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My guest Grace Nikae is an amazing person and shares how her Pursuit has helped her realize the importance of human connection. You can check out her impressive bio below... Grace's bio: Grace Nikae has enjoyed a global, tour-de-force career as a world-renowned concert pianist, cultural ambassador, writer, speaker, entrepreneur, educator, thought leader, and change agent. As founder of Kizuna, a strategic-initiatives firm in New York City, Nikae is a marketing and advisory consultant helping a wide range of brands grow and scale across digital platforms. Her clients have revolutionized and accelerated change within their organizations by fully harnessing the power of brand building, strategic partnerships, platform development, communication, and technology to turn vision into results. Nikae's unique, dynamic approach remains deeply rooted in her personal experiences, education, and humanistic philosophy. Internationally esteemed as "a master of the instrument" (Audiophilia) and as the most compelling concert artist of her generation, Nikae's busy touring schedule of concerts took her around the world each year for over two decades. Described as "a force of nature" (Stuttgarter Zeitung, Germany) and hailed worldwide for her "exquisitely poetic and potently fiery" (Heraldo de Aragon, Spain) expressivity and performances of "the highest standard" (Music OMH, UK), she has frequently appeared in many of the world's foremost halls including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Chicago Cultural Center, the Kennedy Center, Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, London's Wigmore Hall, Vienna's Musikverein, and the Paris Philharmonie. Nikae's engaging personality and many talents have been widely recognized by the media, and her performances and interviews are frequently broadcast on national and international radio and television. She has spoken on a wide range of topics across politics, education, feminism, leadership, the arts, technology, business development, and culture throughout North America, Japan, Europe, and Africa. Passionate about change and creative innovation, Nikae has over 15 years of experience in digital marketing leadership. As a developer, she oversaw the building of hundreds of web and mobile applications and has served as leading brand consultant for organizations in Spain, New York, France, Canada, and Switzerland. Her singular strategies, innate understanding of future trends and changes, and talent for connecting with people have resulted in massive internal transformations and revenue growth for her clients and firmly established her as a visionary and thought leader within the business community. Nikae is an author who has written eight bestselling novels under a pen name. Acclaimed as "a spectacular storyteller" (Book Hookup), she has written across a wide range of genres including literary fiction, young adult fantasy, and adult psychological suspense. Translated into Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese (Brazil), her books have also hit the Amazon bestselling lists of those countries. An active educator, Nikae has also given masterclasses, workshops, seminars, and lectures at conservatories and universities throughout the US, Asia, and Europe, including Columbia University, Lawrence University, Comic-Con, the San Francisco Conservatory, the Manhattan School of Music, the Toho School of Music in Japan, University of Hawaii, the University of Toronto in Canada, and the Real Nacional Conservatory in Spain. A portion of her career has also been dedicated to humanitarian efforts. As a former American cultural ambassador for the US Department of State and artistic ambassador for UNICEF Spain, Nikae's diverse background and educational philosophy bridged cultures, forming the foundation of her work with children across Africa and Central Asia. As a passionate advocate for women leadership, diversity, equity, and inclusion, Nikae currently serves as Marketing Director for the New York City chapter of Women in Tech. Born in Japan and raised in Hawaii, Ms. Nikae was a child prodigy who began her musical education at the age of nine months. At age three, she gave her first television appearance, performing Haydn's C Major concerto, reading aloud from a Mark Twain novel, and solving algebraic equations. Her professional debut as soloist came at the age of eight with the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra, launching her international career. Although she was offered university acceptance at the age of 14, Nikae declined in order to continue performing and later attended Columbia University and The Juilliard School.