April 8, 2025 • 40 mins
Navigating a Career in Artificial Intelligence | STEM Success & Mentorship
Are you looking to break into artificial intelligence (AI), or the STEM industry? In this video, Aliyah shares her career journey in AI and the lessons she learned along the way. Whether you're a beginner in tech, a computer science student, or an experienced professional looking to transition into AI, this video is for you!
💡 Topics Covered:
✔️ Aliyah's journey into artificial intelligence
✔️ The importance of mentorship in STEM
✔️ How to navigate a career in technology
✔️ Tips for learning AI
✔️ Why trying new things in tech & innovation is crucial for success
🔥 If you’re looking for AI career advice, tech mentorship, or industry insights, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and turn on notifications! Let’s grow together in the world of STEM!
ArtificialIntelligence #AICareer #STEM #TechMentorship #MachineLearning #CareerGrowth #DataScience #DeepLearning #WomenInTech #STEMSuccess #AIJobs #LearnAI
Please Watch, Comment, and Subscribe! New Episodes Every Other Friday on YouTube!
Watch us on YouTube: All Things STEM With Ashley
Follow us on Instagram: stemwithashley
Follow us on Facebook: STEM With Ashley Follow us on tiktok: stemwithashley
Follow us on LinkedIn: All Things STEM With Ashley
If you are interested in being a guest on this channel please contact: stemwithashley@outlook.com
Are you looking to break into artificial intelligence (AI), or the STEM industry? In this video, Aliyah shares her career journey in AI and the lessons she learned along the way. Whether you're a beginner in tech, a computer science student, or an experienced professional looking to transition into AI, this video is for you!
💡 Topics Covered:
✔️ Aliyah's journey into artificial intelligence
✔️ The importance of mentorship in STEM
✔️ How to navigate a career in technology
✔️ Tips for learning AI
✔️ Why trying new things in tech & innovation is crucial for success
🔥 If you’re looking for AI career advice, tech mentorship, or industry insights, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and turn on notifications! Let’s grow together in the world of STEM!
ArtificialIntelligence #AICareer #STEM #TechMentorship #MachineLearning #CareerGrowth #DataScience #DeepLearning #WomenInTech #STEMSuccess #AIJobs #LearnAI
Please Watch, Comment, and Subscribe! New Episodes Every Other Friday on YouTube!
Watch us on YouTube: All Things STEM With Ashley
Follow us on Instagram: stemwithashley
Follow us on Facebook: STEM With Ashley Follow us on tiktok: stemwithashley
Follow us on LinkedIn: All Things STEM With Ashley
If you are interested in being a guest on this channel please contact: stemwithashley@outlook.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hello everyone, and welcome to all.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Thanks sim with Ashley.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Today I have our guests Aliah Gibbs here. We're super
excited to have her. Aliyah Gibbs confidence, charisma and a
touch of glam. Aliah Gibbs is a public speaker, software engineer,
and personal development specialists dedicated to helping individuals and organizations
achieve their goals through strategic growth and leadership. As the
founder of alia Be Consulting, she delivers workshops, keynotes, and
(00:37):
coaching sessions that focus on personal development, career advancement, and
leveraging technology for success. Through her signature workshops including work
Smarter not Harder, Supercharge your Success with Generative AI, and
Your Future Starts Now from College to your dream career.
Alia quips audiences with practical and actionable streated. Her expertise
(01:01):
spans topics such as goal setting, effective communication, personal branding,
and the integration of AI technologies to enhance productivity. Elia's
work with AI is rooted in making complex technology successful
and applicable to real world challenges. As a software engineer
in the aerospace industry and a Master student Artificial Intelligence
at the University of Texas at Austin, she focuses on
(01:24):
natural language processing, deep learning, and ethical AI applications. Her
passion lies in helping individuals and organizations understand how AI
can drive efficiency, innovation, and informed decision making across industries.
Her personal mauntra confidence, charisma, and a touch of lamb
reflects the dynamic energy she brings to every session. So
(01:46):
today we welcome Alia Gibbs. Thank you so much, Thank
you for having me. We're glad to have you here today,
and learn just a little bit about your journey and
really what got you into software engineering which later got
you into AI.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
So I want to start with how you got into the.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
STEM industry and what initially started your journey in STEM.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yes, So when I was a kid, I was always
the tech savvy one.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
So anytime we got a new device that was like electrical,
whether it was Wi Fi or like a gaming system,
I was always the person who wanted to figure out
how to set it up without reading the instructions, and
so my parents would always come to me whenever the
Wi Fi wasn't hurting.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
And so I just was always tech savvy.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
And so I remember when I got my first iPhone,
I did not like how the messages were blue and green.
Being that pink is clearly my favorite color, I wanted
to use a phone that was pink on the handside,
And so I had this dream of wanting to get
into a field where I could create cell phones, cause
(02:56):
I felt like we should be able to customize how
our phones look on the inside. I did, and not
be stuck to like a standard blue and green, especially
if that's not our favorite color. Yeah, and so when
I was in high school, one day, my teacher was like,
Bill Gates is hiring software engineers who get their PhDs
for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. So when you're
(03:17):
in eleventh grade, you know, two hundred fifty thousand dollars
is a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
And I like money and I'm tech savvy.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
So I started looking up, you know, what kind of
degrees make like cell phones, and so that's how I
found computer engineering electrical engineering. And from there I decided
that when college was coming around, I was trying to
figure out, like what am I going to get my
major in, because you know, that's a huge decision to make.
At I was sixteen, Right when I had to make
(03:44):
that decision, I decided that I was going to take
a computer programming.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Class at school. Yeah, and so I.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Ended up taking that course and I actually was taught
that class by a black woman. I also got her
degree at an HBCU, so it was South Carolina State
because I'm from North Carolina, right, So that class, I
loved it, even though we didn't really code, but I
think we were using like visual basics back then. Yeah,
so it's my first time getting that kind of experience
(04:13):
with computer programming, and so I loved it. And so
that's how I ended up choosing that major.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
And the rest was history.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
And I remember when I was in college, I went
my lab, my first lab that I had, Right, we
had code and we didn't even have class yet.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Yeah, and so imagine I was.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Expected to have a working program done on day one
of classes and I never coded before.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
But for me, I was like, as long as I'm.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Not the last person to get it done, that's what
I was looking for.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
So I ended up not be the last person to get.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
The coding done, and it was in JAVA, and I
was able to get my work done and leave before
class was over.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
So the rest of been history since then. So that's
kind of how I figured out my interest in STEM.
I love that.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
So the teacher that you said taught you that software class?
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Where was that that?
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Oh? I said that my first semester of senior year,
gotcha perfect?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Well, thank you for that.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
My next question is about can you share any role
models or mentors that you had in the steinfield during
your attorney So.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
In college, I would say one of my role models
or maybe more so inspirations was my godmom. So when
I was in college, I.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Didn't have any mentors. You know, I'm a first.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Generation engineer, and my parents weren't in corporate America either,
so they didn't know kind of how to navigate those ropes.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
So I was kind of figuring out everything on my own.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
But I didn't get any internships during college. So it
was really difficult for me at times because I'm like,
why am I trying so hard in class, busting my
butt to get these grades and I can't get an internship. Yeah,
I didn't have mentors, right, so it was like my
godmom who had I would always go to during that
(06:10):
time to kind of vent.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Too, and she would always tell me.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
You know, you're gonna have multiple full time job offers
when you graduated and even though I didn't believe that initially,
cause I thought that I had to have.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Internships and or I used to get hired.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
And to me, I was like, if I can just
get an internship or a co op after graduation, cause
I didn't.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
I wasn't ready to go to grad school. I wasn't
back then. You know, gru was mandatory versus now it's not.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Yeah, so I was nowhere near equipped to study for
that exam.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
So I really had no clue what I was going
to do.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
And she just always believed that, like, you're gonna get
that big time opportunity when you're done. And so when
I went to that career Fair spring semester my senior year,
actually ended up getting two full time job offers. So
it's like all that insight that she kind of was
pouring into me and hope throughout my four years, like
she ended up being right, even though I couldn't see
the bigger picture.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Yeah, I just you know, they make you feel like.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
You have to have an internship in order to get
a job, right, And so despite not having that internship,
I was able to kind of look for other opportunities
and projects. So I was still able to showcase that
I was a leader. Yeah, without that, I love it.
And that's good to know, cause it do. It is
scary if you don't have those internships. It's like, well,
how do I have experience to go into the workforce
(07:21):
or to have those star methods stories to say well
I've done this with a team, because really we only
did a senior project as a group project for me
in undergrad that's the only group experience some people might
have to talk to you.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
So that's really good, and it's good that you.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Have mentors, and that's like what this is about, like
explaining you do need a mentor, you can find one
and how to attain one.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
But you were lucky because your godmother was one self.
