I'm thrilled to join Colorado AI News as a contributor, bringing stories from the front lines of how AI is transforming not just our technology landscape, but how we show up as leaders, innovators, and change-makers in our communities and learning spaces. As someone deeply embedded in both the Women in AI movement and higher education's AI integration challenges, I witness daily how faculty grapple with reimagining their classrooms while women across industries discover AI as a catalyst for professional empowerment.
Women in AI Colorado has a vision that seeks to meet the challenges of our AI era by positioning women not as passive recipients of technological change, but as active architects of our AI-powered future.
Our Vision
We envision a future where women don't just adapt to the AI revolution, we lead it. Where artificial intelligence becomes the great equalizer that amplifies women's voices, accelerates our career trajectories, and transforms systemic barriers into stepping stones. This isn't about teaching women to use AI tools; it's about unleashing the creative agency that emerges when brilliant minds partner with powerful technology.
The Transformation We're Creating
In traditional workplace structures, women face invisible barriers: our ideas get overlooked, our expertise questioned, our potential constrained by biased systems. But AI changes the game entirely. When women master AI, we gain a collaborative partner that helps us articulate our vision with unprecedented clarity, accelerate our skill development at our own pace, and create entrepreneurial opportunities that weren't possible before.
I've witnessed this transformation firsthand, watching educators discover how AI amplifies their teaching creativity, seeing professionals use AI to build compelling cases for promotions, and observing entrepreneurs leverage AI to launch ventures that might have taken years to develop traditionally. AI doesn't replace human creativity and wisdom; it becomes the catalyst that helps women access and express our fullest potential.
This vision came alive during our recent Boulder Startup Week event, where the art of mentorship revealed itself as one of the most powerful accelerators of this transformation.
The energy at Women in AI Colorado's BSW session was electric. What began as an exploration of mentorship for women founders and technologists evolved into something far more profound, a masterclass in authentic leadership, strategic risk-taking, and the transformative power of intentional connection.
Lightning Strikes First
The evening opened with Melissa Reeve, founder of Hyperadaptive.Solutions, delivering insights on why mentorship is so important with AI and how organizations can spark a ‘collective intelligence ecosystem.’ Her lightning talk set the stage with practical, real-world strategies for helping organizations build sustainable, human-centered AI learning systems, a perfect foundation for the deeper conversations that would follow.
The Panel That Changed Everything
Moderated by Maureen Keating, founder of Swytch Station, the panel brought together four powerhouse women whose diverse experiences created an unexpectedly potent combination. Beth Bostwick, serial entrepreneur and Innosphere Sage Advisor, brought her hard-won wisdom from building and exiting a SaaS company. Julie Penner, founder phenomenologist, investor and transformational coach, shared her deep understanding of the founder's journey. Natalie Levy, founder and managing partner of She's Independent, offered her perspective on funding and gender equity in tech.
What emerged wasn't just advice, it was a blueprint for revolutionary thinking about mentorship and leadership.
Beyond Traditional Mentorship
The conversation quickly moved past conventional mentorship models. Penner reframed the entire concept: "Mentorship is a big umbrella," she explained, advocating for both narrow career-focused mentoring from those one to two levels above you inside your organization, and the power of peer mentorship for entrepreneurs. Bostwick reinforced this, emphasizing that entrepreneurs need both traditional mentors and peer-to-peer relationships.
The Money Conversation
One of the evening's most powerful moments came when Levy directly addressed what many women avoid discussing: money. Her advice was both simple and revolutionary, talk money with women friends, including how much they make. "Women need to fund big things that help improve women's lives," she declared, connecting financial literacy directly to gender equity and innovation.
Authenticity as Strategy
The panel's most transformative thread centered on authenticity versus strategic adaptation. Levy shared her personal evolution: "I was behaving, but I wasn't authentic; now I choose to be me." This vulnerability opens new doors, invites nuanced discussions, navigates to stronger alignment and in Levy words: “allows me to operate on a different plane.”
Penner offered tactical wisdom: "Sometimes play the game, and know you are playing the game. Investors will look for confidence, someone that makes writing a check feel safe. But choose when to take off the masks." The message was clear: Authenticity isn't about rejecting strategic thinking, but about conscious choice in how and when to show up fully.
The Two-Way Mentorship Revolution
Perhaps the most actionable insight came around reimagining mentorship as inherently reciprocal. The best mentorship relationships, the panelists agreed, are two-way exchanges. Want a mentor? Research what matters to them and give them something they haven’t seen or thought about before. The old model of one-way wisdom transfer was replaced with something more dynamic and sustainable.
Practical Magic
The evening wasn't just philosophical, it was deeply practical. Attendees received specific guidance on how to be better mentees: Provide context, be specific, do LinkedIn research beforehand, ask questions that leverage the mentor's area of expertise, and above all, be authentic.
For mentors, the advice was equally clear: Challenge mentees' thinking, speak your mind, stay curious, and remember that developing the whole human matters as much as professional growth.
The Ripple Effect
The response was immediate and overwhelming. Post-event emails flooded in with testimonials such as, "I think that was the best talk I have heard in years" and "So many things I needed to hear on that panel discussion." The combination of practical wisdom and transformative thinking had clearly struck a chord.
Looking Ahead
What made this event extraordinary wasn't just the quality of insights, it was the demonstration of mentorship in action. The panelists modeled the very principles they advocated: authenticity, reciprocity, and the courage to think big and bold.
As the AI landscape continues to evolve at breakneck speed, events like this remind us that the most important innovations aren't just technological, they're human. The art of mentorship, as demonstrated by Women in AI Colorado, isn't just about career advancement. It's about creating the conditions for authentic leadership, sustainable innovation, and the kind of bold thinking that shapes the future.
For those who missed this transformative evening, the message is clear: the time is now. Whether you're seeking mentorship, offering it, or reimagining what it could be, the blueprint for extraordinary impact is surprisingly accessible. It starts with authenticity, demands reciprocity, and requires the courage to fund, build, and dream big.
Women in AI Colorado continues to host monthly events that combine practical AI education with community building. For information about upcoming events and how to get involved, connect with their Meetup group here.
