AI is not neutral. It is a tool that is
Annie Gichuru:there to help, but there are biases that are baked into it
Annie Gichuru:because it is gathering data, data that has been fed to it.
Kelly Sinclair:This is the entrepreneur school podcast
Kelly Sinclair:where we believe you can run a thriving business and still make
Kelly Sinclair:your family a priority. This show is all about supporting you
Kelly Sinclair:the emerging or early stage Entrepreneur on your journey
Kelly Sinclair:from solopreneur to CEO, while wearing all of the other hats in
Kelly Sinclair:your life. My name is Kelly Sinclair, and I'm a brand and
Kelly Sinclair:marketing strategist who started a business with two kids under
Kelly Sinclair:three. I'm a corporate PR girl turned entrepreneur after I
Kelly Sinclair:learned the hard way that life is too short to waste doing
Kelly Sinclair:things that burn you out on this show, you'll hear inspiring
Kelly Sinclair:stories from other business owners on their journey and
Kelly Sinclair:learn strategies to help you grow a profitable business while
Kelly Sinclair:making it all fit into the life that you want. Welcome to
Kelly Sinclair:entrepreneur School.
Kelly Sinclair:Welcome back to entrepreneur school. I'm very excited to
Kelly Sinclair:share with you my guest today, Annie gishiru. She is a leading
Kelly Sinclair:racial equity coach and consultant for online
Kelly Sinclair:entrepreneurs, she is deeply passionate about representation
Kelly Sinclair:through a racial justice lens, and combines her experience as
Kelly Sinclair:an internationally certified life coach, her love of
Kelly Sinclair:storytelling and her extensive career as a human resource
Kelly Sinclair:specialist to deliver represented a program That is
Kelly Sinclair:transformational and online, and which has been described as a
Kelly Sinclair:must for business owners who are ready to build a racially
Kelly Sinclair:diverse, inclusive and equitable business. Annie's grace, gentle
Kelly Sinclair:spirit and passion for racially equitable world is setting her
Kelly Sinclair:apart in the coaching and personal development industry
Kelly Sinclair:and as a compassionate educator with an incredible space holding
Kelly Sinclair:ability. And she's joining me today because Annie is one of my
Kelly Sinclair:wonderful contributors in the ease and alignment with AI
Kelly Sinclair:bundle that we have going on, and she's going to talk about a
Kelly Sinclair:very important and often overlooked topic, AI bias in the
Kelly Sinclair:online business space. So we are featuring her guide, her AI bias
Kelly Sinclair:guide, as part of the bundle. You can get it as part of
Kelly Sinclair:listening to this episode. And when I first saw this, I was
Kelly Sinclair:like, we need to have a deeper conversation. This is so much
Kelly Sinclair:more than a PDF, so thank you for joining me, Annie, all the
Kelly Sinclair:way from Australia to have this conversation today.
Annie Gichuru:Thank you so much, Kelly. I'm so excited to
Annie Gichuru:be here and with the collaboration, it's just
Annie Gichuru:wonderful. I can't wait for us to dive in.
Kelly Sinclair:Yes, I mean, I think there's a very broad
Kelly Sinclair:conversation, obviously, one that must be ongoing to be had
Kelly Sinclair:about what racial equity looks like, what diversity inclusion
Kelly Sinclair:actually is. And I want to just give a nod right away to your
Kelly Sinclair:podcast represented for anybody who is ready to step into
Kelly Sinclair:learning and listening to that conversation more, we'll try and
Kelly Sinclair:focus today a little bit more on the AI side, because I think
Kelly Sinclair:this is just an interesting aspect of this important
Kelly Sinclair:movement that's happening. But why don't we start with the
Kelly Sinclair:basics, like setting the stage, and begin with what brought you
Kelly Sinclair:into this work? Was there a specific moment that ignited
Kelly Sinclair:your passion, something that happened? What's the story?
Annie Gichuru:I kind of fell into this work. It's not work
Annie Gichuru:that I ever for so myself doing I'm originally from Kenya, but
Annie Gichuru:I've called Australia home for over 25 years. I came here
Annie Gichuru:initially as an international student Kelly, and the idea was
Annie Gichuru:just to do my undergrad graduate and head on back home. But I
Annie Gichuru:fell in love with this country. I fell in love with Australia.