Yeah that's good.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Like I didn't so she wasn't a technical mentor, but
she was still somebody that I could go to for guidance.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
That's so good, Oleah, thank you.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
So next I wanted to say what inspired your Oh well,
you already.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Spoke on this. You you talked about why you picked stuff.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
For engineering, So now we'll go into how now you
dipped into artificial intelligence as well, So what springs your
interest in artificial intelligence? Once you were audience software. I
know you talked about making iPhones and great things like that,
but what helped you say I want to even go
deeper into software and look at artificial intelligence.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Yes, so this all started because I guess once I
moved to Dallas, I became kind of bored in life.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
You know, it's like when you get a job, like
you go to work and that's it. Yeah, so it's
like if you don't.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Have any hobbies or you're not doing anything and like
making some type of you know, no community involvement, like,
it can be boring. So I literally would just go
to work and go to the gym, like I was bored.
And so I just knew that like eventually I will
be married and I'll have children. So I knew that
I was never going to get this period of boredness again.
(08:54):
So I was like, let me maximize this empty time
that I have and go get my master's especially since
you know my corporation.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Pace for it, It's like why wouldn't I.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
And then being that you can leverage your master's degree
to get promoted and it allows you to be a
subject matter expert in a field, like, it just made
sense since I realized how bored I was to go
get that degree, and so I looked into the technology
trends because that's one thing you should do, right, shouldn't.
I think, if you're going to go into a field,
(09:25):
do the research and see do the research. Yes, do
the research and go see where the trends are in
that career path, because you want to make sure there's
longevity and where you go. So you don't want to
get into something that can only last for like two years,
because that doesn't make any sense.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
So you want to see that whatever.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Industry you're going into has at least five to ten
years of expected growth. And so when I looked into
the tech trends, I saw cybersecurity, which is a big one,
data science, and I seen artificial intelligence, and then I
saw the cloud. So initially I wanted to be a
cloud engine, but when I thought about it, you know,
it's the cutting edge technology that gets me excited.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
It's the innovation.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
I used to be obsessed with Internet of things and
like the interconnectivity and making like smart houses. So to me,
I felt like with the cloud, I couldn't do that
like high tech innovation.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
That I was looking for.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
But with AI, I felt like the possibilities were endless. Yeah,
and so I felt like there's AI and everything right
your cell phone, finance, education in so many different industries,
and so that's what attracted me the most to AI.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Good.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
I love that I'm learning about her as you all
in learning. It's like such a great story of how
you got interested in STEM.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
I wanted to ask if you could please give a.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
General overview of what artificial intelligence is for those that
may not know or just want to learn more about it. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
So, from a high level, artificial intelligence is refer to
the development of computer systems that mimic human intelligence. Okay,
so it should be able to do well. It does
do problem solving, decision making, and like.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Task space things. Yeah, so that's what it is from
a high level.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
That's good, thank you. So now I want to get
into generative AI. I want to ask what are some
current real world applications of generative AI and how are
they transforming different industries right now?
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Yes, so I would see one of the most popular
generative AI tools that I think everyone's heard of at
this point is chat GPT.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Yeah, that's my favorite one personally.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
However, they also have Microsoft Copilot, which you can access
it's embedded with being through the search engine.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
And Google also.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Has Google Gemini as well, So I believe if you
are on Google and you're using their search engine, Gemini
is embedded into it. And I also know if you
have the latest iPhone with the iOS I think sixteen,
it has Chat GPT enabled, So I believe if Siri
can't answer the question, it will automatically connect to Chat.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Oh that's very cool. Yeah, so thank you for that.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
So next I wanted to ask what challenges do we
face currently in developing and deploying generative AI tools efficiently
and effectively?
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Yeah, So, I would say one of the most biggest
challenges with the development of AI is the ethics behind AI.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Since AI is a new field, a lot of things
haven't been ironed out. There's no laws cause it's like
who do you hold accountable when someone misuses AI? Right?
Speaker 3 (12:39):
So I think that's the biggest thing is who do
you hold accountable? Right?
Speaker 2 (12:43):
With people making these deep fakes of.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Celebrities, which for those who might not know what the
term deep fake is, it means like you might have
taken a video clip or maybe an image and then
you use artificial intelligence to alter that okay video, So
that is what deep fake is, and so they have
inappropriate content that's out there with celebrities that people are
using AI. So I think that's one of the biggest
(13:07):
things is the people who are misusing these tools. So
it's like who do you hold accountable? Do you hold
the person who misuse the tool accountable or do you
hold the person who created the tool accountable? So it's
like old that's what it is. And since with like
software engineering, right, we don't really have a lot of
laws in place, similar to like doctors and lawyers, those
(13:28):
type of documentation that we have to sign or any
insurance involved.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
So it's really hard to kind of.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Hold people accountable with some of the development of AI
because sometimes it can be misused.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Thank you, that's good. That's good.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
So how do we ensure that generative AI tools are
accessible and usable to people that are not tech experts?
Speaker 3 (13:52):
So I would say the first thing is to explain
to people what like.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Generative AI actually is.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Yeah, so I think a lot of people like you
might use chat, but if you don't understand how it
works behind the scenes, I think.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
It causes people to misuse the tool.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
So with those machines, especially when it comes to natural
language processing, which is what chat GBT uses, as well
as machine learning and reinforcement learning. So those tools their
job is to create the most accurate prediction based on
the next sequence in words. So therefore it does not
know if the information it's giving you is actually correct.
(14:33):
Oh okay, it doesn't know. It just knows that this
is the most accurate prediction.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Okay. So when you tell people.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
That, I feel like it allows people to know that
I need to fact check this information because once you
know the limitations of the tool, I think that allows
people to use it correctly. Then Also, what I tell
people is when you're talking to the generative AI tool ACTU,
so you're having.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
A conversation with the human being, right about it.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
When I'm talking to you the first time I tell
you something, you might not understand me, right, you might
misunderstand me, just like a tool can.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
And so look at it like a conversation. So if
you don't get.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
The output that you were looking for when you first
prompt it, prompt it again, you know, refine your prompt.
You can even go and edit the original prompt if
you would like to.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
So it's kind of like.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Guide it and give it constructive feedback and work with
it to kind of get the answer that you want.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
So I think when people realize that, and if you
think about look at it, they make it.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
They design these generator AI tools to look like you're
having a conversation. They look similar to the chat boxes
if you have talked to the chat boxes on those websites,
and it's purposely like that because they want you to
feel as though you're having a conversation.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
That's gonna it's great inside.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
OK So now we're gonna get into getting into the
field of AI. So I want to ask for someone
interested in AI, where should they begin in terms of
learning and scale development.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Yes, so one of my favorite tools that I've used.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Although I am in grad school, I've still had to
kind of self learn some of these concepts.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
So I would recommend data Camp.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
I do know some of the trainings on that platform
are free and then some do costs, but some institutions
and corporations will do partnerships with these companies to where
you can.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Get the licensing for free.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
So I would definitely check that out and see what
your corporation offers as well as universities because the universities
do you pay for online learning.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Platform for their students, So look into that.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
I'll ask your advisors. But data camp is one of
my favorite coding websites. It's all things related to data.
So even if maybe you're not interested in artificial intelligence,
but you're interested in data science, they have those type
of trainings on that platform. And one of the things
that I like the most about it is the fact
that you don't have to use like visual.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Studios or another coding ivey.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
You can do all of the on that tool online, okay,
So it really helps you. And then like you can
do a street somewhere it's like do lingo, you get points. Yeah,
and then if it is a cooperation thing, you can
kind of compete against your coworkers to see like where
you're at on the rank based on how many points
that you have. Yeah, So that's been really helpful for me.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
And I would definitely recommend as far as programming languages go,
you wanna get Python down, okay, and that's what you
need to be proficient and is Python if you plant
on programming, and then I would familiarize yourself with pie
Torch because a lot of the model building coding leverage
is PI torch, and I would look into learning about
(17:39):
some of these large language models that exist in kind
of learning how to train the models, cause that's.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Like a lot of the behind the scenes works.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
It's their models that are creating those predictions.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Well, thank you, that was a really great insight. So
you already answered what programming language is in tools. Snow
when starting AI, can you get into what are some
potential career paths that others can do when they get
into AI and how they differ from each other a
little bit?
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Yeah, so I know some of the career opportunities.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
I guess that my company offers, so I can talk
about some of those drug titles.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
So they have like an.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
AI research well research engineers, they have AI and MAL engineers.
