I am very passionate about seeing the number of women in AI and advanced technologies increase significantly at all levels. Men today are responsible for product design and development while women are being excluded from not only high paying employment but companies are missing out on the creativity and talent of women. It has been shown that with the right support structure, women do choose to pursue CSAT. It is important to provide as many opportunities for women as possible to build the necessary skills, create networks and encourage each other to succeed. However, the main idea for SheLovesAI is for girls and women to build mentorships where women who are already participating in the field of AI mentor girls and young women who are in the process of pursuing AI. To my knowledge, this is the only platform that would provide mentor opportunities.

“Every great achiever is inspired by a great mentor” ~ Lailah Gifty Akita

I really do feel that this venture has the potential to take root and possibly grow. Most organizations of this nature focus on building skills, organizing summits and other various events, as well as connecting women to each other – all of these are extremely important. However, none of the organizations that I was able to find, for-profit or not-for-profit, provide mentor opportunities. Mentorship is one of the key aspects of helping women succeed in CSAT and unfortunately largely missing from the life of women or girls in CSAT. SheLovesAI is unique in that it will provide a platform for mentorship.

This class has definitely inspired me to think about my venture from a deeper angle. Hess (2016), states that “it’s all about the people” (p. 15) and that being people-centric is “a rule of thumb in the venture world” (p. 15). This statements stood out to me and helped me think about my venture from the ‘people perspective’ and their needs. Hess (206) also states that “…entrepreneurs are people who look at problems and see opportunity” (p. 31). Although I do not consider myself an entrepreneur, I am extremely passionate about the problem of the under-representation of women in CSAT. I believe that all women will benefit when they support and encourage each other. As I was researching organizations whose mission it is to increase the number of women in AI, I realized that there was a gap in addressing the need for mentorship and that is what I wanted the focus of SheLovesAI to be.

It is my hope that mentoring girls and women will result in an increased enrollment in CSAT courses and more women graduating with a degree in the field. Needless to say this would be a positive contribution to our education system but more importantly girls and women will be more prepared for the future will be AI.