The re-centering of the education system to one where all students are thriving, not simply surviving is core to her values and has driven her career. She is a proud daughter of creative, bold, and rebellious first-generation immigrants and a graduate of multicultural and working-class schools within the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Her work in the human development sector has moved between the public and private sectors, and includes founding a primary school in Hayward, CA, developing teacher training programs in Egypt, go-to-market strategy for African edutainment shows at UBONGO, assessing online learning programs in Nepal and developing entrepreneurship training curriculum in Tibet with the US State Department.
Prior to Lumos, Yichen led Asia expansion for Nova Credit and was a technology investment banker at Goldman Sachs during which she taught a design thinking course at Greenleaf Middle School in Oakland via Citizen Schools. She has advised early stage education technology entrepreneurs at Village Capital, created television shows at Amazon Studios and started her career at Cisco’s in-house venture capital arm focused on emerging markets. She is a Business Council board member of the National Head Start Network, an RSF Social Finance Integrated Capital Fellow and a 2019 Resident of the House of Beautiful Business.
Yichen received an MBA from the Darden School at the University of Virginia, and a BA from Harvard University.
Current role