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Michele S. Williams has spent 25 years inside human services — not advising from the outside, but doing the work at every level, from front-line case management to senior government roles. She served as Family Services Administrator at the D.C. Department of Human Services and led the shift of Washington D.C.'s entire homeless service system from shelter-focused to housing-focused. Today she runs Michele S. Williams, LLC, a management consulting and training firm built specifically for nonprofits and human service organizations. She helps teams close the gap between good intentions and real outcomes — building staff capacity, strengthening leadership, and designing systems that hold. She's a HUD Technical Assistance provider, a Standards for Excellence® Licensed Consultant, and spoke at the 2025 National Conference on Ending Homelessness. She knows what it actually takes to make systems work for people who have been failed by them. Perla Terrero is the Global Head of People Strategy at Sanofi, one of the world's largest biopharma companies — and one that has made AI a central part of how it operates. Her path to that seat ran through 11 years at Nestlé, a Director of Global Talent Management role at Mastercard, and a Master's degree in industrial-organizational psychology, which is the science of how work environments actually shape human performance. She has spent her career thinking about how organizations build cultures where people can do their best work — and what gets in the way. At Sanofi, she's doing that work at scale, inside a company actively integrating AI across its research, operations, and workforce strategy. The questions she's sitting with every day — how AI changes the way people develop, lead, and belong at work — are some of the most consequential questions in the modern workplace, and she has a front-row seat to what the answers actually look like in practice. Dana Reeves has spent more than 30 years at the intersection of marketing strategy and media production. She runs Reeves Media Group in Fremont, Nebraska, helping founders and B2B brands build video content and virtual events that actually move the needle. She's also a senior strategist at Six Five Media, the production arm of The Futurum Group, where she works alongside analysts tracking where AI, cloud, and enterprise tech are heading. What most people don't see on her LinkedIn: she co-leads The Digg Site Productions, a nonprofit running tuition-free film camps for Nebraska high schoolers, and earlier this year helped open FilmSpark Studios — a 1,800-square-foot creative hub in downtown Fremont housing five organizations at the intersection of storytelling, media, and community development. The through-line across all of it is the same: she knows how to take something worth saying and make it visible. We’re proud to spotlight the upcoming Chicago AI Film Festival, a dynamic gathering of creators, technologists, and storytellers exploring the future of filmmaking through AI. Hosted by Playground Pastime, the festival brings together a global community of artists pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with emerging tools. Attendees can expect a curated selection of AI-driven films, conversations with leading voices in the space, and opportunities to connect with others shaping this rapidly evolving industry. From first-time creators to experienced filmmakers, the event creates space for exploration, creativity, and dialogue around AI as a tool for storytelling. As part of our continued commitment to elevating women in AI and creative technology, we’re excited to see voices from across the ecosystem represented on this stage. If you’re curious about where AI and storytelling are headed, this is a moment to step into the conversation. Website: www.chicagoaifilmfestival.com Register For Event: https://luma.com/chicagoaifilmfest 🖋️ Our Featured Artist(s)We are excited to be currently featuring artwork from The Yellow Muse This week's piece comes from Blume Bauer, founder of The Yellow Muse Zine. Blume has been blending artistry with entrepreneurship since 1996. Armed with a Fine Arts degree and three decades of experience, she's the creative force behind The Yellow Studio – where she teaches artists to transform their work into passive income through print-on-demand and AI tools. Think Bob Ross meets business strategy, with a splash of lemon-yellow sunshine. Her motto? "If I'm shinin', everybody gonna shine!" (Yes, she quotes Lizzo unapologetically.) 🎙️ AI Readiness ProjectShe Built a University Because the Old One Couldn't Keep Up, with Sasha Thackaberry, Ph.D.What if the answer wasn't to fix higher education — but to build something new entirely? That's what Sasha Thackaberry did. As founder and president of Newstate University — the nation's first AI-founded, AI-focused university — she spent decades inside respected institutions watching the same patterns repeat: slow curriculum cycles, credential debt that outpaced career payoff, and a widening gap between what learners needed and what schools could deliver. So she stopped trying to fix the old model. Newstate is fully competency-based, self-paced, and stackable. Learners can apply, enroll, and start a credit-bearing course the same day — for $300 a month, no textbook fees, no waiting for next semester. In this episode, Anne and Kyle dig into what that means for professionals who feel behind and what the future of credentials actually looks like.
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