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The Most Influential Women to Watch in 2019

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ALYSSA KIMURA<br />

AN INCREDIBLE STORY OF<br />

RISING BEYOND DISCRIMINATION<br />

Yumi Alyssa Kimura<br />

CEO<br />

Agood leader is an <strong>in</strong>clusive<br />

one, they encourage trust<br />

with<strong>in</strong> an organization and its<br />

team members, they allow feedback <strong>to</strong><br />

be a ritual rather than a process, and<br />

courage others <strong>to</strong> be vulnerable, admit<br />

their mistakes, learn from them and<br />

they also actively listen. <strong>The</strong>y are<br />

transparent and encourage<br />

contribution and co-creation from their<br />

teams so that when work is gett<strong>in</strong>g<br />

done, it’s be<strong>in</strong>g done with passion and<br />

unity.<br />

A Leader Born out of Discrim<strong>in</strong>ation<br />

Yumi Alyssa Kimura, the CEO of<br />

LEAD started her professional career<br />

at the ripe age of 18, found<strong>in</strong>g her own<br />

translation bus<strong>in</strong>ess <strong>in</strong> Shanghai for<br />

Japanese and Ch<strong>in</strong>ese cus<strong>to</strong>mers. Her<br />

journey <strong>to</strong>wards success was a difficult<br />

one. In her own words,<br />

“I was then able <strong>to</strong> get <strong>in</strong>volved <strong>in</strong> the<br />

real estate bus<strong>in</strong>ess, eventually sell<strong>in</strong>g<br />

a house for 4 million dollars <strong>in</strong> 2008,<br />

earn<strong>in</strong>g enough commission <strong>to</strong> support<br />

myself, I was able <strong>to</strong> attend an ivy<br />

league school <strong>in</strong> Japan, graduat<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong><br />

2013. This, however, wasn’t without<br />

struggle. I would travel back and forth<br />

on an overnight dur<strong>in</strong>g my junior and<br />

senior years at college, I worked full<br />

time and commuted every week<br />

between Tokyo and Osaka.”<br />

She had <strong>to</strong> undergo many trials and<br />

tribulations as an ambitious young<br />

female <strong>in</strong> the male-dom<strong>in</strong>ated<br />

corporate world of Japan and her<br />

<strong>in</strong>spir<strong>in</strong>g journey <strong>in</strong><strong>to</strong> entrepreneurship<br />

<strong>in</strong> America. Grow<strong>in</strong>g up both <strong>in</strong> Ch<strong>in</strong>a<br />

and Japan as the daughter of parents of<br />

a Russian bloodl<strong>in</strong>e, Yumi was<br />

regarded as a m<strong>in</strong>ority <strong>in</strong> her own<br />

country.<br />

She started her career as an M&A<br />

consultant and later on became<br />

corporate recruiter <strong>in</strong> Japan, but her<br />

34<br />

|June <strong>2019</strong>|

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