30 AAPI Startup Leaders Building the Innovation Ecosystem
Silvia Mah PhD, MBA
Published Author | 2 x TEDx speaker | Igniting Innovation, Impact & Investing through Action & Intentionality | VC | Associate Professor | Keynote Speaker | Advocate 4 Diverse Founders | Investor | Servant Leader
As we sunset Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, I value pausing to be aware, to recognize and celebrate the valuable contributions and achievements of AAPI entrepreneurs, investors, and ecosystem builders in our innovation ecosystem. I combed my network and asked trusted leaders for their nominations, so I LOVE reading about so many people's journeys, albeit an emerging leader or a local San Diego leader, regional leader or global leader. I celebrate you!
AAPI innovators have contributed to technology, education, science, healthcare, life sciences, and design in a multitude of ways, impacting the way we all live. AAPI investors have funded the innovations they want to see in the world, impacting our economy locally, nationally, and globally. AAPI ecosystem builders support and advocate for founders & funders & all stakeholders in between to build thriving communities albeit locally with their accelerators and programs of choice or raising voices for AAPI communities for racial equity. Thank you to all of these groups of servant leaders for stepping into their strengths and being shining lights for innovation and impact in their communities.
AAPI leaders are beacons of light and hope in their startup ecosystems because they bring:
Celebrating AAPI Heritage Month by highlighting just a few of the AAPI inventors, entrepreneurs, and business leaders who are making significant contributions and impact on their communities. I started with only 5 in each category and I just couldn't help myself and did 10 leaders & emerging leaders in my local, national, and global innovation ecosystem. They are all servant leaders at heart, changing the world one innovation at a time, one entrepreneur their invest in, or communities they build.
10 AAPI entrepreneur-LEADERS in the innovation ecosystem
Exceptional Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders startup founders making an impact by building purposeful products to delight customers. Startup founders are the engines of our innovation economy, inventing the impact they want to see in the world, connecting with investors to seek funding, and building teams of experts and doers to delight customers. Let's celebrate them every day for their resilience, determination, and grit.
1_Dr. Debbie Chen | Hydrostasis
Dr. Debbie Chen is the founder of Hydrostasis, a mom, a muay-thai fighter & my sister in Christ. Debbie is passionate about hydration, health, and performance. She has a PhD in biomedical engineering from Tufts University and conducted multiple postdocs at UC San Diego , Scripps Institution of Oceanography . By combining 20 years of experience in developing optical technologies and her passion for health and wellness, Debbie is building a human-centric company that solves a massive unmet need in preventive hydration monitoring. She mentors with several startup accelerators like Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation and Stella Foundation , advocating for women and under-represented founders. Debbie was born in Taipei, Taiwan, and currently lives in San Diego, CA with her two children and husband. Hydrostasis is a portfolio company of mine as an individual investor and through Ad Astra Ventures.
2_Sarah Lee | Relavo
Sarah Lee is the Chief Executive Officer of Relavo . Sarah holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering (2019) from Johns Hopkins University (JHU) and a Master of Science in Engineering in Mechanical Engineering (2020) at JHU. Sarah has led Relavo’s work since its initiation in September 2017 as an undergraduate design team in the Biomedical Engineering (BME) department, of which she served as the Team Leader and Project Manager. Under her leadership, Relavo raised nearly $1,000,000 in non-dilutive funding, including a National Science Foundation SBIR Phase I award and the KidneyX Redesign Dialysis Phase II award, and has recently won 2nd place at the San Diego Angel Conference (SDAC). Proud to support Sarah and her all-women leadership team as my portfolio company through SDAC.
3_Dr. Tina Saw | Oral Genome
For Dr. Tina Saw , staying home from her practice gave her a chance to reformulate her entire approach to dentistry; launching Oral Genome has changed everything. Dr. Tina Saw is a dentist & innovator. After receiving her bachelor’s degree in biology at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, Tina attended Loma Linda University’s School of Dentistry and graduated in 2014 with her DDS. She has a private dental practice called Elevated Smiles in Carlsbad, California. The pandemic stretched and pushed Dr. Saw to see her world differently, having my dental practice closed for a few months, it gave her a lot of time to reflect, think and make businesses out of problems that had bothered her as a dentist and she wanted to so deeply solve. In 2020, she started Light Solutions Company, a dental loupes and lights company for dental professionals. Dr. Saw helps dental professionals see better and work more efficiently with magnification and headlights. A few months after, she founded Oral Genome, a dental saliva testing company that is transforming dental prevention for providers and their patients. It's been a journey since then and I am very proud to be her investor, seeing her soar!
