Ekaterina Lapshina

I was born and live in Moscow, Russia with my family. Since I was a child, I dreamt about becoming an architect, but later on I got degree in International Economics and Finance and successfully started my career with one of the Big Four companies. Because of this organic blend of creative and rational parts of myself – and despite extensive experience in managing industrial and basic businesses – I am keen on building out in media, technologies, design, and arts-related projects.

For five years I have been living in Ukraine, also being a witness and to some extent a participant in the country's transformation in 2014-2015. Being exposed to an in-depth understanding of political technologies, I started my journey into a deeper sociological interpretation of consumer choices, behaviors, and other consumer/people-related insights.

I radically left a corporate executive career to give birth to my daughter and my own business (which was founded after a management buyout from a private equity fund I used to run) at the same time. My daughter is almost two years old now and one of my new areas of interest are things related to childcare, education, entertainment, and early development.

As a venture capital investor, I look into healthcare and smart city technologies and see vast potential in both areas. I also work as the Learning Officer at YPO Russia and launched the YPO Impact program to help raise young entrepreneurs. My small StPete based charity foundation helps children with various diseases in support therapy and I am heavily involved in opening a new modern art museum in Moscow being a satellite to the world-renowned Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts.