Scaling with Purpose: Using AI & Data to Win Support and Build Trust from Day One

Most AI solutions fail because they’re built without understanding who will actually use them—and how. Cynthia Lai’s radical approach to purpose-driven AI transforms lives by embedding trust, empathy, and stakeholder needs at its core. After a decade in global data leadership with giants like Deloitte, Cynthia’s personal experience navigating the overwhelming SEND system became the catalyst for Ella Support Loop, an AI-powered platform creating systemic change for vulnerable families.

In this episode, you’ll discover how Cynthia redefines scale—not by numbers but by building trust-first systems that reach every family in need. She shares the secrets of integrating governance, privacy, and co-creation from day one, illustrating how these principles foster authentic relationships and systemic resilience. Cynthia explains why embedding AI into existing workflows, rather than replacing them, empowers practitioners and builds lasting trust—a lesson for corporate leaders aiming for impact, not just reach.

You’ll also hear about the critical importance of understanding stakeholders’ pain points, translating complex benefits into accessible language, and maintaining transparency even when AI isn’t perfect. Cynthia’s journey shows how high-stakes consulting resilience and leadership can be repurposed to tackle society’s most pressing challenges. Her award-winning start-up, launched in mere months, exemplifies how purpose and agility create ripples of systemic change—an inspiring blueprint for businesses hungry to innovate ethically and effectively.

If you believe that technology should serve humanity—not replace it—then this conversation is essential. Cynthia’s blend of corporate rigor and soulful purpose offers a new paradigm for scaling trust, impact, and systemic transformation—proof that challenges really can be our greatest edge.

Perfect for purpose-driven leaders, social entrepreneurs, and corporate innovators eager to harness AI for good—without sacrificing trust or ethics.

Visit anaiya.org for the full transcript, follow the Anaiya Algorithm on your favourite platform, and connect with Cynthia on LinkedIn. Dive into the future where AI transforms lives with empathy, clarity, and integrity.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:17

How does a leader who has mastered the worlds of big data, AI, and governance at a global scale apply that knowledge to one of our most personal and present social challenges? And what can we all learn from that journey? Welcome to the Anai Algorithm, the podcast where we explore how to shape the future intentionally. I'm your host, Magdalene Amegasti. Today we're joined by Cynthia Lyg, a leader with a truly unique perspective. Having driven innovation at corporate giants like Deloitte, she now brings that formidable expertise to her role as the founder of Askela, a new nonprofit venture using an AI-powered platform to help families and professionals get the answers they desperately need about the special educational needs and disability system sent to the center system. This is a conversation about translating lessons from corporate skill to human skill. It's about applying the rigor of enterprise-level AI and governance to build trust with our most vulnerable communities. It is also about how one leader's journey can provide a powerful playbook for us all. So, whether you are in a multinational corporation or a purpose-driven startup, this conversation is for you. Please join me in welcoming Cynthia Live. It's wonderful to have you on the Anna Albertin podcast, Cynthia. Welcome. Thank you. Nice to meet you, Magda.

SPEAKER_01 1:54

I'm really excited to be here today and grateful for the chance to share my journey.

SPEAKER_00 1:57

Absolutely. Would you like to give a quick intro about yourself?

SPEAKER_01 2:01

Sure. I'm Cynthia. I'm the founder of Ella Support Loop. It's a conversational AI ecosystem that we built to help families navigate the special needs education and disability system or SEND for those of you who are within the SEN community. And prior to Ella, I worked in the corporate sector for over 25 years, mainly in data technology and AI, in management consulting, and also within client side.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

Awesome. You've spent years in consulting and data leadership roles at organizations like Deloitte, helping clients navigate complex challenges around AI, governance, and risk. And now you're the founder of Ela Support Loop. What was the thread that connected these two worlds? And was there a lesson of frustration from your corporate experience that planted the seed for ELA?

SPEAKER_01 2:54

Okay, uh, yeah, that's that's a really good question. I get asked that a lot about why I'm doing this. I mean, before we started ELA, so other than my corporate career, I'm also a mum to a 16-year-old boy with special needs, so he's got autism. What I found particularly hard was during COVID, we reached breaking point. It was really hard because, you know, we were all stuck at home and we really didn't get much help because we saw other people struggling as well. So we really struggled to access support. And we were trying to figure out who to speak to, how to get appointments, or even how to fill out forums. And it was really overwhelming because every time we tried to reach out and we think we'd get somewhere, it was always a dead dead end. And also the problem is if you didn't exactly get it right, which there isn't much guidance, um, you know, you didn't get the help you need. Or um so or you just wouldn't get the help you had to you're entitled to at all. And quite often it's hard to know what you are entitled to most of the time. So for me, it was doubly hard because I'm also neurodivergent. So the constant admin, the shifting rules, the endless repetition, it was just, it was frustrating, but it was also extremely overwhelming. And a lot of parents who do have special needs children are also divergent themselves, which makes it even more difficult. What struck me was that things weren't getting any better. So budget cuts, shifting regulation, constant negative headlines in the news. So everyone, parents, media, politicians, were talking about how broken the system is. So there's a lot of like, this is really bad, this is broken, it's getting worse, but I wasn't really seeing real solutions. At the same time, AI was exploding. So you probably have seen it around there's this hype around AI, tools like ChatGPT, Gemini were everywhere, but there were big concerns about safety, misinformation, and privacy. And this is doubly more challenging or higher risk because of the fact is that most special needs parents and children are a vulnerable group of people. And help or getting access to accurate information was quite key. So I did find myself asking, is this actually helping families or is it making worse? But I also saw huge potential in this. This was what planted the seed for Ella Support Loop. We wanted to build a safe, trusted, and regulated AI ecosystem designed specifically for send so families can ask questions in paint language or in any language, upload forums, you know, get drafts for letters, get step-by-step guidance whenever they need from trusted sources. So a council staff and schools can get real-time guidance and insights into what families are struggling with so they can respond and provide a better service. My husband, who's an AI architect and me, made a conscious decision one day to step away from our careers. So uh we wanted to just try to not just plug the gaps in the system, but to see if we could help push for real systemic change. Essentially, we built Ella because we could.

SPEAKER_00 5:44

I love this. And you've hit a good point there. The need to build something with purpose when you see a system that isn't serving its users. We call that you know, and I agree with all that um intentional transformation as is one of our core principles, and and it's great that you've hit that already. Thanks for sharing. So um moving on to you know the concept of redefining scale in consulting, as you know, and I know scale often meant large transformation programs with global reach. LR would mean building transfer systems that can reach every family in need. How has your definition of success at scale changed? And what can corporate leaders learn from the way you now approach growth and impact?

SPEAKER_01 6:30

Okay, I think that's a really good point. So I think if we can recap in the corporate world, for me, scale means numbers, you know, global headcounts, revenue, market share. From a digital transformation perspective, it means building the right foundations and frameworks and governance so you can extend them across teams, countries, or entire organizations. That's my definition of what corporate scale means. At Ella, the scale actually means the same thing. I don't think it is really any different. So it means the ability to grow and extend with solid foundations in place. The context of it is completely different, though. So the context is that we are supporting vulnerable families with high trauma. Um the journey has to take into account different variables uh become more important, like trauma, trust, adoption, emotional safety, safeguarding. So those things aren't add-ons. Privacy is not an add-on either. They are actually the heart of how we design the system. So I think even though the concept is the same or the priorities or the things that are important are different because of the nature of the solution that we're solving. Okay, that's why we apply corporate disciplines like governance, data policy, and automation from day one. So that's something that we put as being really important in the work that we do in designing our solution. We embed them in a way that prioritizes dignity, not just sufficiency. So one of the things that we tell our stakeholders and our leaders is we are not replacing, but we are empowering. So we are empowering advisors, we are empowering parents, we are doing this AI for good because it's there to make things better, not to replace or to reduce headcount. So I think that is the lesson for corporate leaders. So scale with purpose, as you rightly mentioned earlier, scaling with purpose creates resilience. When people trust you, they stay with you. Success isn't just about reach, it's about trust at scale. So, in terms of ELA, more families use ELA, the more insights we generate for schools and councils to fix the systemic issues. They build and understand the problems parents and families are actually facing at the right time in the right place. So scale becomes not just numbers, but about creating systems that improves lives in a sustainable way. And our hope is that more and more councils across England and the country can adopt this. Um, and that's what scalability means to us.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

I love the redefinition of scale and the core principle being trust and impact. Thank you. In your consulting and data strategy roles, you worked on governance and compliance in highly regulated environments. Now you're building a nonprofit that handles incredibly sensitive data. So, how do you apply those lessons to a startup environment? One principle of governance, would you say uh you believe every founder should adopt from day one?

SPEAKER_01 9:33

That's a really interesting question. So I would say for me, the one principle I carry over is govern from day one, not day 100. So for me, that means really I say three things. So design for trust, which is privacy and safeguarding and GDPR compliance are built in. So no personal data without consent, minimal collection, anonymization by default. We also have redaction in SARS processes and policies from day one. We keep our audibility, not just agility. So we also, as a part of our future plan, once our framework is developed and our architecture is more developed, we want to put in trigger automation so that we can more quickly identify issues. So this design for trust is really, really quite key in terms of the governance principles that we deploy. Um, I know it's quite unusual for a startup because it's not something that's, but because of the nature of our product, it is. The other one is co-create and test with the people affected. So this is again really essential in what we do. So to build trust, this is the other angle, is you know, there is a lot of skepticism about AI and data privacy. And, you know, so we knew that adoption is going to be a challenge, particularly when most parents that do deal with SEN processes are typically the mums. And from my experience, they are also the people that are perhaps not naturally early adopters. So we knew that we were going to struggle. So we built this with CEN parents, schools, and councils. So we deliberately brought our three groups of customers in from day one. So we got them involved to tell them what we were doing, to build, to design, to test, for them to sort of give us feedback earlier on about what was working, what isn't. And we are also very, we'll also make sure that we are very transparent in terms of setting expectations early. For example, like saying, you know, AI will probably never be 100% correct. It will always have risks like drift or hallucinations. So because of that, every answer cites trusted sources. There are going to be gray areas. So it's always really important to have that human in the loop. So because people are invested in it, our community of testers has actually grown to different local authorities around London now. So even though they know that it's not perfect, but because they're invested and they're co-creating, they trust us and they've spread the word in their networks. And we've been able to recruit quite a lot of um people and organizations into our pilot quite earlier early on, which is quite key to our success. Embed and don't replace is the third principle. So Ella fits into existing workflows. We don't try to build new workflows, we try to exist in what's already there because, from my experience as a consultant, and you probably know it's really difficult to implement a new system in an existing ecosystem. And there is a lot of evidence that need that's needed and a lot of buy-in. So advisors get drafts, checklists, signposting that slots into current processes rather than forcing a new system. So our role is to empower practitioners, not replace them. For example, a pilot that we are planning to implement is to get parents to use it to prepare for advisor reviews. So there's always a human in the loop, and it helps to empower both the users and advisors, so they are more likely to be on board and want to use it. I think uh, yeah, so I I mean, I don't know what you think, Magda, but I think from my experience, I think what I see is a lot of startups focus on the tools and features, but quite often the products are built, and then the challenge is how can we then embed them into the existing systems? And the risk is that the product may not be used because people are either resistant, they don't trust it, or they genuinely don't know how to weave it into their environment. So we focused on trust and embedding into the system as a feature. That's how we make governance practical in our case.