4_Steph Speirs | Solstice
Steph Speirs is an entrepreneur and community builder. She is the Co-Founder and CEO of Solstice , an enterprise dedicated to radically expanding the number of American households that can take advantage of clean energy using community-shared solar farms. Solstice also invented the EnergyScore, a new, proprietary underwriting standard for solar customers that is more accurate in predicting who will pay their utility bill and more inclusive of low-income Americans than FICO credit scores. Before founding Solstice, Speirs led sales and marketing innovation initiatives in India at d.light; spearheaded venture capital firm Acumen's renewable energy impact investment strategy in Pakistan in 2013; developed Middle East policy as the youngest policy director at the White House National Security Council from 2010 to 2012; served as a special assistant to the Office of the Secretary in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in 2009; and managed field operations in seven states for the first Obama presidential campaign in 2007-2008.?Speirs holds a BA in History and International Studies from Yale, a Master’s in Public Affairs (MPA) with distinction from Princeton, and an MBA from MIT with a Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
5_Vilavanh Sanginthirath | Innovations City
Vilavanh S. is a tech founder and CEO of Innovations City, a peer-to-peer virtual platform helping entrepreneurs build, pitch, and connect with investors, and executive producer at Innovations City Media , an affordable media studio where diverse brands and innovators can create their own content and magic. Her lived experience as a first-generation immigrant and single parent fueled her passion to drive economic empowerment and social justice to underserved communities, like where she grew up.?Vilavanh has a proven track record for identifying creative and innovative solutions to complex problems and communicating them effectively. Among her list of achievements include being a Finalist for San Diego’s Woman of the Year, receiving the Women Rise award, and helping women and minority entrepreneurs secure over $10 million in funding and generate more than $20 million in economic activity.?
6_Breanne Acio | Sēkr
Breanne Acio is the founder & CEO of Sēkr . Breanne has been a vanlifer for her entire adult life. She is a giver of resources and knowledge, aiming to connect all. Sēkr is the one-stop-shop for the demand side of outdoor travel. By partnering with supply aggregators that are digitizing inventory, Sēkr is quickly becoming the Expedia of the outdoors. Breanne has intimate knowledge of, relationships with, and influence with the outdoor travel industry; making for a dynamic and impactful founder & CEO leading a diverse team of dedicated outdoor enthusiasts aimed to change the way all "outdoor". Breanne has translated her love of honoring everyone where they are and who they are into a corporate culture that thrives. I had known Breanne for over 5 years from when she entered our Stella Foundation Labs Scale Intensive program to the launch of Sekr, becoming a portfolio company of mine, and then joining our Venture Builder program at Ad Astra Ventures. I knew that she was an amazing listener and always put her team first. However, when we dove into the business details during the Venture Builder, I found out the breadth and depth of the support and understanding she has for creating culture and values in her tech company. Exceptional!
7_Jessica Kim | Ianacare
Jessica Nam Kim is the co-founder/CEO of ianacare on a mission to encourage, empower, and equip family caregivers with the practical tools and communities, so no one does it alone. The platform leverages the powerful combination of technology + caregiver coaches to organize and mobilize all the layers of support. Her dedication stems from being the primary caregiver for her mom who fought a seven-year battle with pancreatic cancer. She is a 3x startup founder, speaker, and caregiving advocate. Jessica was honored as Crain’s Top 40 under 40 and currently serves as a Venture Partner at Praxis Labs, the inaugural Entrepreneur-In-Residence and Presidential Council advisor at Brown University, and board member of Be the Bridge for racial reconciliation and justice. She graduated from Brown University and received her MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. She lives in Boston with her three young children, husband, and 82-year-old father.
