Yuka Ghesquière Nakasone, Globalization and Localization Director at Beabloo
Yuka is a Globalization and Localization Strategist, currently serving as the Chief Strategist at Global Bridge, a globalization consulting company that helps businesses to think, go and be global.
She brings best practices, globalization and localization strategies, and level up through emotional and cultural intelligence for both production and top management.
With more than 20 years of experience in the industry, she has held various leadership roles in localization, most recently in her capacity as Globalization and Localization Director at Beabloo, a renowned retail analytics and technology company based in Barcelona, Spain.
Who do you most admire in business?
Those who work silently, but diligently to achieve ultimate excellence in what they do. By challenging their limits day in day out. An example can be a Japanese craftsman in a traditional profession.
What companies or brands do you like or do you think are getting it right?
LocLunch. An inclusive networking initiative started this year.
What is the best advice you have ever received?
I guess I have two. One is "value is where scarcity is in supply". And the other is "do the opposite of what others are doing". These two makes me fearless being a black sheep.
What drives or motivates you each day?
I am one of the luckiest ones in the world.
What are your thoughts on the future of social media?
It goes even more towards video and voice. And other than that? I want to know!
Do you have a mentor or do you mentor anyone?
I have both! I am blessed to have such great people around me.
How do you network?
For my personal life, it seems that food is my theme at this point in my life. Once it was cats and dogs as well. For my professional life, I prefer networking in person. I am definitely a people person and a "connector."
How did you get into this line of work and What advice would you have for someone looking to get into the same line of work?
It was by pure chance. I didn't even know what localization was when I first saw the job posting from the first company I served in this industry as a Japanese localization specialist back in 1996.
I would encourage people to be curious because there are several types of jobs in our industry: globalization and localization. Even if you didn't like what you were assigned to do at first, you may be able to find something that you would love. So keep looking and moving.
What do you wish you had known when you started out?
Getting into the industry from the engineering side of the business may have been interesting.
What's the most common reason for people failing or giving up?
The 100% of the reason why people fail is that they don't get up from the failure – giving up where you failed, it stays a failure. If you pick yourself up, learn from it and do it again or something else leveraging the experience, it is not a failure but a learning experience.
What are you most proud of in your life?
My little daughter, who is bright, multi-cultural and multi-lingual with a very kind heart.
How do you define success?
Success shouldn't be just achieving our goals but the ability to enjoy the process of achieving them. I am learning this now. It is quite a discovery because, in Japan, we are taught the opposite: where there is no suffering, there is no great achievement. When I discovered this it was a big paradigm shift – a big "aha!" – Moment for me. Now I am trying to live it not just intellectually understand it.
What do you think your unique skill(s) is that has helped you become successful?
My ability to follow my intuition, even when all the intellectual checklists says something different.
What valuable lessons have you learned so far that you could share with our audience?
Another big learning was "people don't care about me as much as I believe they do." Like a good Japanese person, I was heavily conditioned to monitor what people around me think about what I do or say and behave most of the times accordingly. But really people are not watching me or thinking about me so much.
This is another way to say this "I don't care what you think about me." It was essential to learn this to make some progress personally and professionally. I am still not getting to the point where I can say I am 100% and unapologetically myself. I am wondering how I will be or feel when I reach that point.
Is there anything new you are working on that you would like to share?
I will be working on a book. Let's see if it really becomes a reality.
Where's your favourite place?
A warm place with a waterfront – beach, riverside, lake, etc. Where I live is the perfect place for me. I moved from the US very consciously more than 20 years ago.
What is your hobby?
Cooking.
Most embarrassing experience?
When I mistakenly thought that there are two people when someone communicated with me through two different channels. I was too tired to think straight, and I was sending a written message to the same person that I am meeting somebody else whose first name was the same. Oh my! She would have thought later I was crazy when she found the message I had sent.
What are you not very good at and What are you good at?
I am not very good at saying no (yet.) I am good at finding solutions whenever it is needed.
Which words do you overuse?
"Sorry!" I have a friend who teases me for that. Despite my efforts, I somehow keep using it. I guess it is the replacement of "Sumimasen" in Japanese, which is a very convenient and ambiguous word to excuse or ask for favours.
Your social media platform of choice?
Depends on what I need, it changes.
When are you happiest?
When I can spend as many hours as I want cooking in my kitchen. Without anything else to do and worry. I can say I am in another world by myself.
Your favourite writer, autho, movie, singer, TV show?
My favourite writer – Atsuko Suga. I have read all of her work.
I liked European poetic movies when I was young.
My favourite singer is my daughter, but I guess she won't pass for The Voice.
I love French cooking shows on TV. And I daydream going through pages of French cooking magazines.
What living person do you most admire?
My mother. I don't think I can reach to her greatness ever.
A positive phrase you like to share with people.
"¡Vivir el momento!"
("Live the moment!" in English).