Ana Arriola-Kanada — Co-Founder

Maker. Operator. A systems orchestrator working at the intersection of culture, technology, and long-horizon collaboration. I build rooms where disciplines meet, and future generations inherit responsibility. I am the founder and Chairwoman of 「 yes, 」, a Tokyo-based venture building cultural infrastructure that connects creative communities, institutions, and emerging technologies. Through initiatives including Tokyo Salone, Nourish, Speculative Futures, our salon series Moments, and Thirdspace Thirdweeks with Soho House Tokyo, my work convenes architects, designers, technologists, chefs, policymakers, and the next generation of creators to explore the cultural consequences of new ideas. I focus on building living systems. Platforms that cultivate mentorship, dialogue, and collaboration across cities such as Tokyo, Copenhagen, Seoul, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, and Mexico City. Alongside my cultural work, I advise emerging deep technology ventures, including OrionsWave, on the development of Lani OS, our infrastructure layer for Physical AI. A graph-native architecture designed for Industrial AI, which operates as living graphs of capabilities orchestrated by the Lani OS runtime. This work explores our new era of software physics, where systems remain fluid and adaptive rather than calcifying into rigid infrastructure. Throughout my career, I've led global organizations spanning research, engineering, design, and innovation at companies including Microsoft and Microsoft Research, Meta AI/FAIR, Sony PlayStation, Samsung, Adobe, IDEO, and experimental hardware ventures. My impact and experience span robotics, city-scale digital twins, mixed reality, ambient computing, human interface systems, and complex hardware–software ecosystems. I co-founded, a space, in between., a collaboration with「 yes, 」and the Japanese atelier Divka (former heads of Yohji Yamamoto) that reimagines plus-size fashion as unapologetic, quiet performance, quiet luxury. Designed exclusively for sizes 1X–6X, the project is a love letter from Japan to the world. My work has been recognized with international honors, including G-Mark/GOOD Design, iF Design, Red Dot, EISA, and Tokyo TDC awards, as well as 38 patents spanning hardware performance optimization, interface systems, materials design, and data science. Based in Tokyo, I continue my research across Deep Tech and sociocultural systems. I hail from The Republic of California, a queer Latine immigrant, a women's and LGBTQIA+ human rights advocate, a street photographer, and a mother of four incredible humans.

Stackforce AI infers this person is a leader in cultural technology and deep tech innovation.

Location: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Experience: 0 mo