SPEAKER_00 13:18

I couldn't agree with you more. I've seen instances where a product is built without getting the users involved from the onset, and you almost build something that is completely abstract. What is meant to be something that grows with the users. So it's it's important that you get the users involved and get their input. So it's it's also part of that whole change management base, right? People grow with it, people get used to what you're building, and their input naturally enables you to ensure that as you're building the tool, it's considering all the ideas that keep coming through iterations. I love what you mentioned around governance from day one. Thank you for sharing that. And um, so I think still on trust, sometimes people don't even know what they're using because it's like a whole black box about it. All they see is the is the fluffy plates that they're just clicking and they're getting answers. But what what are we dealing with and how much do you trust the tool using? So you've seen how AI and data are often deployed at scale in commercial settings. At LR, you're intentionally using AI differently, which is great. Prioritizing empathy, privacy, and user trust. How do you design an AI that supports vulnerable families rather than chasing efficiency or commercial metrics?

SPEAKER_01 14:40

Okay, I think I don't know whether my answer might surprise you, but I mean, just to put it into context, in commercial settings, AI is, from my experience, usually optimized for efficiency or profit, as you've mentioned. Measurements and metrics are key. So quite often, when I've done it before, you know, there is always a big set of KPIs, about two or three objectives, and then it filters onto the critical levers that drive change or sentiment within the organization. So the measurement is quite key. And the challenge is how do you create metrics that are going to measure your objective or measure impact? At Ella, the principles essentially are the same. Um, I don't think it would be any different from a commercial setting. We we use the same design principles. So we we have privacy by design. So when we build our architecture, we make sure that privacy is at the heart of it. For example, redaction is done offline before documents are uploaded online. We have transparency of sources when wherever we quote any factual information. We always ensure that we recommend that there is a human in the loop to verify the things that the outputs that it comes out with. But I think the the only difference in the context here is that we do apply a very different lens. The difference is in what we measure and who we design for. So for parents, it's clarity and confidence in the answers. That's our key metrics. They want accurate, clear, and quality answers. For schools, which is another set of our so the the customers that we have are our parents. And then there are the schools. For them, it's about reducing their workload, finding information quickly, ensuring questions are answered consistently. And for local authorities, it is probably more, I guess, commercially minded. So it's about spotting where families are getting stuck. Um and for Citizens Advice Bureau, it's mainly about reducing repeat cases. How many cases can we solve in X amount of time? How do we improve the quality of advice? So for every single type of customer that we have, they would have a different lens. So take an example. One of the biggest pain points for parents is applying for or appealing to education, health and care plan, which is the legal document that sets out support children, child supporting children with special needs should get. So for parents, success is getting clear step-by-step guidance that they can actually use to complete the forums or appeal a decision. So for council, success is being able to see that lots of families are stuck at the same stage so they can interfere or sorry, intervene earlier. Um and for citizens advice, success might be fewer families needing three separate appointments to finish an application because Ella helped them to prepare in advance. So it makes the whole advisor role be about enrichment rather than trying to create an entire application from scratch, which is a lot easier. So the principles are the same, understanding each stakeholder's KPIs, identifying the critical data elements that matters to them, and turning that into metrics that is actionable that they can use. So there is a difference here. And what I'm kind of saying here is um there are metrics that are interesting. You know, people go, oh yeah, that's nice, but then how do we use this? And how do we practically make decisions from this? It's another story. And I think getting that right is really, really key. And that's why I think some uh, you know, consultancy work like Anaya would would really sort of help in sort of steering in that point because it's not that is one of the challenges that most people have. The lens changes, but the outcome is the same. Metrics, they're you know, they're practical, they're they're not abstract, and this is quite key in the success of any pilot.

SPEAKER_00 18:13

Absolutely. Thank you for sharing. This is deep because you've brought it from many angles looking at the collaborators' partnerships you've got as well. Um moving on to you know the power of partnerships. You're collaborating with local authorities and schools, often slow-moving, complex organizations. What lessons from navigating complex consulting projects and stakeholders environments are you applying to build these crucial partnerships? Okay.

