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<img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Moon_Creative_Lab_Amelias_06e11d3123.jpg" alt="Moon+Creative+Lab+Amelias+.jpg">When <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/arihorie/">Ari Horie</a>, a known advocate for women to lead and thrive in business, shared her vision of creating a foundation for both girls and women to pursue entrepreneurship in Japan, we knew <a href="http://www.mooncreativelab.com/">Moon Creative Lab</a> could help. Our visions for creating a more inclusive and robust center of innovation, creativity, and new business creation in Japan were absolutely aligned. This is what Moon Creative Lab was created to do – for Mitsui and beyond. We also knew it wouldn’t be easy.Entrepreneurship itself is a very difficult (yet very rewarding) path. And in Japan, it’s even less common for women and girls. According to <a href="https://www.accj.or.jp/the-accj-journal/tokyo-women-vc">research</a> by Tokyo Women in VC, 91% of venture capital (VC) firms in Japan have no female partners; 59% of VC funds have no women on their investment team; and 44% of funds do not have any women employees. In addition, only 13% of VC employees, 10% of actual VCs, and 3% of VC partners are women.This is why Ari launched her new non-profit organization, the WSL Impact Foundation, <a href="https://www.amelias.jp/">Amelias</a>’ program designed to build a foundation of support for high school girls and women throughout Japan. Partnering with cities like Kobe, Hokkaido, Sapporo, and Shibuya, the Amelias program offers education, workshops, mentoring, and networking opportunities with former and current entrepreneurs from Japan and Silicon Valley.<h4>Moon Leads Workshops on Startup Design</h4>In July, <a href="https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000089.000060069.html">Moon became a founding sponsor of the WSL Impact Foundation</a> and we hosted an event for 60 women entrepreneurs at our Spring Terrace studio in Omotesando. This event was livestreamed at other locations in Japan including Shibuya, Kobe, and Sapporo to more than 130 women. The morning program featured guest speakers on entrepreneurship including <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/fujiyoishiguro/">Fujiyo Ishiguro</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathymatsui/?originalSubdomain=jp">Kathy Matsui</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/nager/">Marc Nager</a>, and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/shayanne-wright/">Shayanne Wright</a>. Moon’s CEO, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaichi-yokoyama-67973580/">Kaichi Yokoyama</a>, gave an inspiring talk about how to “Think Crazy” to expand your business and your journey as an entrepreneur. He shared examples of how he did just that with the creation of Moon Creative Lab four years ago by bringing the best of Silicon Valley and Japan together to create new and innovative businesses that would have an exponential impact on Mitsui and the world. The concept of “thinking crazy” was a big theme for the Amelias program to encourage participants to think and act outside of their comfort zones.<img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Moon_Creative_Lab_WSL_c9819ed32e.jpeg" alt="Moon Creative Lab Womens Startup Lab">In the afternoon, Moon led two Startup Design workshops – one at our Spring Terrace office in Omotesando and the other at nearby Shibuya Parco. Workshop participants learned about the importance of human-centered business design, the practical process to discover opportunities for innovation, and the importance of entrepreneur networking – especially for women.<img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Moon_Creative_Lab_Spring_Terrace_WSL_44c779f906.jpeg" alt="Moon Creative Lab Spring Terrace WSL">Here’s what participants had to say about the Moon workshops:“I had learned from reading books, but it was interesting because it was the first time for me to put it into practice.”“I was able to experience the process of thought and the process of realization. A place where failure can be seen positively. I was able to experience that I was further brushed up by working as a team.”“Good prototyping and pitch! Prototyping should be done quickly and without spending too much time and money. Also, I am very grateful for the pitch because I can't practice without this opportunity. By giving us the opportunity to review our value proposition, we were able to review our business more clearly. There were voices saying "be crazy" in various places, and it was good that I was able to think outside my own frame.”<img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Moon_Creative_Lab_Workshop_WSL_726d36c34a.jpeg" alt="Moon Creative Lab Workshop Spring Terrace WSL"><h4>More To Do To Support the Entrepreneurship for Girls and Women</h4>Ari Horie’s vision for the Amelias program is to make entrepreneurship not only an acceptable path for girls, but a viable and desirable one. We at Moon Creative Lab are delighted to support this vision to help make it a reality. While there is still much to do to increase the numbers of women entrepreneurs in Japan, we are excited about the potential for the future.To learn more about the WSL Impact Foundation Amelia's program, please visit: <a href="https://www.amelias.jp/">https://www.amelias.jp/</a>Mary Ann Gallo Chief Marketing Officer <a href="mailto:maryann@mooncreativelab.com">maryann@mooncreativelab.com</a>

