Thara Pillai
Director - Alumni Programs and Engagement | Harvard Innovation Labs
Boston, MA, UNITED STATES
Thara Pillai is a marketing and business development professional who mentors and advises companies and entrepreneurs.
Biography
Thara Pillai is a marketing and business development professional with nearly two decades of experience in North America & EMEA. She has mentored and advised companies in Boston and beyond. Currently, she is the Director of Alumni Entrepreneurship at the Harvard Innovation Labs. In that capacity, she oversees the design and execution of Launch Lab X GEO, a 9-month alumni accelerator. She also hosts a networking and mentoring group for female entrepreneurs, RebelWomen.
Thara's past experience as a journalist at CBC, CTV, and other media organizations has given her solid research skills that allow her to understand a business from end-to-end. "When I evaluate a problem for a company, I'm able to take into consideration the entire corporate entity and vision, rather than looking at a problem in isolation."
Industry Expertise (2)
Social Media
Advertising/Marketing
Areas of Expertise (5)
Brand Management
Start-Ups
Entrepreneurship
Strategy
Social Media
Education (3)
University of St. Gallen: M.B.A., Media & Telecommunications 2003
Carlton University: M.A., Broadcast Journalism 1993
Ryerson University: B.A., Broadcast Media 1990
Multimedia
Publications:
Documents:
Videos:
Audio/Podcasts:
Links (1)
Selected Media Appearances (3)
Outstanding Women of 2020 Announced, Will be Honored at the 18th Annual Woman of the Year Awards Gala on Sept. 11
Indian New England online
2020-05-22
This year’s Outstanding Women’s list represents a diverse group of women in the areas of science, business, education, healthcare, art and culture, and community and social services - Thara Pillai...
New Student-Led Nonprofit Aims to Counter COVID Misinformation
EdSurge online
2020-07-31
One of the established folks mentoring the group is Thara Pillai, director of alumni programs and engagement at Harvard Innovation Labs. “What's fascinating about this team is that it is made up of students from major universities from across the country,” she said in an email interview...
They Are Rebel Women
Patch online
2012-10-17
"The fundamental idea behind it was this was a need expressed by each one of us," said Pauline Benninga, who co-founded RebelWomen with Lisa Spitz and Thara Pillai. "We want women to feel like, 'I can do this, I can try,' rather than saying 'I'm not sure. I'm risk averse and have al of these other responsibilities so I'm not even going to give it a shot..."
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