Annie Gichuru:Loved it so much and ended up staying, getting role after role
Annie Gichuru:after role and staying. But it wasn't until I became a mother,
Annie Gichuru:over a decade ago, that I started feeling I wanted more
Annie Gichuru:out of life. It was always about climbing a corporate ladder. My
Annie Gichuru:professional background is in human resources, and I just felt
Annie Gichuru:like I wanted more out of life. I think having a child will do
Annie Gichuru:that to you, when you feel like you want to prioritize other
Annie Gichuru:things, other than just working and making a living, and you
Annie Gichuru:know your daily grind or your eight to five, I felt like I
Annie Gichuru:wanted more, and it was during that time that I got into
Annie Gichuru:coaching. I did my certification as a coach, and I started
Annie Gichuru:looking at ways in which I could support others, particularly
Annie Gichuru:migrants, who were struggling with feeling unworthy, feeling
Annie Gichuru:less than and especially. You know, looking at the dynamics
Annie Gichuru:and being, you know, mostly minorities in terms of race. And
Annie Gichuru:so stepped into that role supporting migrant women of
Annie Gichuru:color to unshackle self limiting beliefs. But the big, big issue,
Annie Gichuru:and the big, big thing and the gap, was matters to do with
Annie Gichuru:race, something that my peers in the coaching industry were not
Annie Gichuru:understanding or seeing, but those were conversations I was
Annie Gichuru:having a lot with my clients and just so this gap, so this big,
Annie Gichuru:big gap. And it wasn't until, you know, 2020 with the murder
Annie Gichuru:of George Floyd, that people started paying attention. People
Annie Gichuru:started asking, you know, how could we have missed this, or
Annie Gichuru:how can we do better? And that's when I really stepped into this
Annie Gichuru:space of, you know, racial equity and beginning to support
Annie Gichuru:coaches, course creators, online business owners, really on how
Annie Gichuru:to build businesses that are more equitable, how to hold
Annie Gichuru:safer space for us as a people of color, and so I kind of fell
Annie Gichuru:into it. It wasn't something that I intended to get into, but
Annie Gichuru:it's certainly something that I absolutely love. Feel very
Annie Gichuru:fulfilled, and it's work that I I enjoy.
Kelly Sinclair:Yeah, it's incredible to be able to do work
Kelly Sinclair:that is so aligned with a mission that matters to you as
Kelly Sinclair:an individual, right, and that you can see the potential for
Kelly Sinclair:the impact that that makes actually in the in the world
Kelly Sinclair:beyond you. I love, I love connecting with people who have
Kelly Sinclair:that sort of passion about whatever it is that they do
Kelly Sinclair:right? And bring that, to bring that into the light. And I feel
Kelly Sinclair:like I would love to hear your take first before we like narrow
Kelly Sinclair:the conversation too much into the AI, just in general, about
Kelly Sinclair:you know you were talking about like conversations that are
Kelly Sinclair:being had. It almost sounds like you you identified an invisible
Kelly Sinclair:gap right, a gap that is only known by one side of the
Kelly Sinclair:equation. And so what are some of the aspects for people who
Kelly Sinclair:are unaware, ignorant, or whatever word we're going to use
Kelly Sinclair:for that to bring awareness to it.
Annie Gichuru:Yeah, there's a lot of unawareness, because you
Annie Gichuru:don't know what you don't know. Helly and a lot of coaches,
Annie Gichuru:course creators, online business owners, who are providing a
Annie Gichuru:service potentially, are looking at things from one lens, the
Annie Gichuru:lens that they've always known, the lens that they've they've
Annie Gichuru:learned from, and often that is through a Western lens, that is
Annie Gichuru:through a white lens, and you don't know that, especially if
Annie Gichuru:you identify in that way. You just know what you know, and you
Annie Gichuru:don't know what you don't know. But it is when you begin to hear
Annie Gichuru:stories of people saying, well, I don't see myself represented
Annie Gichuru:when I look at this group program, when I want to perhaps
Annie Gichuru:be coached by this person, I want to take this course. I
Annie Gichuru:don't know how that will work out for me, because I don't know
Annie Gichuru:if I will feel seen, if I will seen, if I will feel or held in
Annie Gichuru:a certain way, if this person doesn't quite understand my
Annie Gichuru:background, some of the challenges, the setbacks that we
Annie Gichuru:experience as people of color, and so I'm not too sure if this
Annie Gichuru:space will be inclusive enough. I'm not too sure if this space
Annie Gichuru:will actually from even a safety perspective. I'm not too sure if
Annie Gichuru:I will feel safe enough to really show up as me. And the
Annie Gichuru:gap comes up where you know, potentially coaches, space
Annie Gichuru:holders are like I didn't know that. I All I know is that I'm a
Annie Gichuru:kind person. I am inclusive of people who come from all
Annie Gichuru:backgrounds. In fact, I have clients who are people of color.