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Moon Creative Lab continuously honors the incredible women around us who connect, create, and inspire us every day, but on International Women’s Day, we joined the world in celebrating women everywhere.<img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/Moon_Womens_Day_2022_1_B_100_e1649126417814_31ce2a0edc.jpg" alt="MoonCreativeLab_Womens_Day_2022">Much like the groundbreaking first footsteps on the moon set the path for progress, women have been pioneering and paving their own way towards equality across the world. And as March comes to a close, we can’t forget to mention that not only was it Women’s History Month, but International Women’s Day was celebrated on March 8.<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:50%;"><img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/IWD_768x576_af989a0e3c.jpg" alt="IWD-768x576.jpg"><figcaption>Striking the “break the bias” pose for International Women’s Day.</figcaption></figure>Throughout the second week of March, we collaborated with our parent company to organize an interactive booth and fun workshops, which resulted in over 200 participants in Tokyo, Japan. In addition to wearing purple clothes and purple masks to align with the official color of International Women’s Day (IWD), taking photos with the IWD #breakthebias pose, and displaying the names of women who actively inspire and contribute to a better world, we held workshops that promoted the awareness of bias through interactive quizzes, games, and thoughtful discussions.We celebrated all the wonderful and brave women across the globe by adding our favorite songs from female artists to a <a href="https://old-site.mooncreativelab.com/2022/04/moon-creative-lab-celebrates-women-around-the-world/#:~:text=artists%20to%20a-,Spotify%20playlist,-%2C%20sharing%20objects%20that">Spotify playlist</a>, sharing objects that remind of us women we admire, learning about bias and how we can help accelerate women’s equality, and getting inspired by Ari Horie, founder and CEO of <a href="https://womenstartuplab.com/">Women’s Startup Lab</a>, who shared her experience in increasing women’s contribution to the growth of business and entrepreneurial success.<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:50%;"><a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/08mlu0zcgFW5bLbjpaiZ4E?si=00741a5b2afe406f&amp;nd=1"><img src="https://moon-website-prod-images.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/IWD_spotify_768x540_154bc72bfb.jpg" alt="Spotify playlist"></a><figcaption>We created a playlist full of our favorite women in music. Follow along!</figcaption></figure>International Women’s Day was also a great opportunity to hear from some of our women Entrepreneurs-in-Residence here at Moon. We talked to Guihua Hong, the founder of audible learning platform <a href="https://www.voox.me/">VOOX</a>, and Grace Aldas and Dell Delatorre, who have recently joined Moon as founders of MOM247, a platform and community for mothers. (*Answers have been edited for clarity.)What advice would you give to others who are experiencing bias?Dell: As a woman, empower yourself so companies can see your worth as a woman. If you’re accepted to do admin work, go out of your way to improve yourself and learn new skills so the company would see that you are also fit or have the potential to be capable of a different skilled role. Having dialogue with HR about gender shouldn’t be the main concern in job qualification, even in smaller roles.Grace: Accept that there will always be different perspectives, but also help promote self-awareness and mindfulness about our own unconscious biases.Hong: Anyone may have bias. We need to be more kind and tolerant, listen to different voices by having more open-minded conversations, and try to understand different sides. Do more and deliver the outcomes by actions rather than talking or explaining about the standpoint as a woman. If the bias is still there after you’ve made all the efforts you can, then leave it without any regret.<hr>The week of International Women’s Day was an influential one. We celebrated the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements women have contributed to our society, and learned about and honored women in our lives, around the world, and throughout history. We can’t help but to be moved by these admirable women and acknowledge the significant impact they have on us every day.

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Empowering Women Through Startup Design Workshops

Celebrating Women's International Day

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