The Maze Bright Journey

My Maze Bright journey started at 2 years old - unknowingly and adventurously. And while I (obviously) wasn’t familiar with the term at the time, it has been a philosophy, attitude and toolkit that has guided me and my family through the numerous frontiers we’ve navigated in our life.

The Maze Bright Philosophy

Before I was 12, I would move back and forth across the U.S. and Japan seven times. Each move required adapting to new schools, swim teams, friends, routines in two starkly different environments. In the U.S., life was surrounded by forests and a lake where the silence was only intermittently disrupted by the frozen lake's rumbling ice. With the first snowfall each winter, a blanket of white would cover the landscape. And it was during one of these snowfalls at the age of 2, that my father got this magical idea to map, design and carve out these large-scale snow mazes that became our winter playground.

These mazes weren’t just physical challenges (learning how to ice-skate), but puzzles that in a magical way taught us how to navigate the unknown and uncertainty. From the initial excitement of embarking into the unknown, mapping twists and turns, hitting dead ends, retracing steps, analyzing missteps, to mastering the maze - it subconsciously built our initial tools in adaptability, resilience, resourcefulness and quick learning. It helped that I had a big sister to pull me around in those initials years. But, it was only later in life that I connected the dots that this was parallel training for our seven trans-Pacific moves, shaping a worldview where we don’t shy away but embrace uncertainty and change as exciting gateways for growth and learning. 

In technicolor contrast to the serene lake, Tokyo was a video game - weaving in and out of waves of people with constant sounds of the byzantine train system that drums the city. So, going back and forth between these two environments required a multi-level code switching of language, cultural mannerisms, educational systems, pop culture references and all the things you need to survive as a curious young child looking for ways to connect and essentially, to fit in. It was daunting, overwhelming and exhausting. But, with each move the map of the maze would be more detailed. I’d know where to look for clues, who to talk to for what, where the dead ends were and how to quickly learn, adapt, connect and navigate the new environment. It was a challenging but very dynamic way to shape what would become my worldview of embracing change and transformation as a growth and learning opportunity and always looking for how to flip adversity into achievement, uncertainty into opportunity. 

The Maze Bright Attitude

This worldview was amplified by a global soundtrack led by mother who has a fearless spirit and zest for exploration. We followed in the footsteps of explorers through exhilarating historical and geographical expeditions, with my first trip at 5 years old to Kenya staring at the enormity of giraffes, hippos and lions. To at 6 years old, learning how to drum in the oldest Egyptian bazaar, Khan el-Khalili to only fall and break said drum. To walking along not only the paved paths of the Great Wall but essentially rock climbing the decrepit portions of the Great Wall in not just the summer but no, also in the snow to see how it changed.

We also flew in a tiny plane with chickens and other livestock, just so we could get to our destination. We also almost got swept away in a river, lost, trying to find the meeting point of our driver. We also found ourselves alert and awake as our train was stopped by “bandits” attempting to rob the train. Even today, my mother continues to expose us to such a diverse and rich tapestry of life that has created a deep appreciation for diversity, a relentless pursuit of knowledge and a facility to connect with different cultures. This shaped my adventurous spirit and approach to life today - enthusiastic, fearless, curious, compassionate - and naturally, my pursuit of new frontiers as I later would live and work in Spain, Germany and Austria beyond my two home countries of the US and Japan.

The Maze Bright Toolkit

Fast forward, this philosophy and attitude cultivated through my childhood shaped a versatile toolkit that has been continually enriched by each learning, manager, company, industry that I've been lucky to be surrounded by. Drawn to sectors pioneering new frontiers, it was fitting that I began my professional journey in the music industry when Napster and digital platforms were revolutionizing traditional marketing strategies. We couldn’t rely on the old playbook of radio promotion, release parties and street teams but needed more levers and a nuanced approach to personal branding for artists and DJ’s transforming musicians into distinctive, relatable brands. As digital platforms became widespread, I then helped Red Bull shift gears from an energy drink to becoming a global media powerhouse cementing “brand storytelling” and “content marketing” as essential in every marketer’s toolkit across 60+ countries.

And in the realm of start-ups, I got to be a 0-1 player-coach in how a robotic furniture would fundamentally change the way real estate developers build buildings and quality of life would be enhanced in hotels and small-space apartments. Drastically different from the healthy marketing budgets of record labels, adidas, Red Bull and other big entities I worked for, working in a start-up was an immersive crash course in iterative lean start-up strategies, maximizing tight resource allocation, making decisions quickly across a tight, cross-functional nexus of Design, Marketing, Sales, Supply Chain and Ops. It might have been my most complex, time compressed maze to date.