Lisa Neal-Graves - Attorney, Community Leader Advocating for Women in Tech & Tech Executive
Mutale Nkonde - Emmy winning producer and the founder and leader of AI for the People
Nkonde is a much-needed trailblazer and truth-teller in tech during a moment that demands more scrutiny over what we see, believe and understand to be real, accessible, and safe. Named a Global Leader in Digital Human Rights by the Ouano.Foundation, she is one of the leading voices on artificial intelligence, data, social media and digital spaces.
Mutale is an expert in racial justice and tech, a UN advisor and founder and CEO of Emmy-winning communications firm AI for the People – an organization that supports and retains more Black people in the tech field and works with journalists,policymakers, media and others to increase public understanding about how AI, web3 and quantum computing are changing and harming Black lives. Among the few Black women thought-leaders in tech, Mutale’s story is one of overcoming the odds while being underestimated – a journey relatable to many Black women and girls working to prove their worth every day.
Mutale is a leader in a movement to empower and protect Black communities with her ability to translate the technological into the accessible so data and technology work for and not against them. She believes deeply that Black people must be free from unnecessary and unwarranted surveillance and oppression.
An acclaimed policy analyst and researcher who has come through non-traditional avenues. Mutale got her start as a journalist in New York City. Today, she writes and speaks widely at conferences nationwide and worldwide about racism, culture, racial identity and technology.
Mutale has partnered with Google to improve diversity and inclusion work. She is a member of the TikTok Content Moderation Board, an affiliate of the Stanford University Digital Civil Society Lab, a former fellow at the Berkman Klein Center of Internet and Society at Harvard University, and an alumni of the Institute of Advanced Study at Notre Dame.
Mutale was a proud part of the team that introduced the Algorithmic Accountability Act into the US House of Representatives in 2019, and testified to the House Energy and Commerce Committee to support the Act when it was reintroduced in 2022.
In 2022 Mutale was a delegate at the first session for the UN Permanent Forum of People of African Descent, where she advocated for algorithmic bias to be considered a human rights violation. During 2020 she partnered with E. Tendayi Achiume, the former UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, on a report on Techno Racism.
She is a visionary and innovator who dreams of a more just digital and social era that protects civil and human rights for Black women and Black communities.
Mutale was born in Zambia, raised in Britain, and has lived in Russia, the Arab Emirates and Japan. She lives in New York City with her children. She enjoys traveling and is looking forward to being an empty nester.
Last year, Mutale was named a Global Digital Human Rights leader