HLP Voices Series #2 – Interview with Keiko Fujino

Keiko Fujino has built an impressive career in global media, spanning journalism, live video production, and international news coordination. From her early days as a News Producer in London to her leadership roles at The Associated Press across Japan, Thailand, France, and the UK, she has navigated the fast-paced, ever-evolving landscape of the media industry with resilience and adaptability.

Beyond her professional achievements, Keiko has also taken on the challenges of balancing career growth with family life, transitioning between staff and freelance roles, and leading teams in high-pressure environments. Her journey offers invaluable insights into leadership, work-life balance, and navigating global career transitions. In this conversation, we’ll explore the challenges she has faced as a leader, how she manages work-life integration after becoming a parent, and the lessons she has learned along the way.

Whether you’re an aspiring leader, a working parent, or someone considering a career shift, Keiko’s experiences will offer both inspiration and practical takeaways.

Let’s dive in!

Pinar:

Hello Keiko!

Thank you for taking the time to contribute to Her Leadership Playbook with this interview. I vividly remember the first moment we met, right in the middle of the pandemic, both holding our newborns, trying to navigate one of the biggest changes in our lives, filled with questions about everything: family, career, and life. I have always admired how you never stop learning, adapting, and finding ways to stay productive, all while embracing your new role as a parent. Despite the challenges, you have continued to push forward in your profession, balancing the demands of work and motherhood with incredible determination.

Pinar: 

To start, I’d love to hear your perspective on your career growth.  You’ve had an extensive career across various roles and geographies. What advice would you give to professionals looking to transition between industries or regions?

Keiko:

Thank you for the lovely introduction, Pinar! It’s interesting hearing someone else introduce your career because I have done a lot of introspection in the last few years, especially whilst I was freelancing in Paris, and I feel like I have not had an “ideal” career in a lot of ways. But listening to you introduce me, I thought, “Yeah, my career’s not been straightforward, but at least it’s been interesting and I’m on track now!”

I am one of those people who forever has wanderlust. I grew up in various countries, and I think I have always felt more comfortable living somewhere as a “foreigner” than somewhere I “belong” because I don’t really know where that place is. I’m so glad my husband Elliott and I made the decision to move away from London, where we had met and where we had both spent significant amounts of time, it was eight years ago. We have loved being on an international adventure together and have had two children along the way. We are back in London now, and I think both of us still hope that the adventures haven’t ended here that we will be back on the road when the time and opportunity are right.

But I must say that I think the combination of moving around and having children has been hard for my career. We moved to Tokyo, Bangkok, Paris, and now London in the last eight years, and for the Tokyo and Bangkok moves, I managed to stay with my organization. But for the last two moves, I have had to figure out my work situation, and that has not been easy, especially with two small children. I started freelancing in Paris because I got freelance work quite easily, but it was unstable, and there were large parts of my time in Paris where I wasn’t working regularly, and I really struggled to come to terms with that reality. My friends often reminded me that a large part of this was because I had another child, but that never made me feel that much better. I often ended up comparing myself to friends who seemed to have it more figured out.

There are lots of valuable lessons that I learnt from these more introspective 3.5 years in Paris:

• I really value and enjoy working. Even if it means I have to pay for expensive childcare, working is something that I need to do in order to self-preserve and feel self-worth.

• I would rather be an employee somewhere than a full-time freelancer. Freelancing has its perks, but also its downfalls. The main perk is that you have a lot more freedom over your schedule, but the main downside was that the work could be quite repetitive, and it was difficult to have any kind of career progression unless you were really going to be motivated and keep pushing yourself.

• I wanted to go back to journalism. Although I have worked in news production for my whole career, I had not been working in editorial news for the last few years. But working as a freelance news producer made me realise how much I missed being a part of the newsroom.

  
  

That was something I really thought was behind me now that I had a family. I worked within frontline journalism for seven years and was covering every major news story during this time, often dropping everything and travelling at short notice. That is something I am not easily able to do right now, so I thought those days were behind me—but I have managed to find a job where I do shift work, which is much more compatible with having small children.

My advice would be: a little more foresight into how I would like my career to develop would have probably been helpful. I am not very good at long-term planning for myself, and I feel like taking the time out to really think through my career could have possibly helped me during those more difficult times. However, would it have stopped me from moving around? Probably not! So I think ultimately doing what you want to do and believing in yourself that you will make it work is just as important as having a plan. Having the confidence to try lots of new things and not doomsaying the consequences is just as important!

Pinar:

Journalism is an industry that never stops. How do you manage stress and maintain resilience in high-pressure environments?