I think some com companies hire for machine learning engineers
as well as like data scientists, although they do some
of the different names at the top, so I would
say insipiends. I've also seen companies are hiring for AI
software architects, and they're also looking for like AI systems engineers,
(18:42):
and I even seen a generative AI project.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Engineering role too.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
So that way, like even if maybe you don't want
to code, you can do like help with creating I
guess AI projects right, helping leading teams.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
So I think in the.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
Future, as AI becomes more of a prominent fee will
have more defined AI roles to where people who aren't
trying to be the software or research engineers they.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Can still have that AI job title.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
So I think as time progresses will have even more AI.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Jobs out there. I love that.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
I love that we're gonna kind of go back into
your career journey and I wanted to ask, what is
one project or accomplishment that you are particularly proud of
during your career in stem.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
So well career in stem or.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
It can be on your journey pay Yeah, it can
be high school, college career.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
So I would say, honestly, my most I guess priced
accomplishment would definitely have to be the public speaking business
that I've.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Managed to start. And I say that because four or
five years ago.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
I would never imagine myself doing these kinds of things.
You've always been very introverted behind the scenes. Yeah, people
know me for kind of just being quiet and to myself.
So seeing me kind of blossom and grow into this
public speaker has been such a phenomenal journey to witness.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
And I say that because not.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Only do I get to learn so much information, because
in order to be a Pope speaker, I have to
be knowledgeable, right, And so I'm on this journey I'm learning.
I love to learn, between podcasts, books, YouTube videos, Ted talks,
school like mentors, Like I'm just literally just taking in
as much information as i can. And so I feel
(20:30):
so honored and blessed to be able to be on
all of these different platforms and just sharing my insights
with as many people as I can because of somebody
who did not have that guidance when I was in
undergrad and.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
Trying to figure everything out on my own.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Yeah, it's so grateful to be able to give back
now that I am a little bit further ahead and
I've been able to accomplish some things, and just seeing
the thousands.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Of people that I've been able to come to.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Touch an impact, right, and being able to start to realize, like,
you know, I have influence. You know, people actually take
in what I say and take in my advice and
then they implement it.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
So it's like really beautiful to get to sit there.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
And witness and I can't tell you how I feel
when I leave my events, my community service event, my
public speaking events. The feedback that I get, it's there's
no feeling on the world that I feel like makes
me feel like that. So it's like one of those
things where you know you're doing what you're supposed.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
To be doing.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
And I was literally explaining this to my therapist City
because I was telling her with this public speaking stuff,
especially just due to some stuff like I've lost one
of my biggest platforms, which.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Is totally okay because I know how to build it
right and I'm not starting over.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
And so I was telling her, I know that this
is what I'm supposed to be doing because there's not
a lot of friction there, right, So when I get
rejected in this opportunity, within maybe twenty four hours, I'm
getting a guess for another opportunity.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
And so I feel like.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
That's how you know that you're supposed to be doing
what you're doing, because it flows, it's easy, and the
feedback is just that that reassurance that this is exactly
what I'm supposed to be doing, even when I might
feel like I did not do my best at that event.
But then when I go read feedback and I see
I got you know, five plus stars as my rating. Yeah,
(22:29):
I'm just like okay, like I was just in my head. Yeah,
I'm good at what I'm doing. So I'm starting to
realize like I'm the real deal. So it's really beautiful
to I guess, get to witness your own evolution but
also give back along the way too.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
And can you tell us a little bit about what
started you to start that platform?
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Yes, thank you.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
So it's funny because I actually got thrown into it.
I did not want to do public speaking, really no,
but I came up with this idea my job to
do a public speaking panel because I just I realized
when I was talking to some of my coworkers, I'm like,
you don't have a career plan, Like.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Why don't you have a career development plan?
Speaker 3 (23:10):
Like huh yeah, And so it's like, you know, when
you have these meetings with mentors, like you get all
these insights, But then if my parents aren't getting these insights,
how did that really benefit all of us?
Speaker 2 (23:20):
If only I'm finding this help. So I came up
with this idea to put a.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
Panel together where I could have all leaders across the
corporation speak on these panels on different career development topics
that I was struggling with, and.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
So that's how it started.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Instead, the first event that I had, I had one
of my friends who helped me put it together.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
They moderated the panel because I didn't want to do it.
I was like, I'm not doing that, you know, I
didn't not want to do it.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
Yeah, so he moderated it and he was the face
to my panel, so a lot of people thought it
was his idea into my mentor was like, yeah, don't
ever do that again. She was like, if you're gonna
have an idea, you need to be the face of
your idea. And so I knew that evant that I
had to step up and started moderating my panels. And
so with the first event that we had, we had
(24:10):
four hundred and forty seven people.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
That's so good. And then the second one.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
We had it was like three hundred and forty yea,
And this was just the first two events, and so
after that, like I just got forced into it. And
then me being I'm a perfectionist, so I was like,
I started getting feedback and there was things that I
didn't like that I was doing, and so I started
working on those and getting better at it. Then I
(24:35):
went to a Netsbee conference. I was outside of VEC.
That was my first time going to a professional development conference.
When I went to the Netsbee PDC conference, I was here.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
In Dallas, so that's why I went.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
And then that's where I seen workshops done upfront and
in person, yeah, for the first time.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
And so I was sitting in the room and I
just was like, I want to lead a workshop. I
love that.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
And so that wasn't August twenty three, okay, And so
since then, I've probably I've done a probably twenty workshops.
I spoke at multiple conferences, I've gotten paid to speak
and it just all started from there. And so I'm
really proud of myself.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
So you got out of your comfort zone and got
better with public speaking by.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
Doing it, lady. So I did it. I didn't know
what I'm doing the workshop. Yes, I do practice.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
I read books on public speaking, I listen to podcast
on public speaking. I had that free platform. So that
did allow me to try a workshop. And if I
didn't like it, or maybe there was something I could
have done better, you know, I would use it to
tweak it. So by the time I did it maybe
at a conference, I had already done that workshop for
smaller audiences a few times.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
So I take the craft of public seeking very seriously,
and you know, actually just join toast Masters.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
So if you guys are interested in growing your public
speaking skills, you can join Toastmasters, which is the international organization.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
They have them all over and you can join.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
That club and they'll teach you public speaking and they
will also help you build your leadership skills. So I
highly recommend it, and it looks really good on your resume.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Yay.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
So how did you get the courage after you started
doing it within your corporation to want to apply to
be like, I'm going to speak at this conference? Do
you just apply when they ask for speakers? Do you
reach out to the people that make the conference?
Speaker 2 (26:23):
What is that next step for somebody?
Speaker 3 (26:25):
So from the first conference that I submitted my workshops
to was actually the NETSB fifty convention, okay, and initially
with my mentors. So when I went to then SVPDC
and I got that idea that I wanted to lead workshops,
I actually ended up leaving there with the mentor because
I was so impressed with her workshop. I went up afterwards.
She had her doctorates in engineering, and so I told her.
(26:48):
I was like, I'm trying to be exactly where you are,
and so that's how we formed that mentorship relationship. So
she actually told me that it was like the time
to submit those applications for the Nisbee convention. So conferences
usually will post on their social media when they're soliciting speaker.
So I would say, if that's something you're interested in,
(27:10):
to stay up to date with their social media, and
usually it is around the same time every year that
they drop them. So once you kind of are in
the loop about it the first time, you'll be fine
for years to come. So she told me to go
ahead and submit my abstracts for the Nansbee convention.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Yeah, And I said, no, you know, I just started.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
I just came up and said, yeah, Like, why would
I go ahead and submit.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
To a conference. I'm like, I need a year to practice, Like, no,
I'm not ready.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
Yeah, And so I shut it down. And so she
respected that decision. She wasn't going to force me to
do anything. And so even though I knew I wasn't
going to submit those workshops, I was so passionate about
this idea that I had me a notebook and I
was journaling different topics that I could turn into workshops.
So I remember how like seven and my friend was like, well,
(28:00):
if you had seven, then go ahead and get to ten.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
So then I was at ten.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
Next thing, you know, I had a list of fourteen
different topics, and so when I was on Instagram, I
happened to see that Nesby was posting the pricing for
the conference. So then I clicked on the Instagram and
I happened to see that the speaking deadline submissions for
speakers actually was extended, and so because they extended it,
(28:24):
I was still within that sign frame to apply. So
something was like, you.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Know, I don't play about coincidences. So I was like,
there's no way that.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
They happened to just extend this deadline and I happen
to catch it just in time. Yeah, So I ended
up being that I had a list of fourteen topics.
I talked a couple of my coworkers got insights on, Hey,
which topics do you think are the most interesting out
of this list, and so we picked the top three.
I went ahead and wrote up those abstracts and I
submitted it and they selected me, and so I would
(28:56):
say within I came up with that idea in August
at March.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
By the time March I had already spoken at two conferences.
