Business Chief US and Canada February 2022 | Page 18

Founder and CEO Women in Tech and Social Brain , Forbes Business Council , TEDx Speaker and mother of four
FIVE MINUTES WITH ...

Ayumi Moore Aoki

Founder and CEO Women in Tech and Social Brain , Forbes Business Council , TEDx Speaker and mother of four

Q . YOU QUIT YOUR MARKETING DIRECTOR ROLE IN 2008 AND TAUGHT YOURSELF HOW TO CODE . WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO MAKE SUCH A BIG CHANGE ?

» In 2007 , I was living the perfect life as it had been sold to me : I had a high-powered career as the comms director of a French group of hotels and casinos , a beautiful house , two amazing children , even my dogs looked like they came out of a fairy tale . But I wasn ’ t happy . In fact , I wasn ’ t living the life I wanted to , I was suffocating inside it .

So , I decided to change everything , including career and husband ! It was the most difficult period in my life until now .
How did I start to live my dreams and act ? I learned how to code so that I could build websites , I worked on digital campaigns and I even built small apps . I realised that the digital skills gave me the freedom I was looking for .
Q . WHAT WAS THE ‘ LIGHTBULB ’ MOMENT AND MOTIVATION FOR LAUNCHING WOMEN IN TECH ?

» I attended an all-women ’ s dinner in Lisbon during Web Summit , November 2017 . I remember sitting there and just taking in the energy

18 February 2022