🎊 AI Spotlight: Brittany Bafandeh 🎊

Join us in celebrating Brittany Bafandeh, she's in the AI Spotlight.

Let's learn more about AI from Brittany:

1. Share your AI origin story

   
   

   I’ve worked in tech for a long time as a data scientist, but I never quite considered myself ""technical"" in the way software engineers or machine learning engineers are. I knew SQL, Python, and statistics, but I had never deployed something end-to-end. Anytime I described my skills, I’d add a caveat: I’m technical, but I’ve never put something into production.

   
   

   That changed one weekend.

   
   

   I used AI to build and deploy a simple app, one that emails me the time every three hours. It wasn’t useful, but it broke a mental barrier I had about what I could build. I probably could have done it with a YouTube tutorial, but with AI, I got it done in an afternoon.

   
   

   That experience reframed how I saw AI, not just as a tool, but as something that makes technical execution more accessible. I t’s not just for those with deep engineering expertise; it’s for anyone willing to experiment. The app still runs today, and while the emails serve no real purpose, they remind me how much AI expands what's possible.
   

2. What AI tools have been most game changing for you?  

   
   

   - Cursor

   - Granola

   - n8n

   
   

3. If you were just starting your AI journey today where would you start?

   
   

   I’d start by building something, anything, using AI. The best way to learn is by doing, and AI tools make it easier than ever to go from idea to execution. I’d pick a small, useful (or even useless) project, use AI to help me build it, and iterate from there. The key is to start small, ship something, and build up your confidence.
   

4. Share the spotlight: Name 3+ women leading in AI we should all follow.

   
   

   Cassie Kozyrkov, Sol Rashidi, Daniela Braga

   
   

5. As a woman in AI, what do you want our allies to know?

   
   

   Women often have to work harder to build confidence in rooms where they don’t see others like themselves. This can mean not speaking up in meetings, hesitating to present an idea, or defaulting to a supporting role instead of leading.

   
   

   A good ally recognizes this and creates safe opportunities for women to step out of their comfort zones - so they can build confidence and, in time, become the confident leaders that others look up to.

   
   

Special Series: Women's History Month

1. How do you envision AI shaping the future of women's rights and opportunities?

   
   

   AI can help bridge the education gap for people who don’t have access to traditional schooling. In places where women are pressured to stay home instead of going to school, AI tools make it easier to learn independently, whether it’s through tutoring, language apps, or Q&A with an LLM.

   
   

2. How do you envision AI shaping the future of women's rights and opportunities?
   

   People are inherently biased, but AI doesn’t have to be. If we’re smart about how we train AI models, we can use them to level the playing field. Fairly trained models can help in areas like hiring, promotions, and pay equity by focusing on skills and performance rather than unconscious biases.

   
   

3. What strategies have you employed to overcome gender-related obstacles in your AI career? Building confidence through action. Instead of waiting until I feel 100% ready, I am trying to push myself to take opportunities as they come, whether it's a speaking invitation, a leadership role, or learning a new technical skill.

   
   

4. What advice would you give to young women aspiring to enter the field of AI? 

   
   

   At this early stage, no one really has all the right answers - everyone is still figuring out how to best use AI to solve problems. That makes it the perfect time to be curious, experiment, and get involved, because in many ways, no one is an expert yet.
   

5. How do you think AI can be leveraged to celebrate and preserve women's history? I’ll be honest, I was never a big fan of history. But have you tried uploading a historical document into NotebookLM? Choose a biography, upload it to NotebookLM and see what it comes up with. AI can make history so much more engaging, imagine interactive storytelling, dynamic Q&A, and audio experiences that bring these stories to life. That’s how I wish I had learned women’s history.