Kaoru – 薫

Kaoru joined the BeatBabel team in the spring of 2014. Originally from Japan, she studied both in San Diego and Chicago, and received her Bachelor’s and her Master’s. While living in the windy city, she taught studio art in the NPO sector and worked at a private gallery, helping with the production of large-scale paintings and other marketing tasks.

In Japan, she worked as a Japanese/English translator/interpreter for SoftBank Mobile and later on, as a translator for Mitsubishi Electric Engineering. She enjoyed providing simultaneous interpretation, and the challenges of working on large translation projects familiarized her with the industry tools and techniques as well as with project coordination.

Being in the localization industry and working on multi-language projects is just another type of cultural inspiration for her. Kaoru is fluent in both English and Japanese. She has worked on many compliance and life sciences projects for Fortune 500 and helping customers succesfully navigate the Japanese market while working at BeatBabel.

She spends her time between San Diego and Japan. Her favorite subjects have always been World History, Art, and English; she is particularly fascinated by Central Asian and Persian culture. She believes that she was Latin American in one of her past lives.

Specialties:

• Project Management

• Japanese

Nickname: Kaorupractor
Chinese Zodiac: Water dog
Favorite Hangout: Natural hot springs – it’s the most relaxing thing!
Can’t live without:  Good, wise, and compassionate friends. Flowers and plants
Last book read: “65 chapters about Iran” by Emiko Okada
Last show seen: Beirut at SDSU Open Air Theater, with the team!
Favorite things to do on the weekends: Eating good breakfast at home. Hiking at Torrey Pines
If you could have another career, what would it be: Mural painting conservator in Central Asia