Yana’s experience as both an immigrant and a former founder shapes her focus on backing founders in emerging markets, and it also shows up in how she treats founder trust as something built slowly over time, through both business and personal moments, rather than something that can be rushed. Her hands-on background building her own company informs a practical, operator-style approach to supporting founders, and she’s become known for helping define Alter’s idea of “inevitable” founders, speaking publicly about cross-border and emerging-market entrepreneurship, and bringing together international business, diplomacy, and product experience in a way that’s uncommon for a venture investor.