We wanted to create a different way of working.
About Two+ Talent
What if you didn't have to choose?
Our Starting Point
We built our careers in demanding professional environments - and loved the challenge, ambition and people that came with them.
But as our lives changed, we started asking whether there could be another way to have a fulfilling career without compromising on ambition.
And whether businesses could continue to benefit from exceptional professionals without having to lose them when their circumstances changed.
What if two people could bring more to one role than one person alone?
That question became Two+Talent.
It started with us.
Our Story
We first met in Tokyo twelve years ago - Shoko at Bain & Company and Yixin at Morgan Stanley.
We were both building careers in demanding professional environments, and quickly connected over our shared ambition, curiosity and somewhat unconventional paths.
Years later, we both found ourselves in London, starting families and new chapters of our lives.
We had stepped away from our corporate careers and were pursuing new projects of our own.
But we hadn't stopped loving professional work.
We simply wanted more choice in how we did it.
The problem wasn't a lack of talent.
It was the model.
The Opportunity
The more we talked to other professionals, the more we realised our experience wasn't unique.
There were exceptional people who wanted to continue contributing at a high level, but couldn't - or didn't want to - fit their lives around a traditional full-time role.
At the same time, businesses were still looking for experienced, committed professionals to take on roles that traditionally required one person to provide full-time coverage.
The talent was there.
The model wasn't.
So we started asking:
Why does one role have to mean one person?
We believed there was another way.
We Became the Proof.
The Result
Two+Talent isn't an idea we developed from the outside.
We became a two-person partnership ourselves.
We know what it means to build trust, share responsibility, communicate openly and take joint ownership of a role.
We also know what happens when the partnership works.
Two complementary perspectives.
Two sets of experience.
Two people invested in the same outcome.
More than the sum of their parts.
That's what we want to create for others.
Meet the founders.
Shoko Okuda
Co-Founder
Shoko spent 11 years at Bain & Company, working across Tokyo and London, primarily in the Global Customer Practice and Financial Services. She later joined Bain's Talent team.
She holds an MBA from London Business School and a BA from Columbia University.
Away from Two+Talent, Shoko divides her time between her family business in the US, raising two children, and life with two extremely fluffy cats, Stella & Nacho
Yixin Zeng
Co-Founder
Yixin spent a decade at Morgan Stanley across New York, Tokyo and London as a trader, before moving to a global credit hedge fund as an investment analyst. She holds a BA in International Politics & Economics from Middlebury College.
Away from Two+Talent, Yixin divides her time between training in artistic swimming, running a choreography studio, pursuing a degree in Data Science, and being a mother.
Our Values
Our values guide everything we do - from how we work with professionals and businesses,
to the partnerships we build and opportunities we create.
We believe working together should create more.
We believe careers shouldn't have to fit a template.
We believe the right two are greater than the sum of their parts.
We believe the right fit is worth taking the time to find.
We believe respect starts with understanding.
The "+" is at the heart of everything we do.
What could two make possible?
Whether you're an exceptional professional looking for your next opportunity, or a business looking to rethink a role -
we'd love to hear from you.
I'm a professional
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I'm a business
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