Yoko Kobayashi

Sales and Finance Coordinator, NAPA Design Solutions, NAPA Japan

At NAPA Japan, Yoko Kobayashi supports the sales and customer service teams with administrative work and keeps the office’s financial operations running.

Yoko’s day usually starts with email, after which she moves between approving expense reports, preparing documents and data for the team, coordinating meetings, and pulling together the monthly financial reporting. She normally works remotely two days a week and from the office for the rest of the time.

She joined NAPA in 2018, and her first impression of the company was immediate and powerful. “It felt open, relaxed, and full of warmth — so different from any company I’d worked at before,” she recalls. The welcoming and engaging atmosphere, along with approachable colleagues, gave her confidence that this was a team she wanted to be part of.

Sometime later, the NAPA User Seminar Japan came up for planning. The coordinator role had been rotating among team members. Yoko offered to take it on herself, so that her colleagues could focus on their own presentations and customer interactions. She had not done that kind of coordination before, but she believed the seminar would be more effective and satisfying for both the team and the participants if one person handled it, and her colleagues supported the idea wholeheartedly. Taking that step, she says, required courage, and since then she has felt more confident taking on new challenges.

You don’t have to take on everything alone. At NAPA, you’re part of a team that works together

Most of her work happens behind the scenes. Accounting handles money, so accuracy matters, and so does fairness. Rather than trying to handle everything on her own, she actively consults the tax advisor and her teammates whenever something is unclear. The days at the office matter to her for the same reason: she tries to create opportunities to talk with team members, even briefly, because those small exchanges often help everyone solve problems more quickly.

NAPA’s value of “Courage leads the way” is the line she points to when explaining what makes the work meaningful: a place where taking that first step is encouraged, and where asking for help is part of how the team works.

“You don’t have to take on everything alone. At NAPA, you’re part of a team that works together,” she says.