Leadership
FEW Japan was founded in 1981 and has been run solely by members for its members for over 41 years. Legally incorporated in July 2020, FEW Japan Not-for-Profit Incorporated Association is continuing this important legacy of building women’s empowerment as a member-serving legal entity advancing womxn’s empowerment in Japan.
Get to know more about our current Board of Directors by clicking the "Learn More" button under each of their names below. If you are interested in getting more involved with FEW, please talk to one of us at our next event or contact us via email anytime!
2023-2025 FEW Japan Board of Directors
Dr. Jackie F. Steele
President
Representative Co-Director since 2020
Dr. Jackie F. Steele
President
Representative Co-Director Since 2020
Dr. Jackie F. Steele is a trilingual, Canadian political scientist, author, and longtime Japan resident. Jackie has taught at leading universities in Canada (UOttawa, SFU) and Japan (UTohoku, UTokyo, Nagoya Law). As CEO of enjoi Diversity & Innovation, she shares her expertise on how to design and implement diversity-positive ecosystems and corporate cultures. Using best practices from Canada, Dr. Steele offers evidence-based change management strategies to guide leaders in creating healthy and diversified corporate decision-making and flat, inclusive workplaces that are empowering for diverse talent. For two decades Jackie has also supported grassroots organizations and public/private sector policy leaders in the creation of policy designs for diversity, gender equality, and inclusive innovation. She represented Canadian civil society leadership on women’s equality to the UN Commission on the Status of Women (2008/2009), and served as gender/diversity advisor to the Japan Women’s Network for DRR for revisions to the UN international Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015). Since April 2022, Jackie is Senior DEI Business Partner, Amazon Japan G.K. In her volunteer life, she is a Governor for the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Japan, serves as an angel Activator with SheEO Canada, and is the Strategic Advisor of WomEnpowered International (UTokyo). She is mother to two adorable children and considers Chikuma (Nagano) her hometown community in Japan.
Léa Perceval
Co-President
Léa Perceval
Vice President
Léa Perceval was born and grew up in Haiti before moving to Canada, where she graduated from the University of Montreal with a bachelor’s degree in political communication (2015). She is currently completing an MBA with a focus on Project Management from the University of Laval (2022) while working at the Haitian Embassy in Japan as a Councilor. Prior to coming to Japan, she worked in Haiti as a Political Attaché at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and in Montreal, she worked in the fields of communication, marketing, and sales for various institutions. These experiences allowed her to develop skills and knowledge that she enjoys sharing with others, mainly by volunteering. Léa is a proud mom of two, whose life journey is about empowering others, especially those who are vulnerable. She believes that helping others is a way of helping oneself, whether the purpose is to grow as an individual, learn new skills, or help create value and sustainable growth within a community.
Christine Brown
Vice President Memberships
Christine Brown
Vice President Memberships
Christine grew up in the Midwest of the United States then moved to New York to study Journalism. Over the course of 16 years, she worked for multiple start-ups in human resources, event and retail management, and real estate. A love of animals inspired her to become an entrepreneur and found Wags to Whiskers, a pet care service in Brooklyn. Following her dream to live in another country, she moved to Nagasaki in 2007 and taught English on the JET Program for five years. After relocating to Tokyo in 2014, she continued to teach Business English and Cross-Cultural Communication skills to professionals. Three years ago, after studying and training with her mentor for eight years, she founded an Intuitive Life Coaching business, Clarity with Christine. Her hobbies include traveling, practicing yoga, reading books, and trying new foods. She is excited to serve on the FEW Board of Directors and looks forward to sharing her personal and professional experiences with the FEW members.
Hannah Portner
Vice President
Communications
Yuki Namba
Finance Director
Yuki Namba
Finance Director
Yuki Namba was born and raised in Japan. She graduated from Hosei University in Tokyo in 2005 and started her career in an insurance company in sales then switched to a manufacturing company in their accounting dept and has been working for more than a decade. She has travelled to more than 30 countries so far and this has aided in bringing her a wider view. Traveling has been the most helpful thing to build her identity and bring her independence and a free-spirited way of life in Japan.
