Ara Yoo is Professor of the Practice in Tech for Good at UPF Barcelona School of Management, combining teaching, research and consultancy on how technology and AI can serve purpose and impact. She is a member of BSM’s AI Business Transformation Institute and Special Advisor to the Director General and Provost.
Most recently, as Global Head of Product Impact at TikTok, Ara led a $70M annual portfolio built on three ideas: elevating community voices including 1,200 WHO-backed healthcare creators; educating users on critical global issues such as AI Literacy; and empowering under-represented entrepreneurs through TikTok Shop.
Her work draws on 20 years across tech, business and the UN, supporting women’s rights movements, protecting refugees fleeing violence and advancing legal and policy reform for children. Of Korean heritage and raised in the Canary Islands, she speaks five languages.