Build the Room Own the Room

About Build the Room Own the Room

Black women building with AI. No permission asked. The podcast, the community, and the receipts, all in one place blackwomenwhoai.substack.com (https://blackwomenwhoai.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

A Black Women Who AI Podcast

Category

business · education

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

24 Jul 2026

Latest episode

5 Nov 2026

Latest episodes

9 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   5 Nov 2026

   Build The Room, Own The Room Episode 9

   Build the Room, Own the Room | AI News You Can Use Hosts: Sharitta Marshall and Ella Nance Episode description: Every month we cut through the hype and focus on AI news that affects your work, your money, and your decisions. This month it all comes back to data. Grocery stores are testing personalized pricing. Google is bidding on the data archive from Spirit Airlines’ bankruptcy. And OpenAI says it shut down operations that used invented journalists and fake research centers. We cover what each one means for you and what to do about it. Chapters 0:00 Welcome and intros 1:40 AI in the Real World: surveillance pricing at the grocery store 4:43 Walmart’s promise on electronic shelf labels (and why a promise is not a law) 6:14 What the FTC and Maryland are doing, and why rules vary by state 7:00 What to do at checkout: screenshots, receipts, and speaking up 11:39 Data is the foundation: Google’s bid for the Spirit Airlines data archive 13:36 The privacy problem with “anonymized” data 14:19 Personal AI agents and the automatic opt-in problem 17:21 Diminishing returns and the legacy systems nobody wants to fix 21:57 How to protect yourself: what to write, what to ask your employer 22:56 3 things we’re watching 23:30 AI-enabled fake credibility and how to check a source 25:49 Where our info came from (fact check us) 27:33 Final thoughts: don’t chase every new model 28:48 Wrap and season 2 preview Key takeaways Surveillance pricing means two shoppers with the same groceries can see different prices, based on factors like location, browsing history, and what is in your online cart. Walmart’s CEO publicly promised its electronic shelf labels will not personalize prices by shopper (as of October 15, 2026). It is a promise, not a law. In August 2026, the FTC issued a proposed enforcement policy saying personalized pricing without clear disclosure may violate the FTC Act. It stops short of a ban. Maryland banned personal data-based grocery pricing as of October 1. At least 4 other states have surveillance pricing laws of varying scope. There is no federal ban. Google bid $10 million for Spirit Airlines’ data archive in bankruptcy court. The archive includes roughly 100 million employee emails, 500 million team messages, and 30 million lines of source code. Other bidders are Merkur at $7.5 million and Micro One at $12.5 million. The court decides on November 6. Unions and attorneys object that “anonymized” data can be re-identified when data sets are combined. OpenAI says it shut down 2 operations built on fake bylines and fake research centers. One had about 100 articles under 7 invented journalists. Who paid for what is still unsettled. Before you cite or share something, check that the author exists elsewhere and that the organization has real people behind it. What you can do Screenshot shelf prices and compare them at checkout. Be kind and be firm. Use a farmers market or local store if you can. Check the data and training settings on every AI tool you use. Ask your employer in writing what happens to employee data if the company is sold or goes bankrupt. Assume what you write at work will outlive your employer. Verify the author, the organization, and the people behind a source before you share it. Sources mentioned in the episode Surveillance pricing: Consumer Reports Google and the Spirit Airlines data archive: Fast Company, article by Mark Sullivan AI-enabled fake credibility and the shutdown of 2 operations: OpenAI We said it on the show and we’ll say it here: fact check us too. Connect with usSubscribe to the Substack, follow wherever you listen, and share this episode with someone who shops for groceries. Season 2 is coming with guests. Be okay with being a villain in somebody else’s story so you can be the hero in your own. And when it comes to technology, people first, always. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blackwomenwhoai.substack.com (https://blackwomenwhoai.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

2. 

