The year 2020 has presented unique challenges and interruptions across all aspects of our lives, but it does not stop us from celebrating the various accomplishments and achievements of women leaders of color! Throughout the month of August, we will spotlight these amazing women and share their unique perspectives, philosophies, and stories.

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Rika Nakazawa is the CEO and Founder of BoardSeatMeet, Inc., a social impact venture focused on diversifying corporate board rooms by empowering women to build and leverage social capital with modern technology. She is also Vice President and Client Partner at Conduent, which is a $4B revenue global BPO provider to Fortune 100 companies. She is a veteran in the technology industry, and she has worked with Silicon Valley startups and many Fortune 500 companies including: NVIDIA, Sony, Accenture, and American Express.

Nakazawa grew up in Japan and moved to the U.S. to attend Princeton University. Since then, she has been actively engaged in the progress of U.S.-Japan business collaborations. She is even an ambassador to fabbit and Council Leader with the U.S Japan Council. Her fluency in Japanese, German, and English has helped her overcome many barriers within the industry she works for.

Nakazawa is very passionate about deepening the intersection of human and digital paradigms through transformational innovation and the pursuit of purpose-driven collaboration. Throughout her career, she has been an avid advocate for advancing women’s leadership in governance, technology, and business across industry verticals and global dimensions.

We have reached out to Nakazawa to get her thoughts on achieving leadership success, especially during times of crisis such as the current pandemic. Here’s what she has to say regarding this topic:

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There is often a lack of representation of women of color in executive and board rooms. When you find yourself in these situations, how do you ensure your voice is heard?

Rika Nakazawa: Both from my personal experience as well as from what I hear from women board members I have interviewed for the book I am writing called Dear Chairwoman, it’s important to come prepared to the board room. Do you do the pre-reading of the board packet, and take advantage of the social moments that often (pre-Covid) preceded a board meeting – be that at a dinner, or other ‘offline’ moment to connect with your fellow board members. These ‘offline’ moments are remarkably powerful to build relationships that help provide the platform for your voice in the boardroom.

The pandemic has shifted the way a lot of industries do business. How are you leading your team through these unprecedented times? Have you found any silver linings?

RN: While the Pandemic has been devastating for many startups as it makes investors more risk-averse, and has injected uncertainty in the venture markets, Covid-19 has had some positive impact on our social impact venture, BoardSeatMeet, in 2 ways. One, the pandemic has emphasized the need for a high-performance corporate board in helping organizations and enterprises navigate through this crisis, and manage to a path of resilience. And at BoardSeatMeet, we are driving gender and racial equity in the board room, specifically to power this high performance. Two, Covid-19 has accelerated the adoption of the virtual/digital forum for how we engage and connect as human beings (the Zoom boom), which also aligns with how we believe board members and candidates can effectively and efficiently connect, and candidates are able to cultivate social capital – a key factor in how board roles are exposed and filled. In this way, though the Pandemic is undoubtedly tragic and awful, in some ways it has provided us some tailwind as we get into the critical phase of Open Beta in the next 2 months.