My Story

I’m Keiko. I’ve been a marketer for 20 years, a two-time VP of Marketing, a coach to 250+ people, and a mom of two.

Through my personal experiences as a minority woman in leadership and a working parent, I realized that I could help others who need support through their own challenging career journeys.

Let me take you through my career that has shaped me into the coach and person I am today.

Early life

I grew up in New Jersey as the youngest of three daughters to Japanese immigrants. I was a straight-A student and internationally-ranked tennis player with a bright future, but experienced my first setback in life when I was hospitalized for a month with Crohn’s disease. Luckily, I was able to continue my tennis career, attended Stanford on a full tennis scholarship, and played on the pro tour before quitting indefinitely.

Corporate career

I started my corporate career at 23 years old with no prior work experience. Leveraging my bilingual skills and athletic experience, I was hired as a marketing assistant in Ajinomoto’s sport drinks division.

After 4 years and ready for a new challenge, I joined Google’s marketing team. While my colleagues were brilliant and talented, the job itself became repetitive and boring. I moved around to several teams, but felt my growth and career stalling out. I left Google after 4 years to join a start up.

Transition to start ups

When I joined Eventbrite, it was total chaos. I was a first-time manager and in charge of building two new critical teams, Product Marketing and Growth Marketing.

I made so many mistakes leading a 12-person team of seasoned and junior marketers. The pressure to perform was intense, and I worked 70 hour weeks and Sundays to stay afloat. In my 5th year at the company, I finally found my balance but also felt burned out from all the years and needing a break.

I left Eventbrite to rest and reflect on my life, values, and priorities. I traveled, surfed, hiked, biked, and journaled about my experiences. This time away made me realize I had an identity outside of work. I learned to live every day in the present and to its fullest.

The rocket ship startup

After taking 5 months off, I joined Front, a hot Series A startup as the VP of Marketing. As a first-time executive, my imposter syndrome took off as we raised our Series B with top investors.

The pressure to drive growth was unlike anything I’d experienced before. Reporting to a board, building out an entire marketing team, implementing foundations for hyper growth were all new to me.

I became ill for a few weeks from the stress, and my team often cried in 1:1s from the pressure.

It was in these dark moments that I came to see my super powers. For hiring and building great teams, navigating work relationships and challenges, and helping individuals grow to their potential. I saw the opportunity for a different career path — as a coach.

Dare to Grow coaching

In October 2019, I left my job at Front and went all in with coaching. I completed my certification with the Co-Active Training Institute’s coaching program in October 2020 after 400+ hours of training and 1:1 coaching.

I call my coaching program “Dare to Grow” because growth is a big part of my life and that’s what I help people do. It’s not easy to go through the pain that comes with growing.

Today, I mostly coach marketing leaders and senior managers in tech to help them level up to take on their intense jobs with confidence and clarity. I also help people feel more fulfilled in life and their work, realign their career on a path they truly want, and take the bold steps necessary to drive success for themselves.

Motherhood and work

As I built my coaching and marketing consulting businesses, I became a mom to Enzo (October 2020) and Remi (Dec 2022), and gained new perspectives on the challenges for working parents.

In September 2024, I took on a full-time marketing leadership role at LinkedIn. There is the very real challenge, especially for moms working 40+ hours a week and needing flexibility for family responsibilities like taking care of sick kids, childcare being unavailable, and you getting sicknesses from the kids. I got hit with Covid and it crushed me at home and at work to the point that I wanted to give up.

This is why I’m excited to support women, moms, and people wanting to be energized by their life and grow to their potential. Let’s do it together.