Today we’d like to introduce you to Claire Tadokoro.
Hi Claire, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My career has been a bit of a fun hodge podge. In 2018, my first job out of college was for an insurance brokerage on the Plaza. Besides navigating an industry I knew nothing about, I had a lot more free time without the responsibilities and extracurriculars that occupied my time when I was a student at UMKC. I began to take an online writing course with The Second City and fell in love with it — the writing assignments and the community. A few of us started an online writing group and regularly kept in touch trading feedback and continuing to take more courses together.
Around this time, my cousin introduced me to an Executive Producer at The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. They had been childhood friends and regularly kept in touch. I practiced my casual-yet-hopefully-funny-intro all day. “If The Late Show ever has need of an insurance employee, I’m your gal!” The EP generously offered to pass my resume to the intern coordinators, and I eagerly took her up on it. A week or so later, I received an offer for a three-month internship. I put my notice in that same day and moved to New York City six weeks later.
Making that one very impulsive decision changed my life, and I’m so grateful for it. I won’t bore you with a play-by-play of the rest of my time in New York, but that online writing group turned into a real-life writing group that I met with up until the COVID19 pandemic. I now co-host a podcast, Whatcha Expecting?, with one of the women from that group. I took improv, sketch-writing, and half-heartedly dabbled in stand-up. Following my internship, I went into audiobook production at Simon & Schuster where I worked for about four years supporting producers and directors before getting to produce and direct my own projects.
But back to COVID, everyone’s favorite! When the shutdown happened, everything — well, shut down. I couldn’t go to open mics anymore or see my friends. By this point, I had also slowed down on satire writing. All in all, I was feeling very unfunny when I have always desperately wanted to be perceived as funny. Around this time, I noticed that a few of my friends were posting videos of themselves doing comedy and thought, “what’s the harm?” I quietly made a TikTok account with the username @tokizabeth in the hopes that none of my real-life friends would find me and began posting skits, characters, and even the occasional dancing video. Shouts out Megan Thee Stallion.
One of my videos went modestly viral in November of 2020, and I’ve been hooked ever since. Social media, and specifically short-form video content, became my new passion. In 2021 I started working with brands, and in 2023 my self-taught social media experience led me back to The Late Show as a Digital Associate Producer until the show wrapped this past May.
There, I produced, directed, and edited really fun digital bits alongside my co-workers. We’ve worked with exceptional talent including Jeremy Allen White, Bryan Cranston, Olivia Rodrigo, the Gyllenhaal siblings, John Krasinski, and so many more! But even more exciting was continuing to sharpen my craft and deepen my interest in video production and social media management in tandem. We were constantly playing around with lighting, audio, transitions, captioning, social strategy, trend research, etc. It was also just a very special environment to be in. I was lucky to be surrounded by so many creative and smart individuals.
Since the show ended, I’ve been ramping back up my personal content creation and having a lot of fun with it. I’m also working with clients on their own social media strategy and am doing freelance work in audiobook production. It’s been a slower summer, and I’ve really enjoyed spending more time with family and visiting all of my favorite Kansas City spots!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Social media is constantly-changing. An ever-present challenge for everyone in this landscape is staying adaptable and consistent.
Another challenge for me was balancing career and interests with becoming a mom in 2025. In addition to your life changing in every possible way, your brain chemistry also changes. I felt like I had pretty bad brain fog for at least 6 months or so which I found extremely frustrating while pregnant and post-partum. Brain fog aside, it was rough trying to jump back into work when I hadn’t been flexing those same muscles for three months. I felt like I was trying to thaw a skillset I hadn’t touched in ages while observing how much more my peers had progressed.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I specialize in organic social media strategy and short-form content creation. These days, I post all kinds of content, but I’m most proud of the skits that I still create.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Being open-minded, curious and easy to work with.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.clairetadokoro.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clairetadokoro/?hl=en
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@clairetadokoro