She also lived in South Korea for business connections and studied Korean there. During her stay, she learnt Korean cooking and studied and practiced traditional Korean cuisine to acquire her chef’s license.
Currently, she works for an Organic Chocolate company based in Tokyo, taking care of their financials.
Tracey Northcott
Corporate Members
Director
Tracey Northcott
Corporate Membership Director
Australian Tracey Northcott of Enfour, Inc., Tokyo Family Stays and Tracey Northcott Consulting, is a serial entrepreneur and multi-preneur based in Tokyo, Japan. She is one of the most successful Airbnb hosts in Tokyo, at one point having 23 properties for rent in the Tokyo 23 Wards growing her business, Tokyo Family Stays, to a 7-figure business. She also runs a Software development company, Enfour, Inc. with her family. Tracey Northcott Consulting is where she helps other hosts discover the true potential of their STR business maximizing their investment, enjoyment and hospitality standards.
Shizuka Suzuki
Memberships Director
Shizuka Suzuki
Finance Director
Shizuka Suzuki was born and raised in a traditional Japanese family in a suburb of metropolitan Tokyo. She lived for four years with her family in the U.S. where she received her high school diploma. Her experience in the U.S. broadened her view on life and opportunities. After graduating from the Aoyama Gakuin University in Japan, Shizuka joined a US-based advertisement firm and started her career in marketing communication. Ever since, she has engaged in various fields, including management planning at both Foreign-based and Japanese companies. Throughout her career, her role has focused on developing happy relationships with clients and customers. Shizuka is excited to work with the empowering members of FEW as Finance Director.
Blessing Thomas
Memberships Co-Director
Blessing Thomas
Memberships Co-Director
Blessing Thomas was born in Thailand and grew up in the bustling city of Bangkok. Originally Nigerian, she graduated from an American high school and moved to Japan in 2014 as a 100% scholarship recipient at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, where she majored in Social Sciences and Asia Pacific Studies, coupled with 4 years of Japanese language classes. She is trilingual in English, Japanese and Thai.
Upon graduation, she moved to Tokyo to embark on her career, and is currently a seasoned recruitment consultant at a Global Recruitment firm, specializing in Commercial Excellence and Business Intelligence positions. Her passion for "education for all" has led her to be involved in a variety of organizations and startups, such as TedXAPU, KUMON Institute of Education and Taktopia Inc. Upon joining FEW Japan Board of Directors, she has been a member of FEW since 2022, and was impressed by the collective of empowering women across the organization. Determined to further establish roots in Japan and give back to the community and society at large, Blessing is constantly involved in several local gatherings, networking events, and societal causes to bring awareness and involve FEW members to thrive in Japan.
Teodora Diana Vandor
Programs
Director
Teodora Diana Vandor
Programs Director
Teodora Diana Vandor is originally from Romania. She is an accomplished project director at a global digital company, where she leads regional delivery, guiding clients through their digital transformation journey in the Salesforce ecosystem. Strategy definition, operations management, business development, and building teams are among her skills and expertise.
In 2018, Teodora relocated to Japan to support her company establishing a local presence in Asia and building a team in Tokyo. She is now part of a team of 300+ employees in the region, many of whom she has onboarded, trained, and coached. What was initially meant to be a one-year journey turned into a five-year odyssey of personal and professional growth, learning, and networking. As a regional leader, Teodora is constantly seeking new insights on how to connect with local markets and manage global teams across cultures.
Throughout her life, she has been interested in fields that are underrepresented by women. From an early age, she learned chess and became a professional player, then she continued to practice martial arts and experiment with programming as hobbies. However, she has always seen this as an opportunity to make a difference. Being now a woman in technology, she believes that with digital innovation we can provide access to education and career opportunities for everyone, and she is committed to helping other women meet their potential by serving the FEW community.