Annie Gichuru:In fact, I potentially even have family members, or I'm even
Annie Gichuru:married to a person of color. But that doesn't really exempt
Annie Gichuru:you from having these gaps, or, you know, being able to hold
Annie Gichuru:space that allows somebody to feel a certain way, because I
Annie Gichuru:can tell you that as somebody who has been on the other side,
Annie Gichuru:as a client, somebody who has been a course taker, somebody
Annie Gichuru:who has been a coachee, I can tell when space has been held
Annie Gichuru:for me, or I have taken curriculum, you know, undergone
Annie Gichuru:through curriculum that feels inclusive, that it's not just
Annie Gichuru:one sided I can sense that, and there is a huge difference with
Annie Gichuru:how I then show up and what I take out from that experience,
Annie Gichuru:whereas if I come into, you know, a relationship or a
Annie Gichuru:container where that doesn't exist, there are already
Annie Gichuru:barriers immediately. For me and the host, the person who's doing
Annie Gichuru:all this may not even realize, and the people who are most at
Annie Gichuru:danger or harm are the ones who think, I'm good, I'm already
Annie Gichuru:inclusive, this is also good, but they're the ones who need to
Annie Gichuru:do this work even more, because they're the ones who believe in
Annie Gichuru:this work. It's not I've often had people say, oh, you know,
Annie Gichuru:Annie, you're doing great work. This work is, you know, for
Annie Gichuru:those who need to do this work, the people who are not
Annie Gichuru:inclusive, the people who are part of oppressive structures.
Annie Gichuru:But it'll take us a long time to get to those people. It's those
Annie Gichuru:who have already seen themselves as being inclusive. It's those
Annie Gichuru:who want to be inclusive, it's those who want to have equitable
Annie Gichuru:businesses that need to be leading the way, to be doing
Annie Gichuru:this work, regardless of whether they think they are or not, so
Annie Gichuru:that they can begin to help us pull those who are not into it.
Kelly Sinclair:Yes, so everything that you're saying
Kelly Sinclair:there is making me think there's a difference. And again, this
Kelly Sinclair:whole conversation will be incredibly nuanced, right? But
Kelly Sinclair:in when someone says, I'm good, they think that they're
Kelly Sinclair:inclusive, but perhaps what they just aren't as intentionally
Kelly Sinclair:uninclusive. So therefore you think kind of by the default of
Kelly Sinclair:the double negative, you're, you're, you know, holding the
Kelly Sinclair:space, whereas, I believe, from, you know, my own exploration of
Kelly Sinclair:this and conversations, it's more about intentional efforts,
Kelly Sinclair:intentional barriers being broken down, and setting
Kelly Sinclair:intention behind what you're putting out there. And if we can
Kelly Sinclair:even, like, speak to examples a little bit, because where does
Kelly Sinclair:this come across? It comes across a lot in communication,
Kelly Sinclair:right? And so that's really where it's going to tie in a
Kelly Sinclair:lot, as well into AI use, particularly for me, any anytime
Kelly Sinclair:I'm using AI is to help develop communication materials,
Kelly Sinclair:marketing, website, copy, emails, all of the things,
Kelly Sinclair:right? So the voice that's coming through, that's the
Kelly Sinclair:application of it. So I'm sort of saying, so, yeah, so where,
Kelly Sinclair:how can we then start embracing and being more intentional about
Kelly Sinclair:what we are, even how to evaluate what we're putting out
Kelly Sinclair:there to ensure that we move into more of a intentional
Kelly Sinclair:inclusion rather than unintentional exclusion.
Annie Gichuru:Yeah, great question. And just to take a
Annie Gichuru:step back, you know, a lot of people will view themselves,
Annie Gichuru:especially those who are values led business owners, they will
Annie Gichuru:view themselves as of course, I'm one of the good ones, Annie,
Annie Gichuru:because I am not a racist. I don't use racial slurs. I am as
Annie Gichuru:inclusive as I can be. I volunteer. I do all these things
Annie Gichuru:I am trying to do the right thing, I understand I have
Annie Gichuru:privilege. What privilege even and I understand the role that I
Annie Gichuru:need to play. So I think when people view it that way, that's
Annie Gichuru:the barrier, because they're seeing themselves in light of
Annie Gichuru:this is what the worst kind of scenario looks like. But the
Annie Gichuru:thing is, we are part of a system. You know, race itself is
Annie Gichuru:a, you know, is a social construct, and we are part of a
Annie Gichuru:system, and that is a system that different people benefit
Annie Gichuru:from. And a lot of times, when you're going through your
Annie Gichuru:everyday life, you do not realize how you're benefiting
Annie Gichuru:from this system and how it is having a potentially a negative
Annie Gichuru:impact on another group of people. And so when you go about
Annie Gichuru:life looking at it that way, and saying, I'm one of the good
Annie Gichuru:ones, one of the good ones, you in many ways, miss out on the
Annie Gichuru:ways in which you could be perhaps helping bring people
Annie Gichuru:along the journey. You're doing your bit because you feel like
Annie Gichuru:I'm already doing mine, or I'm not one of those people. And
Annie Gichuru:coming back to being intentional with inclusion, it begins with
Annie Gichuru:the work that we are doing personally. Because if I was to
Annie Gichuru:go ahead and engage with AI and I haven't done the work of
Annie Gichuru:keeping up and understanding the ways in which I can do better as
Annie Gichuru:a human first and foremost, before even being looking at
Annie Gichuru:myself as a business owner. If I'm not doing that internal
Annie Gichuru:work, then when I sit down and I'm getting all this brilliant
Annie Gichuru:assistance from Ai, I will not know when things are biased. I
Annie Gichuru:will not know when the information I am receiving is
Annie Gichuru:coming across in a way that might make my messaging be
Annie Gichuru:exclusive or, you know, exclude people. People that I didn't
Annie Gichuru:want to in the first place. So it requires a level of education
Annie Gichuru:and understanding from your perspective first and foremost,
Annie Gichuru:and then understanding that AI is not neutral. It is a tool
Annie Gichuru:that is there to help, but there are biases that are baked into
Annie Gichuru:it because it is gathering data, data that has been fed to it.
