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I'm Yumi Alyssa Willems Kimura (yes, it's a long name!). Depending on where you search, you'll find me as Yumi Alyssa Kimura in Japan and Yumi Willems or Yumi Kimura in the U.S. — a result of my love for all my names and my trial-and-error approach to personal SEO.
At 18, I took a leap into entrepreneurship, moving to Shanghai without local connections or language skills. There, I co-founded a translation, tour guiding, and real estate business with my schoolmates. During college, I interned at a Japanese immigration law firm, where I saw firsthand the limited career growth opportunities for women in law. After earning my degree from Kwansei Gakuin University in Japan, I transitioned into HR consulting at Hays and later became a partner at Sprinterser Partners, assisting U.S. companies with venture capital fundraising and M&A.
Seeking further growth, I moved to the U.S. and played a pivotal role in establishing Meitu (美图) Japan, leading to its $4.5 billion IPO in 2016. Meitu Japan functioned as the regional arm, adapting Meitu's technology for the Japanese market and expanding its reach in Asia's digital and social media landscape.
Recognized for my contributions to tech, I secured an O-1A visa (for extraordinary ability in business) and went on to found Lead Tech, Inc. (LEAD) in the U.S. To deepen my expertise, I pursued evening courses in HR Management and People Analytics at Wharton and Product Management and Data Science at UC Berkeley (check out my GitHub!).
Currently, while running LEAD, I'm also pursuing a Master of Science in Information and Knowledge Strategy (IKNS) at Columbia University. My work has been featured by Columbia IKNS, where I shared how my information and knowledge strategy shaped my approach to enterprise knowledge management. I also published my first academic paper, "The Organizational Intelligence Loop: A Socio-Technical Framework for Adaptive Enterprise AI Adoption," which documents seven years of work building LEAD and insights from my post-Meitu career, and proposes a practical engineering layer for enterprise AI.
I've been invited to guest lecture at Washington University's Olin Business School, where I led a session on Human Resource Management in Startups, and to speak on enterprise AI design, adoption, and digital transformation at Wharton, other universities, and industry conferences. Along the way, I've also received invitations to serve on public company boards and contribute as a business commentator for Japanese TV formats.
At LEAD, we specialize in operational efficiency and knowledge management for enterprises. I lead product, research, marketing, sales and strategy for our products. Recently, we also developed a Behavioral Knowledge layer for RAG, MCP, and agentic workflows that turns dynamic organizational behavior into runtime context so enterprise search and agents can operate with real organizational context. Our suite includes BehaviorGraph and LEAD.bot (launched 2020).
As many of you know me as Yumi Willems in my current professional endeavors, you might come across some of my earlier work or media mentions under my former name, Yumi Alyssa Kimura. Both names represent important stages in my career journey.
I was honored to speak on a panel at Beyond the Frontier NYC, hosted at Microsoft SOHO Garage in summer 2025. I shared why scaling AI isn't just about better models, but about better knowledge management — not only analyzing documents and conversations, but understanding how knowledge actually moves through people, relationships, networks, and real-time collaboration between humans and AI agents.
I hosted and moderated a packed AI showcase in NYC — curating every voice on stage. On 4/30/25, we brought together 100+ founders, investors, and enterprise leaders. Ravi Sarkar (Enterprise CTO, Microsoft) shared the enterprise buyer lens. Alastair Trueger (GP, Event Horizon) brought the investor POV. Jerry Tang (CEO, Atlas Cloud) gave the builder's take. Nabeel Ahmad (changeforce, Columbia Adjunct) tied it to workforce transformation.
I've been invited to speak at Beyond the Frontier 2025 — a gathering of innovators shaping the future of AI, frontier tech, and society. Honored to join this incredible lineup of thinkers, builders, and change-makers pushing the boundaries of what's next.
On August 6, 2024, Nikkei (日経新聞) News (Nikkei X Trend) published an 11-minute read interview detailing my career path and startup journey — "シリコンバレー起業家が"人生ハードモード"からはい上がれたキャリア術."
During my time as founding Country Manager of Meitu Japan, Meitu was selected by Andreessen Horowitz (A16Z) as one of the Top 50 Gen AI mobile apps globally, ranked #26 by monthly active users. The list, compiled using Sensor Tower data, placed Meitu alongside ChatGPT, Gemini, and other leading AI consumer apps — a recognition of the product's global scale and AI capabilities.
On New Year's Eve 2018, I was one of the commentators on 日本のジレンマ (Nihon no Jirenma), a flagship NHK program known for its intellectual discussions. NHK's New Year shows are renowned for their popularity, often reaching around 40% viewership nationwide.
LEAD gained significant recognition following its graduation from the Alchemist Accelerator in 2019.
Featured on Insights Success, highlighting my journey from starting business at 18 to leading LEAD.
Featured in a 2016 Nihon TV interview as a prominent female business leader, highlighting services dedicated to empowering women.
Featured on BRIDGE in 2019 — "「社員ファーストの企業文化作りを」— AIによる従業員エンゲージメント「LEAD」が米「Alchemist Accelerator」を卒業、日本人2人目."
In 2016, as the founding Japan Country Manager for Meitu Technologies, I had the privilege of speaking at GMIC (Global Mobile Internet Conference), Asia's largest and leading technology conference. Since 2008, GMIC has been a pivotal event connecting B2B executives from over 70 countries.
Speaking with Akira Morikawa, ex-CEO of LINE Corp, on BeautyPlus' global impact in a tech leaders' discussion.
Featured speaker at the prestigious 2016 press release event for MakeupPlus app, alongside renowned Japanese makeup artist Zawachin.