8_Sarah Hartono and Sena Lee | Millu
Recent Biola graduates, co-founders of MILLU , Sarah H. (2022) and Sena Lee (2021) are designing immersive quality time for families to play, heal and grow, commissioned by Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” With insights from play therapy and neuroscience, MILLU creates fun, immersive kits that help families raise healthy, flourishing kids and spend deep quality time together. Each kit empowers children to know their identity, thrive in community and shape a better world. Social innovation is in the DNA of the development of MILLU’s kits that strive to begin transforming families, then communities, then creating systemic change for more empathetic conversations in business or families. Sarah H. 's specialty is turning vision into reality through system building, healthy execution rhythms, and developing strong team cultures where people feel empowered to Grow Together ??. Sara's background is in business, startup, marketing, and design. She started working in tech at 16 ???? ??, advised global brands (Quizlet, Nintendo) on authentic Gen Z marketing strategies??, and built 2 startups with 35+ young builders in college ??. Sena Lee is a creative problem solver in love with human-centered design and creating solutions that impact culture. Sena is a business strategist with global efforts, leading international training schools that helped shape her view on the human journey.
9_Kay Olmstead | Nano PharmaSolutions
Kay Olmstead is a co-founder and CEO of NanoPharmaSolutions, Inc. , generating nanoparticles of active pharmaceutical ingredients to produce patient-centric dosage forms and accelerate drug candidates. Dr. Olmstead has over 31 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry in both API (drug substance) and finished dosage form development. Prior to founding Nano PharmaSolutions, Dr. Olmstead served numerous small to medium pharmaceutical companies worldwide as a CMC subject matter expert, especially in poorly soluble drug development. During the past 20 years, Dr. Olmstead played a lead role in the development and the FDA approval of five commercial drugs for San Diego-based companies, including Santarus, Inc. (NASDAQ: SNTR | acquired by Salix in 2013 for $2.6 billion) and Intercept Pharmaceutical (NASDAQ: ICPT). Dr. Olmstead has published more than 12 manuscripts and has 11 issued patents and 3 pending patent applications. Dr.Olmstead received her Ph.D. degree in Organic Chemistry at Johns Hopkins University followed by a NIH post-doctoral fellowship at Stanford University. She currently serves as the Global Pharma Key Opinion Leader for Korean Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI). Above all else, Kay is a servant leader, giving her time and treasure to communities that support underserved women entrepreneurs.
10_Alicia Long | Nutr
Alicia Long , a Chinese immigrant, grew up drinking homemade nut milks made by her mother and cherishes the memories of these delicious and nutritious drinks from her childhood. Alicia Long is a dynamic entrepreneur and the CEO and Co-Founder of Nutr , a lifestyle and wellness brand that is quickly disrupting the plant-based milk industry through the use of its innovative product, the Nutr Machine. Born in China and raised on the values of sustainability and a holistic approach to healthy living, Alicia brings a unique perspective to her work. After immigrating to the United States at the age of 18, Alicia honed her marketing skills at Ohio State University and built a successful career in tech startups, including Google and Amazon, where she excelled in technical recruiting. However, her passion for creating a healthier future for her son and the world drove her to start her own business. Alicia's unique blend of experience, passion, and vision makes her the driving force behind the success of Nutr.
10 AAPI investor-LEADERS in the innovation ecosystem
Investors in the startup ecosystem are typically servant leaders as they mentor, advise entrepreneurs to source their deals, and then support them through funding them (writing checks and wiring $$) upon due diligence. Impactful Asian American and Pacific Islanders investors are insightful for their portfolio companies, they dive in and strategize with entrepreneurs and their fellow investors to continue to grow their network because they KNOW it's also your netWORTH.
1_Allison Long Pettine | Crescent Ridge Partners & Ad Astra Ventures
Allison L. is an investor and entrepreneur passionate about supporting leaders who strive to positively impact society. Allison’s approach to investing is built on respect, collaboration, and partnership. Because Allison began her career as one of the first employees of a medical device start-up, her perspective on investing goes beyond simply financial risk and return. Allison brings over 15 years of venture capital experience to each new venture, taking an active role in her investments, from co-founder to serving on boards. In 2018, Allison co-founded adastra.ventures , along with Vidya Dinamani and myself, Silvia Mah, a fund specifically focused on investing in female founders, to address the massive gender imbalances in our society. She takes great joy in the mutual benefit she derives as a mentor for both Praxis and Techstars and in her most important role as wife and mother.
