TOMODACHI Tohoku Grassroots Leadership Academy
The TOMODACHI Tohoku Grassroots Leadership Academy will be held February 4-11, 2018 in Los Angeles, CA. Ten women entrepreneurs and community leaders were chosen from across the Tohoku region devastated by the Tsunami. They have proven leadership capabilities who possess the right skillset to initiate and implement social service programs in the Tohoku area.
On the program, participants will learn how to leverage their experiences and abilities to identify other leaders who will help them multiply the impact of their respective projects. An example of this multiplier effect is the ability to market and brand their projects to secure further funding and build better rounded teams of workers to sustain their organizations into the future. In Los Angeles, they will meet successful Japanese-American female entrepreneurs who can become role models. They will also experience the power of the local community and the energy of the young community leaders who make their visions into reality and interact with inspiring, cutting edge social businesses/enterprises. They will hear the incredible story of how one grassroots activist single mother rose to be the risk officer of one of the world’s top companies, and they will learn how to maintain and cultivate personal leadership resilience from a top American leader (retired military and USJC member).
Through the TOMODACHI Tohoku Grassroots Leadership Academy, the participants will:
1) Learn self-empowerment and maintain self-care, self-power and build confidence
2) Learn not to let others define their management potential
3) Learn about the power of community
In addition to learning valuable tools and skill sets, the participants will also share their post-disaster experience as young, female survivors to officials, educators, and local community leaders, including USJC members, other TOMODACHI alumni from programs such as the TOMODACHI Emerging Leaders Program and the TOMODACHI-Mitsui & Co. Leadership Program and other like-minded young leaders committed to US-Japan relations.
The TOMODACHI Tohoku Grassroots Leadership Academy is an alumni-led program implemented by Women’s Eye, a nonprofit organization that began in the wake of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake to support local female entrepreneurs in Tohoku. Women’s Eye is led by Megumi Ishimoto, an alumna of the TOMODACHI NGO Leadership Program supported by J.P. Morgan from 2013 when she took part in the NPO Study Tour to Seattle and San Francisco.
The TOMODACHI Tohoku Grassroots Leadership Academy is an extension of the TOMODACHI NGO Leadership Program supported by J.P. Morgan to support critical change in the Tohoku Region to build upon the lessons learned from the initial TOMODACHI experience.
