5 Questions for our VP of Engineering & Product, Haruko

Haruko Kurata is CREDO Mobile’s Vice President of Engineering and Product. She makes the complex operational puzzles involved in telecommunications look easy to navigate. Here at CREDO, Haruko is admired for her technical know-how, amazing negotiation skills and upbeat attitude. Get to know her in these five questions.

1. What is the best part of working for CREDO Mobile?
The people. When I first joined CREDO, I was struck by the uniqueness of the culture. We have smart and caring employees who are definitely different. I had worked at a medium-sized public company as well as a startup before coming to CREDO, and CREDO has a personal and tight-knit family culture that I had not experienced before. We are genuine and deliberate in what we do, and it makes for a purposeful culture and workplace.

2. Which progressive cause do you care about most?
I have always admired the ACLU and their work on human rights. Despite the fact that we should all have protected, basic human rights, terrible things happen to particularly vulnerable populations – women, children, minorities, immigrants. I am grateful there are organizations like the ACLU that work to defend civil liberties for everyone.

3. Tell us something surprising about yourself?
My name is entirely Japanese and when people see my name, they assume that I am from Japan. I was born in Japan but grew up in Seattle and consider myself very different from a Japanese person from Japan. While I appreciate the Japanese language and culture and pass these experiences down to my kids, I find myself identifying more and more as an Asian-American.

4. What inspires you?
People inspire me – people with courage, kindness, integrity, humility. It is inspiring to read and listen to stories about those who have overcome adversity, who go to great lengths to help others, and who strive to be true to themselves and their moral character.

5. What do you outside of CREDO?
Everyone at work knows that I play a lot of tennis. It is my way of mentally decompressing. I also am a mom and love spending time traveling with my family. It really doesn’t matter where we go, but the simple moments are what seem to stay with me.