AMA (Ask Me Anything): Aakansha Yadav
Meet Aakansha Yadav, who is now Business Development & Research Associate. Aakansha priorly participated in Thrilld Labs’ Traineeship Program in 2025, starting with a basic surface-level knowledge of Web3. Coming from a military background and having lived in many places, Aakansha is currently doing her undergraduate program in Business and International Studies at Ewha’s School of Business and Scranton College in Seoul, South Korea. She said: "what surprised and genuinely impressed me, was how welcoming and open the community has been. Everyone is so open to helping you out if you reach out to them". Read more about Aakansha and what she works on.
At Thrilld Labs, our team is made up of people coming from countries including the Netherlands and Italy and Scotland to South Korea, Kazakhstan, India, the United States and Nigeria, too! In our latest series, we’re thrilld to do AMAs with some of our team members. How come they are in Web3? What do they care about? And how will (or won’t!) they help build the future of our industry?
In this AMA, we meet Aakansha Yadav, who is now a Business Development and Research Associate. Aakansha has priorly participated in Thrilld Labs’ Traineeship Program in 2025, starting with a basic surface-level knowledge of Web3. Aakansha is currently doing her undergraduate program in Business and International Studies at Ewha’s School of Business and Scranton College in Seoul, South Korea.
Aakansha’s experience ranges across diverse organisations, including working at NITI Aayog, which is an apex policy think-tank for the Government of India, where she contributed research on security and strategic affairs And coming from a military background, Aakansha used to move every two years, and changed her school about eight (!) times whilst growing up. She lived in all sorts of countries and environments, from the Himalayas to South India’s seaside to a small town bordering Bhutan.
Let's hear more from her!!
What is your role, and how does your work at Thrilld Labs align (if at all!) with your career goals?
I am currently working as a Business Development and Research Associate at Thrilld Labs. I initially joined as a Business Development Trainee in September of 2025 with absolutely basic surface-level knowledge of Web3 Space and have had the best time diving into the space, learning how things work, and becoming more and more interested (& attached if I may add).
Essentially, I find and outreach events that might be interested in a partnership with Thrilld Labs, help in research and writing the “GM from” articles and other industry-related research, be it competitors, or potential market growth, help in writing other LinkedIn/announcement-related posts, and expand our female-focused community initiative, EcstaSHE.
Working in Thrilld Labs has given me the opportunity to put into use the theory I am learning in the university side-by-side and see the tangible outcome of it. I truly love the flexibility, the growth, and all the learning I have witnessed in the past 5 months working here. I have always been a very curious individual, and to see how a start-up operates, how partnerships are created, and how a business strives to achieve success has been something very fascinating to me.
Career-wise, I don’t necessarily have a particular sector or industry I want to work in, but working in something which aligns with my values as a person, is impactful, and working towards making this world a better place are a few things I look for.
Web3 and its ideals are definitely few things that initially fascinated me so who knows, if I’ll end up in this space or end up in an adjacent place like FinTech!
What I do know is that all the learnings I have had, and will continue to have, working in Thrilld Labs and this space is something that will support me in whatever industry I’ll end up working in.
About YOU as a person, what do most others not necessarily expect about you?
Coming from a military background, I have moved every two years, changed my school about eight times, and lived in all sorts of landscapes from the Himalayas to South India’s seaside to a small town bordering Bhutan.
I think being exposed to so many languages and cultures inside India itself, having to move to another place as soon as I get comfortable in the previous station, and meeting so many individuals with different mindsets and traditions has had a major impact on myself as an individual.
I have always been a very curious and adaptable as a person and always open to new experiences, whether that includes diving into a new space like Web3 from a policy-oriented industry, or skydiving in Australia one day.
I grew up playing all sorts of sports like football, badminton, squash, golf, to name a few thanks to my competitive dad, and went up to state level for badminton in my high school. I’d say this is not something people expect from me because ever since I moved to Seoul, South Korea, for my university, I have come to truly love nature and the river-side and on the weekend, there is a 9/10 probability that I’ll be reading a book or crocheting a scarf in some park.
One of the few things I love is animals, and I can not stand people who treat them with anything but kindness. In my junior year, whenever I felt homesickness hit me, I’d volunteer at a dog shelter in Seoul, and that always helped me ground myself. :)
How do you stay productive while working in a crazy Web 3 environment?
Not to be cliché, but for me, to-do lists always help me out. Especially, handwriting the tasks in my notebook and ticking them off as I get done helps me be motivated. Working remotely and in a fast-moving environment like Web3 can be very overwhelming.
I have first-hand experience in it, but the more I work, the more I have realised how sometimes, you just have to start the thing first, and the rest will follow.
It doesn’t necessarily need to be the best in the first go, and you can always work on better-ing it later on. A not-so-healthy tip I’d give is go to cafes. Just the fact I spent money on coffee makes me get work done, a pure cost-induced productivity.
What’s one thing you’ve learned since joining the Web3 space that surprised/touched/excited/impressed you?
Before joining Thrilld Labs, I had concerns about not being able to keep up with the industry since it’s not something I knew about in great depth. In addition to that, this space can seem very intimidating to individuals who are not from a more tech-oriented background, such as myself.
What surprised and genuinely impressed me, though, was how welcoming and open the community has been. Everyone is so open to helping you out if you reach out to them.
I do think this has a lot to do with how welcoming and warm the Thrilld team has been. Especially, Alexandra Overgaag, the founder of Thrilld Labs, who continues to push me to do my best, gives feedback that helps me learn and grow, and always keeps me and my interests aligned with the work I do.
This year, I hope to get more into the tech and analytics side of Web3 space and be involved even further!
Join Thrilld Labs’ Mission
If you are interested in being part of the Thrilld Labs’ Team simply write to info@thrilldlabs.io, check out our Traineeship Program here, or apply here to become a Thrilld Ambassador.