2_Diane Yoo & Maria Odiamar Racho | FilKor Capital
FilKor Capital is the First Pan-Asian American Women Firm to empower resilient Asian Americans to build enduring companies. Diane Yoo , and Maria Odiamar Racho, MSOD did not have industry role models at work that looked like them or came from their culture. Their advocacy and funding initiatives evoke inspiration for Asian American women leaders and empower Asian American women to achieve glass-shattering success. Diane Yoo is an entrepreneur turned investor with experience in launching and founding Angel Funds, Investment Networks and Venture Capital. She is also the founder of national pitch competitions in 10+ cities with a focus on creating impact for diverse entrepreneurs. With a history of operating funds and portfolio companies, Diane founded venture capital funds for over 13+ universities. With extensive experience advising over 100+ companies and 30+ venture-backed investments, she serves as a mentor and investor to several nationally ranked top-tier accelerators.?Maria Odiamar Racho hails from corporate America where she specializes in culture, complex systems and networks, leader effectiveness, strategy, and change.?Her passion centers on enabling human systems to tap into and unleash potential so that they can achieve their purpose and mission. Her passion carries into her work as a non-profit board member/pro-bono consultant (OCA-Chicago, United Way of Lake County, Big Brothers Big Sisters) and as an entrepreneur of small for-profit and not-for-profit organizations.?Both Diane and Maria are Pepperdine University alumna.
3_Amy Chang | Interlock Capital & Nufund Venture Group
Amy Chang is an entrepreneur, angel investor, and healthcare analyst.?Amy Chang has 50+ investments where she personally advises and mentors the founders. Amy has also been involved in different angel networks like Stella Foundation Angels and TCA Venture Group and lately in Interlock Capital and NuFund Venture Group . Her exceptional rise in corporate leadership for 14 years at AMN Healthcare makes her a force in strategy & operations, becoming the company’s VP of strategy and investor relations. Amy then got laser-focused on supporting the rising entrepreneurial ecosystem in San Diego.
4_Susie Harborth | Breakthrough Properties
Susie Harborth is an impact investor and innovation executive at the intersection of life sciences & real estate. Susie is Chief Business Officer at Breakthrough Properties , a Tishman Speyer and Bellco Capital JV, where she oversees the firm’s global business development; client experience platform; marketing/branding/media; new business initiatives; and innovation strategy. Susie works collaboratively with client biotech companies on interior lab/office design and functionality and ensures that clients’ growth strategies align with their evolving real estate needs. Over the past 20 years, she has launched successful life science companies across multiple verticals (Tx, Dx and NGS), taking these ventures from inception to exit; co-founded and launched Mission BioCapital, an early-stage venture capital firm where her team’s startup experience led to the creation of the largest network of lab coworking spaces, LabCentral & BioLabs. She holds a master's in biology from Harvard University, with graduate research in breast cancer diagnostics conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital; and a bachelor's, Business Qdministration (finance and real estate) from CSU, Long Beach.
