Irene Nakamura.

Irene Nakamura built a career — and then a company — on the belief that trust begins the moment you stop playing small. The first Japanese American official court reporter for the U.S. District Court, Central District of California, she is the Founder and CEO of iDepo Reporters and iDepo Hawaii, a nationally certified court-reporting and litigation-support company spanning three states and more than 1,000 reporters.

Her rise defied a traditional Japanese upbringing that marginalized women. While supporting her parents and funding her brother’s Ivy League education, she bootstrapped her own court-reporting education, earned her RPR credential, and built a six-figure career within a decade — breaking racial and cultural barriers in a field that had never seen someone like her at its highest level.

Then came the turning point. A cancer diagnosis gave her the same resilience that carried her past every earlier obstacle — and the courage to leave a toxic work environment, end a marriage that no longer fit, and start her own business. Today she is a transformational-leadership and “getting unstuck” speaker whose message is unmistakable: “I stop women from playing small, and support them to make BIG choices.” In 30 Days to a High-Trust Life, she shows readers that every high-trust relationship begins with the one you build with yourself.