I've spent my entire adult life in Japan. I came to the country when I was 22 and 14 years later, I'm heading to graduate school having learned innumerable lessons. The first lesson was perhaps the most crushing, but most important. You can't GET ready for opportunities, you have to BE ready for them. In my first 3 years in Japan, I had been teaching with the understanding that in my downtime I would study Japanese and work on my art portfolio so I could move on to a professional career as a 2D/3D artist in Tokyo. At the end of my second year, more than enough time to have developed a strong portfolio, an amazing job opportunity at a famous Japanese videogame company appeared. I wanted so badly to apply but my Japanese wasn't high enough and my portfolio had barely been touched in those two years. Instead, I had been traveling, exploring and any number of other fun but valuable experiences. Yet I had also neglected my stated goal. As a result, I was forced to stay in the Japanese countryside and teach for a third and final, incredibly unhappy year. That experience, while painful, did help me understand that when an opportunity appears, you're either ready or you're not. There is no time to get ready to meet the challenge. That memory pushes me forward and motivates me. I think about what I want for my future and I learn the skills so that those opportunities will be mine to take when the moment comes. I want to be interviewed in French at Cannes at the debut of one of my films, so I study French. I want to work in Los Angeles and know that additional language skills are marketable, so I study Spanish. I want to start another company in Tokyo so I'm raising my Japanese to the highest business level. I know I'll want to look for funding for films in either Africa or China so I'm planning to study Chinese or Swahili next. I want to be the best in my graduate school class so I interviewed current students to learn what skills they recommended coming with, and have started to learn new software and filmmaking techniques so I can hit the ground running. I've started researching the cost of homes in LA so I can understand which career goals will also support my personal goals. I visualize the future that I want for myself and put time and effort into developing the skills, and making the connections needed to achieve that. They sit under my goals like pillars being built to hold them up. I run my own video production company in Tokyo. I've worked with clients such as Apple, Intel, Gucci, Dior, Speedo, Harley-Davidson, Uniqlo, Beats by Dre, and the rappers Nas and the Weeknd. Ambition and making plans that support that ambition have been the keys to my success. And that is the advice I give to anyone that asks how I've been so successful so far and what makes me so positive about my goals---have clear goals, anticipate opportunities, plan, and prepare. And when those opportunities present themselves, the luck that you've made for yourself, through hard work will allow you to grasp them, move forward, and live without regret.

People think of holograms in terms of entertainment or science-fiction fantasy. But I've touched them first-hand—in a very literal sense—and it gave me a look into one of many possible futures. I'm going to graduate school to study film and become a producer of science-fiction films and TV shows. Obviously, I won't be contributing to STEM directly, but I very much believe in the importance of the sciences for our society's future. I want to create films and tv shows that inspire future generations to take up an interest in the sciences. I want heroes and heroines of all types who use their intellect, engineering, and science to survive harrowing odds. That's the contribution I can make to STEM. I've worked for the last half a decade as a video producer in Tokyo. One of my earliest projects was producing a science education program for Turkey's national broadcaster. We visited Professor of Haptics, Hiroyuki Shinoda ( https://hapislab.org/en/hiroyuki_shinoda ) at the University of Tokyo and saw his work on touchable holograms. They used small speakers that fire sound waves at your fingers through the aid of lasers, such that you feel a sensation as you touch the hologram. We experimented with keypads, instruments and even being able to shake hands with someone across the room by interacting with each other's holograms. For me, at the time it was a shocking use of technology and this pandemic reminded me of its existence. As we worried about the methods of transmission for the virus, I imagined hospitals having virtual keyboards, ATMs having virtual keypads and any number of other interfaces made more sanitary by the use of this technology. I'm hoping to use my degree to remind people of the wonders of science and encourage young people to pursue it.

