I have too much life experience to ever be under the illusion that I know anything for sure. The one thing I never doubt is the undeniable fact that there’s something powerful happening when women come together around AI.

Over the last five months, I have been working with several of Massachusetts’ AI powerhouses to bring Women Applying AI (WAAI) to life, with the focus  on immersing women in AI. Not in competition. Not in comparison. But in collaboration, shared power, and meaningful impact. The not so secret-secret is WAAI is more than a non-profit community to level-up on AI. WAAI is a movement where women across industries and backgrounds are immersed in programming, events, and AI-insider information translated for business executives, leaders, individual contributors, and techies with varying degrees of AI exposure. And, it’s not a one-way street. As The Kendall Project approach has instilled in me: AI is a team sport. Here’s a glimpse of what that looks like at WAAI:

• Our members share skill sets that go beyond the academic; they share contextual learnings and applications of what they know, what they’re learning, and how they’re actually applying AI to real-world work and leadership challenges.
• Every founding member is actively and intentionally investing her time, energy, and professional connections to ensure that we are never the only women in the room and we are never the last women to be in the room.  We’re not climbing a ladder and pulling it up behind us. We’re building ladders side by side—and sometimes laying down stepping stones so others can find their own path faster.

Sharing Knowledge Isn’t Just Nice. It’s Leadership.

Too often, knowledge becomes a currency of power. You hold it close. You protect it. You gatekeep access. You focus on protecting your power through control. But that’s a scarcity mindset—and it’s embedded in too many of the systems that AI is now being built on top of.

Abundant leadership flips that script by understanding that leaders are only leaders when followers enable them to be. AI provides the opportunity to democratize being the architects of opportunity. When women lead from abundance, we don’t hoard knowledge—we multiply it. We share use cases, questions, frameworks, and even our failures. Not to empower. Not to impress.  To equip. Because we know the future won’t be led by the few who know it all—it’ll be shaped by the many who know how to learn together.

This Is What Women Applying AI Really Looks Like

When leadership is rooted in abundance, AI becomes more than a tool for efficiency. It becomes a catalyst for inclusion.  It helps democratize decisions, unlock hidden value, and gives each of us—regardless of where we sit on the org chart—to become architects of new outcomes. After spending my career in enterprise technology, where the keys to the kingdom were held by the few, it is refreshing that it no longer matters if you’re in the boardroom or on the front lines.   A tech degree is no longer needed. A fancy title isn’t needed either.  What is needed is access, context, and community. That’s what we’re building at Women Applying AI:

• A marketing exec teaching a public sector peer how she used ChatGPT to cut campaign development time in half—and then showing her how to make it stick.
• A tech founder walking a healthcare leader through how she trained her team to spot AI hallucinations—before it cost them credibility and trust.
• A CHRO creating space for others to ask: What does leadership look like in a world where AI is making decisions humans used to own?

This is how we shift from gatekeeping to guiding. From power as control… to power as creation. From exclusion… to exponential possibility. How cool is that?!

Four Days Until Launch: Why It Matters

On Friday, September 26th, we officially launch Women Applying AI.  And after 25 years of triumphs, let downs, progress and regression in my work to level the playing field of tech so that all talent can thrive, I can’t stop thinking about what it means: It means we don’t have to sit on the sidelines of the most powerful force shaping our world.  It means we don’t need permission to experiment, lead, or apply AI with purpose. It means the new rules of leadership are already being written—and we’re the ones holding the pen. Not because we have all the answers. But because we’re willing to ask the right questions—and share what we learn along the way. That’s what abundant leadership looks like. That’s what community-powered AI looks like. That’s what we look like. The ripple effect starts here.

About Women Applying AI

Women Applying AI (WAAI) is a global, nonprofit community designed to empower women to apply artificial intelligence in their work and lives. Through skill-building workshops, mentorship programs, and inclusive collaboration, WAAI helps women across industries gain confidence, deepen knowledge, and connect with a powerful peer network. Our mission is to enable women to lead with AI—across industries, roles, and the real world. For more information, visit www.womenapplyingai.com.

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