“Because Japan is an island, you can’t do something sketchy because they’ll bust you off the island,” she said. “It’s really a long game, so doing shortcuts really doesn’t work. And so that really results in things like quality, orientation, reputation, reliability, and these are things that I think being an immigrant, we’ve really protected those values.”
After two decades at major pharmaceutical and biotech companies, Yamada-Lifton took the helm of her father’s 48-year-old nutritional supplements company in 2023. Her journey was shaped by both parental influences—her father’s entrepreneurial vision and her mother’s emphasis on independence.
“So in Japan, they have dynasties, so you want to build a family business with your name on it,” she explained.
However, Yamada-Lifton is the eldest of four daughters, so her father had to pivot on the traditional Japanese business plans.
“In Japan, normally you get a man to take over,” she said. “In my case…I had been raised as a son to be an entrepreneur to join the family business. But as an American-born woman, I got a lot from my mother saying ‘hey you got to be independent you, you need independence.”
Beyond the boardroom, Yamada-Lifton is redefining what it means to be a middle-aged woman. At 49, she returned to competitive figure skating. She now skates alongside her teen daughter, proving that in her 50s, she’s still a world-class ice skater.
