Megumi Ishimoto realised one day when she was 32 that she couldn’t keep living her part time worker lifestyle. This set her on a journey to pursue continuing education through night school and to finish not only her university degree, but also a masters degree while working full time for a company. Having studied social enterprise, she was ready for the events of the triple disaster in Tohoku, Japan on March 11th, 2011. She left her position and decided to travel to Tohoku to volunteer any way she could. This set off the chain of events which led to the creation of Women’s Eye, a non-profit based in Minamisanriku that is still empowering women leaders in Tohoku, 10 years on. 

In this episode you’ll hear:

• How Megumi transformed herself from part-time worker to university student through night school
• How she got her first taste of CSR through a Masters degree in social enterprise and then experience with her company’s CSR community projects
• How the 3.11 triple disaster in Tohoku became Megumi’s call to action
• The problems she witnessed in Tohoku for women living in evacuations centres
• The importance of curated training for women to help grow their leadership skills, confidence
• How Women’s Eye has built critical networks to support women-led entrepreneurship and social impact projects in their own communities

About Megumi:

Megumi Ishimoto is the Executive Director and co-Founder of NPO Women's Eye (WE), based in Miyagi Prefecture, supporting women who are involved in post-disaster community building and reconstruction in the Tohoku region. Megumi was born in Wakayama and started working in Osaka with only a high school diploma. After graduating from university and obtaining her masters while also working full time, she started volunteering in Tohoku shortly after the triple disaster in March, 2011. From her volunteer experience she started a non-profit organization in Tohoku supporting women. In 2016 she created specially curated leadership training for women called "Grassroots Academy Tohoku," which has helped women to take the next steps in their role as community leaders across the disaster affected region.

Connect with Megumi:

https://womenseye.net/ 

https://www.facebook.com/Womenseye20130604/ 

https://twitter.com/womenseye1 

Connect with Jackie:

Website: https://en-joi.com/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackie-f-steele-phd/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/enjoidiversityandinnovation

https://www.facebook.com/jackiefsteelephd 

Instagram: www.instagram.com/enjoi_diversity_innovation/