Season 1

Guest Bios

Season 1

Episode 1: Jeff O'Harrow
St. Mary's International School (2004)
Entrepreneur (former business strategist and banker)

He attended Lewis and Clark College, and graduated from Tulane University in 2008. Upon graduation he worked for JP Morgan as a broker.

From 2015 to 2019 he worked for East West Consulting company, as the companies Senior Consultant & Strategist.
In 2019, he left the company to start his own business, Tokyo Juice, a health conscious organic Juice bar located in Jingumae, Omotesando in Tokyo.

He currently resides in Tokyo, Japan with his wife Yesenia and his son Kai.

Tokyo Juice IG

Episode 2: Nate Reasoner
Christian Academy in Japan (2004)
Educator

He graduated from Northwestern College with a degree in Physical Education in 2008.

He then went on to complete a Master's degree in International Education from Framingham State University and has worked as a Physical Education teacher for the past nine years.

His teaching career has taken him all over the world with stops in Venezuela, China, Czech Republic, and the United Arab Emirates.

He currently teaches at an international school in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Episode 3: Vasil Stefanov
American School in Japan (2005)
Social Project Manager

Vasil attended St. Mary’s International School in elementary and middle school. He later moved to ASIJ in high school, where he graduated in the class of 2006.
Following his graduation from ASIJ, he moved back to his home country, where he studied Political Science at The American University in Bulgaria.
He earned his Masters’ Degree in International Relations in the Netherlands.

In his professional career, Vasil has worked for a number of NGOs in the field of development and education. Over the past decade, he has lived in Poland, Singapore, Cambodia, Ecuador, and since 2019 has been living in Cusco, Peru, working as a Project Coordinator and managing teams of international volunteers.

Episode 4: Sarah Whitten
American School in Japan (2005)

Upon graduating from Northwestern University, Sarah moved to New York City for a role in the International Graduate program at Standard Chartered Bank, a 2-year program rotating in various divisions and periodic global off-sites recruits from across the world, allowing analysts to create a network spanning Hong Kong to Dubai to Nigeria.

Following the program she remained in New York as an Associate in the Debt Capital Markets team (responsible for bond issuances for large corporates). Sarah then moved to South Africa with Standard Chartered and is currently a Global Account Manager, managing a portfolio of multinational corporates and serving as the main point of contact for CEOs, CFOs, and Treasurers for banking requirements.

Sarah is also passionate about embedding Diversity and Inclusion initiatives into the DNA of corporate life and serves the Chairwoman for the Diversity and Inclusion Council for the bank in South Africa.

Episode 5: Andrew Brown
American School in Japan (2004)
Educator (former PR agent and analyst at Morgan Stanley)

He attended Pace University and graduated in 2008 with a communications degree.

After University, he worked for Morgan Stanley, followed by a time at
Weber Shandwick where he was part of the marketing team which helped Tokyo win the bid to host the 2020 Olympics. After leaving Weber Shandwick, he would move on to work for Expedia, and left the company in 2018 to pursue a Masters degree in International Education.

Upon earning his Masters and teaching certificate. Andrew began his teaching career in Quito, Ecuador where he taught economics. He currently teaches middle school humanities and high school economics for a school in China.

Episode 6: Phil Williams
American School in Japan (2000)
Educator (formerly in the entertainment business)

Upon graduation from ASIJ, Phil attended Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he later transferred to Stevenson University where he graduated with a Bachelors in Film, Video, & Theatre, Film Focus, in 2007.
Phil would go on to freelance in Television Production from 2008-2011, primarily working for shows on Discovery Channel, TLC, Bravo & HGTV including shows such as The Real Housewives of D.C.

He transitioned into teaching when he began the Inspired Teaching Teacher Certification Program in Washington, D.C. Following his teaching certification program he was hired in June 2015 as a Lead Teacher at Creative Minds International Public Charter School in Washington, D.C. where he works today.
He currently resides in the Northwest of Washington D.C.

Episode 7: Jack Fischl
American School in Japan (2006)
Entrepreneur (former Peace Corps volunteer)

Jack attended Boston University, where he majored in Business Administration, with a concentration in International Business.
After graduating, he joined the Peace Corps as a Community Economic Development volunteer from 2010 to 2012.
During the Peace Corps, he and two other volunteers began working on ways to connect travelers with community tour operations in developing countries. That idea became Keteka, a website where travelers can find and book the most authentic tours and activities in Latin America, with validated local guides. The two have founded and have been operating Keteka since 2014.

He currently resides in Santiago, Chile, with his wife, Tamy.

Episode 8: Nathan Baker
American School in Japan (2004)
Marketing

He graduated ASIJ in 2004, now working in advertising in China.

He’s currently a Group Account Director for We Are Social in the North Asia region — taking Asia Pacific-based brands global on social media & digital while also helping multinational corporations navigate social & digital in China.

Due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, he has not been able to return to China now for over five months and will be on the podcast ZOOMing in from Maryland, USA.

Episode 9: Tom Eldridge
St. Mary's International School (2005)
HR Specialist

Upon graduating from University of British Columbia in Vancouver Canada, Tom spent a 5 month stint in Zambia Africa, volunteering building houses with Habitat for Humanity and building learning curriculums for local schools.
Following this experience, Tom moved back to Japan to learn Japanese in a language school for a year, and sought out an internship at PricewaterhouseCoopers Japan in Human Resources. It is during this experience that his love for all things HR developed, he cycled through different HR teams, namely, Learning & Development, Global Mobility, Compensation to name a few.
Fast forwarding a bit more, Tom found himself in the world of Recruiting, due to his interest in people problem solving.

He works as a Senior Talent Acquisition professional at Cisco Systems. He has spent 3 years with Cisco in London, UK, and has been back with the company in Tokyo for just over a year now. Tom enjoys working through talent related challenges.

Episode 10: Aya Porte
American School in Japan (2006)
Occupational Therapist

Aya attended Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, where she graduated with a Bachelors in Health Science in 2012, and continued on to complete her Master’s in Occupational Therapy in 2014.
From 2014-2016, Aya worked at a non-profit as an occupational therapist (OT) in Boston, Massachusetts working with at-risk adolescent youths. From 2016-2018, she took a traveling OT job where she worked at hospitals, nursing homes and schools throughout the New England region, until settling on a full-time OT position at a special education school in Connecticut.
In 2018, Aya returned to Tokyo, unbeknown to her at the time, to start her own practice. What was initially intended to be a 6 month break to travel, study yoga, meditate, and learn how to bake French bread (reminiscent of Eat, Pray, Love), turned into a permanent move to build a rewarding practice in her home country to help (mostly) children of all ages be as independent as possible in navigating their own lives.

Homepage to Ayas private practice
https://yoga.koiwellness.org