so late…” instead, she said, “thank you, mommy, for picking me up”.  
I could not stop crying and this was my turning point and told myself, there is a better way!!!  I almost gave up and I was just going to focus on one… motherhood…  but then, I also wanted to be a role model for my daughters since my own mother was a working mom who was also involved with our community, school, and my extra curriculum.

That’s when I told myself, there has to be a better way and I will create the life that works for me. I can have it all…. But not at the same time and not by myself!

Now, I’m still an engaged full-time career woman + active at my daughter’s school as a class mom + giving my time into a Japanese community of San Diego, and being part of San Diego and Yokohama Sister City Society as a board member.
On top of that, I host a podcast about empowering Japanese working women to live a life they love with confidence.
I am on a mission to live a purposeful life that I love. The life that I enjoy working by doing what I am passionate about and I get to be the best mom that I can be for my family.

Embracing Japanese identity

When I came to the US as an international student to earn my BA degree, I almost lost my identity and I didn’t know who I was.
I was afraid of speaking English with my accent because I thought that people would make fun of me. I also tried to blend in with other local students but that didn’t work well either.  I was ashamed of who I was and where I was from.
From this painful experience, I have learned to accept for who I am and embrace my Japanese identity. Being outside of Japan made me realize how beautiful my country, Japan is and appreciate more of my culture.
I have learned to adjust and adapt to overcome many of the language and cultural barriers and I can confidently share my stories of what it is like to establish a new life in a different country.
When I became a mom, I knew I wanted to raise my children to be able to speak English and Japanese. Not only that, but I also wanted my children to be able to appreciate both Japanese and American culture and be able to recognize the beauty of diversity. It is important that my daughters will be able to respect others regardless of where they are from and what kind of cultural background they have. We are equal and unique which makes diversity so beautiful.

Lastly, about myself…

I was born and raised my first 20 years in a city called Yokohama, Japan. My hometown of Yokohama is such a beautiful city. I originally came to the US as a university student in 2003. I got my Bachelor’s degree in 2005 and Master’s degree in 2010 in the US. I got married and officially started living in the US since 2007.
There are so many challenges that I have to go through. English as a second language itself is a challenge… yeah, a big one…
I was never called that I am quiet. Here in the US, many thought I am a very quiet person at work.
There you go, cultural and language barriers!
It is hard to stand out for Japanese women who grew up in a collectivism society that the society expects us to blend in.
It is hard to speak up and share my own opinion in English because we were raised to be quiet, not to ask questions, and be right all the time.
Through my podcast, I want to share my journey and lessons that I have learned as a Japanese woman living in the US.

Some of my important promises that I will keep with you in my podcast:

  •  I will be true to myself and be authentic
  •  I will not be afraid to be unique and be different
  • I will put my family first

Love,

Emi

Profile

Emiko Rasmussen is passionate about empowering Japanese women to live a purposeful life they enjoy living with confidence. She helps Japanese working women to live the purposeful and meaningful work-life by help discovering their gifted talent and help them recognize their own value.
As a Japanese woman who came to the U.S. when Emiko was 20 years old, she faced with language and cultural barriers. As a result, Emiko had been playing small which limited her self from various opportunities that she could have taken.
There were many times that Emiko wanted to raise her hand and share her opinion or say YES to reach her potentials; however, her limiting beliefs, “My English is not good enough” or “I don’t feel confident” prevented from being her true-self and do what she really wanted to do.
Emiko now becomes a speaker and a podcaster, a host of Her Confidence Her Way which is about Asian Women especially, Japanese women’s empowerment. She shares her struggles as a Japanese woman living in the U.S. and teaches other Japanese women how they can overcome and breakthrough their barriers that many Japanese women go through and share important skills to elevate their work life.

 Emiko was born and raised her first 21 years in Japan and moved to the US to pursue her degree in 2013. In 2015, she had earned a Bachelor of Arts in Social Science degree and she also earned her Master of Arts in Organizational Management degree in 2010. Emiko is a wife (married with her husband over 10 years), a mom of two children, a full-time career woman.  She has been working in a Higher Education industry for over 10 years and she has 7+ years of a leadership role as well as coaching experience.

Emiko also serves as a board member of San Diego Yokohama Sister City Society 

Emiko Rasmussen Bio in Japanese

エミコラスムセンは,ワークライフチェンジメーカー、 モチベーショナルスピーカー、Her Confidence Her Way ポッドキャスターとして、『私なんか…』と、いつの間にか、本当にやりたい事を自ら制限して生きている女性に『こんな私なんかじゃ無理』から『こんな私だから出来る』と自分を信じるパワー、生きがいのある、充実感のあるワークライフをサポート中。

神奈川県横浜市出身、カリフォルニア州在住、2人の娘を持つパラレルワーキングマザー

フルタイムでアメリカの企業で7年以上管理職で働き、ワーキングママに必要なフレキシビリティーをボスに交渉し、自分に合うポジションを作り、ママとして、キャリアウーマンとして活躍できるワークライフを掴む。

同社内でwomen@workを立ち上げ、創立者の一人として、同じ会社で働く女性のエンパワメント、女性の活躍、リーダーシップをサポートするイベントを年に4回開催している。

又、リーダーシップポジションに就きたい社員のためのパーソナルブランドファシリテーターとしても選ばれ、パーソナルブランド、レジュメ、カバーレターの書き方、面接の受け方の指導者としても活躍。

ボランティア活動では子供の学校の保護者代表役員(Room Parent),クラスルームヘルパーとして、積極的に学校行事に参加。

又、サンディエゴ横浜姉妹都市協会のボードメンバーの一人として、サンディエゴと出身地、横浜の交換留学、ダンスキャンプを運営している。

サンディエゴの日本人コミュニティーのイベントでは、音楽会、成人式、コンテストなどのイベント司会進行を務める。

アメリカのキャリアで学んだ事を、英語と日本語を交えてパワフルに、働く日本人女性をインスパイア中。

Professional Development Achievements

＜資格取得＞

  • Co-Founder of Women @ Work
  • In-house Certified Trainer for Developing Your Personal Branding workshop
  • Lead Working Mother Support Group – 2015
  • Co-host Lean in Book Club – 2015
  • Leadership Excellent Achievement Program (LEAP)– 2015
    • Course content: Situational Leadership II, Inside Out Coaching, Emotional Intelligence, DiSC, Individual development planning
  • Selected for and participating the Mentor Program through LEAP Program – 2011
  • DiSC Personality Profile Training – 2011, 2013, 2015
  • Gallup Strength Training – 2013
  • Principles of Management and Leadership program – 2011
    • Course content: Introduction of Management, DiSC Workplace and Management, Interpersonal Communication, Monday Morning Leadership, Coaching

Emiko was featured at ＜ゲストインタビュー＞