#149 Sandy Carter on How Bold Leadership And Smarter AI Choices Create Real Opportunity

In this episode of 2B Bolder, I sit down with Sandy Carter, Chief Business Officer at Unstoppable Domains, former AWS and IBM executive, Forbes contributor, and author of AI First, Human Always.

We talk about what it really means to take smart risks, build influence through visibility, and lead in fast-moving spaces like AI and Web3, even when you don’t feel 100 percent “ready.”

Sandy shares pivotal career moments, including a $5 billion bet that didn’t seem obvious at the time, and the lessons she learned about arriving early, staying late, and taking ownership before permission is granted. We reframe visibility, not as self-promotion, but as credibility, narrative control, and leadership when the stakes are high.

We also dig deep into what an AI-first, human-always mindset actually looks like in practice. Sandy explains why AI should start with business outcomes, not tools, and how leaders can redesign workflows, decisions, and customer experiences with AI as the lever, while keeping human judgment firmly in control. From pressure-testing arguments to accelerating research, we talk about where AI adds leverage and where humans must always own voice, values, and accountability.

This conversation gets refreshingly real. Sandy shares stories about AI agents quietly changing their own limits, robots learning the wrong behaviors by watching humans, and why simple guardrails, human-in-the-loop oversight, logging, and escalation paths matter more than flashy demos. We also explore why building your own agents, not just relying on ChatGPT, is becoming essential for leaders who want real control and resilience.

Finally, Sandy walks through the origin of Unstoppable Women of Web3 and AI and the powerful three-part formula behind it: education, tribe, and recognition, a model that has trained tens of thousands of women and dismantled the tired excuse of “we can’t find qualified women.”

If you’re a senior leader navigating responsible innovation, or a rising builder wondering if now is the moment to step forward, this episode offers a clear message: lead while you learn, act before consensus, and put guardrails in place so innovation compounds instead of derails.

If this conversation resonated, share it with someone who needs a nudge to be bolder, and leave a review telling me the bold move you’re committing to this week.

Resources: 

• Sandy’s Profile linkedin.com/in/sandyacarter
• BooksBySandy.com
• socialmediasandy.wordpress.com/ 

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Guest Introduction
• 0:33 Sandy Carter’s Career And Calculated Risks
• 5:27 Visibility As Influence, Not Ego
• 8:35 Learning And Leading At The Same Time
• 11:01 Defining An AI First Mindset
• 13:50 Agents, Human In The Loop, And Guardrails
• 17:05 Beyond ChatGPT And Building Your Own Agents
• 20:09 Fears, Physical AI, And Ethics Boundaries
• 24:03 Navigating Public Visibility And Credibility
• 28:00 Staying Informed Amid AI And Blockchain Convergence
• 31:22 Unstoppable Women Of Web3 And AI: Why And How
• 35:05 Impact Stories And Community Confidence
• 37:04 What Being Bolder Really Means