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5_Angela Lee | 37 Angels
Angela Lee is an educator, investor, and entrepreneur. She is the founder of 37 Angels , a network that invests in early stage start ups and trains women to invest in start ups. Angela is also the Assistant Dean of Teaching Excellence at Columbia Business School and teaches on the topics of Leadership, Innovation and Strategy. She has navigated the corporate world through her experience in product development and innovation consulting and is also an experienced entrepreneur having started several companies. She was featured in Entrepreneur Magazine as one of “7 Women to Watch in 2015”, is listed on AlleyWatch’s “25 Angel Investors You Need to Know” and “100 NYC Tech Influencers You Need to Know” and has also been featured as a thought leader on leadership, innovation, entrepreneurship, and investing on CNBC, Bloomberg, Fox Business and MSNBC. Angela received a BA in Economics from UC Berkeley and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
6_Wingee (Sin) Sampaio | Cartier Women's Initative & Next Wave Impact
Wingee Sampaio serves as the Global Program Director of the Cartier Women's Initiative . Founded in 2006, it is a program that supports women impact entrepreneurs globally. She currently also served on the investment committee of Next Wave Impact Wave Ventures, a social impact venture capital fund investing in social impact early-stage businesses. I absolutely loved serving with her in this capacity, her empathy for founders, and knowledge of industry trends, and impact metrics was astounding. She co-authored “Impact with Wings: Stories to Inspire and Mobilize Women Angel Investors and Entrepreneurs”. Her chapter, “Angel Investing as Self-Empowerment”, aims to inspire women to use their wealth to create an impact. Wingee has had a distinguished career in the capital markets for 15 years at State Street Global Advisor, Barclays Global Investors, and Goldman Sachs & Co.
7_Connie Chan | Andreessen Horowitz
Connie Chan is a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz where she focuses on investing in consumer technology. Connie joined the firm in 2011 as a deal partner on the investment team before becoming a general partner in 2018. She serves on the boards of?Cider,?Whatnot,?and?KoBold. Before joining Andreessen Horowitz, Connie worked at HP leading its webOS efforts in China. She started her career as a private equity investor at Elevation Partners, investing in media and entertainment.?Connie is well-known across Silicon Valley for her deep knowledge of the Chinese consumer technology landscape and is often tapped as an expert to translate how trends may move from Asia to the West.?Connie won a Sidney award for her writing on WeChat and is a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum.?She received her B.A. in Economics and M.S. in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University.
8_Grace Chui-Miller | Correlation Ventures
Grace Chui-Miller has more than twenty years of experience as a finance executive in venture capital and public accounting.??She joined as the second partner at Correlation Ventures because she believed in a better model for supporting entrepreneurs, lead VCs and LPs. Previously Grace served as CFO of venture capital firm DCM, and spent seven years as an auditor at KPMG, where she audited several VC firms. We absolutely value Grace's contributions as a key mentor at adastra.ventures where she dives into financial and data analytics of scale. Grace loves the outdoors, enjoys running and hiking, and has even dabbled in age-group triathlons (including successfully completing an Ironman). She received her Undergraduate degree in Quantitative Economics and Decision Sciences from UC San Diego, and an MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA.
9_Lauren Grattan | Mission Driven Finance
Lauren Grattan ’s background in nonprofit development made her eager to activate more capital for social change, leading her to co-found Mission Driven Finance? . As Chief Community Officer, she leads the design of community-based strategy, providing a frame for both internal culture & partner relationships. Lauren’s blended heritage—Irish, Chinese, and Native Hawaiian—informs her approach to reconnecting capital and community. Prior to building Mission Driven Finance, she spent nearly 10 years fundraising for a wide variety of nonprofits—from large universities to small, volunteer-run initiatives. Lauren served on the steering committee of the Inclusive Capital Collective at Zebras Unite and on the board of Business for Good San Diego. She is a 2019 Social Venture Circle Innovation Entrepreneur and an active member of many philanthropic initiatives. Lauren is an alumna of Punahou School in Honolulu and Columbia University in the City of New York. I so love her statement on LinkedIn about what motivates her: "Reconnecting capital and community lights me up. .... I formally studied philosophy, economics, art, and sociology, but will dive into movement strategy, systems design, network weaving, or narrative framing at a moment's notice. I love finding ways to put emergent strategy into practice."
