Mentor Corner: Meet Karen Ka Yee Chu
Mentor Corner is a monthly feature highlighting the incredible contributions made by our mentor network to our venture community.
At entrepreneurship@UBC, we are privileged to work with a pool of 250+ mentors across the Vancouver and BC innovation ecosystem who invest their time, expertise and insights into growing the early-stage ventures of tomorrow. From entrepreneurial leadership development to scaling venture creation, our mentor network is fundamental to what we do here and we are excited to introduce you to them in our monthly feature, Mentor Corner!
Meet Karen Ka Yee Chu.
Karen Chu is a 'girl from East Van' who made it around the world and back again, building an extraordinary portfolio. She's worked in academia, industry and that space in between as a research scientist, scientific editor and project manager in non-profit translational research. At Innovation UBC as the Innovation Partnerships Manager (Life and Health Sciences), she fosters a culture of innovation-driven partnership and partnership-driven innovation. By working closely with UBC researchers and research clusters, she creates collaborative opportunities with external partners. Karen has her BSc in Microbiology and Immunology and PhD in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, both from UBC.
As part of our Mentor Network, Karen's worked with venture teams since spring 2021, lending her expertise to the Lab2Launch cohort working with teams including Genera, Biba Cancer Research Foundation and Beacontip.
Learn more about how Karen works with ventures as a mentor, what advice she’d give to our community and the most important lessons she’s learned along the way.
How did you get into mentorship? What brought you here? What keeps you coming back?
I started at UBC in January 2021 and was told that one of the fastest and most enriching ways to familiarize myself with the translational community at UBC was via mentorship at e@UBC - and am so glad I joined! Mentorship with e@UBC has been a rewarding experience.
What is the most important lesson you’ve learned in your mentorship career?
I have operated largely as a cheerleader in my mentorship & coaching roles thus far; I find that active listening to the teams and nudging them to their own answers at crucial definition and/or decision points via constructive query (and brute enthusiasm) is as important as laying out the Do’s and Don’ts, establishing lines of due diligence they have to perform.
Working with early-stage startups, you have the opportunity to make a huge impact on the founders you are working with. What impacts have founders made on you?
I am constantly astounded, humbled and inspired by the ingenuity and courage of the founder teams. Beyond the sheer brilliance of an idea, it takes commitment, grit and guts to be vulnerable (in the safe space that e@UBC is!) week after week as you work on your venture idea until it fits real-world unmet needs and lands on investment and next-stage development. Such a special community.
"Beyond the sheer brilliance of an idea, it takes commitment, grit and guts to be vulnerable (in the safe space that e@UBC is!) week after week as you work on your venture idea until it fits real-world unmet needs and lands on investment and next-stage development."
- Karen Chu
If you could impart one piece of sage advice for our community, what would it be?
Innovation is a remarkably iterative, elliptical process that relies on the largest community you can build. Don’t give up and keep reaching out. There, I cheated with two pieces.
"Innovation is a remarkably iterative, elliptical process that relies on the largest community you can build. Don’t give up and keep reaching out. "
- Karen Chu
What book are you reading? What playlist are you listening to? What is the app you can’t quit?
Reading: Sapiens, a brief history of humankind (YN Harari); playlist: my own R&B hip-hop mix named Drippin and dancin at home.
What’s the best kept secret at entrepreneurship@UBC?
Aside from having amazing work- and maker spaces for venture teams on Point Grey campus and Robson Square (The microwave! The comfy sofas! The little rooms where you can have all the meetings you need!), the e@UBC team has contributed to the success of UBC excellence WELL BEYOND entrepreneurial culture-building. This group is deeply invested in the success of all innovation coming out of the university and it is an absolute joy to witness their impact.
Thank you Karen for your expert insights and continued impact on our community!
Are you interested in joining our mentor network? Learn more here.