That is a beautiful story.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Thank you. So for those that are watching, this is
the blueprint. This is the blueprint. And I will be
putting her business in our show notes and whatever contact
information she allows, I'll be putting it under the show notes.
So if you have any questions, and if you don't mind,
I'll get the list of books or podcasts that helped
you with public speaking, and so we'll have those links
down there. But thank you for sharing your story, because
(29:26):
I'm sure it's other people that want to start, and
not everybody has that mentor not everybody has that access
to go to conferences.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
So I'm glad you got to do that here. Yeah,
And like it's a lot of stuff on YouTube in TikTok,
So it's like one thing I'm learning is you.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Have to just start where you're at and figure out
the details along the way. Yeah, you will miss out
on so much waiting until the perfect time to start,
and in reality, you'll find that a lot of times
you have what you need in that moment, and it's
just like as you continue, you know, you grow and
then maybe you have more money to back things up with.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
But you just you have to.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Start where you're at, and it's a crap, it's a journey,
and there's never gonna be the perfect moment to start
other than right now.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Y'all heard though in the dayat great tips. We haven't
even got to hear three STEM tips. This is just
gyms along the way, So just try just start where
you are. I mean, I'm learning with y'all arrow through this.
So yeah, yeah, well great, thank you, Aliah, the super inspiring,
super helpful for those that maybe where you were just in.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
August of twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
So, Leiah, have you been involved in any initiatives or
programs to encourage women or underrepresented groups to pursue STEM fields.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
Yes. So I have been in quite a lot of
nonprofit organizations over the few years. I've been an active
member in NESBY, which is the National Society of Black Engineers,
and I know I probably threw that turnaround and did
not explain it at all, as well as BC which
is the Black Excellence I'm also a member of Black
(31:02):
Girls Code, which I'm really excited to get more acclimated with.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
We took a pause for twenty.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
Twenty four, so twenty twenty five will be kicking off
the year, So I'm excited for that because I'll actually
be one of their technical instructors, so I will be
tasked with training girls from seven to eighteen with coding.
So I can't wait to get back because what I've
noticed is that when I'm volunteering for some of the
other schools that some of the students' parents are engineering
(31:32):
CEOs versus for a lot of people who look like us,
we don't get.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
That visibility at such an early age. So to be
able to be a part.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
Of an organization where I can teach young girl's STEM
is really exciting. So I can't wait to see what
we do for twenty twenty five and the Women in
Fact Network and in that organization, I actually was able
to come up with a male ally role because I
think it's really important to kind of end these women
led organizations. So also sometimes we do need some male
(32:03):
perspectives on some things.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Yeah, and sometimes.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
Those works are still inclusive to men. Yeah, So I
thought it was really important to get that. Glad you
spoke on allyship. I think ourship is very important. Actually,
so this even though we've focused a lot on.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
Women in STEM and minorities in STEM, I am gonna
do a men in.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
STEM series this summer is so tuned for that.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
But I think it's important because there are people in
the workplace that are allies for women in leadership and
women in these high platforms to make those decisions. So
with those conversations, we talk about how women impacted their
journey and just how you can be an ally even
though you're not a women women in spin. So yeah,
I think allyship is super important, So thank you for
touching on that. So next I wanna talk about how
(32:47):
do you see the field of artificial intelligence evolving over
the next five to ten years.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
Yes, so honestly, I have no clue.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
I know it's gonna be big, cause we've already made
such huge and free over the few years.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Yeah, and so I know, like something that they've been talking.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
About because you know what, the autonomous cars they're talking
about making smart cities, Yeah, because you know you need
smart roads and all different kinds of things to help
those vehicles be fully autonomous. So it would be really
interesting to see if our intelligence just across the world
increases like and.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
As you have any smart cities and smart homes.
Speaker 3 (33:24):
I think that would be really cool. So yeah, I'm
excited to see that.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
That's great, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
So now I want to ask about your overall journey
looking back. Is there anything you would have done differently
in your STEM journey. I know you've touched on some things,
but yeah, give us a shot at what you would change, if.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
Any So what I would change really maybe is more
from two things I would say. Undergrad, I didn't have
any mentors, so I definitely would have made sure I
had more mentors, and I would have spoken more to
my professors. You never know what kind of opportunities your
professions have. Sometimes our professors have research opportunities, and some
of them are connected with different corporations. So I think
(34:03):
talking to your professors and actually forming a relationship with
them can open a lot of doors that I wasn't
aware of.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
And then also being a.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
Part of Nesby as well as sweet and maybe I
tripoli an undergrad please stands for the Society of Women Engineers,
And then I forgot up.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
I stand that's okay, Well, we'll put it in the
show notes, but.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
Yes, thank you. It was really good. And then I
forgot this one for my career.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
Maybe it's not necessarily that I wouldn't have done differently,
but I will say what I thought.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
Was be the case. What wasn't the case is.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
That I thought that my niche was kind of gonna
like just follow my lap.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
And for some people it does.
Speaker 3 (34:49):
Like for some people, they can graduate college, go to
a job, and get into a job and love it
and then be like, Okay, this is what I'm going
to make my niche and this is my where I'm
gonna build that expertise. But for me, I was constantly
placed on teams where I didn't like what I was doing,
and so I had to advocate for myself. And so
(35:09):
that's one thing a lesson that I learned that I'm
proud of for doing, is you have to speak up
for yourself and your career because these corporations will place
you where their need is, and sometimes a corporation's need
doesn't align with your need.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
So being able to identify.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
What it is that you want to do, even if
it's just something that you want to try, I think
is really good so that way, when your company is
making decisions, you're making decisions that might be in alignment
with what you want. But if you can't articulate what
you want and people don't know what you want, they
will place you anywhere. So I think being very proactive
and kind of making it known with your management and
(35:47):
your leadership, this is what I'm trying to do, because
then they will naturally put you into those opportunities when
they arise.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
I love that. Thank you, thank you. So another question
I have before we close that way get.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Three Tips for success is what advice would you give
to young engineers or students who are interested in pursuing
a career in artificial intelligence.
Speaker 3 (36:09):
So I will say one thing, especially if you're gonna
go down the school route and get a degree in engineering,
you definitely wanna make sure that you have a strong
background in math and science.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
Dude, you do have to take quite a few.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
Math courses depending on what discipline you're going through with engineering,
and I know there are classes that I guess some
people might refer to as clas like leaders maybe okay
to where they're there, Cause what you can tell is
with engineering, a lot of people here that you make
a lot of money as an engineer, right, and you do.
I'm not gonna sit here and say you don't. However,
(36:45):
some of those leader courses are meant to knock out
the people who are just there for the money because
of those are hard classes. In some of those classes,
you're limited to how many attempts that you can take.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
So for me, that.
Speaker 3 (36:58):
Class with Circuits one and so the Circuits one determined
whether you're going to be a computer engineer or a
computer scientist for your degrees because you can only pass,
you can only fail twice or and that was it
with circuits and that instructor made that class very complex,
so we would have to do four hour study sessions
(37:19):
almost daily in order to pass circuits and so, yes,
it's a lot, but to me, it goes to show
who really wants it compared to who's just in.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
It for the money.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
Because when we're you're in that career and in that job,
you're gonna have projects that require you to really focus.
And so I think that's what I like the most
about engineering is the problem solve being complex.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
So I love to solve problems.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
Well, thank you, and to close out today, my last
question is what are three tips for success in navigating
the STEM industry?
Speaker 2 (37:56):
Basically your STEM journey? So three tips.
Speaker 3 (37:59):
Number one and I would say is to know what
you want is because no one can help you if
you don't know what you want, right, So the first
thing is you have.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
To know what you want. If you have to have
some kind of a vision.
Speaker 3 (38:09):
It doesn't matter how you're gonna get there or how
you're gonna make it happen, because that stuff you figure
out along the way, but you at least need to
have an idea of what you're interested in.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
I think that's the first step.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
And then the second step is you have to speak
up and advocate for yourself because you're gonna be put
in places and situations and so it's very important that
if it's something that you're not happy with, speak up
because people can't read your mind. So if you don't
tell people that you don't like something, they don't know.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
So you have to.
Speaker 3 (38:40):
Speak up and be willing to stand up for yourself
because when you know what you want, then I feel
like it's easier for you to speak up for yourself
to self. Yeah, And for the third tip is to
not allow rejection to define you. Even till this day,
with all of the qualifications that I may have, I
still get reject And so I don't take rejection personally.
(39:04):
And like they say, not to put all of your
eggs in one basket.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
So I feel as.
Speaker 3 (39:10):
Though what kind of helps rejection be easier to manage
is the fact that I apply for so many opportunities
constantly to where if I get that no, I probably
within a week received a guess elsewhere. So I think
constantly putting yourself out there in a vast.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
Variety of places will.
