‍Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background?

I’m Azu and I am a Tokyo born, Manila raised half-returnee. After graduating from college, I returned to Japan and have worked in the SaaS, Export, and Blockchain industry in my 6~7 years as a marketer. 

‍What inspired you to pursue a career in your field?

Business and investments have been a great interest of mine from a young age. I was supposed to take an entrepreneurial major but decided to take up marketing to widen my knowledge in identifying customer needs, management, and operations. With current advancements in technology, I gained further interest in the tech industry and decided to focus my knowledge on marketing in this field.

Can you share a proud moment or accomplishment in Spider AF so far?

Getting our first global client from our marketing campaign is definitely one of the proudest moments I've had. We started with a small team with minimal resources, but everyone was dedicated to making our global expansion a success. It was also heartwarming to see our global clients put their trust in us even as a small growing global startup.

What’s a fun fact about you that many people may not know?

I've been told I'm a visual-spatial learner which helps in having good memory based on things I see. It helps a lot in learning a new language, and although I have no use for it now I learned how to read some Korean with it.

I used to do short-distance runs back when I was still “active” and I also eat A LOT. (Particularly chips)

‍How do you like to spend your weekends or time off?

I usually go cafe hopping on my time off trying out new places or just spend time at home binge-watching or working on some projects.

How would you describe the culture at Spider AF?

Spider AF consists of members from all over the world and diversity plays a big role in the company environment. There are a lot of interesting things you can learn from the people and their experiences here. 

Where is the best place you have visited?

Paris for sightseeing. The whole city looked wonderful and the buildings looked like gold around sundown. Cebu for beaches. The waters were clearer than I thought and it's a great place to go to if you just want to relax. Lisbon for a mix of both. Everything is within walking distance so you can jump from tourist spots to the seaside in no time.

Our Portugal office is also in Lisbon and I had a great time having the chance to meet our awesome team there face-to-face!

If you could have someone over for dinner, who would it be?

I don't have anyone in particular in mind, but it would be interesting to invite over some of the world's top billionaires by generation. With technological advancements and difference in mindset between generations, I'd be interested to sit down with them and ask them about their perception of success, how they got to where they are now, how each of them adapted to changes over time and maintained the status they achieved - off record.

‍What is the best career lesson you have learned so far?

3 of the best career lessons I've learned from experience and people I have worked with would be communicating as effectively as you can, voicing out your opinion, and learning to push back when necessary.