Annie Gichuru:There is also the algorithm that favors certain patterns. And
Annie Gichuru:then there is human bias as well that comes into play. Humans are
Annie Gichuru:feeding the information, and they're feeding it based on what
Annie Gichuru:they know or based on how they want it to behave. So the
Annie Gichuru:potential for it to do certain things in a biased way are very,
Annie Gichuru:very high. And sometimes, if you're not the group that is
Annie Gichuru:being targeted, often you will come in and you will see certain
Annie Gichuru:things and you'll be like, Oh, if we speak to gender, for
Annie Gichuru:example, you know, if you're being given examples by AI,
Annie Gichuru:like, Okay, give me, you know, CEOs, or how would I word this
Annie Gichuru:for people in leadership, and it's a very, you know, geared
Annie Gichuru:towards men, then you're like, hang on. Hang on, you know,
Annie Gichuru:let's take a step back. I'm this is the person I am, and this is
Annie Gichuru:who I'm speaking to. Could you make this a little bit more
Annie Gichuru:gender equitable? And then it'll go about say, Oh, I'm so sorry.
Annie Gichuru:Kelly, yeah, yeah. But you see, if you don't know that in the
Annie Gichuru:first place, you will not know and you kind of run with what
Annie Gichuru:you've been given, and it'll take you in a different
Annie Gichuru:direction.
Kelly Sinclair:What a great example, because in that case,
Kelly Sinclair:you can, I like to subscribe to a human first, AI adoption. So
Kelly Sinclair:to me, this means we have access to some amazing technology and
Kelly Sinclair:tools and potential, but we still, at the end of the day,
Kelly Sinclair:need to have a human lens through which we decide how
Kelly Sinclair:we're going to receive and what we're going to use this
Kelly Sinclair:information and the product of AI for. So that's really
Kelly Sinclair:important. And so that's one piece where you're saying that.
Kelly Sinclair:And so then that plays into the if you do not have the knowledge
Kelly Sinclair:yourself as a human from having done intentional work in these
Kelly Sinclair:areas, then how are you going to flag an issue like this? Right?
Kelly Sinclair:So it's really just pointing out that there's a gap that you may
Kelly Sinclair:not be be aware of, but I love the example of gender, where
Kelly Sinclair:it's quite easy to tell if something's very male focused or
Kelly Sinclair:female focused, right? But we know that, and then we can make
Kelly Sinclair:the tweak and adjust it. But we need to be able to start
Kelly Sinclair:bringing some skills and awareness into it for the
Kelly Sinclair:purpose of the of racial equity as well, absolutely.
Annie Gichuru:And here's the thing with the rise of AI, it is
Annie Gichuru:making people very take a step back, like, I don't need to do
Annie Gichuru:the work. You know, go ahead and produce this list for me, or do
Annie Gichuru:this and the other and yes, there is that ease in that
Annie Gichuru:there's a lot of things that they can do super quickly and
Annie Gichuru:produce those results for you. But the danger Kelly lies in the
Annie Gichuru:fact that when we get to accustomed to things just
Annie Gichuru:happening so quickly and not questioning or taking the time
Annie Gichuru:to continue to educate yourself, you will find you've gone in a
Annie Gichuru:whole different direction that you didn't intend to take so As
Annie Gichuru:much as we are embracing AI and it is supporting us, we also
Annie Gichuru:have to keep up with the education. We have to keep up
Annie Gichuru:with the ethical use of it, the integrity of it. We have to keep
Annie Gichuru:questioning and pushing back certain things, especially for
Annie Gichuru:us, who are space holders and we're working with humans. We're
Annie Gichuru:not in a space where we can just sit back and let it do
Annie Gichuru:everything we've got to question, and this is when we we
Annie Gichuru:have to really invest in learning and understanding this,
Annie Gichuru:this, this tools and these mechanisms and how they've been
Annie Gichuru:built, and are they good for my business? You know what? What is
Annie Gichuru:a better option, or what's out there that is really putting the
Annie Gichuru:human first, you know, getting better with understanding the
Annie Gichuru:tools and how they've been used and how we can use them better
Annie Gichuru:as well. Because how are we prompting them? What are we
Annie Gichuru:saying to them so that they can give us information that perhaps
Annie Gichuru:is more equitable? But it comes back to ethics at the end of the
Annie Gichuru:day, and I think the danger lies in when we get too relaxed, and
Annie Gichuru:even, for lack of a better word, lazy and we wanted to do all the
Annie Gichuru:work and we're not doing our due diligence on the other end,
Kelly Sinclair:Oh, absolutely, 100% agree with you. And I also
Kelly Sinclair:want to circle back to something else that you mentioned, because
Kelly Sinclair:some people might. Understand this as well. It's like, where,
Kelly Sinclair:where does AI come from? Where does AI get all of its insights?
