"If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring your own folding chair."   ⚡ Tech Is Not Neutral: How Mara Bolis Is Building an Equitable AI Future for Women!   🎙 In this episode of the InvestHer Podcast, host Anne Ravanona speaks with Mara Bolis, Founder & CEO of First Prompt and Fellow at Harvard's Berkman Klein Centre for Internet and Society, about why women's hesitation toward generative AI is not a knowledge gap but a risk intelligence signal — and what women founders, enterprise leaders, and everyday users must do right now to claim their agency in one of the most consequential technological shifts in human history.   🌍 Discover how Mara Bolis's career arc — from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the U.S. Development Finance Corporation to Oxfam's women's economic empowerment programmes and Harvard Kennedy School — gave her a systems-level lens on inequality that she now applies directly to the AI era. This led her to found First Prompt, publish her 'Fierce Ambivalence' framework in Stanford Social Innovation Review, inspire an OECD expert focus group supported by the German Ministry of Labour, and co-host the Womansplaining AI podcast.   💡 Don't miss this episode with actionable insights on: • Women use generative AI at work roughly 20% less than men — a gap that risks widening the pay divide. • Why hesitation toward AI is a rational response to bias, privacy risk, and unequal judgment, not a lack of confidence. • Mara's 'Fierce Ambivalence' framework: use AI passionately while holding it to the highest ethical standard. • Every major AI tool hallucinates, and Mara shares which ones to trust and how to catch a fabricated answer. • Why free AI tools make you the product, not the customer, and how to protect your data. • The 'shadow usage' risk facing companies without a clear AI policy — and why silence lets bias creep in. • How to turn AI into an investor-pitch coach that stress-tests your fundraising story before the real thing.   This episode is essential listening for every woman who wants to shape the AI era rather than be shaped by it.   🔗 Listen Now | 🎧 Apple Podcasts | Spotify | ▶️ Full Show Notes   About Mara Mara Bolis is the Founder and CEO of First Prompt, an equitable AI adoption lab, and a Fellow at Harvard's Berkman Klein Centre for Internet and Society. Her career spans the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, Oxfam America, the Harvard Kennedy School, and the role of Chief Strategy Officer at Moms First, giving her a rare systems-level perspective on how technology, finance, and gender inequality intersect. Her framework, 'Fierce Ambivalence', published in Stanford Social Innovation Review, directly inspired an OECD expert focus group on women's attitudes toward AI, supported by the German Ministry of Labour. A sought-after speaker and media commentator — interviewed by Bloomberg, CNN, the Washington Post, Reuters, and Forbes — Mara is also the co-host of the Womansplaining AI podcast. She holds an MBA from Johns Hopkins University and an MS in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.   🌐 Website: https://www.firstprompt.net/ 💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mara-bolis-z123/   About First Prompt First Prompt is an equitable AI adoption lab founded to ensure that women engage with generative AI on their own terms, at their own pace, and in community with peers. Inspired by the flat, peer-driven structure of women's savings groups, First Prompt runs learning programmes within organisations, advises leaders on inclusive AI rollout, and conducts research that connects women's lived experience of AI to policy recommendations at the national and international level. First Prompt's work sits at the intersection of gender equality, emerging technology, and systems change.   Resources Mentioned 🌐 First Prompt — Mara's equitable AI adoption lab: https://www.firstprompt.net/ 🎙 Womansplaining AI Podcast — co-hosted by Mara Bolis: https://www.womensplainingai.com 💼 Connect with Mara Bolis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mara-bolis-z123/   Connect with Anne & Global Invest Her 🌐 https://www.investherpodcast.com/ 📂 Funder Directory: https://funderdirectory.globalinvesther.com/ 🛍 Buy From Her Directory: https://www.buyfromher.com/ 🗨️ LinkedIn: Anne Ravanona https://www.linkedin.com/in/anneravanona/   #InvestHerPodcast #InvestHer #WomenFounders #FemaleFounders #WomenEntrepreneurs #AIForWomen #GenerativeAI #GenderAndAI #FierceAmbivalence #FirstPrompt #WomensplainingAI #AIPolicy #EquitableAI #WomenInTech