During an exclusive interview with CNN, Tokyo’s new governor, Yuriko Koike — the first woman to hold the post — shared her first seven jobs with us.
And it’s an impressive list:
Girl Scout (volunteer work)
TV News Researcher (in which she said helped secure an interview with former Libyan Leader Moammar Gadhafi)
TV News Anchor
Member of Parliament
Environmental Minister
Defense Minister
Tokyo Governor
The #FirstSevenJobs hashtag on Twitter went viral a few days ago, with celebrities and others listing their first seven jobs.
Koike was Japan’s first female defense chief and is one of only three women currently serving as governor of one of the country’s 47 prefectures.
Though she quickly rose up the ranks in society, Koike got her first taste of hard work the way many young women do — as a girl scout.
The hashtag helped many see that they could relate to their favorite leaders and public figures: Musician Regina Spektor’s first job was a babysitter and Astronaut Terry Virts was a paperboy.
Here are some of our other favorite first seven jobs:
Careers that will make you feel better about not being a celebrity in your 20s:
Stephen Colbert’s first job was in construction, and two of his first seven involved futons.
Pulitzer prize-winning playwright Lin Manuel Miranda worked at McDonald’s and was a drawing model.
Careers that will make you feel unaccomplished:
Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon for his fourth job
While Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey started as a telemarketer and then a movie theater usher, he said by job four he was a basketball statistician and then was a Department of Defense contractor for job five.
And some odd jobs we love:
CBS journalist and humorist Mo Rocca said he was a psychiatric hospital model … and tweeted a picture of it (we’re not sure if he’s kidding, but it sure looks like him.)
Actress Mira Sorvino was an ESL teacher in Beijing and then later a Chinese tutor.
After her babysitting gig, Regina Spektor worked on a butterfly farm.