HumanizeHer with Erica Lockheimer

In this episode of the HumanizeHer Podcast, we sit down with Dr. Hema Raghavan, the CTO and Co-Founder of Kumo.ai and a true pioneer in the artificial intelligence space. As former LinkedIn colleagues, HumanizeHer host Erica Lockheimer and Hema take a trip down memory lane of their days together at LinkedIn. Hema is an absolute powerhouse building at the absolute frontier of deep technical AI. Before launching her own startup, Hema spent years building core engineering systems at iconic companies like LinkedIn, leading the brilliant team behind the massive "People You May Know" engine. But despite operating at the highest levels of technology, Hema's real passion is humanizing AI. If you're feeling nervous about the pace of the AI revolution, she wants you to take a deep breath. Hema promises AI isn't scary - it's actually liberating. By letting AI automate the repetitive grunt work, it frees humans up to reclaim our time, find our true joy, and live more connected lives. Key Takeaways from the Conversation: Democratization of Tech: How AI tools like Claude and Gemini are collapsing traditional skill boundaries, allowing Product Managers and Data Scientists to ship code directly and freeing engineers from tedious grunt work. Debunking the "Four Men in a Garage" Myth: Hema discusses intentionally building a counterculture at Kumo.ai that embraces flexibility, supports "lean-in dads", and treats personal life spikes with empathy. Reframing Risk and Career Growth: A candid conversation on navigating financial risk in startups and the power of radical honesty during the interview process. Heritage and Resilience: Hema shares beautiful personal stories about moving from Mumbai to the US, her parents' dedication to her education, and how a legendary tale of her grandmother taking a boat to Pakistan in 1925 puts modern risk into perspective. Packed with technical insight, vulnerability, and actionable advice from our very own Erica Lockheimer - like "outsource everything but love" - this episode is an inspiring watch for anyone looking to understand the future of AI, parental scaling, and what it truly means to pay it forward to the next generation of women in tech. Special Shoutouts in this Episode: Deepak Agarwal Igor Perisic Vanja Josifovski Jure Leskovec Rosie Jones Rukmini Iyer Hema's Husband & Her Parents ❣️ Listen in and join the conversation with host, Erica Lockheimer and co-host, Elizabeth Wendorf-Bloesser.

HumanizeHer x Shangri La "Visionary Voices" brings HumanizeHer's signature conversations to Shangri La, a Center of Cultures & Ideas and Museum of Islamic Art in Honolulu, Hawai'i, featuring three special episodes with visionary women leaders from Hawai'i. In this episode, we are sitting down with one of the most powerful forces in venture capital building from the Pacific. Chenoa Farnsworth is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Blue Startups - consistently ranked as one of the Top 20 accelerators in the entire United States, built in Honolulu, Hawai'i. In her 25 years in venture, Chenoa has been the architect of the tech ecosystem in Hawaii. She has invested in over 150 companies, helped lead the Hawai'i Angels network, and founded East Meets West - the premier conference that has spent the last 12 years connecting technology leaders across the Pacific. Working alongside Tetris CEO, Maya Rogers, Chenoa is proving that the islands are a world-class hub for tech. She believes Hawaiʻi is a strategic bridge between Asia and North America - and she is betting on women founders to deliver her the best returns. This conversation will change how you think about where innovation happens and who gets to lead it, from the vanguard of redefining Hawaii not just as a destination, but as a thriving global innovation hub. Key Takeaways: "Bridge to Asia" Thesis: Discover how Hawai'i leverages its unique geographic and cultural proximity to act as a crucial link between Western and Asian tech markets, shifting the perspective on what makes the islands a competitive place to build a global business. Tech with a Heart: Chenoa is on a mission to redefine innovation and tech culture from the ground up. Moving away from typical "bro-tech" dynamics, Chenoa infuses her leadership with Hawaii's deeply rooted values of 'Ohana (family) and community. It's a refreshing look at how grounding a business in family-style collaboration can drive true, impactful innovation. Future of Tech in the AI Era: Hear Chenoa's insights on navigating the rapidly commoditized world of AI software and why human relationships, community trust, and a "whole-person" approach will become the ultimate differentiators for successful businesses moving forward. "Kamaʻāina Come Home" Initiative: Learn about the growing movement to draw Hawai'i's best and brightest talent back to the islands to build sustainable, high-paying tech jobs that diversify the economy without sacrificing the local environment. Listen in to discover how Chenoa and her network are bringing the human back to the center of technology, all while proving that a small island community can punch far above its weight on the global stage. Mahalo to VToku for their technical support and partnership with our production crew in bringing this series to life. Listen in and join the conversation with host, Erica Lockheimer and co-host, Elizabeth Wendorf-Bloesser.

