Yolanda is an experienced entrepreneurship consultant, advisor, and a Forbes contributor. She is also an educator, speaker, writer, and a non-profit fundraiser.
A skilled and collaborative project manager and leader, Yolanda specializes in creating and improving processes to maximize efficiency, reduce costs, and increase customers and revenue. She loves working with diverse stakeholders to manage expectations and outcomes with limited resources.
Since 2010, she has been focused on preparing knowledge workers, educators, and students for the future of work.
In 2015, she co-founded FlexTeam with two other MIT alumnae.
Project-Based Work
Project-Based Work
If you own a business, project-based work can help you manage and grow your business.
How?
Project-based consultants can:
perform strategic analyses
craft a go-to-market strategy
help you decide whether to create a new product
assess your competition
determine where to cut costs
generate blog posts
manage your social media
guide you through a difficult negotiation
help you decide whether to enter a new market
craft customer acquisition strategy
create financial models
craft marketing or communications strategy
write press releases
assist with legal issues
plan events
and help hundreds of other types of business projects
Yolanda Lau is a startup founder, experienced entrepreneur, and entrepreneurship consultant. She is a skilled and collaborative project manager and leader, comfortable working with diverse stakeholders to manage expectations and outcomes with limited resources.
Entrepreneur | Future of Work
Since 2010, she has been focused on the future of work — specifically on preparing knowledge workers, educators, and students for the future of work.
In 2010, she began working to “solve” the “problem” of ambitious, educated, talented women and men “opting out” of the traditional workforce for personal reasons. In 2015, she co-founded FlexTeam with two other MIT alumnae. FlexTeam is a mission-based micro-consulting firm that matches talented mid-career women with meaningful, challenging, temporally flexible, remote project-based work opportunities. FlexTeam‘s clients are businesses of all sizes across all industries and sectors and their most requested projects are competitor / market research, financial models, and investor decks.
In 2019, FlexTeam spun out its proprietary software solution for onboarding, managing, and paying freelancers / service vendors / 1099 workers into a separate company called Liquid. Liquid unlocks the power of the liquid workforce so you can do – and be – more. Yolanda Lau participated in Techstars LA 2019 with Liquid.
Advisor
Through her work with Lau Labs and FlexTeam, she and her team have advised hundreds of startups and venture capital firms.
Additionally, Yolanda is an advisor to VITALIZE VC and is also part of 79 Studios, a Los Angeles based startup studio rethinking venture capital with a women-first, product, and community point-of-view.
Yolanda has also advised and mentored student entrepreneurs since 2002.
Consultant
Yolanda is also a co-founder and partner at Lau Labs. In her own consulting work with Lau Labs, Yolanda specializes in creating and improving processes to maximize efficiency, reduce costs, and increase customers and revenue. She’s exceptionally adept at planning, organizing, implementing and evaluating activities appropriate to an organization’s goals.
Additionally, she advises entrepreneurs, start-ups, and small businesses in a multitude of areas — strategy, operations, branding, marketing, future of work, web development and internet communities, social media, business development, negotiation skills, conflict resolution, risk management, technology licensing, talent acquisition, systems thinking, design thinking, emotional intelligence, mindfulness, business writing, and how to use artificial intelligence.
Educator
At Punahou School, Yolanda teaches creative coding and entrepreneurship classes with Punahou’s Case Accelerator for Student Entrepreneurship (CASE). At CASE, she is developing real-world project-based curricula in entrepreneurship, artificial intelligence, computer science, data science, storytelling, and other future of work competencies.
Since 2002, she has mentored and advised student entrepreneurs at MIT, Harvard University, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Punahou School, and other educational institutions.
Board Member
Yolanda serves on the board of Hawaii Center for AI, Na Wahine Paani O Punahou, Big Brothers Big Sisters Hawaii, and other non-profit and for-profit organizations.
She has been an active board member of the MIT Alumni Association, MIT Club of Hawaii, Alpha Chi Omega Theta Omicron Chapter, MIT Alumni Startup Network, and many other organizations.
Yolanda is a skilled and proven fundraiser with deep community connections. In 2018, she was honored by MIT for leading her class to an unprecedented 15th reunion giving record of nearly $1M, more than doubling the previous record.
In 2022, she led her Punahou Class of 1998 to set two records: Alumni Class Participation on Giving Day, all-time reunion participation record of an astonishing 66% at her 25th reunion.
In 2019-2023, she led Na Wahine Pā’ani o Punahou to create the Pā’ani Pledge — raising $100K from its members towards the Kosasa Community.
College Admissions
Yolanda started her career in the MIT Admissions Office, where she focused on recruiting academic stars, under-represented minorities, and women. Her work on an online resource for prospective women received a CASE (Council for Advancement and Support of Education) award. As an Alumni Educational Counselor, Yolanda continues to interview prospective students for MIT’s Admissions Office.
Technology Licensing
After starting her career at MIT’s Admissions Office, Yolanda went on to work in technology licensing at MIT’s world-renowned Technology Licensing Office (TLO). Known for its prolific output, outsized success stories, global reach, innovative approaches, and educational initiatives, MIT’s TLO is where Yolanda developed a passion for entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial education.
Additional Interests
Educated at Punahou School and MIT, Yolanda is a lifelong learner interested in remote work, project-based work, the future of work, the future of education, and opportunities to connect or re-connect.
In addition, Yolanda has also taken graduate-level coursework in artificial intelligence, innovation, data science, leadership, ethics, negotiation, conflict resolution, and peacebuilding.
Yolanda has additional experience in collegiate and preparatory alumni relations, volunteer management, and advancement.
