Ted Bonnah
Father & Educator
Theodore is a NunaKavut from Labrador, Canada, who has always resisted inequality. He wrote his PhD on biased depictions of Japan in US economic journalism, and his MA on discrimination against his great grandfather and the woman leader of the 1905 Hubbard expedition. Theodore has brought his criticism of inequality to Japan, where he teaches learning for empowerment at Kobe International University. In 2015, he successfully fought power harassment at another university, and has written articles on LinkedIn about his experiences. Currently, he teaches Canadian style equity in special education 3 days a week at his son’s elementary school.
Kinota Braithwaite
Author & Activist
Kinota Braithwaite is African Canadian now living in Fujisawa, Japan. He is an anti-bullying activist, speaker, and writer. He’s also a licensed elementary Montessori Teacher. To date, he’s written three books, Mio the Beautiful, Kei the True Friend, and Mio’s Wish. All three highlight the bullying and racism biracial children experience in Japan. Kinota began his author journey by writing the story of Mio the Beautiful to help his biracial Japanese daughter Mio regain her confidence and find her inner strength after some children at her school taunted her about her skin color.
Satoshi Ishihara
World Bank
Satoshi Ishihara is a PhD in Social Anthropology with 25 years of experience in community development and social risk management of large infrastructure projects in Africa, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Southeast Asia. He was the Regional Social Safeguards Coordinator of the Eastern Europe and Central Asia Region of the World Bank before he moved to Indonesia to take up a new challenge in work and life. He learnt various life skills during his childhood as his parents were busy with work and life activities, which helps him manage his own team and achieve work life balance.
Maneesh Kalra
Manthan
Maneesh offers a unique insight into the world of yoga, meditation and mindfulness. Maneesh grew up firmly established in the roots and philosophy of Yoga. A degree in pharmacology gave him an insight into the human body from a scientific standpoint and his passion for sports made him a lifelong student of physiology, function and movement. After MBA school, Maneesh moved to Asia to join the investment bank Goldman Sachs. First in Tokyo and then Hong Kong, his experiences in the corporate world made Maneesh a more well-rounded yoga instructor and mindfulness coach. He can relate to those who are busy with life in this fast-paced, often overwhelming world, yet are in search of a more permanent contentment and peace. Maneesh left the corporate world and returned to India in pursuit of further studies in yoga, Ayurveda (ancient Indian medicine), and Sanskrit. Since returning to Japan in 2009, Maneesh has been sharing his insights both domestically and abroad, offering classes, retreats, workshops as well as corporate lectures and seminars on yoga, meditation, mindfulness and wellness. His Indian roots and knowledge of Indian yoga & meditation and his two decades of living in Japan give his teaching an authenticity and relatability that cannot be denied. It is rare to find a teacher with a mix of cultural, educational, physical, and linguistic experiences to bring together the ancient and modern, East and West, the spiritual and the scientific.
Junichiro Koji
Hokkaido University of Education
Junichiro Koji is a political scientist and teaches at the Hokkaido University of Education (Hakodate Campus). He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science with a specialization in Canadian Studies (University of Ottawa). Before joining the Hokkaido University of Education, he worked at the City of Montreal as a research officer in the social diversity division and at the Japanese Embassy in Canada as a political analyst. Dr. Koji is active in community-engaged research and works to build a welcoming community for foreign residents in the South Hokkaido area. He is a co-founder of the Rainbow Hakodate Project, a civil society organization working to build an LGBTQ+-friendly and inclusive community in the Greater Hakodate Area.
Darren Menabney
Ricoh
Darren Menabney helps individuals and organizations collaborate, communicate, and create remotely and across cultures. Darren leads HR projects for Ricoh Company Limited, building a stronger corporate culture among Ricoh’s 80,000 employees around the world. As a Professor at the Graduate School of Management at GLOBIS University in Tokyo, he teaches critical thinking, design thinking, storytelling, and virtual team leadership to international MBA students and corporate executives. Darren is also a contributing writer for Forbes and Fast Company, a TEDx speaker, and is part of the IDEO U teaching team. He is originally from Toronto, Canada.
