I had the opportunity to organize a trip to Japan for a weeklong martial arts training event to commemorate our head karate school’s 80th anniversary. Fifty-three people from across America attended the event.
Tomoko-san created and maintained a detailed schedule working with our Japanese counterparts. The schedule was in both Japanese and English. Japanese for the locals and translated to English for the Americans.
There were training sessions everyday at different locations. Travel to and from these training events required navigating the city bus system, which is particularly confusing for foreigners. Tomoko-san provided detailed travel information…bus stops, bus names, departure times, bus stop name to disembark, addresses, and pictures of the facility. Amazingly, everyone made it to every training session on time.
Even more importantly, Tomoko-san made sure that the group was aware and understood the Japanese cultural nuances that are not readily apparent to foreigners. For example, the event culminated in a banquet, which is a very formal event. It is customary to pay the banquet fee in “brand new, uncreased” bank notes (i.e. yen) and presented in a special envelope. As the event coordinator for the Americans, I would have not known this had Tomoko-san not been advising me.
In my regular day job, I am a senior project manager for a large multidiscipline engineering firm managing large projects. I am accustomed to working with an experienced Project Team that includes project assistants, so I have a good understanding of competent people. Tomoko-san is very competent. Additionally, she is a pleasure to work with, which is important.
I would not hesitate to recommend Tomoko-san.
Ted Conway
Chairman ASKKA
Tomoko was instrumental in helping us when we scaled up and expanded our B2C business, incorporating B2B clients as well. To support our rapid expansion, Tomoko took the initiative to revamp and create our brand image, which resulted in truly representing what our company stands for. She also helped us create professional on-brand documents such as our company brochure, business cards, letterheads, and Power Point presentations to name a few in support of our sales and PR activities. Since then, we often receive favourable comments on how our corporate brochure looks and I believe this has been one of the reasons why we were able to win the hearts of new clients and build our business further.
Tomoko is not shy to give us her professional opinion on key matters that will affect our corporate image and she is also a very good team player, making it very easy for us to work with her. In addition to Tomoko’s professional outlook, attention to detail, speedy turnaround time, and work ethics, we were thoroughly pleased she always exceeded our expectations with the quality of her work.
We would recommend Tomoko’s services to anyone wanting to have an executive assistant who you can rely on and count on, so you can focus on what matters most in running your business more effectively.
Irene Tomoe Cooper
President, PRESENT Inc.