SPEAKER_01 18:44

I think it's probably the same as you given that you're from a similar um, you've worked in a similar environment to me in consulting. You know, I I mean I've learned that the key to working with complex organizations is to look at the problem through the customer's lens. That is super important. You need to really live and breathe their pain points, their objectives, and what their outcomes, that what their expected outcomes are. And I think one other key thing is that you do really need to understand their risk appetite. And by that I mean it's not enough to just show them that you understand their need or to present a solution that works. Quite often you also have to be ready and be able to move the agenda forward. And some partners are at a stage where they just want to explore and learn. Others are ready to pilot and take action. So the risk appetite and the readiness for it is quite an important point. My role has been typically to meet them where they are, to help build confidence and to help feel safe enough to take the next steps. So that's my experience as a consultant. So in Ella, I would say I do the same. And that experience has been extremely valuable in helping me to develop it really quickly. So with schools and local authorities, it's about meeting them in their readiness. As you know, you know, the maturity, level of maturity with organizations are drastically different, specifically within social care. So to help understand that and to help them on that journey, as I mentioned before, the co-creation is quite key. Using the right language, testing it with them, getting feedback, and making sure that Ella fits into their existing processes rather than trying to force change overnight is quite key. So it's being with them on that journey and knowing when to pull back and knowing when to support them and trying not to force it. Either changes, you know, as and when that they're ready. I would say on the other side, the other lesson is to be proactive and a little bit tenacious as well. And what I mean here is that if you don't hear back or you get a no, don't be discouraged because that happens. You just need to try another way to reach in or reach out again, or just try a different angle. Partnerships take time and persistence matters. We what I find works for me is I've tried to create win-win situations. So, you know, by sharing insights, by sharing learnings, by giving feedback anonymously what parents have said by sharing some of our early learnings and building relationships, opening the conversation. So we have had resistance, particularly from organizations that may be a bit wary about AI, but um, you know, you just invite them in, just say, you know, maybe they're not ready. We can give them regular updates. And sometimes we find that they do reach out when they feel you know other people are in and on it. Maybe we need to try and find out or be a little bit more curious about what's happening there, because it could impact us. So they will be ready when, but the the key is to be proactive and to try and build relationships, but also be open to listening. That's worked well for us. And finally, I think you need clarity of your value propositions, and I cannot express how important that is. So you need to know what your product is, who your target market is, and what the benefits are to them, because you won't be able to communicate your need and you wouldn't be able to bring them in on your journey if you do not know them from day one. So I would say that is quite key.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Yeah, I think that's a good point. Uh translating value across the different worlds, it is such a core skill. That ability to translate and build consensus is a highly underrated part of any transformation project. And also to get their buy-in, you need to translate that value at a level they can understand.

SPEAKER_01 22:21

Yeah, I did have to tone my language though. Because I've had to, there is that constant growth, and I'm learning every single day. I really enjoy what I do, but you do need to make sure that the language that we use is appropriate for the audience. So that's always for me still a challenge. Yeah. Yes. And lastly, before we move on, I think for me it's about authenticity as well. So I think quite a lot of our partners enjoy working with us because they just feel our passion because we genuinely do care about what we do and why we're doing it. So I think that's really, really key.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

You've said challenges can become your edge. So looking back, how did your experience of navigating high-stakes consulting and governors challenges prepare you for building a non-profit in the sand space?

SPEAKER_01 23:11

I think because I have worked in kind of high-stakes, short, intense projects, I've worked in consulting for a long time. So I've had the experience of being thrown in the deep end to navigate uncertainty, and I've been through budget cuts, politics, competing agendas, and the light. So I think based on that, that those experiences probably taught me resilience and it made me a bit more thick skinned, I suppose. They showed me the importance of preparing for different angles, risk, and viewpoints. So, like sometimes, like when I first started Ella, I was up till three or four in the morning just thinking about have I missed anything? Have I missed any risk? Have I missed an angle that I haven't considered? What are the different angles? How could it be interpreted? What are the risks? So those things were kind of things that it helped because, for example, if you're building an RFP, then you have to look at things from all angles about how people could view or challenge your product or what you've done. So I've also learned to value challenge as well. So I think it is uncomfortable. So when we first started Ella, I did speak to a few parents and some of the comments were a bit cutting, like, oh, this is bad, this is this and that. One thing I did learn from that were expectations are high, particularly if it's to do with kids. So perspective. So, okay, how can we avoid that perception from coming in again? How can we make sure that people don't think that way when they when we first introduced this tool to them? So it pushed us to really adapt and improve very, very quickly. Um, so for me, the edge isn't that I thrive on challenge, but it's more that challenge has shaped me. So it's taught me to stay calm under pressure to listen with humility and with authenticity, and also to accept criticism as a source of growth. This is helpful.

