Alma is currently a freelance writer, editor, English instructor, and graphic/layout designer based in Tokyo, Japan.
She holds a bachelor's degree in interior design and a master's degree in product design and design management from Kyoto Institute of Technology. She also completed a course in computer graphic design at the University of California, Berkeley.
Alma landed her first job in Japan at McKinsey & Company Japan as Visual Aids Manager. Her responsibilities included producing presentation packages for consultants and clients. After two years, she worked as a project consultant for Activity Research Management Analysis (ARMA) in Tokyo, where she was tasked with organizing design projects, exhibits, and lectures for foreign and local designers, and collaborating with various design divisions of Japan’s multinational companies.
Ongoing pursuits in design and editing led Alma to be a part of the International Division at Graphic-sha Publishing Company in Tokyo. She handled the proofreading, copyediting, writing, and production of English co-edition titles for global publishers, namely Harper Collins Publishers, Quarry Books, Chronicle Books, and Rockport Publishers (US), Rotovision (Switzerland), and others.
Having lived in the Philippines, the U.S., Japan, Senegal, and France, and traveled extensively around the world, Alma has acquired a deep interest in foreign languages. Alongside two years of compulsory education in Spanish during her university years, she took up Japanese language courses at the Japanese Embassy in Manila, Soko Gakuen Japanese language school in San Francisco, and Osaka University of Foreign Studies.
During her two years of residence in Dakar, Senegal, she took up French lessons. She resumed learning the language at L'Institut de Langue Française in Paris, where she resided for three years. It was also in Paris where she first began to study the Italian language at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura. Her fondness for Italy and its culture has grown tremendously throughout the years. She continued to delve into the language in Italy through courses at the Scuola Leonardo da Vinci and DILIT Language School, both in Rome, yearly from 2016 to 2018. She hopes to continue this endeavor in the years to come.
During her residence in Paris, Alma assumed the positions of Layout Editor and Co-editor of the quarterly course program bulletins for the Institute of Continuing Education (presently Where Internationals Connect in English, WICE). The programs ranged from French art, history, languages, creative writing, architecture, cuisine and wine to politics and other disciplines geared specifically for foreign residents in Paris.
Returning to Japan after a five-year hiatus in Africa and Europe, Alma remained close to her writing and editing inclinations. Joining another editorial office in Tokyo, she has published over thirty titles on art, graphic design, crafts, photography, architecture, culinary arts, and related fields. “Mini House Style” and “Japanese Fantasy Manga” (both by Harper Collins Publisher) and “TAKUMI—L’artisanat tradtionnel du Japan” and “La deco des jeunes japonaise” (both by Editions du Tokyo) are the major books she has released as a writer.
Brief stints at Price Global as an editor and proofreader for visual presentations and at FM Bird DJ talent agency as a manager of the English Academy further enriched her experiences in layout editing and language education.
At present, she writes articles about museum exhibitions, art and design, travel, lifestyle, and musician interviews for varied magazines and online sites both in Japan and abroad.
Alma is also an avid music enthusiast, having studied piano for about ten years. This passion resulted in organizing live music events, particularly for foreign musicians coming to Japan. Some of the musicians she worked with were Alberto Pizzo, Alessio Menconi, Massimiliano Rolff, Fabio Giachino, Gianni Virone, Nicola Lancerotti, and Giuseppe Bassi. She has also interviewed distinguished musicians worldwide, such as Bebel Gilberto, Jose Feliciano, Tony Hadley, Stacey Kent, Jose James, Jean-Paul Maunick (Incognito), Stephen Bishop, Paolo Fresu, and many more, for her articles.
Alma’s diverse interests and activities span across art, design, crafts, architecture, photography, brush calligraphy, film, theater, concerts, books, poetry, travel, yoga, pilates, cycling, nature, retro, boats, horses, wine, Italian, Spanish, and Japanese food, and exploring all the explorative facets of life.
One of her favorite quotes:
Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. Those who wish to sing always find a song. At the touch of a lover, everyone becomes a poet.
(Plato)
Past and Current Publications:
Music Event Promotion Links:
English
Español
Français
Deutsch
Italiano
Português
