Oliviana Bailey, co-founder of AI4ALL, jokes that she used to juggle three full-time jobs: “Working full-time, volunteering full-time, and… being a mom.” Something had to give, because, as she puts it, “they were all suffering.”
That realization sparked a career change. Oliviana turned her volunteering into a full-time role as co-founder of AI4ALL, which aims to bridge the knowledge gap between AI and society, while raising a two-year-old at home.
Written by Carla Roman
Despite spending four years as a Women in AI ambassador for the Benelux region, growing a community of people curious about AI, and now serving as a co-founder of an AI nonprofit, Oliviana never felt the ‘women in AI’ title fit.
“I didn’t really feel like I fit the Women in AI title, being a non-technical person…so not building AI,” she explained. So when AI4ALL was set up in December 2023 and launched in March 2025, Oliviana aimed to create a place for people who, like her, didn’t always feel at home in typical tech events.
“80% of society’s still not actually using AI. So when people show up to the normal AI and tech events … they can feel very much like outsiders.”
Oliviana, who studied business as an undergraduate and international relations for her master’s, began her career working for startup accelerators in Amsterdam. During this time, her role shifted to building networks for startup AI programs.
“This was 10 years ago, pre-ChatGPT” she said. “So, once you knew 150 people in AI back then, you knew most of the Dutch AI ecosystem.”
Whether it was developing AI communities, building tech content, or enabling startup programs, Oliviana’s career centered on building community and connecting people through AI technology. At AI4ALL, Oliviana strives to build inclusive communities within AI to enable learning among those that still feel like outsiders to the world of AI.
Today, Oliviana admits she feels less like an AI outsider, but by no means does this mean she’s an expert.
“I feel more and more less like an AI outsider…but I don’t ever think I’d ever call myself an AI expert. … but I feel that most AI experts I know, also wouldn’t call themselves an AI experts.”
Using the medical profession as an analogy, Oliviana explained, “no one would say they’re an expert in all parts of the body. You specialize in something.” She added, “You wouldn’t have a GP say, ‘I can do brain surgery.'”
The AI profession is somewhat similar.
Someone deep in hardware may know little about applications, and the reverse is true too. So, in reality, anyone can become an expert in their own field of focus while being an outsider across other AI applications. “Everyone can really become an expert in AI in very different ways nowadays.”
She also argues that being non-technical is an advantage within AI now.
“[AI] still struggles to understand humans and our processes and intricacies,” she said. As AI becomes routine, she expects the skills that matter most to be very human ones: change management, storytelling, taste. She believes “a true skill for people to continue to develop is understanding other humans.”
She pointed to the way AI writes and over-explains everything, missing what a human reader would naturally infer within the text. “Most humans would just be like, this is implied – I don’t need to hammer it home.”
Oliviana uses AI the way most of us wish we could, to make her life simpler and more efficient.
When asked what AI tool she couldn’t live without in her professional and personal life, her answer was clear: “I use Claude Cowork for so much, it’s a Godsend.”
AI has helped her turn a brain dump related to her summer holiday into a calendar she then shared with her parents, showing when she’d be working and when she’d be with her daughter.
As a mother, she talks through toddler sleep problems with AI as a sparring partner. As an expat, she uses it to find local versions of skincare products she used to buy in the States.
Professionally, Oliviana has become extremely savvy in building workflows in AI to optimize her team’s workload. Most recently, she built a workflow for new volunteers that has expedited their onboarding process. It creates each volunteer’s Google account, adds them to the right group emails and sends the welcome messages. The workflow has “cut our time, by like 30 minutes, per volunteer, that it takes to get them all set up.”
That is the idea behind her workshop on October 6th. Using Make.com and Claude, participants will learn what a workflow is, which tasks suit automation, and how to connect their tools. It is the step before building an agent.
A workflow, she explained, is “a step-by-step process that connects different tools together to automatically achieve a task.” One example is an interest form that generates a personalized reply to each response. Another is a spreadsheet of articles you like that produces content ideas for your own thought leadership.” But the appeal for both insiders and ‘outsiders’, should be in understanding workflows which will consequently show users what AI can do for them to make their lives easier.
“I hope that participants will uncover a workflow that works for them,” adding, “I hope they leave with at least one of them built.” But the biggest barrier, and lesson, for most people attending her workshop might be “actually figuring out what AI can do for them.”
When asked what she would recommend for anyone ready to start incorporating AI tools into their daily life, Oliviana highlighted the following four steps:
1. Start small. Pick one repetitive task and sandbox it. Even a reusable Claude skill for a post you write often counts.
2. Start with what you hate doing. Or, look at a task you love and split the steps. Keep the fun part and hand off the logistics to your AI tool.
3. Talk to other people. Their use cases will inspire you, and not only the work ones.
4. Ask your AI tool, the following: “what are things that I ask you to do that could be built as a workflow? It will probably give you a bunch of ideas.”
Oliviana’s workshop is five hours, so she recommends having a Claude Pro account to avoid token limits, though everything can be built on free tools with some “model hopping”.
“Whatever your background…the way in is the same. We will pick something small, try it, and keep improving it,” noted Oliviana.
Join the AI4ALL Community
AI4ALL focuses on women and youth, who are underrepresented and at a disadvantage in the AI race, from data and leadership to everyday usage.
Whether you’re curious about AI, looking to build new skills, exploring entrepreneurship, seeking support to build a career in AI and tech, or simply looking to connect with people who are learning and building alongside you, there’s a place for you at AI4ALL.
Explore our programs, upcoming events, and ways to get involved with the community on our website.