10_Holly Liu | PKO Investments & Flori Ventures
Holly Liu founded the venture-backed mobile gaming company, Kabam in 2006 with UC Berkeley alumni. Her work has contributed to record revenue growth for Kabam year over year from $0 to $400MM annually, which led Kabam into the unicorn club in 2014. a mobile gaming company in 2006. They made hit games such as Marvel Contest of Champions, The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle Earth, and Fast & Furious. They sold in 2017 to Netmarble and FoxNext for a combined total of a billion dollars. Since exiting, she has been an early-stage investor at YC and Mozilla. She has also co-founded and become the managing partner of PKO Investments, a syndicate to invest as a group in tech startups. Their unique selling point is that they can bring on an amazing group of notable & strategic investors, keeping the primary benefits of a syndicate to startup founders. Holly is also a visiting partner at Flori Ventures, where they help consult, design, and mentor companies built on Celo - a blockchain technology enabling prosperity for all. Holly also writes a newsletter for founders at: https://foundermusings.substack.com/
10 AAPI ecosystem builder-LEADERS in the innovation ecosystem
Ecosystem builders connect, collaborate, and champion the communities in which they serve. Innovations become realities and impact he customers they serve because of a network effect of MANY advisors, mentors, connectors, and THE ecosystem builder. A servant's heart is alive and well in each of these AAPI ecosystem-builders, from advocacy to investing to mentoring. The first couple are actually investors as well, but their work (in) community is exceptional.
1_Dr. Amy Nguyen-Chyung | Institute for the Global Entrepreneur | UCSD
Professor Amy N. is responsible for instruction and curriculum development of the Lab-to-Market Workshop capstone, the signature course series for University of California, San Diego - Rady School of Management ,?in which?teams launch new ventures or?work with existing organizations to address challenging problems with innovative solutions. She is also Co-Director of the Institute for the Global Entrepreneur, a collaboration between Rady and the UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering, and is Faculty Co-Director of the Rady MicroMBA.?Professor Nguyen-Chyung’s research is in the area of entrepreneurship and strategy, investigating sources and consequences of heterogeneity in the choices of entrepreneurial individuals and firms. Amy is also a Limited Partner of Next Wave Impact and San Diego Angel Conference and has 13+ years of industry experience. Professor Nguyen-Chyung holds a PhD and MS in Business Administration (Business and Public Policy – business economics area) from U.C. Berkeley’s Haas School, a joint-MBA-MPA from Penn’s Wharton School and Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and an undergraduate degree in East Asian Studies from Harvard.
2_Hana Yang | Allocate & Wingpact
Hana Yang is co-founder of Allocate which offers a low-cost and frictionless avenue for investors to invest in highly vetted and researched top-tier emerging and established venture capital fund opportunities. Raised in Argentina, she came to the US when she was 15. Hana is passionate about democratizing access to information, capital and investment opportunities. She built the first comprehensive database of all women working in venture capital, investing and operating roles in the US and worldwide. Prior to Allocate, Hana was a Managing Director at First Republic Bank’s Venture & Technology vertical where she closely worked with over 350 emerging venture capital firms and family offices. She also founded and led the Women In Venture (WIV) initiative, which included building a database and mapping over 1100 women across roles working in the venture capital sector, launching the annual WIV compensation survey and report and oversubscribed WIV annual summits. Hana was also a partner at an early-stage accelerator and early ecosystem builder for Latino/LATAM founders and startups, co-author of the first angel investing book written from a women’s lens, and part of an early-stage venture-backed crowdfunding startup. Hana obtained a BA from UC Berkeley, and an MS from Columbia University, and completed the prestigious Kauffman Fellows (Class 20) venture program. Her favorite activities are yoga, traveling and enjoying golf.
3_Cindy Chan | StyleSynch & APAC
Cindy Chan believes in living a life repurposed Cindy is an outside-the-box leader producing business and social impact results through insight-driven strategies, cross-functional execution, personal integrity, and social consciousness. Cindy is a passionate entrepreneur/investor with experience in product management, product development, hospitality, real estate, e-commerce, retail, healthcare, non-profit and community engagement, product roadmaps, new product launches, operations, branding, and consumer insights gathering, competitive and market analyses, and traditional and digital marketing. Owner of StyleSynch, she empowers women to be confident through the only online boutique dedicated to "bringing style to every girl's digital life" (TM) by being the premier destination for women and girls to find designer laptop bags, stylish iPad/tablet folios, cute portable chargers, jeweled earbuds, bling cell phone cases and more. Cindy is also a founding board member of the Asian Pacific American Coalition (APAC) San Diego whose non-partisan mission is to cultivate civic engagement to forward the voices of San Diego’s 400,000+ AAPI community.