Kelly Sinclair:Information, data, right, data that is programmed by humans.
Kelly Sinclair:And who are those humans that are programming what we are now
Kelly Sinclair:taking as truth? So absolutely needing to maintain a level of
Kelly Sinclair:skepticism for the purpose of, you know, interpreting and and
Kelly Sinclair:ensuring that you go through the effort like we're like, allow AI
Kelly Sinclair:to to help you take some steps, to move faster, to collect to
Kelly Sinclair:give you something to reflect on, but do not hand over all of
Kelly Sinclair:the control to this, because at the end of the day, your your
Kelly Sinclair:reputation is connected to what you put out there. And as a
Kelly Sinclair:business owner, this is so important. And as speaking as
Kelly Sinclair:somebody who is, you know, a brand strategist, it needs to be
Kelly Sinclair:in alignment, and it needs and if you say that your values are
Kelly Sinclair:to be inclusive. How do we check that? How do we ensure that that
Kelly Sinclair:actually is true when we are putting our communication
Kelly Sinclair:materials out there
Annie Gichuru:absolutely and the thing is, you've got to be
Annie Gichuru:doing the work. So the people who are perhaps, you know, a
Annie Gichuru:couple of steps forward are the ones who are doing the work. I'm
Annie Gichuru:still doing my inclusion work. I'm still learning, I'm still
Annie Gichuru:studying, I'm still being a student of this work. It is not
Annie Gichuru:enough for me to say I already know, or I am already good, or
Annie Gichuru:I'm already inclusive. No, it is continually doing the work. And
Annie Gichuru:how do you do the work engaging people who know more than you
Annie Gichuru:do, engaging people who come from backgrounds that are
Annie Gichuru:different from yourself, depending on what kind of
Annie Gichuru:inclusion you're after. You know, today we're looking at
Annie Gichuru:race. So am I reading books from people who don't look or sound
Annie Gichuru:like me? Am I listening to podcasts from people who might
Annie Gichuru:be sharing information I may not know that will allow me to look
Annie Gichuru:at things from a different lens, because lens I'm looking through
Annie Gichuru:is the lens I've been brought up with, the lens that has been
Annie Gichuru:accessible to me. What about the lens that has not been
Annie Gichuru:accessible to me? What about the lens that I don't yet know or
Annie Gichuru:haven't walked through that you know path? How can I learn? And
Annie Gichuru:when we hear those things, and we begin to hear them over and
Annie Gichuru:over, we begin to form belief systems, and our value systems
Annie Gichuru:are enhanced. And in so doing, when we do work with these AI
Annie Gichuru:tools, which are there to assist us, they're not there to take
Annie Gichuru:over, they're there to assist us, then we're able to look at
Annie Gichuru:things in a more critical way and go like, this makes sense?
Annie Gichuru:No, this doesn't make sense. I'm sure you've worked with an AI
Annie Gichuru:tool, and you go like, no, no, no, this is so frustrating. I'm
Annie Gichuru:telling you not to do this, but you keep doing it. It's because
Annie Gichuru:you have knowledge of what you want, but when you don't know,
Annie Gichuru:and you keep getting that information, you'll take that as
Annie Gichuru:gospel and you'll run with it. And chances are you're not, you
Annie Gichuru:will potentially harm your business, your branding, your
Annie Gichuru:reputation, which is so costly.
Kelly Sinclair:Oh, such a powerful acknowledgement there.
Kelly Sinclair:Yeah, thank you for that. I'd love to hear, just for the
Kelly Sinclair:people who, again, because we're talking at the super high level,
Kelly Sinclair:and I've got some like, triggers based on what you've said in
Kelly Sinclair:terms of, you know you need to have knowledge to reflect back
Kelly Sinclair:against what you're given from Ai, as far as an output. But
Kelly Sinclair:when you start having this conversation about AI bias, and
Kelly Sinclair:the reason, perhaps behind your development of the AI bias
Kelly Sinclair:guide, what were some examples? How did you notice this coming
Kelly Sinclair:up in your own use of AI? What was what was happening?
Annie Gichuru:You know, this started years and years ago, and
Annie Gichuru:I did not have an understanding of it. So, for example, many,
Annie Gichuru:many years ago, using digital phones, and you know, being able
Annie Gichuru:to put filters like, oh, you can enhance your face, or you can do
Annie Gichuru:this, or you can there was a time there was even this quirky
Annie Gichuru:things you could do. You could put, like, dog ears, and you
Annie Gichuru:could put fancy eyes and sunglasses and all that sort of
Annie Gichuru:thing.
