Azusa "AZ" Kawahara

Azusa "AZ" Kawahara is a seasoned business development and community/event/meetup organizer with over five years of experience in connecting Japanese startups and large corporations in San Francisco and Tokyo. Her expertise lies in community development from inception to execution for a variety of clients, including NHK, Tokyu Corporation, Ito-En, NoMaps (a big business conference in Sapporo), SXSW Japan, and Suntory.

She is the CEO of Community Accelerator at Potage Corporation and previously worked as the Producer of Interactive Summit at J-POP SUMMIT, Class Planner at Shibuya University Network, Founder at Tokyo Meetup committee, and Lecturer of media & business production at Aichi Shukutoku University. Azusa Kawahara's career includes work as an Event and Community Organizer, Business Development Manager, and Editor in Chief at NIFTY / Fujitsu Laboratories of America. She has planned over 60 events/meetups per year and partnered with more than 70 large corporations and startups from Japan.

Azusa Kawahara has established herself as a specialist in community development and produces authentic, original content. She plans moments of great serendipity in which everyone can realize their vision. She has been invited as a speaker or facilitator at many conferences, such as Panasonic, SAP, Wing Arc, NoMaps, and CEATEC. She has also received media coverage by NIKKEI, Asahi Shimbun, Lifehacker, LinkedIn, Recruit, and others.

Azusa Kawahara studied Digital Arts, Multimedia Cultural Study, Popular Music, and Comic Arts at Yokohama National University. She has worked for ITSCOM/TOKYU at iTSCOM Communications and NIFTY Corporation's TOKYO CULTURE CULTURE where she served as Community Accelerator, Event Coordinator, and Web Service Planner.