Join us for a fantastic and nostalgic conversation with Tanya Staples and Vida Forrest y Salazar, the co-owners and managing partners of Ace Camps Travel! This duo, who first met working together at Lynda.com and navigated the acquisition by LinkedIn, share their incredible journey from corporate executives to entrepreneurs redefining success on their own terms. Their LinkedIn Backstory: Tanya details her start as a technical writer in the mid-'90s, transitioning to product management, and eventually becoming a key leader at Lynda.com who helped pioneer the revolutionary concept of video subscription learning. Vida shares how she transitioned her decade-long passion for higher education into a powerful role at LinkedIn, eventually becoming a full-time lead on the external Equity and Opportunity team, focusing on how the platform could drive social change for marginalized groups. Their partnership, forged in the intense environment of the 2015 LinkedIn acquisition, built the deep trust and resilience needed for their next act. The Pivot to Adventure: The episode is a masterclass in finding fulfillment, covering: The Power of the Me Treat: Vida recounts the pivotal moment on a solo ACE Camp trip in Laos where the creative energy and community inspired her to find her new mission. The Second Founder Advantage: Tanya discusses semi-retiring from LinkedIn after leading Trust & Safety to defrost, and the unique appeal of taking an established, purpose-driven business (ACE Camps) to its next level. The ACE Camps Impact: Discover the organization's ethos, which stands for Adventure, Culture, and Education, focusing on small-group, immersive travel that fosters deep community and creativity, often acting as a catalyst for women to start new businesses. This is an inspiring look at how strong relationships, vulnerability, and a shared passion for culture can lead to a meaningful, fulfilling second act in life. Join the conversation with host, Erica Lockheimer and co-host, Elizabeth Wendorf-Bloesser

Join us for a candid conversation with Anu Muralidharan, COO of Expensify, as she shares the deeply personal story of the intense drive and competitive pressure she inherited from her late mother, who taught her that "being second was unacceptable." Anu opens up about how this drive led to debilitating stress and "scarcity thinking," culminating in a rock-bottom moment where she risked it all with the "Seinfeld experiment," quitting her role for an unstructured position at Expensify. Expensify is the financial software company behind the payments and expense management platform that automatically handles billions of dollars in reimbursements and business expenses. With a rigorous technical foundation—an engineering degree from the elite BITS Pilani and an MBA from Cornell University—Anu had the credentials, but she was vulnerable with us and shared that she felt stressed and completely unmotivated at the midpoint in her career. Anu details how working with a career coach helped her navigate this pressure and find her "true north" by shifting her focus from obsessing about the end result to the quality of the input. This new approach paved the way for her to build Expensify's ops and payments infrastructure, lead the company's IPO, and now direct go-to-market strategy while leveraging AI to drive data-led growth. 🎧 Join the conversation with host, Erica Lockheimer and co-host, Elizabeth Wendorf-Bloesser.

Join us for a deeply informative conversation with Joanna Strober, Founder and CEO of Midi Health, the pioneering telehealth platform transforming women's midlife health. Joanna clarifies the hormonal chaos of perimenopause (which often starts in your 30s) and the shocking truth behind the decades of fear surrounding Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT). She reveals data showing estrogen alone may actually reduce breast cancer risk and improve bone/brain health. We dive into how Midi Health delivers rapid, personalized care from expert Nurse Practitioners, often covered by insurance. Joanna details their focus on comprehensive women's health (sleep, anxiety, weight, and sexual health) and their groundbreaking at-home blood test for truly proactive, personalized medicine. Hear her story of leveraging multiple career pivots to found her "fourth baby" and close a crucial gap in healthcare.

