Her Story
About Shailee
After spending a decade as a building architect, I made a pivotal career change at age 32 when I noticed my residential clients struggling with home automation systems for lights, air conditioning, and other appliances. This sparked my curiosity about the digital world, as everything from doorbells to major appliances was going digital. I pursued my master's in human-computer interaction at Arizona State University, where I became a foundational creator of an AI agent builder specifically for EdTech. Coming from a non-technical background myself, I could deeply understand the problems that AI skeptics and non-technical users face, especially professors and educators who found the technology difficult to use. As part of the founding product team, I helped redesign the product to be more accessible, growing our user base from 0 to 25,000+ users. What started with only 40% non-technical users has now expanded significantly to include many more non-technical users. My day-to-day involves speaking directly with users and customers, translating those insights to cross-functional teams, designing product interfaces using AI tools and Figma, and ensuring our product positioning aligns with what users actually want to hear. The most rewarding part is when non-technical users tell me they feel empowered to use AI products without any technical knowledge. I'm focused on creating AI products that anyone can use confidently, regardless of their technical background.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Shailee
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to happy customers and happy users. When non-technical users come to me and tell me they feel empowered because they can use AI products without any technical knowledge, that's what I consider my personal achievement. Seeing people who were initially skeptical or intimidated by technology gain confidence and feel like they can actually use these tools - that's the measure of success for me. It's about making a real impact on people's ability to engage with technology, regardless of their technical background.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would just say that don't ever think that you cannot do something if you like it - just go for it. Whatever state you are in, there are a million others in the same state, it's just that you don't know about it. So be confident in what you are, try different things, and then find your calling. Don't let self-doubt or imposter syndrome hold you back from exploring what you're curious about.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge in my field is that everything is changing so rapidly - literally every day there is something new. When I'm making something that's customer-facing, updating it or aligning it to the speed with which technology is growing is quite challenging. The difficulty is that when something new comes out, I cannot just change the design completely because users have already become habituated to the current interface. If I change it completely, it makes it more difficult for them to adapt. So it's a balance between keeping up with iterative or fast technology changes versus ensuring smooth adoption of the product by users.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Growing collaboratively is most important to me. I love collaborating with teams and colleagues - I don't like to work in silos. Any place where I have the ease to talk to any of my colleagues or plan activities together is something that I really value. That collaborative environment and the ability to work together as a team is what matters most to me in both my work and personal life.
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