Kelly Sinclair:And it was try and make zoom meetings fun. And
Kelly Sinclair:then,
Annie Gichuru:yeah, and so I remember trying some filters,
Annie Gichuru:and the filters would not recognize my face. It would come
Annie Gichuru:up with a big black circle, a big black circle, and I'm like,
Annie Gichuru:what's happening? And at that, because it was so many years
Annie Gichuru:ago, maybe 10 or even more years ago, I just go like, Hmm, that's
Annie Gichuru:strange, because I didn't know what I didn't know. Now fast
Annie Gichuru:forward, many, many years later, I understand that that was an
Annie Gichuru:issue to do with the algorithm. That it's not able to recognize
Annie Gichuru:my face because I'm a black woman, and how that filter has
Annie Gichuru:been programmed, has been programmed by a white person.
Annie Gichuru:And so it couldn't recognize my face, and so the whatever I
Annie Gichuru:wanted it to do, it couldn't do it. And so that is a bias that I
Annie Gichuru:came across, and in other ways, more recently, is having
Annie Gichuru:somebody inside of my group program, and we were using
Annie Gichuru:Facebook groups, and every time she would post, her posts would
Annie Gichuru:always get flagged as spam. Like, are you sure? Is this a
Annie Gichuru:member of I'm like, Yes, it is. And she had a lengthy name,
Annie Gichuru:Southeast Asian name. It wasn't your typical western names that
Annie Gichuru:are or Eurocentric sounding. And so it just continually kept
Annie Gichuru:getting flagged. And, you know, with time, obviously she she
Annie Gichuru:stopped engaging as much, and she was very appreciative of the
Annie Gichuru:fact that I had realized that and flagged it and said, Hey,
Annie Gichuru:this isn't spam. This is a real person. She's meant to be here.
Annie Gichuru:And so we encountered issues like that, and I couldn't get
Annie Gichuru:them resolved. And that's when we moved away from using
Annie Gichuru:Facebook groups to using a different container where you
Annie Gichuru:know such things wouldn't happen, and so if you're not
Annie Gichuru:aware of it, you may not think too much about it. But again,
Annie Gichuru:there is that bias when it comes to pronunciation of names, like,
Annie Gichuru:why is it flagging that particular name as an issue,
Annie Gichuru:even though the host is saying, accept this is somebody who's
Annie Gichuru:part of this group. What does that then do her experience was,
Annie Gichuru:you know, deeply impacted, and I could absolutely sympathize with
Annie Gichuru:somebody who has experienced these things in different ways.
Annie Gichuru:And so those are the biases that exist. And if you're not aware
Annie Gichuru:of them, you may not have language, or you will not even
Annie Gichuru:know it is happening. And that is why educating yourself and
Annie Gichuru:knowing and you're going, this is what happened to me, or this
Annie Gichuru:is what's happening, or I need to be on the lookout if somebody
Annie Gichuru:says this or experiences this, I am beginning to make myself
Annie Gichuru:aware and educated, and so I'm a little bit ahead of the curve.
Kelly Sinclair:Those are some very hurtful experiences. That's
Kelly Sinclair:yeah, wow. Do you have any advice as far as a first step
Kelly Sinclair:for sort of auditing your own systems when people are thinking
Kelly Sinclair:about how to better integrate these concepts into AI use. I
Kelly Sinclair:feel like, you know what AI does is it, where's the lens you give
Kelly Sinclair:it, right? I've been doing a lot of work lately in helping to
Kelly Sinclair:develop your brand so that you can have a brand calibration
Kelly Sinclair:tool, which helps it to then sound more like you as an
Kelly Sinclair:individual. So we go through all these steps. We pull that all
Kelly Sinclair:together, extract it, put it into essentially one core
Kelly Sinclair:document that becomes that helps that now I'm not just writing an
Kelly Sinclair:email. I'm writing an email to the people who I said are my
Kelly Sinclair:audience from my voice with my messaging, so it's closer to my
Kelly Sinclair:output, right? So I'm curious if there's is a potential to add
Kelly Sinclair:another layer, another lens, to it like that.
Annie Gichuru:Yeah, there is. And this is where human
Annie Gichuru:connection is so, so important. Kelly, as much as we're relying
Annie Gichuru:on AI tools to make things easier for us and to support us
Annie Gichuru:in our businesses, this is where human connection is really,
Annie Gichuru:really important. And you know, having the ability to do that
Annie Gichuru:audit with another human, you know, working with inclusion
Annie Gichuru:consultants and things like that is very, very helpful. I'll give
Annie Gichuru:you an example. For example, a movie that was done. I can't
Annie Gichuru:remember what it was called, but I believe it won an Oscar. I
Annie Gichuru:think it was best actress or something, but it received a lot
Annie Gichuru:of criticism afterwards, when they said, Oh, you know, the
Annie Gichuru:person who even played this role is doesn't come from that
Annie Gichuru:background. They're not authentic to that ethnicity. And
Annie Gichuru:I feel like we would have been better represented, or perhaps
Annie Gichuru:how they identified was not in the real representation of, you
Annie Gichuru:know, that particular group of people. And so this is where.