💡 "I play in the spaces where tech, storytelling, and entertainment intersect." Author–filmmaker Abigail Hing Wen joins us to talk about her newest universe, The Vale—a novel with a short-film prequel and a companion Roblox experience about a boy navigating an AI-driven virtual fantasy world. We dig into how she builds story worlds with real AI literacy behind them, drawing on years as an AI tech exec and as the Director & former host of Intel's AI Podcast, plus her work on fairness, transparency & accountability in AI policy. Abigail also opens up about the decade before her "yes," the four "buried" novels that taught her craft, and how that persistence led to the breakout book-to-film journey from Loveboat, Taipei to the Netflix movie Love in Taipei. Website: In this episode 🎭 The making of The Vale — novel → short film → Roblox world 🤖 Using AI thoughtfully in creative work — what helps, what harms, and what's hype 🧗‍♀️ Law → tech → author/director — embracing the "jungle gym" career 🎬 Book-to-film realities — what authors actually control ⭐ How fans truly help — preorders + ratings (Amazon/Goodreads/IMDb/Rotten Tomatoes) The Vale is in the home stretch and every order around the country before September 20 is critical! Please support your local booksellers and spread word! NOTES: sales transactions must CLOSE to count. Indie Bookstores: (preferred) Bookshop.org (preferred) Barnes and Noble Amazon CTA: ✨ If this conversation resonates, preorder The Vale, watch Love in Taipei on Netflix, and drop a quick rating/review—those signals make a huge difference. 🙏 Join the conversation with host, Erica Lockheimer and co-host, Elizabeth Wendorf-Bloesser.

Join us on The HumanizeHer Podcast for a powerful and candid conversation with Nidhi Gupta, a trailblazing leader with a chemical engineering background who rose to become a Chief Technology & Product Officer - then ventured out to create her own business and become a Co-Founder and CEO! Nidhi shares her incredible journey from growing up in India, where she was one of just a few women in her engineering class, to navigating pervasive biases and microaggressions in the tech industry. She reveals how these experiences fueled her passion to create SheTO.org, a non-profit dedicated to accelerating women's leadership in engineering. This episode is packed with unfiltered insights on: Overcoming adversity: How early experiences of bias shaped her resilience and grit The emotional side of impact: Why she prioritizes supporting one life over just chasing big numbers The unexpected challenges of funding a non-profit: Debunking myths about corporate and investor support for mission-driven organizations Building a thriving community: How SheTO's programs achieve remarkable promotion rates for women in tech A White House invitation: The surreal moment she realized her work is being recognized at the highest level. Nidhi's story is a raw and inspiring testament to creating change, fostering community, and finding soulful fulfillment beyond traditional corporate success. Join the conversation with host, Erica Lockheimer and co-host, Elizabeth Wendorf-Bloesser.

Join us on The HumanizeHer Podcast for an incredibly candid conversation with Sabrina Ellis, a powerhouse product leader as VP at companies like Google and Yahoo, and former Chief Product Officer at Pinterest! Sabrina shares her remarkable career journey, revealing the highs and lows of navigating top executive roles in the tech industry. From the early days of the dot-com boom and making Yahoo Mail #1 globally, to steering product at Google and Pinterest, she offers an unfiltered look at what it takes to innovate and lead. This episode is packed with invaluable insights, including: 💡 The power of career breaks: Sabrina openly discusses her intentional "off-ramps" and the confidence (and spousal support!) it took to step away, emphasizing how these breaks fueled her growth. 💡 Defining the Chief Product Officer role: What it means to "herd genius, feral cats" and empower diverse teams to build impactful products. 💡 Navigating adversity in the C-suite: Sabrina shares deeply personal experiences, from a toxic "Coliseum" culture to facing assumptions as an Asian female executive. 💡 "Sabrina's Rule of Three": Her fascinating observation on how minorities are perceived in professional settings and the importance of critical mass for true individuality. 💡 The future of work: A thought-provoking discussion on challenging capitalism's limits and envisioning tech companies that prioritize employees over profit maximization. Sabrina's transparency about self-doubt, identity crises after leaving big brands, and the ongoing journey of self-discovery offers a refreshing perspective. Get ready to be inspired to embrace your own path, challenges and all! Join the conversation with host, Erica Lockheimer and co-host, Elizabeth Wendorf-Bloesser.