Her Story
About Eva
Eva Agapaki is a Senior Data Scientist at IKEA, where she works hands-on with AI tools to experiment with the latest model developments and applies them to search algorithms using LLMs, improving experiences for millions of users. With a decade in the AI space, she began her career as a civil engineer after completing a five-year undergraduate program in Greece. She went on to earn a master's degree in earthquake engineering from UCLA and a PhD from the University of Cambridge and MIT. Agapaki founded Hatch Labs to introduce clients to innovative AI tools and previously served as a professor in academia. She is a member of the Association for Computing Machinery and recently presented research at the Conference on Information Retrieval. She is also a certified yoga instructor who attributes her success to persistence, pushing boundaries as a woman in a male-dominated field, and seeking mentorship while valuing loyalty, creativity, and work-life balance.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Eva
01What do you attribute your success to?
Not being afraid to try something new, always pushing hard on new goals, never feeling that that's it, moving forward, pushing boundaries especially as a woman in a male-dominated field, having supportive mentors, seeking advice from multiple people, persisting on a difficult path.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Not being afraid to 'kill your babies' - if an idea doesn't move forward and has no potential, don't be afraid to push back, move on, pivot to a different direction and pursue a more impactful opportunity.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Start very early in their education, find out what they like and love doing, pursue that whether in small projects, side projects or personal projects, give their heart and work hard to achieve it, ask advice from peers, collaborate, be part of it, not settle to the norm, really question.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The pace that Frontier Labs and tech companies are working is so fast it's hard for people to follow, may cause feeling behind or scared for future of work - but this is also an opportunity to upskill, embrace the values and great opportunities AI is bringing and embrace that in their way of working.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Loyalty, persistence, perseverance, creativity, work-life balance that nurtures everyone's best individual values and work style - these bring people together, drive innovation, fast-paced work, bringing best selves at work.
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