4_Katrina Samonte | SVB & Plug & Play Tech Center
Katrina Samonte works at Silicon Valley Bank , building relationships with startups and investors in the Bay Area. Katrina is passionate about getting to work with inspiring founders and tech leaders every day. She believes that strong relationship management and organization skills are necessary to meet the ever-changing needs of my clients. She is a driven, detail-oriented professional who is able to help translate creative ideas into actionable tasks. With 5+ years of experience supporting startups and tech leaders as the Senior Partner Success Manager at Plug and Play Tech Center in San Francisco. She aims to continue supporting innovative individuals and companies in bringing their ideas to life. Recently, she brought together?#aapi?founders, investors, and thought leaders in the Silicon Valley ecosystem – as well as our allies – along with the Asian Hustle Network – to celebrate and honor the contributions and experiences of the AAPI community.
5_Christie Marcella | Connect & San Diego Tech Hub
Christie Marcella is a first-generation born Filipino-American, whose parents were both medical professionals, providing her with educational opportunities and instilling in her a strong work ethic - working at her father’s practice during summer break or carefully rolling utensils in napkins as a time-consuming but elegant detail at family parties. As a military spouse, she advocates for the underserved and underrepresented as the former Executive Director of the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation and currently as the COO of Connect . Christie has been ingrained in the San Diego ecosystem as a founding member of the San Diego Tech Hub and a board member of the San Diego Innovation Council . Christie's work focuses on building thriving communities by supporting strong innovation sectors that with design, can create more inclusive, wealth-building futures for all.
6_Dr. Serena Huang | ABE.work & Data with Serena
Dr. Serena H. Huang, Ph.D. is a world-renowned keynote speaker, corporate trainer, and influencer marketer.?She most recently served as the Global Head of People Analytics & HR Tech at PayPal and previously built the people analytics functions at Kraft Heinz, GE, and Koch Industries. Dr. Huang is an accomplished thought leader and professional keynote speaker with 100+ speaking engagements in the past 3 years covering topics including people analytics, HR technology, the future of work, ethical AI, employee experience, and mental health. She regularly guest lectures at top MBA programs including Kellogg, Wharton, and Haas. Dr. Huang is a LinkedIn Learning instructor of a popular course “The Data Science of Using People Analytics” and a LinkedIn influencer who graduated from the highly-selective LinkedIn Creator Accelerator Program focused on Innovation and Technology. Her LinkedIn newsletter “From Data to Action” already has thousands of subscribers reaching senior data analytics and HR leaders across the globe. She partners with data analytics conferences and brands to promote data literacy as an influencer.?
7_Saki Oshima | Scrum Ventures & FemTech Community Japan
Saki Oshima leads women's health initiatives at Scrum Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm in San Francisco and Tokyo. With a strong skillset in fostering partnerships and collaborations, Saki bridges the gap between startups and large corporations. She co-founded Femtech Community Japan (500+ members) and frequently contributes to Japanese business media on women's health and DEI topics. As an introductory speaker at an APEC femtech seminar, Saki showcases her expertise and advocacy in the US and Japan. With prior experience in innovative projects, she holds an MBA from UC San Diego's Rady School of Management.
8_Dr. MyPhuong Le & Dr. Leah Villegas | Aquillius
If you have not met these two powerful women, you have to. MyPhuong Le, PhD & Leah Villegas, PhD, MBA , co-founders of Aquillius , are bringing opportunities for diverse life science leaders to San Diego in warm, inviting, and HUGE ways. Aquillius' mission is to accelerate the integration of life sciences and engineering to create innovative solutions that can improve human health. At Aquillius, their focus is on streamlining product development towards commercialization by supporting early R&D to manufacturing to market strategy. Dr. MyPhuong Le obtained her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics and Translational Research from the University of Florida. From her work at the University of Washington, Blue Heron Biotechnology, and the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, she has over 20 years of experience in the life science field, including drug and device development.?In addition to research projects, MyPhuong developed and managed the quality management system under ISO 13485 for medical devices for Microtek. MyPhuong enjoys DIY projects and woodworking. Dr. Leah Villegas brings over 15 years of combined experience in early-stage drug and device development, life science research and business development. She has a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics from the University of Florida and an MBA, specializing in finance, from the University of Colorado Denver. She has worked on research programs such as the identification of therapeutic pathways for fungal lung infections at the Mayo Clinic, and targeted drug delivery systems for cardiopulmonary diseases at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.?Leah enjoys hiking, stand-up paddle boarding, and going to the San Diego Safari Park, and is an aspiring apiarist.