Speaker 3 (39:34):
Really help you not take that one no personally and
think about.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
It if it's something that you really want.
Speaker 3 (39:41):
Let's say, maybe, for example, you want to work at
a huge tech company.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
Just because you.
Speaker 3 (39:46):
Got that one rejection, the company does it magically disappear
because they told you no, The company still exists. You
can apply again, you can get the feedback, and you
can improve whatever skill set that you may have I've potentially.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
Been lacking, and just do better the next time. Yeah,
And it's that simple.
Speaker 3 (40:06):
So I think knowing how to handle rejection is really
important because engineering is not easy, and being that it's
what I think, less than three percent of black engineers
in the industry, you're going up against a lot of odds,
so if you can't handle rejection, you're going to be
limited with.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
How far you can go.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
Well, thank you, Alia, those were excellent tips for success.
I hope you all enjoyed today's episode. Aliah, thank you
for joining us today. All thanks then with Ashley, we
appreciate you everyone. Please make sure you watch this episode, like,
comment and subscribe and we will see you next time.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (40:44):
Bye.
Hello everyone, and welcome to all.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Thanks sim with Ashley.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Today I have our guests Aliah Gibbs here. We're super
excited to have her. Aliyah Gibbs confidence, charisma and a
touch of glam. Aliah Gibbs is a public speaker, software engineer,
and personal development specialists dedicated to helping individuals and organizations
achieve their goals through strategic growth and leadership. As the
founder of alia Be Consulting, she delivers workshops, keynotes, and
(00:37):
coaching sessions that focus on personal development, career advancement, and
leveraging technology for success. Through her signature workshops including work
Smarter not Harder, Supercharge your Success with Generative AI, and
Your Future Starts Now from College to your dream career.
Alia quips audiences with practical and actionable streated. Her expertise
(01:01):
spans topics such as goal setting, effective communication, personal branding,
and the integration of AI technologies to enhance productivity. Elia's
work with AI is rooted in making complex technology successful
and applicable to real world challenges. As a software engineer
in the aerospace industry and a Master student Artificial Intelligence
at the University of Texas at Austin, she focuses on
(01:24):
natural language processing, deep learning, and ethical AI applications. Her
passion lies in helping individuals and organizations understand how AI
can drive efficiency, innovation, and informed decision making across industries.
Her personal mauntra confidence, charisma, and a touch of lamb
reflects the dynamic energy she brings to every session. So
(01:46):
today we welcome Alia Gibbs. Thank you so much, Thank
you for having me. We're glad to have you here today,
and learn just a little bit about your journey and
really what got you into software engineering which later got
you into AI.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
So I want to start with how you got into the.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
STEM industry and what initially started your journey in STEM.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yes, So when I was a kid, I was always
the tech savvy one.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
So anytime we got a new device that was like electrical,
whether it was Wi Fi or like a gaming system,
I was always the person who wanted to figure out
how to set it up without reading the instructions, and
so my parents would always come to me whenever the
Wi Fi wasn't hurting.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
And so I just was always tech savvy.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
And so I remember when I got my first iPhone,
I did not like how the messages were blue and green.
Being that pink is clearly my favorite color, I wanted
to use a phone that was pink on the handside,
And so I had this dream of wanting to get
into a field where I could create cell phones, cause
(02:56):
I felt like we should be able to customize how
our phones look on the inside. I did, and not
be stuck to like a standard blue and green, especially
if that's not our favorite color. Yeah, and so when
I was in high school, one day, my teacher was like,
Bill Gates is hiring software engineers who get their PhDs
for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. So when you're
(03:17):
in eleventh grade, you know, two hundred fifty thousand dollars
is a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
And I like money and I'm tech savvy.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
So I started looking up, you know, what kind of
degrees make like cell phones, and so that's how I
found computer engineering electrical engineering. And from there I decided
that when college was coming around, I was trying to
figure out, like what am I going to get my
major in, because you know, that's a huge decision to make.
At I was sixteen, Right when I had to make
(03:44):
that decision, I decided that I was going to take
a computer programming.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Class at school. Yeah, and so I.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Ended up taking that course and I actually was taught
that class by a black woman. I also got her
degree at an HBCU, so it was South Carolina State
because I'm from North Carolina, right, So that class, I
loved it, even though we didn't really code, but I
think we were using like visual basics back then. Yeah,
so it's my first time getting that kind of experience
(04:13):
with computer programming, and so I loved it. And so
that's how I ended up choosing that major.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
And the rest was history.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
And I remember when I was in college, I went
my lab, my first lab that I had, Right, we
had code and we didn't even have class yet.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Yeah, and so imagine I was.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Expected to have a working program done on day one
of classes and I never coded before.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
But for me, I was like, as long as I'm.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Not the last person to get it done, that's what
I was looking for.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
So I ended up not be the last person to get.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
The coding done, and it was in JAVA, and I
was able to get my work done and leave before
class was over.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
So the rest of been history since then. So that's
kind of how I figured out my interest in STEM.
I love that.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
So the teacher that you said taught you that software class?
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Where was that that?
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Oh? I said that my first semester of senior year,
gotcha perfect?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Well, thank you for that.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
My next question is about can you share any role
models or mentors that you had in the steinfield during
your attorney So.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
In college, I would say one of my role models
or maybe more so inspirations was my godmom. So when
I was in college, I.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Didn't have any mentors. You know, I'm a first.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Generation engineer, and my parents weren't in corporate America either,
so they didn't know kind of how to navigate those ropes.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
So I was kind of figuring out everything on my own.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
But I didn't get any internships during college. So it
was really difficult for me at times because I'm like,
why am I trying so hard in class, busting my
butt to get these grades and I can't get an internship. Yeah,
I didn't have mentors, right, so it was like my
godmom who had I would always go to during that
(06:10):
time to kind of vent.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Too, and she would always tell me.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
You know, you're gonna have multiple full time job offers
when you graduated and even though I didn't believe that initially,
cause I thought that I had to have.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Internships and or I used to get hired.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
And to me, I was like, if I can just
get an internship or a co op after graduation, cause
I didn't.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
I wasn't ready to go to grad school. I wasn't
back then. You know, gru was mandatory versus now it's not.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Yeah, so I was nowhere near equipped to study for
that exam.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
So I really had no clue what I was going
to do.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
And she just always believed that, like, you're gonna get
that big time opportunity when you're done. And so when
I went to that career Fair spring semester my senior year,
actually ended up getting two full time job offers. So
it's like all that insight that she kind of was
pouring into me and hope throughout my four years, like
she ended up being right, even though I couldn't see
the bigger picture.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Yeah, I just you know, they make you feel like.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
You have to have an internship in order to get
a job, right, And so despite not having that internship,
I was able to kind of look for other opportunities
and projects. So I was still able to showcase that
I was a leader. Yeah, without that, I love it.
And that's good to know, cause it do. It is
scary if you don't have those internships. It's like, well,
how do I have experience to go into the workforce
(07:21):
or to have those star methods stories to say well
I've done this with a team, because really we only
did a senior project as a group project for me
in undergrad that's the only group experience some people might
have to talk to you.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
So that's really good, and it's good that you.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Have mentors, and that's like what this is about, like
explaining you do need a mentor, you can find one
and how to attain one.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
But you were lucky because your godmother was one self.
Yeah that's good.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Like I didn't so she wasn't a technical mentor, but
she was still somebody that I could go to for guidance.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
That's so good, Oleah, thank you.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
So next I wanted to say what inspired your Oh well,
you already.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Spoke on this. You you talked about why you picked stuff.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
For engineering, So now we'll go into how now you
dipped into artificial intelligence as well, So what springs your
interest in artificial intelligence? Once you were audience software. I
know you talked about making iPhones and great things like that,
but what helped you say I want to even go
deeper into software and look at artificial intelligence.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Yes, so this all started because I guess once I
moved to Dallas, I became kind of bored in life.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
You know, it's like when you get a job, like
you go to work and that's it. Yeah, so it's
like if you don't.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Have any hobbies or you're not doing anything and like
making some type of you know, no community involvement, like,
it can be boring. So I literally would just go
to work and go to the gym, like I was bored.
And so I just knew that like eventually I will
be married and I'll have children. So I knew that
I was never going to get this period of boredness again.
(08:54):
So I was like, let me maximize this empty time
that I have and go get my master's especially since
you know my corporation.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Pace for it, It's like why wouldn't I.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
And then being that you can leverage your master's degree
to get promoted and it allows you to be a
subject matter expert in a field, like, it just made
sense since I realized how bored I was to go
get that degree, and so I looked into the technology
trends because that's one thing you should do, right, shouldn't.
