ABOUT LAURA
She is an expert on cross-cultural relations with more than thirty years experience bridging gaps in diverse workplaces. She has worked with Fortune 500 companies on four continents helping thousands of professionals build trust across Us versus Them differences based on nationality, ethnicity, race, religion, age or any factor of identity. Her WE-Building framework provides practical and actionable insights for creating a more inclusive and productive world.
Born in Tokyo, raised in Ohio and now residing in NYC, Laura has been navigating culture gaps her whole life. She regularly speaks on the topic of inclusion and conducts bilingual training sessions around the globe. Considered an authority on cultural integration, she is a regular lecturer and a TEDx speaker. She was the first American woman to work in Honda Motor Company’s Tokyo headquarters. This experience is the basis of her first book The Accidental Office Lady.
ABOUT WE-Building
People who care about establishing a multicultural inclusive society must engage in the work of closing gaps within their own lives. The goal of WE-building is to provide the framework for starting this process by fostering awareness, offering self-assessment tools and creating a plan for action. Helping people navigate complicated divisions is a task that requires an examination of long-standing Us versus Them gaps that result from old habits, false perceptions or any number of other factors. Using a WE approach it is possible to leverage diversity toward achieving truly equitable and highly productive spaces.
TEDx New York City - How Small Gestures Can Bridge the Gap Between US and THEM
SPEAKING
Laura Kriska writes regularly on current issues between America and Japan and is a frequent guest speaker to educational and professional groups, including New York’s Japan Society, Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Columbia University, NYU Stern School of Business, and The Ohio State University.
She holds a B.A. in Japanese Studies from Denison University, completed the International Studies program at Waseda University in Tokyo and earned an M.F.A. in Writing from Columbia University in New York. She also earned a brown belt in judo from the Kodokan Institute in Tokyo.
THE FULL STORY
Born in Tokyo, Japan to missionary parents, Laura Kriska spoke her first words in Japanese and took her first steps on tatami floor. When she was two years old, her family returned to their home in Columbus, Ohio, but her interest in Japan continued to grow. While earning her B.A. in Japanese Studies at Denison University, Kriska spent her junior year abroad at Waseda University in Tokyo and devoted most of her time to practicing judo. A week after giving the commencement speech to her graduating class, she was welding parts on the automobile assembly line of the Honda factory in Marysville, Ohio, as part of her training to work overseas. Two months later, she was in Japan —the first American woman to work in Honda Motor Company’s Tokyo headquarters.
GLOBAL FRAMEWORK
Based on her extensive experience with the US-Japan relationship, Laura Kriska developed a global framework for understanding cultural differences and expanded her training to apply to any multicultural group. Her success working in Asia, Europe, Latin America and throughout North America demonstrates the effectiveness of this framework in any cross-cultural setting.
The goal of her work is to teach global professionals how to build trust across differences of any kind including age, race, nationality, religion and other identity factors. The WE-Building process was developed through her years of experience. Laura Kriska believes that as the global marketplace continues to grow increasingly diverse, the ability to interact effectively with people from different cultural backgrounds is a key factor for success in the 21st century.
Success working in Asia, Latin America and throughout North America demonstrates the effectiveness of her global framework for understanding cultural differences in any cross-cultural setting.