Keiko:

I don't think that journalism as an industry is catered in any way for families and/or family life, especially if you're working in the newsroom. I think it can be different if you are working for a magazine, for example, but I have always worked in or close to a newsroom, dealing with breaking news stories and the everyday news cycle. I definitely had a burnout about 10 years into the job, always being on call and never really having control of my time—and that was before I had children! However, I took about a five-year break where I wasn't working so much on frontline journalism and was doing freelance work (some of that was also parental leave). So I had a break from it and realized that I really missed it. I’ve gone back into the newsroom with two small children, but on a shift work basis. It is very long hours and quite intense 11-hour days, regular weekend work, and night shifts.

However, the benefit of this is that because it's shift work and someone takes over from you once you're done with the shift, you can really switch off from it. No more being chased by emails all the time or having to answer to colleagues out of hours, which I really value especially with small children. I’m not distracted all the time and can really be present when I’m with them. So that's how I manage and justify doing this quite intense job. I work hard, but when I’m with the kids, I’m really with them and not thinking about the news or work.

It has definitely been a change for our family, as Elliott has to do a lot of the childcare during the weekends I’m working, but he has been incredibly supportive of my return to the newsroom and that’s really pushed me to get back in there. There are obvious questions at the back of my mind as to whether this is sustainable in the long run, but only time will tell.

For the moment, I'm enjoying being back in the newsroom, so I'm valuing that feeling and seeing where it takes me. I want to do a job that I'm proud of, and that I can be proud to tell my kids about, and I feel like I'm doing that right now. So that really keeps me motivated and makes it really worthwhile.

Pinar:

You’ve worked in both corporate and freelance roles. How did shifting from a structured corporate environment to freelance impact your leadership and decision-making style?

Keiko:

I don’t think I would say my previous work was corporate, but yes, I did work for large news organizations, which definitely had more of a corporate structure. To be honest, I freelanced not out of choice per se, but more due to circumstance. If I had been in a more English-speaking environment, or an environment where it was easier to get a purely English-speaking job, then I think I would have just gone back to working for an organization.

I think there are many advantages to freelancing, the obvious one being that you are in control of how much you work. And that is obviously a huge plus. I was able to do that because of our financial situation, and I am aware that this is not something everyone can do. So I did feel very privileged to be able to do that. And amongst my freelance work, I had time to, for example, learn French when we were in Paris, which is something I really wanted to do because French is a part of our family and it's a language that my children are going to grow up speaking. So freelancing allowed me to pursue that quite intensely, as I was in control of my hours and my time. But I think freelancing is not for me in the long term.

I think the main thing I find very frustrating about freelancing is that it's very difficult to have any kind of career progression. The work can also be quite repetitive, and as long as it's interesting work which I was getting towards the end of my time in Paris and which spurred my desire to be back in the newsroom. It can be fulfilling, but it’s often not always like that. So I found that very frustrating, feeling like my career progression had halted. This is also dependent on your personality. If you are someone who is good at constantly challenging yourself and trying to get different work or make new connections, I think it can work for you. But I’m just not at that point in my life with all the demands of my family life, so I wasn’t able to do this and felt that it would be more manageable within an organizational setting. I also prefer a more structured environment with colleagues (I like working in an office!) as I enjoy discussing things and having those everyday human interactions.

Pinar:

Media production is often seen as a high-pressure, male-dominated field. Have you faced any gender-based challenges in your career? How did you navigate them?

Keiko:

Such a cliché to say, but I think this is changing. When I started off in my journalism career, I worked as a news producer for one of the big Japanese networks in their London bureau, and the gender issues there were very obvious. I mainly worked with male correspondents who had come to London with their families, and all of their wives were staying at home with their children. There was huge pressure to always be available and travel at short notice, which made it impossible for their families to be functional unless they had a reliable parent who was always at home i.e., the mother. So that was not hugely inspirational from a gender perspective. However, as a young aspiring journalist who was keen to travel, I don’t think there were any gender biases. I had exactly the same opportunities as my male colleagues, and I worked really hard so that I would get assigned to all the breaking news stories, warzones, and feature pieces that I wanted to work on.

I look around the newsroom now and I see a lot of women in managerial positions. Our current CEO is a woman, and it feels like there has definitely been a conscious shift in promoting more women to the top. There are still areas where I think leadership roles lack diversity, but hopefully they are working on that.

It’s more the lack of child-friendliness within the newsroom that bothers me. Within my current team, there are one or two other people with small or young children (some with grown children). And I think that’s partly because this job makes it hard to have small children and work on everyday news. So that’s something I'm trying to navigate right now. Working in journalism is a lifestyle choice in a way. We generally work long hours and do not get paid a huge amount. I definitely feel hugely privileged to work in this field and to be a part of the news machine hence why I have decided to go back to it. But I don’t appreciate the fact that it is very difficult to work in this field as a parent of young children, especially as I think the parental or maternal perspective on editorial decisions is something to be valued. And I think, generally, all jobs should be accessible to everyone and not circumstantial.

