Influential Woman · AI Consulting

Priti Solanki

AI Team Lead, Success Academy Charter Schools

Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Degree Master's in Computer Science Degree Bachelor's in Computer Science Degree STEM Education Cert PHP 5.3 Zend Engineer Cert Artificial Intelligence Certification Cert AI Solution Architect

Her Story

About Priti

My professional journey spans 17 years in software engineering, and it's been filled with ups and downs, but I remain deeply motivated in my career. I'm a builder by nature, which has been the driving force throughout my work. I started as a software engineer in 2005 and have witnessed and adapted to numerous technological changes over the years, from mainframe to web apps, web apps to mobile apps, and mobile apps to AI applications. Currently, I serve as an AI team lead at Success Academy, where my days involve leading team stand-up meetings, enabling my team to perform their duties well, and conducting significant R&D work. My current strategic goal is to transform the engineering world by building Agentech Tools that help deploy websites in real time for our product owners. This work is particularly challenging because we operate in an enterprise environment where data cannot cross boundaries, making my job highly interdisciplinary and requiring constant communication across teams and vendors. One of my most notable achievements was delivering an AI product we called Discriminator, which served as the brain of a family-oriented product that managed photographs, tagged family members, and organized entire family relationships in one place. That project sparked my deep interest in AI, and since then, I have been consistently and effectively working in this field. What I love most about my career is building things and seeing technological evolution firsthand. After 17 years, I've recently built my own product called ahaweipes.xyz, which focuses on providing mental clarity. This product combines my experience as a team lead with my ability to build, and it represents something I want to contribute back to society, especially for people who are consistently in demanding mental states while working with multiple teams.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Priti

01What do you attribute your success to?

I attribute my success to my mother. She is also a working woman, and I have seen her struggling and still winning and still being happy. Whenever I am very down and feel like I can't see the other side, I always remember my mom's best days and how she struggled through and came out. I have a lot of people who have influenced me, but she's the one I attribute my success to the most.

02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?

The best career advice I ever received was from one of my mentors who told me to do your best wherever you are. In 17 years, you see ups and downs in your career, and sometimes you're in a project that's grunt work and you don't like it because everybody else is working on the latest and best tech, and you feel like your career is shutting down. But I have learned that even if you work through a legacy system and you're right there in that system, you develop knowledge of how these systems work. When you get into newer technology with the latest tech, it's always about transformation - mainframe to web app, web app to mobile app, mobile app to AI app, everything gets transformed. So if you know the systems and you have learned how to work with the system, then it is very easy to get into the world of transformation and adoption.

03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

In my industry, if you are a builder, create your own portfolio and showcase all your work without shame. Be happy and willing to talk about what you build on social media. Say, 'Hey, I created this,' and tag your old friends. I do that, and I think I learned it from somebody, so that is what I'm passing on to others.

04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?

In AI, the opportunity is that what you can build is limited only by imagination. I work at Success Academy, which is a public charter school, and I have adopted one of their strategic goals, which is about reducing the burnout of teachers. That is something I'm working on right now as a builder.

05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?

My professional and personal life are very much interconnected and affected by the way I was brought up in India and how I became an architect. I do my best with whatever moment I am in. Through my life crises, I have learned to be humble and to push my boundaries, because that is very important, especially for women. Sometimes, whether you're a woman or a man, we cannot even identify that we are in a life crisis. I think my next course of action is to work on helping people become aware of when it's time to pause and take some time for themselves.

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