Ayano “Aya” Ichida (JD 1997) has spent much of her career helping bring complex deals to life.
Today, she serves as chief legal/general counsel and corporate secretary of Aderans America Holdings, Inc., the U.S. parent company of Bosley, HairClub and Aderans Hair Goods, part of Aderans’ global hair-solutions business spanning wigs, hair restoration and related products. She also teaches entertainment dealmaking at USC Gould, mentors law students, LL.M. students and attorneys at various stages of their careers, and this year joined the USC Alumni Association Board of Governors as Gould’s representative.
It is a career that spans Hollywood, corporate America, the classroom, and, before any of that, the stage.
An Unscripted Beginning
Growing up in New York City surrounded by art, Ichida always expected to become a lawyer. At Barnard College, she studied art history, a passion that remains with her today.
After graduation, however, she decided to try something entirely different.
“I knew I was going to be a lawyer for the rest of my life,” she says. “So in my 20s, I wanted to try something different.”
For the next two years, Ichida pursued acting, appearing in Off-Broadway productions and later training with East West Players in Los Angeles.
That detour ultimately helped point her toward the kind of law she wanted to practice.
While working in the New York office of Toho Company, the Japanese studio behind Godzilla and the films of Akira Kurosawa, Ichida was exposed to film contracts and Broadway theater deals as Toho brought major American musicals to audiences in Japan. The experience sparked her fascination with the business behind creative work.
USC Gould ultimately brought her to Los Angeles.
During law school, USC Gould alumnus Chris Ottinger (JD 1993), now Head of Worldwide Distribution at Amazon MGM Studios, helped Ichida secure a summer internship at MGM Studios. Two weeks after taking the bar exam, she returned to MGM, beginning a career at the studio that would span more than a decade.
At MGM, Ichida negotiated talent, distribution, co-production and co-financing deals for the studio’s worldwide television business. She later served as executive vice president of compliance at Miramax.
The experience gave her an education that extended well beyond entertainment.
“If you can negotiate an entertainment contract, those skills translate almost anywhere,” Ichida says. “You learn to understand what matters to the business, identify the risk and find a way to get the deal done.”
From Hollywood to the C-Suite
In 2024, Ichida made another turn, joining Aderans America Holdings, Inc. as chief legal/general counsel and corporate secretary.
Hair restoration was a new industry for Ichida, but the legal and business issues were familiar territory.
As chief legal/general counsel, she advises a multi-brand organization on matters ranging from corporate governance and transactions to intellectual property, employment and regulatory issues.
One of Ichida’s most significant projects has been helping guide the integration of Bosley and HairClub, two of the best-known names in hair restoration, into a more unified business.
The undertaking has called on the full range of her in-house experience, from corporate governance and organizational structure to regulatory, employment and commercial issues.
“What I enjoy most is being part of the business strategy, not simply advising on legal issues after decisions have been made,” Ichida says. “As general counsel, I get to help think through how the pieces fit together and how we move the business forward.”
The work reflects Aderans’ broader vision of becoming a “Total Hair Solution Company,” bringing together complementary solutions for people experiencing hair loss.
Her work has drawn industry attention. Ichida was named a Los Angeles Times Business of Law finalist in 2024 and the Los Angeles Business Journal’s 2025 Corporate Counsel of the Year for a large private company.
Bringing the Deal Room to the Classroom
Years after graduating, Ichida returned to Gould, this time to teach.
In 2023, she became an adjunct professor teaching Dealmaking in the Entertainment Industry, a course built around the practical realities of negotiating entertainment transactions.
“It’s all practical, not from a textbook,” she says.
Her decades of in-house experience shape the course, which focuses on what actually happens when lawyers, executives and creative talent are trying to make a deal. Top industry practitioners regularly join the class, giving students a firsthand look at different sides of the negotiating table.
In March 2026, Ichida also moderated a USC School of Cinematic Arts Industry Week discussion examining copyright in the age of artificial intelligence.
Teaching is only one part of her commitment to students.
Ichida informally mentors a growing group of law students, LL.M. students and attorneys at various stages of their careers, helping them navigate interviews, career changes and professional transitions.
“USC has opened so many doors for me,” she says. “Mentoring others just feels like the right thing to do.”
Her favorite part is seeing the relationship come full circle: watching former mentees begin mentoring others themselves.
Following the Trojan Drum
Ichida’s newest USC role expands that commitment beyond the law school.
Her term as USC Gould’s representative on the USC Alumni Association Board of Governors began in July 2026. She previously served on the Gould Alumni Association Board and as co-president of its Los Angeles committee.
The new role allows her to serve as a bridge between the law school and the broader Trojan Family.
“Some of my closest friendships have come from USC,” she says. “It’s a community that has stayed with me throughout my career.”
Although her professional acting days are behind her, the arts remain part of her life. Ichida supports and is a board member of Grateful Crane Ensemble, a nonprofit arts organization that performs Japanese and Japanese American stories, music and theater for communities throughout Southern California.
The connection among those worlds, art and business, theater and law, career and community, may be the clearest thread in a professional life that has resisted easy categorization.
Her path also offers a lesson to students beginning their careers: build strong skills, stay curious and remain open to opportunities that may not look like part of the original plan, because it’s usually the unexpected turn that shapes the career.
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