what matters most to you and why?

why Stanford?

I chased her across the globe kagali macau port moresby

and I finally found her to be clear. I

was only six when I first traveled the

world albeit virtually I was looking for

carmen the villain of where in the world

is carmen San Diego

as a child my only dream was to connect

with interesting people in the farthest

corners of the planet

at 10 i set goals to attain fluency in

five languages

and live on every continent

and when i became a college student i

lived on exchange in australia

volunteered in peruvian prisons advised

an argentinian media company on growth

opportunities and apprenticed at indian

ngos driving economic development

through all of these adventures i

witnessed business as a transformative

force for the people who received jobs

for a country's economy

and for the broader world

my ambition became to use business to

affect global change and it found

expression in ibm's new one billion

dollar artificial intelligence division

watson

as the first hire to help build this

organization

i found myself on a modern 21st century

expedition defining the parameters of an

emerging technology without a roadmap i

was helping ibm rewrite its narrative as

we strive to create a market that didn't

exist yet

and by successfully launching watson we

would change ibm

and their trajectory and the trajectory

of industries worldwide

but at first

nothing went according to plan after a

year no not no team had closed a single

deal during my 29 pitches i observed

excitement about ai but a hesitation to

pay for innovation and when i finally

first closed when i finally closed our

first deal with south africa's largest

bank it elicited celebrations within

watson and ibm globally but later when

unforeseen issues forced senior

leadership to cancel the project within

days of the delivery i refused to let

the project fail i stepped in as a

delivery read lead reworked the project

schedule and identified a local team to

implement

and after numerous pivots we delivered

and our client ceo asked me to present

another phase to the board and our first

delivery snowballed into many more

and watson was taking off

during my time in south africa though i

fell in love with its people many who

share who of whom shared how technology

would help them catch up from the

tragedy of apartheid

due to their openness i lamented the way

others warned me of a dangerous country

in embracing my hosts i learned that

human connections can truly be universal

when imbued with sincerity

i yearned to push myself deeper into the

unknown and shrug off any family

concerns about a risk removed

as a young female professional i joined

watson's first joint venture with the

sovereign investment fund of the united

arab emirates

i arrived in abu dhabi emboldened by the

sheik's desire to use watson as an

avenue to diversify its economy

but found

a jv already facing serious challenges

our local general manager

had no prior experience with ibm or

watson and was

completely overwhelmed i offered to be

of any help creating presentations

educating him on watson driving team

meetings but still he wasn't able to

foster the team's trust

i tried to build a stronger team posted

dinners learned to sail and golf just to

bond with key partners but my attempts

managed to manage approved futile and

our jv unraveled

still

i had come to the uae to explore and

make critical human connections and

while ibm would have actually paid for

me to travel to weekend destinations

with other americans

i went deep into the surrounding

countries and found salvation in the

people

on a trip to jordan i left with a small

backpack and found myself stranded after

a car accident only to find shelter with

a bedouin family

i fell in love with their homes in the

untouched valleys of the wadi rum desert

and remain close with them to this day

in egypt i met rania a single mother

conducting tours to support her son

we bonded over our love for meditation

while roaming the streets of old cairo

eating local kusheri

and through unexpected friendships

i began to create my tribe finding

people of grit and spirit everywhere

overcoming hardships with compassion and

grace

i have navigated life with an explorer's

heart

leading an expedition into the unknown

at every step

i've challenged myself to facing

certainty

only to find out that i've learned about

humanity and how business can be used as

a vehicle to transform economies and

lives

empowered by these experiences i'm once

again eager to launch my next expedition

uncertain of the outcome but excited

about the possibilities

so why stanford

why stanford

being at the forefront of artificial

intelligence in the world's developing

economies

i have had a unique vantage point to

understand ai's potential to transform

the world

watson's applications were

understandably commercial which limited

my ability to harness the technology to

drive broad societal impact

to me

ai was like electricity only being used

to power an electrical socket when it

truly had the power to light up a nation

i can imagine applying ai to satellite

imagery

to build a dynamic atlas that determines

the rates of deforestation or conduct

long-term food forecasting

i want to deploy ai with governmental

and humanitarian leaders striving to

solve the world's most pressing

international development problems

at ibm

the leaders that most effectively

managed innovation globally had an

interdisciplinary skill set complemented

by a vision which was deeply grounded in

technological knowledge

i aspire to cultivate my vision and

technological knowledge at stanford by

learning under assistant professor and

ai thought leader

doctor

dr michael kozinski and by studying

machine learning and natural language

understanding in the engineering school

artificial intelligence laboratory

meantime i will build out the

interdisciplinary skills needed to be a

champion for visionary ideas i would

join the low keynotes to unlock the art

of effectively inspiring an audience

with a vision

i would aspire to become an arvocal

fellow to better understand team

courtney formation and dynamics

i would take political economy courses

such as the future of growth developed

and the developing world and join the

social innovation club to adopt others

perspectives on how to leverage ai to

tackle the most pressing social

challenges

finally i would contextualize my skills

through creating high potential ventures

in developing economies and strategic

management of technology and innovation

perhaps though

uh most compelling to me is the ethos of

self-introspection

woven through the fabric of the gsb

experience

i witness my college friend

enter stanford as a finance

buff

but emerge with a broad skill set in

perspective enabling him to found a

company that seeks to improve immigrant

lending

he shared how touchy-feely lead labs and

global study trips led to deeper

self-awareness

and more importantly he shared how being

immersed in a cohort of uniquely

accomplished colleagues made him

recalibrate who he aspired to be as a

person

so as someone grounded in a lifelong

practice of meditation

i know the power of self-reflection in

helping me evolve to my maximum

potential as a leader

i aspire to continue my personal

inspiration through the gsb curriculum

at its incomparable community