Women Shaping AI - From Conversation to Creation
What happens when more women stop watching AI and start building with it?
Everyone keeps telling us to get ahead of AI. Far fewer people explain what that looks like on a regular workday, with real work in front of you.
Women accounted for 26% of U.S. AI hires in 2025 and hold 13% of C-suite AI leadership roles, according to LinkedIn research. Women Shaping AI is a series built to move those numbers, and Utah is the first stop.
We'll open with an honest conversation with women shaping AI from very different seats. Then you open your laptop and build something.
No coding or AI background needed. Bring an idea, a problem, or just your curiosity.
This event is co-hosted by AI, Her Way and The AI Collective’s Salt Lake City Chapter, in partnership with Women at Adobe.
Meet the Women Shaping the Conversation
Sunny Washington: Sunny is the cofounder and CEO of OrcaPanda. OrcaPanda is your always-on strategic marketing partner that understands your brand, maintains context, so that each recommendation builds on the last. She's spent two decades being a part of the Utah startup ecosystem from building the first sales and marketing team at Instructure (IPO 2015) to co-founding Because Learning (acquired in 2021).
Bree Jones: Chief Experience Officer, ElizaChat Bree leads experience at ElizaChat, an AI mental health support tool for students and the first company to enter into a regulatory mitigation agreement with Utah's Office of Artificial Intelligence Policy. She'll bring a human-centered perspective to what responsible innovation looks like, what it means for women to opt into shaping AI, and how advocacy and policy can influence what gets built.
Florencia Silveira: is a Manager of AI/ML Engineering in AI Operations at BambooHR, where her team focuses on building AI solutions across the organization. Trained in the social sciences before moving into data science, she'll bring a researcher's perspective to what social science methods bring to AI work, what changes when engineers sit with the people they're building for, and how to tell which AI investments are worth making.
Moderated by Nirnaya, founder of AI, Her Way.
We'll explore:
How is AI changing entrepreneurship, small businesses, marketing, leadership and the way we work?
What can we build now that wasn't possible before?
What happens when you have an idea and deep expertise in a problem but aren't a developer?
Where are the opportunities nobody is paying attention to yet?
And why does it matter who gets to shape what comes next?
This is about getting more women into the conversations and into the rooms.
Then, you build
We'll warm up by busting the myths that keep people on the sidelines. Do I need to code? Do I need a technical background? What would I event build?
Then we'll turn an idea into something you can actually click on. Maybe it's a tool that saves you an hour a week, something you've thought about building, an idea for your business or a resource your community needs.
You don't need to arrive with the perfect idea.
Bring your laptop. Bring your curiosity. We'll build together.
This room is for you if
You're a founder, entrepreneur or solopreneur wondering what AI could unlock for your business.
You work in marketing, operations, people, creative, or any field that doesn't think of itself as "tech"
You lead a team and want AI adoption that actually sticks
You've been told to "get better at AI" and aren't sure what that means beyond ChatGPT
You have an idea you've never been able to build yourself
You're already experimenting with AI and want to find other women learning and building alongside you.
You'll leave with
Perspective: a better understanding of how AI is changing work, business, and the world around you.
Experience: The firsthand experience of using AI to create
Possibility: New ideas for how AI could show up in your work, business or something you've wanted to build.
Connection: At least one new relationship with a woman you can learn from, collaborate with, or keep building alongside.
Agency: A stronger sense of where you can participate in what comes next.
The evening
4:00 PM · Doors open, meet the room
4:20 PM · Welcome
4:30 PM · In conversation: Women Shaping AI
5:00 PM · Audience Q&A
5:10 PM · From Idea to Creation: A Hands-on AI Experience
6:00 PM · Connect+ Keep the conversation going
6:30 PM · Wrap
About AI, Her Way
AI, Her Way started with a simple belief: women should be architects of AI, not afterthoughts to it. What began as small gatherings in the Bay Area is now a community and newsletter for women across industries, talking honestly about how AI is changing work, creativity, leadership and family life. AI is the entry point. People are the point.
Women Shaping AI extends that community by bringing forward women already shaping AI through entrepreneurship, research, technology, industry, and community and creating more opportunities for other women to join them.
Subscribe to https://substack.com/@aiherway to hear about future gatherings and conversations first.
AI, Her Way is an independent community founded by Nirnaya and is not affiliated with or sponsored by LinkedIn.
About The AI Collective
The AI Collective is a global non-profit building the human layer for the AI era. We unite 200,000+ leaders, builders, and stakeholders across 100+ forums worldwide to democratize the frontier, build trust, and coordinate how society navigates the rapid acceleration of technological progress.
All attendees and organizers at events affiliated with The AI Collective agree to our privacy policy and are subject to our code of conduct.
We’re grateful to Adobe for generously opening their doors and providing the event space for Women Shaping AI - Utah.
Before you come
Bring a charged laptop if you'd like to participate in the hands-on experience.
This event is free, for women, and limited to 50 attendees. Registrations are approved to keep the room at capacity. If we fill up, join the waitlist and we'll release spots as they open.
Please register with your full legal name, as it may be required for entry into the Adobe offices.
Photography and video recording will take place throughout the event. By attending, you acknowledge that you may appear in event-related content.
Light refreshments will be provided.