Annie Gichuru:And I think the director and the team felt like, Yeah, we should
Annie Gichuru:have done a little bit more work to include people who do come
Annie Gichuru:from this background, who do identify in this way, so that as
Annie Gichuru:we're creating this movie, as we're telling this story, we're
Annie Gichuru:really telling it in an authentic way. We're telling it
Annie Gichuru:as real and as genuine as. We can. We're not just making up
Annie Gichuru:stories as we go along. And this is where, if you're running your
Annie Gichuru:business and you're trying to check, is this true, is this
Annie Gichuru:authentic? You know, having those checks and not relying on
Annie Gichuru:AI 100% and going like, who can I get to come in and have a look
Annie Gichuru:at my work and audit this for inclusion. And the more you do
Annie Gichuru:it, the better you get at it, and you're able to pick up on
Annie Gichuru:these things, and you're able to prompt it in a certain way. But
Annie Gichuru:we're still we have such a long, long way to go there, but it's
Annie Gichuru:just training ourselves to think, Okay, before I put this
Annie Gichuru:material out there, who do I know who can support me in this
Annie Gichuru:way to come in and just have a quick sweep and a quick look at
Annie Gichuru:what I've put out there. Is it inclusive enough? And this is
Annie Gichuru:some of the things that I do with clients, even when it comes
Annie Gichuru:to program names, like, how have you named that program? Is it
Annie Gichuru:culturally appropriating? You know, people who come from a
Annie Gichuru:certain culture, the ways in which you're using certain
Annie Gichuru:sentences, does it make certain people from a particular
Annie Gichuru:background feel excluded? Is the language culturally sensitive or
Annie Gichuru:it is not? And I'm not saying we're doing this to get it 100%
Annie Gichuru:right, but we're doing the due diligence of reducing the harm,
Annie Gichuru:because sometimes we can't be 100% harm free, but we're doing
Annie Gichuru:everything we can to reduce that. The same thing with
Annie Gichuru:safety. We cannot claim that our space is 100% safe, but what can
Annie Gichuru:we do, even just with our homes, with our kids? What can we do to
Annie Gichuru:make the environment safer? That's the key thing. What can
Annie Gichuru:we do to make it safer? What can we do to reduce the harm? And I
Annie Gichuru:think this is when we get people like that to support us in our
Annie Gichuru:business, then we're walking towards having equitable and
Annie Gichuru:more inclusive businesses. We're being deep and intentional about
Annie Gichuru:it. We're not guessing our way around.
Kelly Sinclair:Oh, I think that's so beautiful, because a
Kelly Sinclair:lot of people feel this pressure and this, well, a desire to do
Kelly Sinclair:better, but like a nervousness around getting it wrong. But the
Kelly Sinclair:way that you just describe that is very much about the small
Kelly Sinclair:steps, the efforts, the movement, the moving towards and
Kelly Sinclair:like, you know, every conversation, every pause to
Kelly Sinclair:reflect and consider, all of these are steps moving in the
Kelly Sinclair:right direction. So that felt very validating, for lack of a
Kelly Sinclair:better word for me, even you know, because it's even it's
Kelly Sinclair:challenging to have this conversation right without like,
Kelly Sinclair:I'm trying to be sensitive as well. I want, I know, I wanted
Kelly Sinclair:to have you on this podcast to say, you know, you bring such an
Kelly Sinclair:important perspective, I want to shine your voice to as many
Kelly Sinclair:people as I can. And I've recruited an audience, and so I
Kelly Sinclair:would love to introduce you there. You know, these are the
Kelly Sinclair:steps that I can take right now. And thank you so much for this
Kelly Sinclair:conversation. And is there anything else that you want to
Kelly Sinclair:add here before we kind of close up?
Annie Gichuru:I think as space holders, it is our duty. It is
Annie Gichuru:upon us to create spaces that people come in and they truly
Annie Gichuru:feel seen, they truly feel held, and we actually make that
Annie Gichuru:difference that we want to make. You know, we have the skill, we
Annie Gichuru:have the talent that's been placed in us, but we also need
Annie Gichuru:to do the work of ensuring What am I doing to make sure that I
Annie Gichuru:am educated, I am informed. Things are not taking me by
Annie Gichuru:surprise, and one of the things I'm going to challenge your
Annie Gichuru:listeners Kelly is have a look around your contacts. Have a
Annie Gichuru:look at your social media feed. Who are the people you interact
Annie Gichuru:with? Who are the people that you are engaging with their
Annie Gichuru:posts, or who are the people engaging with your posts? If
Annie Gichuru:these are people who predominantly look and sound
Annie Gichuru:like you, there's already a question there to ask, why is
Annie Gichuru:this the case, and what can I do to have people from different
Annie Gichuru:backgrounds that I am interacting with? Because it's
Annie Gichuru:only when you do that that you're able to see the gaps. So
Annie Gichuru:do that as a little bit of homework when you're scrolling
Annie Gichuru:and see who am I engaging with and who are the people who are
Annie Gichuru:engaging with me? And if you don't have that diverse
Annie Gichuru:representation, chances are there are things that you don't
Annie Gichuru:know, there are gaps that exist, that you cannot see, and it's
Annie Gichuru:time to probably begin to look at things and engaging with
Annie Gichuru:people from different backgrounds.
