WoW Woman in Wellness Tech I Yoky Matsuoka, founder and CEO of Yohana

Yoky Matsuoka is the Founder and CEO of Yohana, a wellness company that leverages human-centric technology to help busy families create space in their lives to prioritize well-being. Prior to founding Yohana, Yoky Matsuoka brought her distinct approach to technology while leading tech giants, including as Vice President at Google, Chief Technology Officer at Nest, and co-founder of Google X. Matsuoka’s career began in academia as an endowed professor at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Washington, where she founded and directed the Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering and the Neurobotics Laboratory, and earned a MacArthur Genius Award for her work in robotics. This grant motivated her to create the YokyWorks Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping children with physical and learning challenges. Matsuoka currently resides in the Bay area with her husband, four children, a dog, and a pet pig.

Yohana is the only membership service that matches modern families with a team of specialists to manage their wildly busy lives. Unlike productivity apps that create more to manage, Yohana creates space every day for families to thrive. Families are teamed up with a Guide to help map their goals, a team of specialists who manage everything from household tasks to family to-dos and create memorable experiences. Members also gain access to the Yohana Pro & Partner Network, a source of trusted local businesses that can tackle bigger projects. Piloted first in Seattle, Yohana expanded to Los Angeles on June 7, 2022, and the waitlist is open nationwide.

Tell us a bit about your background and your projects so far.

I was born and raised in Japan and made the move to the US when I was 16, which is where I’ve been based ever since. I’m an only child and my parents still reside in Japan to this day so I feel lucky to have had an upbringing and perspective from both cultures. 

I initially came to the US to focus on tennis, which was my passion growing up, but was forced to sideline my hopes of playing professionally due to an injury. Despite this setback, I was fortunate to discover a new passion – science and technology. I got my B.S. from the University of California, Berkeley, my M.S and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, and completed my postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University.  From the time I was a little kid, I always knew I wanted to have a big family with many children, but was also motivated to pursue a career. I wanted both and that is the life and career I pursued. 

My career began in academia as a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Washington. My area of expertise is neuroscience and robotics. During my tenure at UW, I founded and directed the Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering and the Neurobotics Laboratory to create devices to restore the human body's capabilities for sensation and movement. My career took a turn when I decided to take the leap from academia to work in Silicon Valley as a way to get closer to consumer products so I can change how they live now. Since then, I’ve worked with leading tech companies having held roles including CTO of Google Nest, Vice President at Google’s Healthcare organization, Co-Founder of Google X, a senior executive at Apple, and CEO of Quanttus, a wearable health technology startup. 

I’m currently CEO and Founder of Yohana, where I’ve merged my technical background, experience, and challenges as a working mother, to build technology that will help families thrive. 

How did you get into this industry? Has it been an easy industry to get into or have you had many challenges?

From early on in my career, I’ve wanted to build cutting-edge technology that helps people live healthier and happier lives. I have always been very cross-disciplinary. I formally studied electrical engineering and computer science but I also studied neuroscience, business, and medicine. As I mentioned above, my career began in academia as a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Washington. During my tenure at UW, I founded and directed the Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering and the Neurobotics Laboratory to create devices to restore the human body's capabilities for sensation and movement. 

I wanted to be closer to those people that I could actually help with the engineering solutions I create, so I made a leap to Silicon Valley. Since then, I’ve worked with leading tech companies having held roles at Nest, Google, Google X, and Apple. 

As a technologist, I saw the opportunity to help families in a meaningful way by applying my background in AI and consumer products. Regardless of my role, I’ve always been motivated by a desire to create cutting-edge technology and solutions that empower people to be the best versions of themselves. With this next chapter as Founder and CEO of Yohana, all the pieces have come together - from my background in A.I. to building consumer products, and even being a working mom. 

There have been countless challenges along the way! I’ve had to forge my own path as a woman in tech over and over again. From not taking maternity leave, to getting on work calls hours after giving birth in the hospital. It has not been easy to pursue a career and build a family simultaneously, but I would not change it for the world. 

How long did it take you to be where you are now? What was the biggest obstacle? What are the challenges of being in the industry you are in?

It has taken decades to get to where I am now and I am still just getting started. 

One of my biggest personal obstacles has been juggling my career, motherhood, family, and my own well-being. I’m deeply grateful for the family and the career I have built, and I’m very happy with my decision to have both, but like so many other parents, there have been sacrifices I never fathomed in my youth. The fact that there is not enough time in the day, the mental burden I carry trying to get everything done, and the guilt I feel about missing out on small moments with my family. It is a constant struggle. 

The guilt eats me alive sometimes. If I give my time and energy to work, the kids don’t get all of me. If I give to the kids, do I show up fully at work? What about my husband, my family, and my friends? And forget about putting myself first. That would make me a bad mom or an underperforming CEO. 

It’s a never-ending cycle, one that I was stuck in for years. Trying to do it all. Never feeling good enough. Not wanting to delegate or ask for help with parenting duties. Never felt like I was showing up for the people that mattered most to me. I now realize that I’m not alone in feeling this way. 

What are your biggest achievements to date?

My biggest achievement is building a family with my husband and raising four amazing children. 

Is the #WomenInTech movement important to you and if yes, why?

This is absolutely important to me. The more women we get into technology and STEM, the more hard-facing problems we are going to solve. Innovation is often driven by pain points and I know there are many women and families who are suffering. The more women we can get into STEM and even just more female-founded companies, the bigger problems we are going to be able to solve that will help our daily lives and will contribute to society in a meaningful way. 

What will be the key trends in your industry in the next five years and where do you see them heading?

AI has been getting a lot of attention but I do not think it will be implemented in the way people think, at least in the next decade or so. We are very far from separating humans and technology. Instead of thinking about AI to “replace” or “exceed” humans, it should be thought of as a way to enhance humans so they can do more.

For example, AI smart assistants such as Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant are good for setting a timer, getting news and weather, and maybe making a dinner reservation, but they cannot help you plan your daughter's birthday party and allow you to enjoy that day with her.

Yohana’s mission is to create technology in a way that helps real and complex family lives by combining the human touch. If a company truly studies the needs of the users and builds solutions for those needs, it becomes clear that technology and real humans working together are the best solutions. Yohana is positioned to be the beginning of this paradigm shift away from just humans or just technology. 

What is the most important piece of advice you could give to anyone who wants to start a career in this industry?

Go for it. Get into STEM. Build a family. Do both if you want. And most important, don’t worry about being perfect because that is not possible.  There is so much opportunity for women to build cutting-edge technology that will truly make this world a better place in a way that has not been done before. Don’t attach yourself to a person, a place, a company, an organization, or a project. Attach yourself to a mission, a calling, and GO FOR IT

Find out more about Yohana on their website.

Follow Yohana on Instagram and Twitter.

Connect with Yoky on LinkedIn.

This interview was conducted by Marija Butkovic, Digital Marketing and PR strategist, founder, and CEO of Women of Wearables. She regularly writes and speaks on topics of wearable tech, fashion tech, IoT, entrepreneurship, and diversity. Follow Marija on Twitter @MarijaButkovic and read her stories for Forbes here.