Natsumi Tsujiyama

I decided to change jobs because I was looking for an environment where I could continue building my career over the long term, even as major life events unfold. At my previous specialized trading company, the constraints during peak seasons were significant, and I felt that if I stayed as I was, my future options would gradually narrow. That sense of urgency prompted me to take action early and increase my market value while I was still young.

Consulting was not on my radar at all at first. However, during the interview process, one of the interviewers spoke seriously not about the industry, but about my future. That became the deciding factor for me as it was the moment I felt this was a place where I could envision a long-term career, even after becoming a mother.

I want to continue in this role for the long term because it allows me to work directly with clients and feel my skills and growth deepen in a different environment each time. Drawing on my own experience of taking maternity and parental leave twice since joining, one goal that has remained unchanged from the beginning is to become a role model who can thrive as a consultant while raising children.
As the number of younger female colleagues continues to grow, I hope to demonstrate through my own actions that it is possible to keep performing and progressing even through major life events and, in doing so, help broaden the options available to those who come after me.

Since joining Baycurrent, I have worked on a wide range of projects across industries and domains. The one that left the strongest impression on me was a BPO promotion project for a local government that I took on as a Senior Consultant. It was an unprecedented mission, launching a call center in just 10 days to handle inquiries from people suspected of having COVID-19.

We had to build an operating model from scratch for a 200-person team of nurses and doctors, including creating manuals, designing training, and establishing day-to-day operations. For me, having mainly supported process improvement in the financial services industry until then, call center operations were completely new territory. By gathering insights through interviews with other organizations and implementing what we learned on the spot, we pushed forward day by day, running an accelerated PDCA cycle throughout.

The pandemic itself also imposed major constraints. With restrictions on going out across Japan, it was difficult to build alignment face-to-face with the client, and even within the team we had to communicate without meeting in person. Misunderstandings that could normally be resolved quickly on-site had to be confirmed carefully one by one online, and we constantly searched for a way to balance speed and accuracy under severe time pressure.

What emerged was a style of “moving forward through small, frequent checkpoints.” Instead of trying to reach a perfect agreement in a single step, we aligned expectations in short cycles and steadily built momentum. This approach was refined precisely because our communication was entirely remote. By applying it consistently, we successfully launched the call center on time, improved the client’s evaluation, and contributed to Baycurrent’s business expansion, an achievement that was recognized internally with a Distinguished Service Award.

At Baycurrent, there is a principle of “delivering value within three days of joining a project.” While you wait to be perfectly prepared, the client’s challenges remain unresolved. Only by taking action do the real issues become visible, and by thinking while moving, making repeated course corrections, you can move forward at the fastest pace.

“Just start running, and you’ll move forward", this mindset has become the foundation of how I approach projects today. The belief that speed and quality are not a trade-off, that you raise precision by continuing to move, has been one of the most important lessons I have learned at Baycurrent.

My hobby is scuba diving, and I mainly dive in Japan at places like Ishigaki Island. True to my name, which includes the character for “sea,” I naturally feel calm and at ease when I’m in the ocean. I also grew up near the coast, so the sea has always been a familiar presence to me.
Since my child is still young, on family trips I sometimes leave my child with my husband and go for a solo dive, one of my favorite way to recharge these days.