Kelly Sinclair:Oh, that's such an excellent and. Tangible
Kelly Sinclair:challenge, and also I feel like my own, like personal commitment
Kelly Sinclair:and takeaway. I was thinking, you know, the answer to the
Kelly Sinclair:question is, why is that? It's because it's comfortable to stay
Kelly Sinclair:with what we know and who we you know, hear from, and even when
Kelly Sinclair:you speak to you know, one of the what I'm hearing you say, So
Kelly Sinclair:correct me? If I'm not reflecting this properly, one of
Kelly Sinclair:the steps is, is the ability to take on some perspective that's
Kelly Sinclair:not yours, right? And this is a challenging thing to do as a
Kelly Sinclair:human in general, because we all are just like this is what I
Kelly Sinclair:think this, you know? And that doesn't mean that we're
Kelly Sinclair:projecting our beliefs on other people. We just sit in our own
Kelly Sinclair:perspective and we look through those glasses. Putting on
Kelly Sinclair:somebody else's glasses is something that you have to try
Kelly Sinclair:and do intentionally. So I'm even thinking, you know, I
Kelly Sinclair:recently got back into reading just for fun, and it would be a
Kelly Sinclair:good idea to just find an author of color to just come and get
Kelly Sinclair:into a book, right? It doesn't have to be on the topic of
Kelly Sinclair:racial equity or anything, but just that a step into hearing
Kelly Sinclair:perspective and feeling that a little bit more, right?
Annie Gichuru:I love that so much. It doesn't always have to
Annie Gichuru:be that you're reading about racism, that you're reading
Annie Gichuru:about this atrocities that are happening. Yes, they're all
Annie Gichuru:around us, but you could find a fiction book in the genre that
Annie Gichuru:you absolutely love, but it's been written by somebody else.
Annie Gichuru:It's the language that they use, it's the description, and it
Annie Gichuru:takes you to a different world. It's like what JK Rowling did
Annie Gichuru:with, you know, her books. She managed to take people into a
Annie Gichuru:completely different world that they had never been in, and they
Annie Gichuru:got engrossed, and they started looking at things so
Annie Gichuru:differently. And so that is what we do. When we look at things
Annie Gichuru:from a different perspective, we are beginning to open our eyes
Annie Gichuru:to things that we didn't expect or know, and it makes us better
Annie Gichuru:humans. At the end of the day, it will make you a better space
Annie Gichuru:holder. It will make you a better business. It will just
Annie Gichuru:make you that human who people gravitate towards because
Annie Gichuru:there's something about you that they're not getting from
Annie Gichuru:somebody who's just looking through that one lens,
Kelly Sinclair:yes, and into kind of, like, end that too.
Kelly Sinclair:It's not a checkbox, right? Like, I love that. You say
Kelly Sinclair:there's a feeling, it's a nuance. There's no, like, you
Kelly Sinclair:know, there's no super tangible tips that we're giving you
Kelly Sinclair:today. Like, step one, do this. Check it off, then you're good.
Kelly Sinclair:No, that's not how it's going to be. It's thank you for being
Kelly Sinclair:part of this conversation, listening to this, continuing to
Kelly Sinclair:engage with Annie and others who are speaking into this very
Kelly Sinclair:important topic, and finding ways to bring more of this into
Kelly Sinclair:your own life so that you can be like you said, a better human
Kelly Sinclair:and I feel like thank you so much for this conversation,
Kelly Sinclair:because that is because that is the impact that we were able to
Kelly Sinclair:have today to help people become better humans.
Annie Gichuru:That's so beautiful. Thank you, Kelly for
Annie Gichuru:having me. This has been so special. Thank you so much.
Kelly Sinclair:And Annie has a AI bias Guide, which is
Kelly Sinclair:available in the ease and alignment with AI bundle, and
Kelly Sinclair:the link is in the show notes, and also all of the links to
Kelly Sinclair:check out your podcast, Annie, and find you on your website and
Kelly Sinclair:your program, and anything else that you want to say as a last
Kelly Sinclair:word before we go,
Annie Gichuru:I think I have said everything. But just to
Annie Gichuru:close off, you know you are here. You were created on
Annie Gichuru:purpose for a purpose. Never forget that. Keep showing up,
Annie Gichuru:keep doing your best, and you will reap the benefits of that.