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RECONCILING THE DEMANDS OF CAREER AND FAMILY

It can be tough for women to strike a balance between the demands of a career and family life—especially in more traditionally-minded societies such as those in Asia.

There can be few jobs that require as much commitment as becoming an astronaut. Lucy Colback, Editorial Director of the FT's Women in Business Asia Forum, is delighted to be joined by Naoko Yamazaki, Japan's second female and first mother to go into space, to discuss achieving that balance. Naoko will share how she reconciled her career ambitions with family expectations. She will talk about coping with the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, a devastating event which occurred during her training as she was mother to a small toddler, and the importance of learning to ask for help.

12 January 2021
 

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Speakers

 

Lucy Colback,
Editorial Director of the FT Women in Business Asia Forum Hong Kong

Lucy is the Financial Times’ former Asia Lex Editor, a role in which she used her 20 year experience as an Asia investment specialist to write commentary on financial market issues.

She is currently researching and writing a book on the experiences of World War Two survivors, while in her spare time editing corporate governance-related publications.

Lucy’s former roles include investment manager at Schroders and Asia equity research sales with Merrill Lynch. She is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.

Naoko Yamazaki,
Former Japanese Astronaut of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

Naoko earned a Master of Engineering degree majored in Aerospace Engineering from University of Tokyo in 1996, then started working for the current Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). In 1999, she was selected as an astronaut candidate and was qualified as a Soyuz-TMA Flight Engineer in 2004 and NASA Mission Specialist in 2006.

On April 5, 2010 Naoko was onboard Space Shuttle Discovery on the crew of STS-131, an assembly & resupply mission to the International Space Station. After retiring from JAXA in 2011, Naoko has been serving as a member of Japan Space Policy Committee of Cabinet Office, and devoting herself to space education as an adviser of Young Astronaut Club and a chairperson of “Sorajo (women in aerospace)” under Japanese Rocket Society. Naoko co-founded Space Port Japan Association in 2018 and is serving as its representative director. Naoko also joined the Council of the Earthshot Prize in 2020 to inspire a decade of action to repair the planet.

 

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