Growing up in Hiroshima, Ari wore a pink backpack when all the other school children wore red ones. As a business leader and former IBM employee navigating international marketing and product management in the Valley, Ari recognized “the pink backpack,” or being a woman, as an influencing factor when leading a company. To Ari, cultural shifts take too long to wait for. Her business vision focuses on what women can do right now to kick butt in business and how to leverage the innovation and free thinking of the technology industry to build leading tools and solutions. She founded Women’s Startup Lab in 2013. It’s a high caliber collective of edgy and hardcore startup founders who are intensely results-driven, fun, and dedicated to collaboration and giving back.