Pinar:

Have you had mentors or sponsors who helped shape your career? If so, how did those relationships influence your leadership style?

Keiko:

Hmm, I've often thought about this and would love to have someone now whom I could call a mentor. Looking back at my career, I can think of one woman specifically who was a correspondent when I first started out in journalism, and she really took me under her wing. We were interested in the same kind of social justice stories. I found her mentality andher moral compass in the stories that she followed, very inspiring. She was incredibly hardworking, possibly too hardworking, but she was a great inspiration. I loved going on trips with her and seeing how she did things, and she was also just a very good person.

Unfortunately, I don't think I have anyone at the moment, although I have had people who have been incredibly helpful and generous during my career. Interestingly, they were often people I didn’t know that well, sticking their necks out and trying to help me get work or new opportunities. And to those, I am very grateful. I’m not sure they are aware of how much they helped me, especially during my freelancing years, but I feel that the best way to thank them is to not forget the gratitude and to keep that good energy going and making sure I also help people along the way.

 Pinar:

Thank you for sharing about your career growth. Inspirational. You have two wonderful young children, and over the past few years, you’ve navigated a pandemic, moved across continents, and balanced a demanding career. After becoming a parent, how did your approach to work-life balance change? Have you ever experienced guilt, either work guilt or mom guilt? If so, how do you handle it?

Keiko:

Oh, guilt. So much guilt, so much guilt every day. In some ways, work-life balance was easier as a freelancer, but you also feel like you have to take as much work as you can get, so that can be a lot of pressure. For example, after my second daughter was born, I was in the field five months postpartum, and I was still breastfeeding, so I was pumping on location. I know that my mum thought that was too early to leave her. But honestly, I enjoyed being back at work, especially as it was for a few days and she was in my husband’s very capable hands, being looked after very well, so I didn’t see what the problem was! Because I went back to work earlier, I didn't breastfeed my second daughter for as long as my first. And do I regret that? I mean, I don't know if I regret it, but I definitely feel a bit of guilt. But I think I've also come to understand myself better, and I think it’s important for me to be there for my children but I also want them to know that mama’s doing a job that I like and I’m proud of, and I want to be inspirational to them. I want them to know that they should pursue a career that they like and not just work to earn a living. I think it's really important to be happy yourself. And I think I've come to terms with the fact that I need to work to be happy, and I need to do work that I like doing to be happy. So I think I try to erase the guilt with that, and that's how I justify the guilt and I think that's okay.

Work guilt, to be honest, I find a little bit more secondary. It doesn't bother me as much at the moment. My attitude is, work is going to have to deal with it, and I am old enough and experienced enough to know that, especially when you work in a large organization like mine, they are just going to have to suck it up and they will. They will manage, and sometimes your colleagues are going to have to deal with more work. But I think that's just the way it goes, and you've just got to accept that, because otherwise you're just riddled. So, yeah, I think more mom guilt than work guilt. But I think I've finally come to a place where I am comfortable dealing with those guilts.

Pinar:

If you could go back and give your younger self one piece of career advice, what would it be?

Keiko:

I know everyone says this, but don't doubt yourself so much. Don't have imposter syndrome. No one knows what they're doing. Literally, no one. I don't know what I'm doing yet, and I’m more comfortable with not knowing what I'm doing now but I think you should have more confidence and believe in yourself more. This is an ongoing journey, something I constantly have to remind myself about. But take the opportunities, go for those coffees, get in touch with those people you met. I used to shy away from those opportunities because I was like, “Oh, I don't know what I'm gonna talk about. Why would they want to see me?”

Generally, I think what I've come to realize is that people want to help. There are lots of good people out there, and people want to help! Seeing is so much more than just reading or Googling. Witnessing something firsthand, being there, and seeing a certain environment is so precious. Do that as much as possible!

Pinar:

Thank you very much Keiko!

Keiko’s story is a powerful reminder that there is no single definition of success, leadership, or balance. Her journey reflects the reality many women face. It is about navigating professional ambition alongside personal fulfillment, often without a clear roadmap. Through her honesty and insight, Keiko shows us that growth isn’t always linear, and courage often lies in embracing uncertainty with purpose.

At Her Leadership Playbook, we are honored to share voices like Keiko’s, voices that inspire us to lead authentically, support one another fiercely, and redefine success on our own terms. Thank you, Keiko, for your generosity, your resilience, and your incredible story.

Stay tuned for more conversations with women who lead with strength, heart, and purpose.

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