Mahi Patki
Programs
Co-Director
Mahi Patki
Programs Co-Director
Mahi Patki is a graduate student majoring in Environmental Sciences at the University of Tokyo (UTokyo). Born in India, she has lived in Japan for the past 15 years and is proactively engaged in many student-led projects tackling environmental and social issues. As the Director of Events and Planning at WomEnpowered International, she spearheaded a series of events to educate about and destigmatize menstruation and women’s health called Period rediscovered. The series explored the science behind menstruation, period products, contraceptives, lifestyle factors, menopause, and period poverty. In continuation, she organized multiple documentary screenings of “A Bloody Taboo” at UTokyo.
Mahi is also a founding member of the UTokyo Green Transformation Student Network (GXSN), which has spurred many student-led environmental sustainability-related projects. In particular, she led the installation of water dispensers across UTokyo campuses as an impetus to change single-use culture, organized Campus Changemakers Summit 2023, and coordinated UTokyo’s first Sustainability week. She recently became a trained facilitator for the Climate Fresk - an interactive educational workshop to understand climate change. Mahi enjoys pottery, embroidery, and growing plants in her free time.
Emily Larcombe
Communications
Director
Emily Larcombe
Communications Director
Emily is a British-Japanese marketing professional currently working in the education sector. Growing up in the south of England, she read French and Spanish philology at university, before later moving to Paris and Tokyo to complete a dual masters degree in Public Policy.
Passionate about education and the art of storytelling, she directed a film project investigating the generational shifts observed in the use of the indigenous languages across the Ryukyu islands. During her time at the University of Tokyo, she also led the events and planning as co-director of Womenpowered International, an organisation connecting and empowering women within the university and wider community. She is now looking forward to joining FEW Japan as Director of Communications, sharing her experiences to contribute to FEW’s mission of nurturing a supportive and vibrant community of women.
In her spare time, she enjoys trying out new recipes, gardening, reading and practising yoga. Since moving to Japan, her favourite season is now Autumn, and she loves making the most of the sunny blue skied days to go hiking in the mountains or exploring different neighbourhoods in Tokyo.
Georgia Emmett
Co-Communications
Director
Georgia Emmett
Co-Communications Director
Georgia Emmett is a multi-passionate and creative individual, who emigrated from England to Australia at the age of 10. Fuelled by her love for art, she achieved a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Animation in 2021. During this time, she discovered her deep admiration for Japan, immersing herself in the captivating world of local YouTube creators. In October 2022, Georgia made a life-changing decision to relocate to Tokyo. She decided to blend her creative passions with her extensive social media expertise and founded Sakura Socials, her own agency. Through this business, Georgia empowers female entrepreneurs to unlock the immense potential of social media, establishing iconic brands and fostering authentic communities. Introduced to the FEW community early in her life in Japan, Georgia feels fortunate and excited to contribute her skills towards expanding this incredible network of empowering women.
Past FEW Board Presidents
The 2021-2023 FEW Board is also very grateful for all of the hard work and dedication of the Boards before them, led by the following past FEW Board Presidents.
- Elyse M. Rogers (1981~1984)
- Mary Kathryn Clubb (1984~1985)
- Virginia Kouyoumdjian (1985~1987)
- Ruth Morris (1987~1990)
- Catherine Moss (1990~1992)
- Patti Salvagio (1992~1994)
- Diane Morris (1995~1997)
- Alison Pockett (1997~2002)
- Verena Urbschat (2002~2007)
- Julia Maeda (2007~2010)
- Lisa Gravestock (2010~2011)
- Sarah Everitt Furuya (2011~2013)
- Joy Fajardo (2013~2015)
- Sarah Achilles (2015~2018)
- Riya Rapp (2018~2019)
- Kirsten O'Connor (2019-2021)