Today I’m so excited to talk with Mio Yamamoto. Mio is the co-founder and Executive Director of World in Tohoku. Mio has more than twelve years of experience in providing high-impact social entrepreneurs with management, capacity building, and funding support. Along with her experience in marketing, sales, and strategy consulting in the private sector, she is building a platform where leaders from private, public, and civic sectors promote cross-sector, cross-border collaborations to accelerate social change. In the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake, she co-founded WIT (World in Tohoku, formerly WIA) to support social entrepreneurs in the disaster-affected area. As Executive Director of WIT, she is providing management, funding, and impact assessment support to nine social entrepreneurs in such areas as education, job creation for disabled persons and ethnic minorities, and citizen-led community development. Before founding WIA, Mio was Partner of SVP Tokyo, a venture philanthropy organization for more than 7 years. She helped the launch of an agricultural social venture and led knowledge sharing between SVPs in the US and SVP Tokyo around issues on social innovation, venture philanthropy, social impact assessment, and etc. Mio received an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management, and BA with a major in International Relations from the University of Tokyo. She worked for McKinsey & Co. as Summer Associate, and Sumitomo Chemical as Marketing and Sales Rep. Mio spends her time in Japan and Boston with her husband and a cat. She loves volunteering in farms, and designing and sewing dresses. Episode Mentions: World in Tohoku Startup Studio Model Episode Asks, Challenges, and Goals: "We are looking for funders, business professionals and impact organizations who would like to get involved in the cross-boundary leadership initiatives!" VCedia and Host Info/Promos: Follow VCedia @the_vcedia on Twitter and Instagram, The VCedia on YouTube, and on our website at www.vcedia.com. You can also follow the host Schyler Cole on Twitter at @SchylerCole! Know someone who should be on VCedia? Let us know here! For startups: https://forms.gle/8ESnmJf4XNRL5W1A6 For other guests: https://forms.gle/LbTvrUUbXW1YiAPP7 Music Intro/Outro - Instafunk - Premium Beats Intermission - hard animal crossing type beat by vanity - https://soundcloud.com/11182018