Rob Nugen
Mankind Project Japan
Rob conducts workshops and meetings giving people skills to connect with each other and with their personal life mission. He has been running a men’s peer counseling group in Tokyo since 2015, and he has been conducting spiritual workshops in both Tokyo and Kanagawa. As an 18-year resident in Kanagawa, Rob is fully aware of both the joys and pitfalls of life in Japan - in the middle of work, relationships, and other commitments, it is easy to feel cut off, isolated, and eager to find something more meaningful.
Andrew O'Brien
Diversity Dojo
Andrew loves to see people happy and thrive. He is a full-time educator, runs Diversity Dojo, and is a freelance facilitator and collaborator supporting training programs and business development projects. He loves to play African percussion, enjoys taking photos, and cherishes his personal time with family and friends.
Bryan Sherman
Gramercy Engagement Group
Bryan works with a passion to enhance the communication, collaboration and synergy development between the global headquarters of Japanese companies and their overseas subsidiaries. As the President of Gramercy Engagement Group, Inc., a company which he founded in 2010 in Tokyo, he provides one-on-one executive coaching and group training and facilitation services on topics such as talent management, leadership & influence and effective global communication. Recently, he has been embracing digitalization by developing online content for e-learning and other media in order create new connections among people. He is the co-author of “Eigo de Jinji: Nichiei taiyaku ni yoru jissenteki jinji” (Bushindo, 2020).
Jake Stika
Next Gen Men
As Next Gen Men's Executive Director, Jake is a passionate speaker and facilitator focused on gender-based issues related to the social and emotional development of young men, the health and well-being of men in communities, and gender equity in workplaces for a future where boys & men experience less pain, and cause less harm. Jake was named one of Avenue Magazine’s Top 40 Under 40, as well as having earned recognition from Ashoka, the British Council, and the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion. He has spoken at the United Nations as part of the Canadian Delegation, and participated in the UN Women Safe Cities Initiative Global Forum. He is also a proud advisor to the Calgary Immigrant Women's Association, Canadian Women & Sport, as well as the Calgary Women's Emergency Shelter.
Casey Wahl
Attuned.ai (EQIQ, KK)
Born in Rochester, New York, raised in Saudi Arabia, and a resident of Japan for more than 20 years, Casey has been committed to improving the world of work for over a decade. In 2010, he founded tech recruitment specialists Wahl+Case with the lofty ambition of fixing recruitment on a global scale. Six years later, under the umbrella of parent company EQIQ, Casey launched Attuned, an SaaS platform that uses psychology and AI to make people’s intrinsic motivations visible, helping managers communicate more effectively with their teams while reducing conflict, boosting productivity and engagement, and ultimately making work more meaningful. Casey holds an MBA from IE Business School in Spain, is fluent in Japanese, and is the author of two books of interviews with Japanese entrepreneurs: became the Amazon Japan #1 best-seller 未来をつくる起業家 (English title: The Quiet Comeback) and its 2018 sequel, 未来をつくる起業家 vol 2. He also produced the first startup-themed feature film in Japan (Startup Girls, released in 2019), and is in the process of establishing Japan’s most northern, most remote craft whisky distillery, Kamui Whisky, on the island of Rishiri, near Hokkaido. His top three intrinsic motivators are competition, rationality and autonomy.
Jason Wong
JWong Works
Jason Wong is a proven engineering leader, diversity & inclusion consultant, and doughnut enthusiast. With over two decades of experience in building and scaling web applications, he has worked in a range of industries from academia to online media and e-commerce. He helped establish web development and administrative computing at Columbia College, led development of premium video streaming services at Yahoo! Sports, and spent seven years at Etsy leading their Infrastructure Engineering team. He currently works with executive teams and engineering leaders to improve their engineering management practices and establish inclusive cultures.
Yuki Yoshii
Satori Mindset
Yuki is a Soul Purpose Coach specializing in conscious manifestation. He was born in Tokyo, grew up in Peru and currently resides in San Francisco. Former professional dancer who became deeply curious about the world of spirituality at the age of 17, he continued to explore and study the truth of life. His mission is to awaken the world by teaching people to understand the self and soul and embody wholeness to create freedom in everyday living. He is a Proctor Gallgher Consultant through the company led by Bob Proctor and he has a master's degree in holistic health education.