YAMATO 2021 CENTRAL REGION EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR – Masako Yoshizawa
02.24.2022 | Category, Blog
Congratulations to Masako Yoshizawa for her incredible work managing customers for major car manufacturing companies and their suppliers out of YAMATO’s Gateway office in Chicago. Her strong work ethic coupled with her work philosophy of constantly “reporting, communicating and consulting” has earned the gratitude of dozens of YAMATO clients, the respect of her co-workers and the admiration of the entire corporation.
Masako earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from nearby Columbia College and her quest to learn something new every day has enabled her to work in almost every department at YAMATO. She started her YAMATO career in the international moving division, before working in parcel delivery (taqbin), sales and now the fast-paced world of air import. This experience and her successes demonstrate what a future prototypical employee of YAMATO looks like.
“Chicago really is my kind of town,” says Masako, “I really enjoy renting muscle cars for fun and driving them around the beautiful city of Chicago to sense the ambiance of so many cool places and pockets of communities within the Chicago area – Chicago is really not just a place, it’s a vibe that needs to be experienced – it’s my kind of town!”
Masako spent the last year managing a record volume of automotive related shipments for YAMATO, often times postponing her hours on the tennis court on the weekend to ensure a smooth flow of urgent automotive component parts and supplies for the upcoming week. One of her biggest challenges was making sure that the key components parts which were once transported by cargo ship were now properly being shipped by air from Asia to Chicago and then they needed to be picked up and transported by chartered trucks for fast and final delivery to the Midwest to keep the customers’ assembly lines moving. “Speed and accuracy are everything for our customers,” says Masako.
“It is so exciting to assist people from all over the world and it really makes me happy o hear the appreciation from the customers,” says Masako, “but please remember that this is a team effort always and I have tremendous colleagues who have a wealth of knowledge and experience who are eager to help when it is needed.”
Congratulations Masako, 2021 Employee of the Year for the Central Region!