Greetings from Tokyo to all Members! My name is Kristen Hughes; Jennie has asked me to introduce myself. Here goes! 
When I moved to Tokyo in the fall of 2019, my brother’s mother-in-law — who had lived in Tokyo in the 1980s — said “you must join CWAJ.” So one of the first things I did when I arrived was get in touch through the website. Ann Endo invited me to the September 2019 luncheon . . . and I joined CWAJ on the spot. Instant friends! It was the best decision ever.
Where do I come from? Although sometimes I think of myself as a citizen of the world because I was born in San Francisco but grew up in London, mostly I suppose I am from Palo Alto, California. Before coming to Japan, I’d lived there ever since 1995 when my employer, Morgan Stanley, asked me to relocate to Silicon Valley where business was booming. Initially, I worked on taking technology companies public, and then helped them to raise follow-on funds in the tech boom of the mid-to late 1990s. That was fun! After a stint in business development for a software company, I moved to the venture capital side of the business, and continued to experience the wild ride of investing in tech start-ups in Silicon Valley — through the Internet bubble and beyond. That was also very fun.
In 2012, while spending time volunteering in my children’s school, I realized there were schools nearby in greater need of help. Having studied chemistry at university, I was able to join a group teaching science in an under-resourced local school district on a volunteer basis. I enjoyed it so much that eventually I was teaching 19 hours a week! I decided that I really ought to know something about teaching. I obtained my M.Ed. and science credential, then I worked as a chemistry teacher in a local public comprehensive high school.
When my husband and I moved to Japan in the fall of 2019, I decided not to take a full-time teaching job, so instead joined a tutoring agency with flexible work hours. In Tokyo, I teach chemistry, physics, biology and math one on one to international school students.
On joining CWAJ, I was recruited to serve on Scholarship committees, and eventually I became the NJ Scholarship Co-Chair for a few years. Now I serve as the Director of Development. Our group is small but growing. Please contact me if you’d like to be involved in raising funds for CWAJ’s Scholarship and Education Fund!
But one of the best “jobs” at CWAJ is unwrapping the prints as they come in for the Print Show, with the Art Manager team. We have so much fun with each other and the beautiful art. I love working with the AM team and later in the year, volunteering at Print Show and handing prints to smiling customers.