SPEAKER_00 24:50

You're sharing so much from your corporate world and how it's literally transformed you to become who you are and helping with your own.

SPEAKER_01 24:58

Yeah, I I think we've achieved so much because we only started our company in April, and since then we've got we've had a pilot, we're about to launch phase two. We've got quite a few local authorities currently partnering with us and a couple of schools thrust. And recently, I just found I recently was awarded the Shackleton Leadership Award. I am really honored, you know, um, just because of the work that we did with Ella. So, yes, it's been an amazing experience so far.

SPEAKER_00 25:24

That is fantastic. This is a beautiful story from April, and we are only in September, and you've completed a pilot, you've on stage two, and you've won an award. That is that is already testament to how much effort is gone into what you're doing, the passion, and what you're you're developing and the impact it's going to have, not only now but in the future. Beautiful. Congratulations to yourself and your wonderful husband, the entire family, actually, because that would take a lot of sacrifice, dedication to a vision that you all hold here.

SPEAKER_01 26:02

I did get the award, but you're right. My husband has been amazing, and we've had so many amazing parent champions who are our earlier doctors and and and the local authority and schools, so we wouldn't have done this without them because they have just been so great and come on board our journey and trusted us.

SPEAKER_00 26:20

I can't wait to um share this with the wider community because clearly Ella is a transformational tool, it's gonna impact many lives. What is one lesson from the agility and purpose of Ask Ella that you believe would be transformative for a large corporation?

SPEAKER_01 26:39

I would say one of the biggest lessons for me is there is no point building a solution if people aren't gonna use it. Because I I have in my corporate life, especially earlier on my career, built stuff that I thought was amazing and no one ended up using it or it got abandoned. Not through the fault of my own, but because no one's really said, okay, so really who's gonna be using it and how are we gonna be using it and how or they did try and integrate it, but for some reason just people didn't end up using it. So from day one, we built something through co-creation and feedback loops to make sure that it's going to be integrated from day one. So we practically know how it is going to actually be used. We brought in early adopters, our advocates, and that was great because whenever we go to meetings with councils, we might have a parent chair from a school and they would be talking more about Ella than we would, which is amazing. There's nothing better than when someone can talk about your product more than you can. Sween, that has been really great. And I would totally say that one of the lessons is to get your early adopters, particularly with AI and your advocates, know who they are and bring them on the journey early with you, especially with co-design and also with generating warm leads and you know, make sure that you listen, listen to their pain points, be on that journey, understand them, and design around what they actually need and can use, and make sure that you there is trust and this relationship, growth relationships are key. So the second lesson would be about agility and foundation. So, yes, we built really fast, um, because obviously today with AI that is possible, but it's not, I mean, I think we also built governance, privacy, safeguarding, and data principles within our architecture from day one. So we didn't say that that was an after top. That was a very core part of our USP and our product, is that it needs to be safe, it needs to be, it needs, it needs to have privacy, it needs to be compliant, and it needs to get information from trusted sources. So if large organizations want to embrace the same combination, they need to listen deeply to their stakeholders, build trust, and if they want to move fast, they need to move safely. That would be what to me would be transformative.

SPEAKER_00 28:50

Nice. And conversely, what's one big company process or discipline that you believe most purpose-driven startups ignore at their peril? Okay.

