2024-2025 Peer-to-Peer Event Recaps
2024-2025 Peer-to-Peer [P2P] Event Recaps
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2nd Workshop of our Annual Peer-to-Peer [P2P] Empowerment Online Sessions
Facilitator: Rachel Ferguson - RFCC [Co-hosts: Stephanie Napier & Emily Donkin]
On January 16th, FEW Japan members participated in an enriching Peer-to-Peer workshop facilitated by Rachel Ferguson, a seasoned communications coach. The session introduced attendees to the concept of creating two resumes: the professional resume, showcasing education, work experience, and achievements, and the hidden resume, which delves into life experiences, challenges, and personal growth.
A standout takeaway was the reminder to embrace our whole selves when we show up in professional spaces. As Rachel highlighted, it’s not just about achievements—it’s about the journey that shapes who we are today. Through engaging activities and small breakout sessions, participants identified key themes in their personal and professional lives, reframed hardships as growth opportunities, and unearthed patterns and overlooked skills that contribute to their unique value. This workshop emphasized how embracing our full selves — both the parts we gladly share and those we prefer to hide — can enrich the way we connect and communicate, both personally and professionally.
From our participants:
“This session will help you understand all the ways you’re underselling yourself, help you understand your skills, and might even help you identify what you need to do to move your career to the next step.”
“Provides an alternative way of thinking about the skills and experiences I have had and where they fit into the choices I’ve made. Very valuable!!”
“A safe space to look at ourselves objectively whilst being vulnerable to reflect on ourselves as a whole, not just through the 'professional' language of the corporate world, but then channeling our whole to enrich how we can show up 'professionally'.”
“So interesting to connect all the different threads of my life!”
Thank you, Rachel, for leading such a transformative session! Connect with Rachel at her website to learn more about her work.
About Rachel:
Rachel Ferguson has an 18-year career in Japan. In 2023, she founded The Communication Concierge to assist Japanese companies in enhancing their performance through English language and cultural communication upskilling. She co-founded Kosodate Village, a non-profit organization that focuses on advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in Japan. The organization emphasizes empowering young women and creating spaces for LGBTQIA+ individuals to connect. She is also a co-founder of Ryozan Park, a co-working-and-living community located in northern Tokyo, with a dedicated mission to promote diversity and foster work-life balance. They were awarded the "Entrepreneur of the Year" honour from the British Chamber of Commerce in Japan in 2019. Before venturing into entrepreneurship, Rachel served as a news and weather announcer for NHK World TV. She holds master's degrees in creative writing and Japanese gender studies and has published a children's book and a volume of poetry.
Learn more about Rachel Ferguson:
https://commconcierge.devi.page/#hero1
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1st Workshop of our Annual Peer-to-Peer [P2P] Empowerment Online Sessions
Facilitator: Kyoko Takeyama - KT Consulting [Co-hosts: Blessing Thomas & Christine Brown]
On October 14th, FEW Japan members joined an inspiring Peer-to-Peer workshop led by Kyoko Takeyama, a coach specializing in empowering creative communicators. First, we checked in with what we each perceive to be our greatest challenges in communication before exploring how we could get clarity on what we want to say so that we can streamline our process, and then discussed how to express ourselves through effective storytelling.
The session also introduced the CLEAR framework, which we were guided through step by step. This framework supports us stepping into the spotlight to communicate with confidence. The workshop provided practical tools to amplify voices online, onstage, or in professional settings, helping attendees shine in their careers and through personal growth.
The CLEAR Framework:
C - Competence
L - Legend
E - Enlightenment
A - Articulate
R - Radiance
Participants explored how to:
- Identify their unique strengths.
- Develop impactful messaging.
- Share authentic stories that resonate.
Most professionals have difficulty speaking publicly about their expertise. Kyoko shows you how to intellectually and emotionally connect with your people so you and your career grow. Born to Japanese parents in New York and living most of her adulthood in Barcelona, she has spent her life deciphering English, Japanese, and Spanish messages to find that communication is more than speaking aloud. Kyoko has a B.A. and M.A. in Communications and works with global companies such as Autodesk, Domestika, and TEDx. When she’s not giving speeches, workshops, and coaching, she runs, paints, and sings. She welcomes people to connect on LinkedIn and talk about them and sincerely believes, if you’re great at what you do, the world needs to know about it!
Contact Kyoko Takeyama on LinkedIn or you can email her directly kyoko@kyokotakeyama.com.
What is the Peer-to-Peer [P2P] Program?
A Members Only event, the P2P program is a unique opportunity for FEW Japan Members to learn, thrive, and connect with each other. It is designed as a womxn-only, exclusive safe space built around our annual program theme and P2P theme that we explore through 4 learning journeys animated by 4 different experts.
Bringing together the leadership and talents of our members and external guest speakers, workshop facilitators will share their insights, methods, and applied tools in order for members to workshop, practice and strengthen their foundations in real time together. The workshops take place within a welcoming online environment with a safety net of supportive peers.
Whether you are growing your business or looking to optimize your experience in a current position. Maybe you are trying to identify your voice through a new life age or stage, or potentially you are interested in creating effective strategies to completely change your career and pivot into new projects. Whatever your aimsFEW Japan’s P2P Program and all the participants will be supportive and uplifting in their ongoing aim to develop and support you on your journey and in your next steps.
Who Will Benefit from Joining Peer-to-Peer Sessions?
Calling all our members at all ages and stages!
The P2P Annual Program is a rare opportunity for ongoing, year-long thought partnering with other talented women of all nationalities living across Japan.
- Creatives – curious about turning a creative passion into a side hustle, or expressing yourself through a new medium?
- Entrepreneurs – already started or thinking about starting your own business?
- Corporates – are you currently working at a company and wishing you could explore additional ways to develop your talents further and create a bigger impact?
- Pivoters and Inquisitors– are you looking to pivot your career, return to the workforce after caregiving or pivot out of one industry into adjacent opportunities that leverage your expertise?
CTA: Come explore your options and gain new perspectives on how to cultivate your knowledge, and strengthen your professional foundations! P2P is an authentic way to move your personal and professional development forward, gain new skills, expand your national networks and visibility, while at the same time being a part of a growing community who are committed to your thriving and success in Japan.
FEW Annual Program Theme
2024-2025 “Cultivating our Future”
Peer-to-Peer Annual Theme:
“Strengthening our Foundations”
Peer-to-Peer Thematic Learning Journeys
- Thursday, November 21st, 2024
- Thursday, January 16th, 2025
- Thursday, April 17th, 2025
- Thursday, May 29th, 2025
Express Yourself
Rediscover Yourself
Invest in Yourself
Celebrate Yourself
Kyoko Takeyama
Rachel Ferguson
Chinyere Okoli
Madeleine Hoffmann
Your Hosts for FEW Japan Peer-to-Peer Events
Our FEW Japan board of directors and membership engagement team are excited to host the Peer-to-Peer Events for you over the course of the year. They look forward to providing you with opportunities to be supported to achieve your goals, share your voice and learn more about how to use your talents more effectively.