I think, if you're going to go into a field,
(09:25):
do the research and see do the research. Yes, do
the research and go see where the trends are in
that career path, because you want to make sure there's
longevity and where you go. So you don't want to
get into something that can only last for like two years,
because that doesn't make any sense.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
So you want to see that whatever.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Industry you're going into has at least five to ten
years of expected growth. And so when I looked into
the tech trends, I saw cybersecurity, which is a big one,
data science, and I seen artificial intelligence, and then I
saw the cloud. So initially I wanted to be a
cloud engine, but when I thought about it, you know,
it's the cutting edge technology that gets me excited.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
It's the innovation.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
I used to be obsessed with Internet of things and
like the interconnectivity and making like smart houses. So to me,
I felt like with the cloud, I couldn't do that
like high tech innovation.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
That I was looking for.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
But with AI, I felt like the possibilities were endless. Yeah,
and so I felt like there's AI and everything right
your cell phone, finance, education in so many different industries,
and so that's what attracted me the most to AI.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Good.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
I love that I'm learning about her as you all
in learning. It's like such a great story of how
you got interested in STEM.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
I wanted to ask if you could please give a.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
General overview of what artificial intelligence is for those that
may not know or just want to learn more about it. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
So, from a high level, artificial intelligence is refer to
the development of computer systems that mimic human intelligence. Okay,
so it should be able to do well. It does
do problem solving, decision making, and like.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Task space things. Yeah, so that's what it is from
a high level.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
That's good, thank you. So now I want to get
into generative AI. I want to ask what are some
current real world applications of generative AI and how are
they transforming different industries right now?
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Yes, so I would see one of the most popular
generative AI tools that I think everyone's heard of at
this point is chat GPT.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Yeah, that's my favorite one personally.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
However, they also have Microsoft Copilot, which you can access
it's embedded with being through the search engine.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
And Google also.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Has Google Gemini as well, So I believe if you
are on Google and you're using their search engine, Gemini
is embedded into it. And I also know if you
have the latest iPhone with the iOS I think sixteen,
it has Chat GPT enabled, So I believe if Siri
can't answer the question, it will automatically connect to Chat.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Oh that's very cool. Yeah, so thank you for that.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
So next I wanted to ask what challenges do we
face currently in developing and deploying generative AI tools efficiently
and effectively?
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Yeah, So, I would say one of the most biggest
challenges with the development of AI is the ethics behind AI.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Since AI is a new field, a lot of things
haven't been ironed out. There's no laws cause it's like
who do you hold accountable when someone misuses AI? Right?
Speaker 3 (12:39):
So I think that's the biggest thing is who do
you hold accountable? Right?
Speaker 2 (12:43):
With people making these deep fakes of.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Celebrities, which for those who might not know what the
term deep fake is, it means like you might have
taken a video clip or maybe an image and then
you use artificial intelligence to alter that okay video, So
that is what deep fake is, and so they have
inappropriate content that's out there with celebrities that people are
using AI. So I think that's one of the biggest
(13:07):
things is the people who are misusing these tools. So
it's like who do you hold accountable? Do you hold
the person who misuse the tool accountable or do you
hold the person who created the tool accountable? So it's
like old that's what it is. And since with like
software engineering, right, we don't really have a lot of
laws in place, similar to like doctors and lawyers, those
(13:28):
type of documentation that we have to sign or any
insurance involved.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
So it's really hard to kind of.
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Hold people accountable with some of the development of AI
because sometimes it can be misused.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Thank you, that's good. That's good.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
So how do we ensure that generative AI tools are
accessible and usable to people that are not tech experts?
Speaker 3 (13:52):
So I would say the first thing is to explain
to people what like.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
Generative AI actually is.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Yeah, so I think a lot of people like you
might use chat, but if you don't understand how it
works behind the scenes, I think.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
It causes people to misuse the tool.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
So with those machines, especially when it comes to natural
language processing, which is what chat GBT uses, as well
as machine learning and reinforcement learning. So those tools their
job is to create the most accurate prediction based on
the next sequence in words. So therefore it does not
know if the information it's giving you is actually correct.
(14:33):
Oh okay, it doesn't know. It just knows that this
is the most accurate prediction.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Okay. So when you tell people.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
That, I feel like it allows people to know that
I need to fact check this information because once you
know the limitations of the tool, I think that allows
people to use it correctly. Then Also, what I tell
people is when you're talking to the generative AI tool ACTU,
so you're having.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
A conversation with the human being, right about it.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
When I'm talking to you the first time I tell
you something, you might not understand me, right, you might
misunderstand me, just like a tool can.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
And so look at it like a conversation. So if
you don't get.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
The output that you were looking for when you first
prompt it, prompt it again, you know, refine your prompt.
You can even go and edit the original prompt if
you would like to.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
So it's kind of like.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Guide it and give it constructive feedback and work with
it to kind of get the answer that you want.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
So I think when people realize that, and if you
think about look at it, they make it.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
They design these generator AI tools to look like you're
having a conversation. They look similar to the chat boxes
if you have talked to the chat boxes on those websites,
and it's purposely like that because they want you to
feel as though you're having a conversation.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
That's gonna it's great inside.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
OK So now we're gonna get into getting into the
field of AI. So I want to ask for someone
interested in AI, where should they begin in terms of
learning and scale development.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Yes, so one of my favorite tools that I've used.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Although I am in grad school, I've still had to
kind of self learn some of these concepts.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
So I would recommend data Camp.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
I do know some of the trainings on that platform
are free and then some do costs, but some institutions
and corporations will do partnerships with these companies to where
you can.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Get the licensing for free.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
So I would definitely check that out and see what
your corporation offers as well as universities because the universities
do you pay for online learning.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
Platform for their students, So look into that.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
I'll ask your advisors. But data camp is one of
my favorite coding websites. It's all things related to data.
So even if maybe you're not interested in artificial intelligence,
but you're interested in data science, they have those type
of trainings on that platform. And one of the things
that I like the most about it is the fact
that you don't have to use like visual.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Studios or another coding ivey.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
You can do all of the on that tool online, okay,
So it really helps you. And then like you can
do a street somewhere it's like do lingo, you get points. Yeah,
and then if it is a cooperation thing, you can
kind of compete against your coworkers to see like where
you're at on the rank based on how many points
that you have. Yeah, So that's been really helpful for me.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
And I would definitely recommend as far as programming languages go,
you wanna get Python down, okay, and that's what you
need to be proficient and is Python if you plant
on programming, and then I would familiarize yourself with pie
Torch because a lot of the model building coding leverage
is PI torch, and I would look into learning about
(17:39):
some of these large language models that exist in kind
of learning how to train the models, cause that's.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Like a lot of the behind the scenes works.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
It's their models that are creating those predictions.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Well, thank you, that was a really great insight. So
you already answered what programming language is in tools. Snow
when starting AI, can you get into what are some
potential career paths that others can do when they get
into AI and how they differ from each other a
little bit?
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Yeah, so I know some of the career opportunities.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
I guess that my company offers, so I can talk
about some of those drug titles.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
So they have like an.
Speaker 3 (18:18):
AI research well research engineers, they have AI and MAL engineers.
I think some com companies hire for machine learning engineers
as well as like data scientists, although they do some
of the different names at the top, so I would
say insipiends. I've also seen companies are hiring for AI
software architects, and they're also looking for like AI systems engineers,
(18:42):
and I even seen a generative AI project.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Engineering role too.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
So that way, like even if maybe you don't want
to code, you can do like help with creating I
guess AI projects right, helping leading teams.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
So I think in the.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
Future, as AI becomes more of a prominent fee will
have more defined AI roles to where people who aren't
trying to be the software or research engineers they.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Can still have that AI job title.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
So I think as time progresses will have even more AI.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Jobs out there. I love that.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
I love that we're gonna kind of go back into
your career journey and I wanted to ask, what is
one project or accomplishment that you are particularly proud of
during your career in stem.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
So well career in stem or.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
It can be on your journey pay Yeah, it can
be high school, college career.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
So I would say, honestly, my most I guess priced
accomplishment would definitely have to be the public speaking business
that I've.
Speaker 2 (19:43):
Managed to start. And I say that because four or
five years ago.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
I would never imagine myself doing these kinds of things.
You've always been very introverted behind the scenes. Yeah, people
know me for kind of just being quiet and to myself.
So seeing me kind of blossom and grow into this
public speaker has been such a phenomenal journey to witness.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
And I say that because not.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
Only do I get to learn so much information, because
in order to be a Pope speaker, I have to
be knowledgeable, right, And so I'm on this journey I'm learning.
