Sam Ushio | Founder & Principal

Curiosity| Creativity | Courage

Sam Ushio is the Founder of Ikigai Lab, where he leads the social enterprise’s commitment to human sustainability and societal impact. Sam fuses a powerful combination of 10,000+ hours of Ikigai experience and 20 years of global asset management experience to design purpose-driven ecosystems for individuals and organizations around the world.  

Prior to founding Ikigai Lab, Sam was Director, Practice Management at Russell Investments where he led the award-winning team that coached approximately 1,000 financial advisors per year. He has an MBA from the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington, holds a Bachelor of Science from University of Nebraska in marketing and finance with an emphasis in psychology.  Sam is a Council Leader of the US-Japan Council and serves on the advisory board of the Clifton Strengths Institute at the University of Nebraska.

Eliza Arai Carrington | Community Manager

Connection | Movement | Agency

Eliza Arai Carrington is the Community Manager at Ikigai Lab, where she leads facilitation, engagement, and implementation of Ikigai Lab solutions.   As a racial equity and community engagement consultant for organizations and public agencies, her work is guided by the belief that those closest to the issues should be centered in decision-making. 

With her background in education and mentorship, she combines curriculum development and facilitation skills to empower communities to identify goals and execute their vision.  Translating big-picture strategy into tangible action, Eliza guides teams through growth and innovation by focusing on personal relationships and effective partnerships as a driver for change.  Eliza’s background includes Senior Program Director at Summer Search, a national youth development organization and international work experience in Japan and New Zealand.  Eliza has Bachelor of Arts in Biology, Minor in Japanese Language & Literature from Whitman College. 

Ikigai Lab Advisors