I qualified as a chef in the UK and moved to Japan to work in a French restaurant in Shizuoka city. After two and a half years, I returned to the UK  to take up a position of a translator and interpreter at Ricoh’s European manufacturing base in Telford, Shropshire. As the in-house translator, I was responsible for the translation of all manufacturing, technical and quality assurance documentation and manuals. After 4 years at Ricoh, I moved to Sheffield to obtain formal qualifications at the University of Sheffield graduating with a BA(Hons) Japanese Studies.

By the time I had graduated the Japanese economic bubble had burst and with little translation work available I began a career in the police. I retained my interest in the Japanese language and in 2014 I had the opportunity to visit Japan as part of a South Yorkshire police research project.  This reignited my passion to use my language skills professionally.  

In 2016 I passed JLPT N2. The following year during a period of voluntary redundancies I left the police to pursue my passion.  In 2018 I began a  part-time Masters in Applied Translation at the University of Leeds whilst building a translation my business.