Athena’s goal in everyday life is simple yet impactful – to help. “I am always happy to meet people who are doing the uncomfortable work of challenging the status quo,” she says. Our honorary AsiaBerlin Ambassador Athena Lam works to support impact-driven companies, female-led companies, women in STEM, LGBTQ workplace inclusion, Asian founders in Europe, and people of color (POC) communities.
Her projects have been presented at The Economist’s Pride and Prejudice LGBT conference and Unicorns in Tech. Since 2010, she has been working with startups and founders in the Asia Pacific and Europe.
“Asia is full of innovation that often flies under the radar for Europe. At the same time, Berlin is a city that gives entrepreneurs and visionaries space to investigate and develop solutions that create value and are sustainable financially, socially, and environmentally. Being embedded in the startup ecosystem in Hong Kong, I knew that many founders would welcome exchanges with a city like Berlin to learn, share, and collaborate. As someone who had lived in North America, East Asia, and Europe, I wanted to bridge these relationships,” she says.
Collaborate with Athena
“East Asian founders based in Berlin should reach out to the community I co-host with former Ambassador Makoto Takeda. We’re focused on organic community building. Founders in East Asia exploring a European office and would like to understand how life is like on the ground in Berlin for Asians can reach out to me”, says Athena when we asked her about topics where she would like to collaborate with others.
Startup leaders, both investors, and founders, who are interested in creating safe workplaces for LGBTQ individuals and people of color can also reach to her.
Finally, she tells us that she has met some lifelong friends in the AsiaBerlin community. “By hosting doers from various parts of Asia, Berlin connected many of us professionals who may not have otherwise met even in our own cities because we may come from tangential industries. Since meeting Ambassadors from South Korea, Japan, China, Hong Kong, and Singapore, we have kept in close contact and still often exchange industry information and make referrals for each other to help grow our regional ties,” concludes Athena.
Athena’s work we recommend reading:
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