SPEAKER_01 29:01

Well, from my experience, I mean, I can only say with AI and tech startups mainly, the discipline that often gets missed, I would say, is nailing the value propositions. I think that would relight that would relate to all startups, actually, is nailing the value proposition from day one. So what are you offering? What is the need, and who are your customers? If you can't get that clear from the start, then it's going to be difficult for it to be sold to your audience. So it's difficult for them to get excited about your your tool or your solution and how to adopt it. So and I guess if people only see AI as something that makes life easier rather than solving a real pain point, they won't prioritize or stick with it. So I would say at Ella, we kind of took a different approach. We built it with our audience, not just for them. So we brought parents, schools, and councils on the journey, built relationships, and we kept testing, and we're still testing. So we made sure we weren't just solving a problem in theory, but we created something people actually trusted and needed. And in terms of funding, because we had pilots running really quickly and buying really quickly, and recommendations from different types of stakeholders, that has helped with us gaining funding and also to build our trading model. So the lesson is know your stakeholders, get your proposition clear, and design for real adoption, not just for novelty or a concept.

SPEAKER_00 30:20

Nice. I like how you just summarized it there. But before we get to the last question, I'm keen to know what personal value acts as your true note. So when you're trying to balance that rigor of your corporate background with the mission-driven heart of your new venture, what personal value acts as your true note?

SPEAKER_01 30:40

I would say is dignity through clarity and leading with authenticity. So whether I was in a corporate boardroom or working with parents in the sense system, my focus has always been: does this give people clarity? Does it reduce harm? Does it preserve dignity? Um, and am I doing this authentically in the process? So for me, authentic leadership is absolutely key as well. So the value helps me balance both worlds. From my corporate background, I bring structure, governance, and discipline. And um, from my personal journey, I bring empathy and mission-driven heart. Clarity and dignity are the compass that keeps me aligned, no matter which hat I'm wearing. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 31:23

This is great. Dignity through clarity and leading with authenticity. Keep it. I've heard so much today. Yeah, but one thing is clear trust is very important. Building with clarity is incredibly important, and leading with authenticity brings it all together because then you can really develop a purpose-driven solution.

SPEAKER_01 31:46

Yes, absolutely. 100% agree on that. And I guess one really key thing is to know your value propositions. Know who your clients are, know what you are actually selling and what benefit they will have, because that is really key in actually communicating your dream or your vision to get across the line and to build relationships. And just to add on to what you're saying, you know, skills and technical expertise and strategy is still important because applying AI is just like um it needs a captain to steer the ship because you know, implementing AI without proper direction or strategy or clear outcomes is just the same as driving a ship into the iceberg. So you do need to have a clear vision or view or design of what you're doing to implement successful AI.

SPEAKER_00 32:39

It's an it's an incredible point. It's an very incredibly important point you just made. One of our um key principles at Anaya Group is that we lead every AI conversation with value first.

SPEAKER_01 32:53

So And I agree a hundred percent with that because there does need to be more investment in understanding the value and the strategy around that before embarking on any of that work. So, whether it's through help with companies like yourself, Anaya, or themselves, but definitely something that needs to be done or prioritized at the start.

SPEAKER_00 33:11

Perfect. Thank you so much, Cynthia. Looking forward to following the great work you're doing and excited for Ask Ella.

SPEAKER_01 33:20

Thank you. Thanks, Megdo. Thank you for having me. It's been a real pleasure.

SPEAKER_00 33:24

Thank you too. Thank you for your candor and for the incredible work you do, Cynthia. My biggest takeaway from this conversation with Cynthia is the idea that our challenges don't have to be roadblocks, they can be the very source of our edge. Building with purpose isn't the easy path, as you can see, but it's the one that built lasting value and trust. So, to learn more about Cynthia's work with Ask Ella and to find a full transcript of this episode, please visit our show notes at anya.org. And if you were inspired by this conversation, the best way to support the show is to follow the Anaya algorithm on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Don't forget to follow Cynthia on LinkedIn and also be inspired by the great work she's doing with Askella. Until next time, keep leading intentionally and see you soon. Thank you.