9_Judy Tsuei | Wild Hearted Words & Founder Institute
Judy Tsuei is a sought-after speaker and panelist who leads meaningful conversations on diversity, equity, and inclusion through the power of storytelling, she is a published Simon & Schuster author, an AAPI mental health advocate, a F*ck Saving Face podcast host, an exceptional speaker, featured in Fast Company + Nasdaq and a 2023 Tory Burch Foundation Fellow. Judy Tsuei?is the founder of?Wild Hearted Words, a woman-of-color strategic branding and content marketing agency specializing in health, wellness, and innovative tech brands. She has been featured in?Fast Company, BBC Travel, and?MindBodyGreen. In 2021, she was rated one of the top mentors with the San Diego chapter of the Founder Institute, the world’s largest pre-seed accelerator program and in 2019, the Rising Tide Society nominated Judy as a “20 On The Rise” Entrepreneur. Judy applied her expertise as a mindfulness instructor and yoga teacher to publish the book,?The Little Book of Tibetan Rites and Rituals?(Ulysses Press, 2022). She is also the host of the highly-rated?F*ck Saving Face?podcast that advocates for Asian American mental and emotional health by breaking through taboo topics. I love her insight about Entrepreneurship, it "is the greatest personal growth experience one could ever sign up for — the journey towards success requires an astounding amount of resilience, tenacity, innovation, connection, and authentic expression."
10_Jerice O'Malley | San Diego & Seattle Angel Conference(s)
Jerice O'Malley is Vice President of Sales for Amplify Consulting with 10+ years in Data Analytics and BI, I focus on helping companies understand and leverage data to drive decisions. Jerice is passionate about business intelligence, machine learning, IoT, AI, quantum physics, and data storytelling. Industry verticals she enjoys are High-Tech, Retail, Telecom, Non-Profit, Healthcare, Financial Services, Higher Education, and Sports & Entertainment. She is continually drawn to finding innovative offerings in the marketplace that can help customers worldwide. I love this about her, "What gets me excited is a disruptor to the industry with an innovative product or service within Data Analytics, Machine-Learning, & Predictive and IoT." As an active angel investor in the San Diego Angel Conferences and Seattle Angel Conferences, she is always giving of her expertise and advice not only to entrepreneurs but the investors she co-invests with. Brava!
30 AAPI startup leaders
Let's celebrate #aapiheritagemonth not only in May but all year round. I am a strong ally, my children are half Asian, I married a Chinexican, and we have experienced our own challenges as a mixed-race & ethnic family. Living and experiencing (in) community, loving diversity of thought and lived experiences is KEY to making our innovation ecosystem more exceptional. I will always continue speaking up and speaking out for underrepresented communities. These 30 innovation ecosystem LEADERS should be honored, respected, and championed. What you can do?
Community Activist
1 年The problem is there are people here illegally without proper work visas.
Building Shitty Mom Guide | Recovering sextech founder
1 年this is badass!! thanks for highlighting these amazing founders.
Published Author | 2 x TEDx speaker | Igniting Innovation, Impact & Investing through Action & Intentionality | VC | Associate Professor | Keynote Speaker | Advocate 4 Diverse Founders | Investor | Servant Leader
1 年Thank you for reposting Aurelia Flores :)
President at Bay Valley Tech
1 年Don't forget Sumir Meghani at Instawork.
Human-centered Exec Advisor | Speaker | Board Member | Impact Investor | Associate Producer | Author | ? Empowering leaders to accelerate life-improving innovation + invest for impactful change ?
1 年Awesome list of amazing AAPI leaders who are creating positive impact via entrepreneurship and investment! Thanks for recognizing their pioneering efforts, Silvia Mah PhD, MBA