Scorecarder Spotlight - Shiho Hashimoto, VP, International Marketing

Scorecarder Spotlight

Our series “Scorecarder Spotlight” showcases our talented employees and the incredible work they do.?

Name: Shiho Hashimoto

Job: VP, International Marketing?

Location: Helsinki, Finland?

Where do you live?

Although I’m born and bred in Japan, I’ve lived in Helsinki, Finland now for more than 20 years. Back in the day, I got a job offer from a Finnish company and I thought 2-3 years of having an adventure in a country I had never heard of before would be fun. Well, that turned into 5 years, then 10 years…and now it’s been 20 years. I will never get used to the dark and cold winter here, so I’d love to move to Southern Europe some day (perhaps Italy) when my two boys grow up and leave home.

What are your hobbies and interests and what do you do on the weekends and in your free time??

I have lots of things I love doing in my spare time, though I don’t have much of that!

I really enjoy geocaching—it’s a form of treasure hunting, it’s actually quite popular in the US and Europe. I got into geocaching about 18 months ago and it’s gotten me off my sofa and outside, where I can explore all sorts of neighborhoods in Finland where I’ve never been before. When we are traveling abroad, we follow the map in the geocaching app to explore new cities; sightseeing and finding caches at the same time is a really addictive hobby!

I got two dogs during Covid. In Finland, we call them “Corona Dogs.” I chose to get Chihuahuas just because I used to have a cat (which I had to give away because my second son was allergic) and Chihuahuas look like cats! My two Chihuahuas also get me off the sofa and they come with us when we go geocaching. At some point, our breeder wanted me to go to dog competitions, so I got hooked on that for awhile, but after we found out that my younger one didn’t have perfect teeth (and as such will never win the gold medal), I stopped going to those competitions. I love them to bits!

I’m also very into aerobics. I want to stay in shape as long as I can, so I go to the gym/aerobics class as often as I can, but that stopped after I broke my tailbone and left ankle a couple of months ago. I’m looking forward to the day when I can get back into training again!

I just bought a new house with my fiancé, and we are moving in March! Planning the move, thinking about interior design, and shopping for new furniture has consumed a lot of my time lately.?

And finally, if I’m not geocaching, exercising, or hanging out with my dogs, then I’m most likely at home binge-watching shows. I recently finished watching “The Handmaid's Tale” and “Game of Thrones.”?

How many languages do you speak?

I speak Japanese, English and Finnish. My boys, Kai and Leo, need to learn Swedish on top of those three languages, because Swedish is the second national language in Finland. I used to speak French but my brain didn’t have enough space left when I started learning Finnish!

How did you get into cybersecurity? What path did you follow in school and beyond?

I? majored in International Business and Politics in University in Tokyo, and my first job in Japan was as a loan officer at a major financial institution. While working there, I started helping foreign companies that wanted to establish offices in Tokyo. That’s when I met the CEO of a Finnish cybersecurity company. I helped the company open their Japan office and did some interpretation work during customer and partner meetings. After a couple of months, the CEO asked me if I wanted to join his company in Finland. My first reaction was “To do what?!” His answer: “You’re young, you can learn and see what you want to do.” He sent me books on TCP/IP and cybersecurity, and that’s basically how I ended up in Finland. At first, I was doing market research for new products for that company. Eventually, they needed someone to help in the marketing team, so I started building my career in marketing from that point onwards.?

Can you talk a little bit about your role at SecurityScorecard?

I’m responsible for marketing in the international markets, which is basically all countries other than the United States and Canada. My main goal is to create a pipeline for our international sales team, in order for them to hit their sales targets.?

What’s it like working at SecurityScorecard??

I’ve been at SecurityScorecard for close to three years and, simply put, I’m never bored! Everyone at SecurityScorecard is hungry to succeed and we all work hard to reach our targets. We have new campaigns and activities on a constant basis and I love the team culture we have within the international team.

Because of your location, it feels like you’re always awake. When do you sleep?!

Haha, a lot of my colleagues wonder about that! In the morning, I address all things APAC, during mid-day I work for the EMEA team, and then I burn the midnight oil working with our US team. But there is a sweet spot: from 1am to 7am!

Do you have any memorable or noteworthy experiences you can share from your time here??

The international team is remote-based. Everyone is scattered in different countries working from home. That’s why it was just awesome to have an EMEA off-site last year, where all members from the EMEA revenue and marketing team got together and had 2-days of brainstorming sessions and team building activities. Zoom works, yes, but it’s a great feeling to meet face-to-face once in a while!

Another memorable event at SecurityScorecard is when we organized our first ever customer conference in Japan. Japanese employees rolled up their sleeves and executed a flawless conference, where our customers learned case studies from other customers, got insights into our roadmap, etc. Everyone stayed for the networking dinner reception and I was busy running around interpreting for one of the executives who had flown in from abroad. All in all, it was one of those events that took so much effort to organize, but it was all worth it. Happy customers = Happy SecurityScorecarders!

Thank you Shiho!