I love to learn, between podcasts, books, YouTube videos, Ted talks,
school like mentors, Like I'm just literally just taking in
as much information as i can. And so I feel
(20:30):
so honored and blessed to be able to be on
all of these different platforms and just sharing my insights
with as many people as I can because of somebody
who did not have that guidance when I was in
undergrad and.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
Trying to figure everything out on my own.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Yeah, it's so grateful to be able to give back
now that I am a little bit further ahead and
I've been able to accomplish some things, and just seeing
the thousands.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Of people that I've been able to come to.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Touch an impact, right, and being able to start to realize, like,
you know, I have influence. You know, people actually take
in what I say and take in my advice and
then they implement it.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
So it's like really beautiful to get to sit there.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
And witness and I can't tell you how I feel
when I leave my events, my community service event, my
public speaking events. The feedback that I get, it's there's
no feeling on the world that I feel like makes
me feel like that. So it's like one of those
things where you know you're doing what you're supposed.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
To be doing.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
And I was literally explaining this to my therapist City
because I was telling her with this public speaking stuff,
especially just due to some stuff like I've lost one
of my biggest platforms, which.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Is totally okay because I know how to build it
right and I'm not starting over.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
And so I was telling her, I know that this
is what I'm supposed to be doing because there's not
a lot of friction there, right, So when I get
rejected in this opportunity, within maybe twenty four hours, I'm
getting a guess for another opportunity.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
And so I feel like.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
That's how you know that you're supposed to be doing
what you're doing, because it flows, it's easy, and the
feedback is just that that reassurance that this is exactly
what I'm supposed to be doing, even when I might
feel like I did not do my best at that event.
But then when I go read feedback and I see
I got you know, five plus stars as my rating. Yeah,
(22:29):
I'm just like okay, like I was just in my head. Yeah,
I'm good at what I'm doing. So I'm starting to
realize like I'm the real deal. So it's really beautiful
to I guess, get to witness your own evolution but
also give back along the way too.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
And can you tell us a little bit about what
started you to start that platform?
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Yes, thank you.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
So it's funny because I actually got thrown into it.
I did not want to do public speaking, really no,
but I came up with this idea my job to
do a public speaking panel because I just I realized
when I was talking to some of my coworkers, I'm like,
you don't have a career plan, Like.
Speaker 2 (23:09):
Why don't you have a career development plan?
Speaker 3 (23:10):
Like huh yeah, And so it's like, you know, when
you have these meetings with mentors, like you get all
these insights, But then if my parents aren't getting these insights,
how did that really benefit all of us?
Speaker 2 (23:20):
If only I'm finding this help. So I came up
with this idea to put a.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
Panel together where I could have all leaders across the
corporation speak on these panels on different career development topics
that I was struggling with, and.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
So that's how it started.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Instead, the first event that I had, I had one
of my friends who helped me put it together.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
They moderated the panel because I didn't want to do it.
I was like, I'm not doing that, you know, I
didn't not want to do it.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
Yeah, so he moderated it and he was the face
to my panel, so a lot of people thought it
was his idea into my mentor was like, yeah, don't
ever do that again. She was like, if you're gonna
have an idea, you need to be the face of
your idea. And so I knew that evant that I
had to step up and started moderating my panels. And
so with the first event that we had, we had
(24:10):
four hundred and forty seven people.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
That's so good. And then the second one.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
We had it was like three hundred and forty yea,
And this was just the first two events, and so
after that, like I just got forced into it. And
then me being I'm a perfectionist, so I was like,
I started getting feedback and there was things that I
didn't like that I was doing, and so I started
working on those and getting better at it. Then I
(24:35):
went to a Netsbee conference. I was outside of VEC.
That was my first time going to a professional development conference.
When I went to the Netsbee PDC conference, I was here.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
In Dallas, so that's why I went.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
And then that's where I seen workshops done upfront and
in person, yeah, for the first time.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
And so I was sitting in the room and I
just was like, I want to lead a workshop. I
love that.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
And so that wasn't August twenty three, okay, And so
since then, I've probably I've done a probably twenty workshops.
I spoke at multiple conferences, I've gotten paid to speak
and it just all started from there. And so I'm
really proud of myself.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
So you got out of your comfort zone and got
better with public speaking by.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
Doing it, lady. So I did it. I didn't know
what I'm doing the workshop. Yes, I do practice.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
I read books on public speaking, I listen to podcast
on public speaking. I had that free platform. So that
did allow me to try a workshop. And if I
didn't like it, or maybe there was something I could
have done better, you know, I would use it to
tweak it. So by the time I did it maybe
at a conference, I had already done that workshop for
smaller audiences a few times.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
So I take the craft of public seeking very seriously,
and you know, actually just join toast Masters.
Speaker 3 (25:52):
So if you guys are interested in growing your public
speaking skills, you can join Toastmasters, which is the international organization.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
They have them all over and you can join.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
That club and they'll teach you public speaking and they
will also help you build your leadership skills. So I
highly recommend it, and it looks really good on your resume.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Yay.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
So how did you get the courage after you started
doing it within your corporation to want to apply to
be like, I'm going to speak at this conference? Do
you just apply when they ask for speakers? Do you
reach out to the people that make the conference?
Speaker 2 (26:23):
What is that next step for somebody?
Speaker 3 (26:25):
So from the first conference that I submitted my workshops
to was actually the NETSB fifty convention, okay, and initially
with my mentors. So when I went to then SVPDC
and I got that idea that I wanted to lead workshops,
I actually ended up leaving there with the mentor because
I was so impressed with her workshop. I went up afterwards.
She had her doctorates in engineering, and so I told her.
(26:48):
I was like, I'm trying to be exactly where you are,
and so that's how we formed that mentorship relationship. So
she actually told me that it was like the time
to submit those applications for the Nisbee convention. So conferences
usually will post on their social media when they're soliciting speaker.
So I would say, if that's something you're interested in,
(27:10):
to stay up to date with their social media, and
usually it is around the same time every year that
they drop them. So once you kind of are in
the loop about it the first time, you'll be fine
for years to come. So she told me to go
ahead and submit my abstracts for the Nansbee convention.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Yeah, And I said, no, you know, I just started.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
I just came up and said, yeah, Like, why would
I go ahead and submit.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
To a conference. I'm like, I need a year to practice, Like, no,
I'm not ready.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
Yeah, And so I shut it down. And so she
respected that decision. She wasn't going to force me to
do anything. And so even though I knew I wasn't
going to submit those workshops, I was so passionate about
this idea that I had me a notebook and I
was journaling different topics that I could turn into workshops.
So I remember how like seven and my friend was like, well,
(28:00):
if you had seven, then go ahead and get to ten.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
So then I was at ten.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
Next thing, you know, I had a list of fourteen
different topics, and so when I was on Instagram, I
happened to see that Nesby was posting the pricing for
the conference. So then I clicked on the Instagram and
I happened to see that the speaking deadline submissions for
speakers actually was extended, and so because they extended it,
(28:24):
I was still within that sign frame to apply. So
something was like, you.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Know, I don't play about coincidences. So I was like,
there's no way that.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
They happened to just extend this deadline and I happen
to catch it just in time. Yeah, So I ended
up being that I had a list of fourteen topics.
I talked a couple of my coworkers got insights on, Hey,
which topics do you think are the most interesting out
of this list, and so we picked the top three.
I went ahead and wrote up those abstracts and I
submitted it and they selected me, and so I would
(28:56):
say within I came up with that idea in August
at March.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
By the time March I had already spoken at two conferences.
That is a beautiful story.
Speaker 1 (29:05):
Thank you. So for those that are watching, this is
the blueprint. This is the blueprint. And I will be
putting her business in our show notes and whatever contact
information she allows, I'll be putting it under the show notes.
So if you have any questions, and if you don't mind,
I'll get the list of books or podcasts that helped
you with public speaking, and so we'll have those links
down there. But thank you for sharing your story, because
(29:26):
I'm sure it's other people that want to start, and
not everybody has that mentor not everybody has that access
to go to conferences.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
So I'm glad you got to do that here. Yeah,
And like it's a lot of stuff on YouTube in TikTok,
So it's like one thing I'm learning is you.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Have to just start where you're at and figure out
the details along the way. Yeah, you will miss out
on so much waiting until the perfect time to start,
and in reality, you'll find that a lot of times
you have what you need in that moment, and it's
just like as you continue, you know, you grow and
then maybe you have more money to back things up with.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
But you just you have to.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Start where you're at, and it's a crap, it's a journey,
and there's never gonna be the perfect moment to start
other than right now.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Y'all heard though in the dayat great tips. We haven't
even got to hear three STEM tips. This is just
gyms along the way, So just try just start where
you are. I mean, I'm learning with y'all arrow through this.
