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Naoko Kudo
People 🤝 Strategy 🤝 Operations
Professional Background
Naoko Kudo is a seasoned professional with extensive experience in operations, strategy, and nonprofit management. Her career spans various sectors, including education, healthcare, and political campaigns, reflecting her adaptability and commitment to impactful work. Naoko has held senior leadership positions at well-respected organizations, driving initiatives that prioritize both efficiency and employee well-being.
As the Sr. Director of People Strategy & Operations at Hazel Health, Naoko focused on reshaping the approach to staffing and personnel management within the organization. Her leadership played an integral role in fostering a supportive environment that empowered employees while optimizing organizational performance. Naoko's experience as an Operations & Strategy Consultant at order / ops further underscores her adeptness in enhancing processes and driving systems-level change in diverse settings.
Notably, Naoko's expertise in campaign and coalition building was exemplified during her tenure with the Biden-Harris Transition Team, where she served as the Deputy Interviews Lead for the Appointments Team. Her role involved collaborating with various stakeholders to ensure a seamless transition and effective appointments, contributing significantly to the overarching goals of the team. This experience added to her skills of strategic planning and communication.
In addition to her consulting work, Naoko was a Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder at Organizing Corps 2020, a unique initiative aimed to diversify the field of political organizing. Her leadership there showcased her commitment to inclusivity and innovation in political processes.
Throughout her career, Naoko has consistently demonstrated a focus on grassroots organizing and operational effectiveness. As the Deputy Director of the GOTV Deployment Project at 270 Strategies, she led critical projects that successfully mobilized voters leading up to elections. Her strategic insights and ability to translate complex strategies into actionable plans were vital to the organization's success.
In the realm of education, Naoko is known for her time as the Founding Director of Operations at The Primary School, which focused on redefining educational access for underserved communities. Her operational leadership ensured that the school’s foundational systems were robust enough to support its innovative educational model.
At Achievement First, a renowned charter school network, Naoko thrived as both the Director of Network Support Operations and Director of School Operations. In these roles, she played a pivotal part in ensuring schools delivered not only high academic standards but also an enriching environment for students and staff alike. Her focus on network support operations allowed her to streamline processes and bolster the efficacy of educational strategies implemented across schools.
Moreover, Naoko's early career at the NYC Department of Education as a Program Manager for the School of One showcased her foundational knowledge in the education sector. Her experience in managing programs aimed at enhancing personalized learning solutions underlined her dedication to leveraging technology for improved student outcomes.
Naoko also has a firm grounding in organizational logistics, having worked as an Operations Manager for the Effective Practice Incentive Community (EPIC) at New Leaders for New Schools, where she enhanced operational frameworks that supported effective education practices.
Lastly, her grassroots political organizing began during the Obama for America campaign, where she served as a Field Organizer. This role strengthened her dedication to public service and community engagement, laying the groundwork for her future endeavors in political strategy and organization.
Education and Achievements
Naoko holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics with a focus on Marketing and Management from the prestigious Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Her academic background has equipped her with a rich understanding of economic principles, consumer behavior, and strategic management, which she has adeptly applied throughout her professional career. Graduating from such a respected institution not only set a solid foundation for her future endeavors but also provided her with a network of influential professionals.
Naoko Kudo's achievements extend beyond her professional roles. She has successfully led initiatives that prioritize inclusivity and community engagement in various domains, reflecting her passion and strong belief in the power of collective action. She is recognized amongst her peers for her innovative approaches to problem-solving and her commitment to driving social change through leadership.
Notable Projects and Contributions
Naoko's career is marked by numerous contributions to significant projects. At Organizing Corps 2020, she co-founded a pioneering training program designed to cultivate a new generation of political organizers, focusing on individuals from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds. This initiative is a testament to her dedication to social justice and improving representation within political spheres.
Her work with the Biden-Harris Transition Team was pivotal during a critical time in American politics, and her strategic insights directly contributed to shaping appointments that reflected the administration's values and priorities. Naoko's ability to work under pressure while maintaining her focus on equity has positively influenced both internal policies and external community relations.
In her various roles within the education sector, ranging from the NYC Department of Education to Achievement First, Naoko has continuously sought to enhance educational experiences. Her direction has resulted in programs and strategies that align with best practices in education, fostering environments conducive to both academic excellence and personal growth for students.
Naoko Kudo's journey is one of continual learning and dedicated service, foregrounding her also being an advocate for effective organizational practices within education and political realms. Her wide-ranging experiences have furnished her with a unique skill set that allows her to navigate complex systems while fostering collaboration and building strong teams.
As she continues her professional journey, Naoko remains committed to innovation and the pursuit of excellence across sectors, making her a valuable contributor to any organization she is part of.
Achievements
Naoko Kudo has been instrumental in leading initiatives that prioritize inclusivity, operational efficiency, and community engagement across organizations. Her experience with high-impact roles in both political and educational sectors showcases her adaptability and commitment to positive change. She has co-founded programs aimed at diversifying political organizing and has superlatively managed operations that enhance educational access and effectiveness.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Clay is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Clay as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Clay offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Clay's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Clay makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Clay's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Clay isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Clay instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Clay is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Clay can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Clay is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.