As a member of our Industry Solutions team in Japan, Kyoko helps home professionals to build their brands and reach homeowners. Outside of work, Kyoko enjoys traveling to new places.
How would you describe your role?
I think of myself as a bridge between home professionals and their customers by working closely with the pros to help them establish their brands on Houzz and reach homeowners. By learning about their goals and what challenges they face, I’m able to provide them with tailored programs that offer the best solutions. I’m delighted when they tell me that my assistance helped them reach their goals and incredibly proud to make a difference to their business.
What brought you to Houzz?
Many of my close friends are home pros, all trying to find a way to grow their businesses and share their passion for home design with others. I decided to join Houzz to help home professionals like them to achieve their goals.
How do you think Houzz best supports home professionals?
Many home professionals are so busy serving their current clients that they have limited time available to attract and develop new relationships with future customers. When they upload photos of their work to Houzz, it’s like distributing virtual business cards. The photos visually entice future customers and share information about the pros’ areas of expertise. It is a revolutionary and efficient way to expand their business.
What’s something that has surprised you about working here?
Houzz is a global company full of inspirational people. Decision making, the implementation of change, growth and internal communications are much faster at Houzz than in other companies I have worked for in Japan. If I send a request or question to the international team in the evening Japan time, I will receive a response by the next morning. It’s a testament to Houzz’s international teamwork!
What do you do for fun when you’re not working?
After work, I enjoy swimming, playing the ukulele and going out for fancy noodles with my partner. Beyond that, I love to experience culture through film, travel and food. Each year, I travel to a country or city that I have never visited, preferably a place where no one speaks Japanese. This kind of travel is stimulating and helps me to appreciate diversity in the world. Countries on my radar include, Cuba, Mexico, Israel, Russia, Croatia, Sri Lanka and India. I cannot wait to visit them!
How have you used Houzz at home?
My family is planning to remodel their home, so we’re getting inspiration from all of the photos on Houzz and saving them to our ideabooks. I’ve also taken advantage of the power of the Houzz community by posting a design dilemma about a chair I wanted to reupholster (you can see my discussion post here). Houzz users replied to my question and I followed their advice (as best as I could)! It was a lot of fun to choose my favorite color and textile and update my old chair with a fresh new look using their tips.