As a Singaporean raised in Shanghai, China, I grew up with the constant reminder that I was an “overseas Chinese,” always in-between cultures and societies. After graduating from high school in China, I moved to the US for my university education where I pursued degrees in Public Policy Studies, International Relations, and East Asian Studies. No matter where I am in the world, I am consistently viewed as someone from another place. This personal background has intensified my interest and curiosity in international relations and regional studies with a focus on cross-cultural communications, leading and informing my life and career decisions to date.

My first job after my Master’s degree in Regional Studies – East Asia from Harvard University brought me to a top policy think tank in Seoul, South Korea. During my time as Policy Analyst and Research Associate there for about a year, I had the opportunity to truly immerse myself in working frequently with diplomats and other political figures on topics related to the South Korean government and regional politics. Although a great learning experience, the most important lesson I learned from that year was that I ultimately would not want to be a politician or stay in politics - at least not at this early stage of my career.

This realization brought me to Japan when I made the decision to try and gain experience in the country renown for being difficult for foreigners to thrive socially and economically. I believed that if I could gain on-the-ground exposure to Japanese culture, business, and society, I would be in a position where I could better understand cross-cultural communications and support others in finding opportunities in different markets and countries.

Presently, I am COO and Co-Founder of SeiRogai, Inc. (www.seirogai.com), a Tokyo-based business consultancy, film & media production company. At the same time, I lead Business Development on the Investment Management team at a Japanese private equity fund.

I am passionate about learning and experiencing as much as possible about the world. My purpose is to then lead and inspire others to tap into their true potential and be more than what they thought they could be. This is my mission with all of the companies and individuals that I work with. At SeiRogai, everything that we do has to benefit and connect others to new opportunities, whether through media production or business consultancy and advisory on cross-border projects. My blog features topics on travel, culture, and education that raises awareness about lesser-known destinations and social histories and shares learnings from business leaders and other inspiring figures I have had the opportunity to encounter. (Blog Link: https://scholar.harvard.edu/rachel_leng/blog)

I hope to be able to incorporate approaches from social psychology to contribute to my work.