A long history in the Amsterdam startup scene? Check. Currently working at a high level at one of the most exciting AI startups? Check. A woman? Check. Oliviana Bailey checks all the boxes as the new ambassador for WomenInAI. What’s more important though, is her drive to make the world of AI more female-friendly and inclusive. “There are not many women in tech. In AI, it’s even fewer.”
Do-tank for diversity
Women in AI (WAI) brands itself as a ‘global do-tank working towards gender-inclusive AI that benefits global society’. It’s founded in 2016 as an online gathering with the aim to increase female participation in the world of artificial intelligence. Over the years it grew to a large, global community with its own research, education and events.
Especially for the field of AI, creating diversity is important. “Even with the hardest efforts, we will still be biased human beings”, WAI claims. “It is thus important that teams building the future of our world with AI applications embrace internal diversity as much as they can, in order to create an inclusive AI and represent the right image of a multicultural society.”
Building a career with startups and AI
Since 2018, the worldwide WAI community has had a Dutch chapter, operating from Amsterdam. It’s the city that drew USA-born Bailey in. First for her studies, then for the entrepreneurial spirit. “I came to the Netherlands to study international relations. After that, I joined an internship at The Hague Institute for Innovation of Law, where I was building up connections across North and South Africa. I simply loved the idea of international business and relations.”
It led her to Amsterdam-based accelerator Rockstart, which was branching out over the world for their Digital Health Program. As a community manager and later Head of Community, Bailey got to know the Amsterdam startup ecosystem before she moved on to ING. She worked in Cumulus Park, the open innovation district in the southeastern part of Amsterdam. “There, I got to work with all the stakeholders. The local communities as well as corporates, and see how they approach innovation.”
Sustainable cloud for AI
Bailey’s current role is Community and Ecosystem Lead at Eschercloud. The Amsterdam-based AI startup has the ambitious goal to build a sustainable cloud service for AI and High Performance Computing (HPC) applications. EscherCloud is the key tenant and technology partner for the recently acquired data center at the Port of Amsterdam, whiletTheir lab partnered with Nvidia. “We’re currently building a proof of concept, which is scheduled to be ready later this fall, and we’re also building the lab community to support it”, Bailey says. “The idea is to showcase different kinds of AI technology and how to use it across different sectors.” Eschercloud’s lab currently occupies one floor in the Startwell innovation hub in Amsterdam. “But we want to scale it up and scale up to a tower.”
New ambassador
Working at the forefront of AI development makes Bailey a logical choice as an ambassador for WAI. She takes over the baton from Eve Logunova. As Women in AI ambassador for the past years, Logunova made her mark, for instance, by setting up the WaiAccelerator which is now a worldwide programme. Logunova is moving to the US to pursue the growth of her startup Evenness but stays involved as Chief Commercial Officer for the global organisation of WAI. Bailey will take her place at the Dutch chapter.
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Big shoes to fill, but Bailey comes in with fresh ideas. For WomenInAI she’s going to focus more on local initiatives, something she picked up during her time at Cumulus Park. “While working for ING, I realised we can do a lot more with a local focus.”
Local focus for global community
“Often, these locally organised communities don’t have access to the many education programmes available. Sometimes as a network, we tend to think a bit too global. I’d love to see these local community managers connect with universities to get more different people into STEM.”
For Bailey, this is a way to get a more diverse group of people interested in technology from an early age on. “There is a lack of women in leadership roles, but there’s also a lack of women in tech in general. So entering this field can be intimidating. Many companies are mostly geared towards men. If the majority of the staff is male, benefits also tend to be more beneficial for men.”
Bailey mentions maternity leave, of which many tech employers offer merely the basic options, often assuming women stay home with the kids. “But also facilities like nursing rooms or offering more flexible work schedules that many women prefer. Working four days is rarely an option.”
Representation for women
It’s a systemic, societal problem that is visible in the tech industry. In the particular niche of AI, there are especially few women. Bailey compares the talent pipeline in tech to a funnel that gets more narrow in specialised areas like AI. And that is troubling. An existing lack of diversity in the field that is shaping our future means the hurdle to enter the field is large as well. “Generally it takes most people up to 7 years to find a good mentor to help them further their career. For women, however, it is even harder to find other female mentors in leadership roles.”
“Everyone wants a mentor they are comfortable with”, according to Bailey. “Someone that reflects who they want to be in a few years. That is what Women in AI wants to foster. To help people grow and build that network around them.”
