Role Models in AI: Laura Montoya
Meet Laura Montoya, the founder and executive director of Accel.AI and co-founder of the Latinx in AI Coalition. Laura works to empower underrepresented people in tech through education, resources, and representation. She runs successful workshops like Demystifying AI and the upcoming Mindset Training for AI Engineers and Enthusiasts. We interviewed Laura as part of AI4ALL’s Role Models in AI series, where we feature the perspectives of people working in AI. Check back here on Wednesdays this winter for new interviews.
As told to Nicole Halmi of AI4ALL by Laura Montoya
NH: You are doing so many incredible things! You’re the founder and executive director of Accel.AI. You’re also a founder of the Latinx in AI Coalition. You’re also the East Bay chapter director for Women Who Code. What does your day-to-day look like?
LM: My day-to-day is really varied. Some days are very meeting-intensive — I might be organizing, planning, running events, and interfacing with companies and social impact advocates who are doing work that’s aligned with my mission. Other days, I strive for heads-down work — especially if I’m doing an engineering project, researching, or writing.
Every day, I do my best to find time for self-care and mindfulness, which I think is imperative as an entrepreneur, an engineer, and someone who does social impact work. It’s so important to just keep my spirits up and my sanity in check so I can keep going and doing the work that I’m doing.
Accel.AI — where you’re founder and executive director — is dedicated to lowering the barriers to entry for AI. What barriers does Accel.AI specifically address? And how does your work there complement the work you’re doing through the Latinx in AI Coalition?
Accel.AI focuses on underrepresented people in tech, what I call “untapped resources.” These are often people who may not have access to traditional education or who aren’t aware of the coming effects of artificial intelligence, as well as people who are at risk of being displaced due to automation. A lot of the work we’re doing to lower [education and awareness] barriers involves educating the public through workshops, trainings, and other resources. We help them to understand what’s coming, how technologies like AI may affect them in the future, and how to learn related technical skills if they want to. For those who want to learn the technical skills, we help them understand how they can take their domain-specific education or work experiences and apply them to AI. We also help them get access to resources, scholarships, and education on a schedule that works for them, to empower them to actually transition into a skill or a career that is more high tech.
The goal of the Latinx in AI Coalition is to provide a safe space and representation for Latinx people already working in AI. Some of the work we’re doing there is to increase representation for Latinx people working in AI who may not be invited to speak at conferences or may not be making the news. It’s also so helpful for young people starting out in AI to have role models in the field to look up to.
How did you decide to transition to computer science and AI from the work you did as an undergrad in biology, physical science, and human development?
I worked full time to put myself through school. After getting my bachelor’s degree in biology, physical science, and human development, I decided to not continue on to grad school right away. I worked in the University of Michigan Hospital for a while, then I moved to the Bay Area to work in project management and found that tech was so pervasive! I got really interested in learning more — I taught myself how to code using CodeAcademy and then from there, I got really involved with Women who Code locally in the East Bay and also in San Francisco, eventually becoming a director with the organization.
My first real job as an engineer was at Intuit in Mountain View. I was doing front end development, which is not specifically what I had in mind when going into engineering, but I was excited to learn more and be at a tech company. After some time at Intuit, I realized that front-end development wasn’t for me.
Then, I came across AI. I realized AI actually drew from many of the principles and the processes that I was already really interested in — biological processes, human and animal behavior, how people learn. In that way, I found that AI really allowed me to continue to explore a lot of the interests that I had when I started in my bachelor’s degree and has allowed me to move forward without going to grad school (yet!).
Where do you see AI making the biggest impact in the next 5 years? What are some of the important things people should be doing to create a positive future for AI?
In the next 5 years, we’ll start seeing a lot of technology that’s been in development for 10 or 20 years start to surface. I’m thinking specifically about things like autonomous cars and trucks. Many people outside of tech may not realize the effect those technologies are going to have on the economy in the short term.
In the short term, many people — especially those that aren’t highly educated and don’t understand this technology — are going to be put out of work. On the other hand, those who have access to education will start to enjoy the convenience of these new technologies and embrace it, perhaps not even realizing how other people are being affected. Eventually, everyone else does catch up, but in the meantime, some people will lose their jobs. Those are the type of people that I really want to reach with education and access.
To illustrate that idea, consider that Hispanic people are the second largest demographic in the truck driving workforce. It’s important to help them understand how self-driving trucks will affect them and their families. If you’re the main breadwinner of your house and your job is suddenly no longer available to you, what are you going to do for your family? It’s kind of a double-edged sword. These advancements are great because they’re going to provide efficiency, decrease pollution, and improve safety on the roads. At the same time, some people are going to suffer. I’m working in part to figure out how to try to ease that transition for them.
What advice do you have for young people who are starting to get interested in AI?
Stay focused on math! Even if it gets hard, try to find inspiration from others. Maybe you won’t find that inspiration inside your family or school, but find role models in the community or online. YouTube is such a great portal into other people’s lives — you can really find people doing inspirational things.
Speaking of role models, who were your role models growing up? Do you have any role models now?
Though I didn’t have any science-specific role models as a kid, I admired my mom who was an entrepreneur and a very independent and strong-willed woman. She raised my sister and me as a single parent after my father passed. She worked in the financial services industry without a bachelor’s degree. Seeing her struggle and endure in a very male-dominated and challenging field inspired me to always want to strive for more and to continue fighting when things get hard.
Now, there are a lot of women in the industry that inspire me.
Fei-Fei Li has been a huge inspiration to many women in the industry, including me. Especially because she really cares about diversity and wants to see more women in the field. I also admire people who have taken non-traditional paths into AI, like Omoju Miller who is an awesome data scientist at GitHub. There are a lot of individuals and organizations that have inspired me to keep going and to keep fighting.
About Laura
Laura is the Founder and Executive Director of Accel.AI, a global non-profit lowering the barriers to entry in engineering artificial intelligence. She has been described as a natural and versatile leader with a passion for AI, Computer Science, Research, and Psychology. She has a Bachelors of Science in Biology, Physical Science, and Human Development. She jumpstarted her career in software engineering at Intuit revamping their Quickbooks online platform, after completing an intensive boot camp training program.
She is a Director with Women Who Code, a global non-profit dedicated to inspiring women to excel in technology careers. A founder and co-Chair of the Latinx in AI Coalition, and she also founded and maintains a community forum, TechLore, which focuses on literature that addresses empowerment, entrepreneurship, culture, social justice, and inclusion through the lens of technology.
Follow along with AI4ALL’s Role Models in AI series on Twitter and Facebook at #rolemodelsinAI. We’ll be publishing a new interview with an AI expert on Wednesdays this winter. The experts we feature are working in AI in a variety of roles and have taken a variety of paths to get there. They bring to life the importance of including a diversity of voices in the development and use of AI.