In the costume department, we had been working 16-19hrs a day, 6-days a week, for two months. Far beyond what we had agreed on---a contract and rate that had been negotiated under the understanding that while low, we'd work a strict and proper 10-12hr schedule. But it was clear that that was never meant to be the case. The film couldn't have been completed under normal circumstances and the producers must have known that. We were the Japanese crew on a Hollywood production shooting around Japan. We don't have unions that protect production crews like in the West. So we thought that in working with a Western team, we'd benefit from the protections they give themselves. But instead, we were used as cheap expendable labor. It was an education that crystalized my strong feeling about equity in production and the importance of my future role as a producer, to not only advocate for stakeholders but the crews that make these projects possible. Mid-production, in defense of the costume department, I negotiate bonuses for our overtime up to that point and proper calculation of overtime from that point forward. The producer offered to pay me alone a large bonus, but I instead opted to push for a minor payout to all the members of my department. That kind of direct confrontation and in particular financial ask is really uncommon in Japan and socially difficult to execute. I'm an American who lives in Japan and benefited from the cultural privilege of being able to easily communicate with our Western superiors on the project. As I head to LA to pursue a graduate degree in Film and TV Production at USC's Peter Stark Producing Program, I hope that I can keep hold of the values that I've developed over my decade in Japan. It's tempting to follow a personal ambition to corruption. But I want to remember my role as an advocate for my crews. I want to find ways to make space for more women in production. I want casting notices that don't other and exclude people needlessly. And I want to support my community in Japan as well as underrepresented individuals of all sorts. Not just racial minorities, but the underprivileged of any background. I think it's easy to claim to want to advocate, but I've been in the position to understand the sacrifice and difficult choices that must be made in the advocacy. And I have the resilience to follow through when the alternatives seem far easier. I have the philosophy that there is the person you think you are, the person you want to be, and the person you really are. And when those 3 identities are in alignment, you are being your most authentic self. When I make decisions, I try to be acutely aware of those identities so I can make difficult decisions that are true to the person I want to become. That is how I make tough decisions and I hope with your support of my education, I can be successful and bring with me communities that I care about. Please

I’m originally from Chicago and after getting a degree in Computer Graphics Technology (focus in graphic design) from Purdue University, I moved to Japan following the 2007 economic downturn. I had been interning at Pepsi in Chicago throughout university and had hoped to enter the company full-time but a hiring freeze ended that opportunity and on a friend’s recommendation, I moved to Japan for what was supposed to be one year, to collect myself. It’s going on 14 years now and in that time I’ve become fluent in Japanese, conversational in French and Spanish, worked as a graphic designer in publishing, lived between Paris and Tokyo while working for a French IT company, and finally started my own commercial video production company in Tokyo which I’ve been running for the last 5 years. ( http://bento-labs.com ) As a video producer, I’ve produced short films for Kenzo, photoshoots for Dior, documentaries for IBM and Intel, a music video for Swizz Beatz and Nas, news segments for the Tokyo Olympics, promotional videos for Sony, and photo shoots for Mastercard, Apple and numerous other clients. After years of working in commercial video I decided that I wanted a bigger challenge and decided to return to the US to get a master's in film and tv production at the University of Southern California’s Peter Stark Producing Program (Fall '22). I’m specifically interested in Science Fiction, Science Fiction Horror, and Horror. I believe that the sciences are incredibly important for society and I want to create films that are entertaining and profitable but also encourage young people to take up an interest in the sciences via heroes who solve problems via science and engineering. As an employer, I want to create sets that are equitable, diverse, and ethical. In the future I'd like to split my time between LA and Tokyo, filming in both Japan and the US. There are communities in both countries that I'd like to support. With the money I save from scholarships I'm hoping to start my own film development company. My dream is to create films that shoot on budget, in max 10hr days and with a diverse, well-paid crew. On a personal note, I don't plan to have children and I'm hoping that I can use my resources to support my friends and family with kids and give them resources and opportunities like my initial internship at Pepsi, which changed my life. My goal is to fund at least 80% of my education through various sources so I can focus on my studies without worrying about how debt may influence my future. I'd like every advantage in accomplishing my goals and hopefully, my success can be a community's success.