So yeah, yeah, well great, thank you, Aliah, the super inspiring,
super helpful for those that maybe where you were just in.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
August of twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
So, Leiah, have you been involved in any initiatives or
programs to encourage women or underrepresented groups to pursue STEM fields.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
Yes. So I have been in quite a lot of
nonprofit organizations over the few years. I've been an active
member in NESBY, which is the National Society of Black Engineers,
and I know I probably threw that turnaround and did
not explain it at all, as well as BC which
is the Black Excellence I'm also a member of Black
(31:02):
Girls Code, which I'm really excited to get more acclimated with.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
We took a pause for twenty.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
Twenty four, so twenty twenty five will be kicking off
the year, So I'm excited for that because I'll actually
be one of their technical instructors, so I will be
tasked with training girls from seven to eighteen with coding.
So I can't wait to get back because what I've
noticed is that when I'm volunteering for some of the
other schools that some of the students' parents are engineering
(31:32):
CEOs versus for a lot of people who look like us,
we don't get.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
That visibility at such an early age. So to be
able to be a part.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
Of an organization where I can teach young girl's STEM
is really exciting. So I can't wait to see what
we do for twenty twenty five and the Women in
Fact Network and in that organization, I actually was able
to come up with a male ally role because I
think it's really important to kind of end these women
led organizations. So also sometimes we do need some male
(32:03):
perspectives on some things.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Yeah, and sometimes.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
Those works are still inclusive to men. Yeah, So I
thought it was really important to get that. Glad you
spoke on allyship. I think ourship is very important. Actually,
so this even though we've focused a lot on.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
Women in STEM and minorities in STEM, I am gonna
do a men in.
Speaker 2 (32:21):
STEM series this summer is so tuned for that.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
But I think it's important because there are people in
the workplace that are allies for women in leadership and
women in these high platforms to make those decisions. So
with those conversations, we talk about how women impacted their
journey and just how you can be an ally even
though you're not a women women in spin. So yeah,
I think allyship is super important, So thank you for
touching on that. So next I wanna talk about how
(32:47):
do you see the field of artificial intelligence evolving over
the next five to ten years.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
Yes, so honestly, I have no clue.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
I know it's gonna be big, cause we've already made
such huge and free over the few years.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Yeah, and so I know, like something that they've been talking.
Speaker 3 (33:04):
About because you know what, the autonomous cars they're talking
about making smart cities, Yeah, because you know you need
smart roads and all different kinds of things to help
those vehicles be fully autonomous. So it would be really
interesting to see if our intelligence just across the world
increases like and.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
As you have any smart cities and smart homes.
Speaker 3 (33:24):
I think that would be really cool. So yeah, I'm
excited to see that.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
That's great, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
So now I want to ask about your overall journey
looking back. Is there anything you would have done differently
in your STEM journey. I know you've touched on some things,
but yeah, give us a shot at what you would change, if.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
Any So what I would change really maybe is more
from two things I would say. Undergrad, I didn't have
any mentors, so I definitely would have made sure I
had more mentors, and I would have spoken more to
my professors. You never know what kind of opportunities your
professions have. Sometimes our professors have research opportunities, and some
of them are connected with different corporations. So I think
(34:03):
talking to your professors and actually forming a relationship with
them can open a lot of doors that I wasn't
aware of.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
And then also being a.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
Part of Nesby as well as sweet and maybe I
tripoli an undergrad please stands for the Society of Women Engineers,
And then I forgot up.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
I stand that's okay, Well, we'll put it in the
show notes, but.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
Yes, thank you. It was really good. And then I
forgot this one for my career.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
Maybe it's not necessarily that I wouldn't have done differently,
but I will say what I thought.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
Was be the case. What wasn't the case is.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
That I thought that my niche was kind of gonna
like just follow my lap.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
And for some people it does.
Speaker 3 (34:49):
Like for some people, they can graduate college, go to
a job, and get into a job and love it
and then be like, Okay, this is what I'm going
to make my niche and this is my where I'm
gonna build that expertise. But for me, I was constantly
placed on teams where I didn't like what I was doing,
and so I had to advocate for myself. And so
(35:09):
that's one thing a lesson that I learned that I'm
proud of for doing, is you have to speak up
for yourself and your career because these corporations will place
you where their need is, and sometimes a corporation's need
doesn't align with your need.
Speaker 2 (35:23):
So being able to identify.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
What it is that you want to do, even if
it's just something that you want to try, I think
is really good so that way, when your company is
making decisions, you're making decisions that might be in alignment
with what you want. But if you can't articulate what
you want and people don't know what you want, they
will place you anywhere. So I think being very proactive
and kind of making it known with your management and
(35:47):
your leadership, this is what I'm trying to do, because
then they will naturally put you into those opportunities when
they arise.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
I love that. Thank you, thank you. So another question
I have before we close that way get.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
Three Tips for success is what advice would you give
to young engineers or students who are interested in pursuing
a career in artificial intelligence.
Speaker 3 (36:09):
So I will say one thing, especially if you're gonna
go down the school route and get a degree in engineering,
you definitely wanna make sure that you have a strong
background in math and science.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
Dude, you do have to take quite a few.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
Math courses depending on what discipline you're going through with engineering,
and I know there are classes that I guess some
people might refer to as clas like leaders maybe okay
to where they're there, Cause what you can tell is
with engineering, a lot of people here that you make
a lot of money as an engineer, right, and you do.
I'm not gonna sit here and say you don't. However,
(36:45):
some of those leader courses are meant to knock out
the people who are just there for the money because
of those are hard classes. In some of those classes,
you're limited to how many attempts that you can take.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
So for me, that.
Speaker 3 (36:58):
Class with Circuits one and so the Circuits one determined
whether you're going to be a computer engineer or a
computer scientist for your degrees because you can only pass,
you can only fail twice or and that was it
with circuits and that instructor made that class very complex,
so we would have to do four hour study sessions
(37:19):
almost daily in order to pass circuits and so, yes,
it's a lot, but to me, it goes to show
who really wants it compared to who's just in.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
It for the money.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
Because when we're you're in that career and in that job,
you're gonna have projects that require you to really focus.
And so I think that's what I like the most
about engineering is the problem solve being complex.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
So I love to solve problems.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
Well, thank you, and to close out today, my last
question is what are three tips for success in navigating
the STEM industry?
Speaker 2 (37:56):
Basically your STEM journey? So three tips.
Speaker 3 (37:59):
Number one and I would say is to know what
you want is because no one can help you if
you don't know what you want, right, So the first
thing is you have.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
To know what you want. If you have to have
some kind of a vision.
Speaker 3 (38:09):
It doesn't matter how you're gonna get there or how
you're gonna make it happen, because that stuff you figure
out along the way, but you at least need to
have an idea of what you're interested in.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
I think that's the first step.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
And then the second step is you have to speak
up and advocate for yourself because you're gonna be put
in places and situations and so it's very important that
if it's something that you're not happy with, speak up
because people can't read your mind. So if you don't
tell people that you don't like something, they don't know.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
So you have to.
Speaker 3 (38:40):
Speak up and be willing to stand up for yourself
because when you know what you want, then I feel
like it's easier for you to speak up for yourself
to self. Yeah, And for the third tip is to
not allow rejection to define you. Even till this day,
with all of the qualifications that I may have, I
still get reject And so I don't take rejection personally.
(39:04):
And like they say, not to put all of your
eggs in one basket.
Speaker 2 (39:09):
So I feel as.
Speaker 3 (39:10):
Though what kind of helps rejection be easier to manage
is the fact that I apply for so many opportunities
constantly to where if I get that no, I probably
within a week received a guess elsewhere. So I think
constantly putting yourself out there in a vast.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
Variety of places will.
Speaker 3 (39:34):
Really help you not take that one no personally and
think about.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
It if it's something that you really want.
Speaker 3 (39:41):
Let's say, maybe, for example, you want to work at
a huge tech company.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
Just because you.
Speaker 3 (39:46):
Got that one rejection, the company does it magically disappear
because they told you no, The company still exists. You
can apply again, you can get the feedback, and you
can improve whatever skill set that you may have I've potentially.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
Been lacking, and just do better the next time. Yeah,
And it's that simple.
Speaker 3 (40:06):
So I think knowing how to handle rejection is really
important because engineering is not easy, and being that it's
what I think, less than three percent of black engineers
in the industry, you're going up against a lot of odds,
so if you can't handle rejection, you're going to be
limited with.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
How far you can go.
Speaker 1 (40:26):
Well, thank you, Alia, those were excellent tips for success.
I hope you all enjoyed today's episode. Aliah, thank you
for joining us today. All thanks then with Ashley, we
appreciate you everyone. Please make sure you watch this episode, like,
comment and subscribe and we will see you next time.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (40:44):
Bye.
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