   17 Sept 2026

   Build the Room, Own the Room Episode 8

   Build the Room, Own the Room Episode 8 Sharitta Marshall opens hot, reacting to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's essay calling for the AI industry to slow down (0:00). She and co-host Ella Nance introduce the episode, explaining they dropped it urgently because the industry's pace isn't sustainable and they know it (0:27). The Essay Itself (2:31) — Sharitta breaks down Amodei's September 12 essay "We Must Pace the Frontier" (https://darioamodei.com/post/we-must-pace-the-frontier), the central call to slow capability gains rather than pause them, and his three-step plan: embedded evaluators, coordinated safety standards, and eventual global coordination including China. Where the Plan Falls Short (4:07) — Ella gives her take as, in her words, "the optimistic realist," raising concerns about undefined terms, the case for actual regulation, and flagging some uses of AI overseas she considers a genuine moral red line. Auditors, Not Evaluators (8:03) — Sharitta argues "evaluators" is too soft a word and pushes for independent auditors with zero financial stake in the outcome, then the two dig into why Microsoft wasn't part of the Big Three conversation reportedly discussed privately by Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google (https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/09/14/anthropic-openai-google-discussed-creating-new-ai-safety-body/). The Hugging Face Incident (10:07) — The July breach: roughly 1,200 OpenAI agents in test sandboxes, about 700 exploiting unpatched vulnerabilities to breach Hugging Face's production infrastructure, over 70,000 coordinated messages, all without human direction. Hugging Face caught it, not OpenAI. Full details in OpenAI's own postmortem (https://openai.com/index/hugging-face-incident-and-the-road-ahead/), cross-referenced against this summary (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_OpenAI_agent_cyberattacks). It's Not That They're Smart, It's That the Doors Were Unlocked (11:18) — Sharitta and Ella reframe the incident: the agents aren't exhibiting some new intelligence, they're exploiting legacy infrastructure nobody patched, the same underinvestment pattern that shows up in any company's neglected old systems. "Yeah, Whatever, We Don't Care" (14:41) — Microsoft, Amazon, and Oracle's dismissive reaction to the whole conversation. Who's Actually in the Room (15:24) — The antitrust wrinkle: Amodei asked Washington for a waiver so the Big Three could coordinate without it looking like price-fixing, and the administration's rejection. Sharitta and Ella close on the real point of the episode, decisions with life-altering consequences are being made on golf trips and private jets by people who'll never live with the outcomes. Related coverage: Trump's comments in Ireland and the live call with Jensen Huang at the All-In Summ (https://www.axios.com/2026/09/14/trump-ai-safety-anthropic-dario-amodei)it (https://www.axios.com/2026/09/14/trump-jensen-huang-nvidia-ai-all-in-summit). Episode closes with a callback to the show's build the room, own the room ethos and an invitation for listener thoughts. Links mentioned: Amodei's essay, "We Must Pace the Frontier" (https://darioamodei.com/post/we-must-pace-the-frontier) Washington Post: Anthropic, OpenAI, Google discussed a new AI safety body (https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/09/14/anthropic-openai-google-discussed-creating-new-ai-safety-body/) Axios: Trump's comments in Ireland (https://www.axios.com/2026/09/14/trump-ai-safety-anthropic-dario-amodei) Axios: Trump's call with Jensen Huang at the All-In Summit (https://www.axios.com/2026/09/14/trump-jensen-huang-nvidia-ai-all-in-summit) OpenAI's postmortem on the Hugging Face incident (https://openai.com/index/hugging-face-incident-and-the-road-ahead/) Wikipedia summary of the incident (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_OpenAI_agent_cyberattacks) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blackwomenwhoai.substack.com (https://blackwomenwhoai.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

3. 

   10 Sept 2026

   Build the Room, Own the Room Episode 7

   Nobody sent us an invitation to the AI conversation. So we let ourselves in. This week on Black Women Who AI, your co-hosts Sharitta Marshall and Ella Nance are naming names. We’re not just talking about how to use the tools. We’re talking about who’s building them, who’s governing them, and who’s scaling entire companies with them, and every person on this list is a Black woman doing it in public. There’s Erin Reddick, who got laid off and decided to build her own AI instead of job hunting for someone else’s. There’s Dr. Sancian Crawford, whose governance system protects leaders from burnout while they lead. There’s Morgan DeBaun, who took a media company to a hundred million people a month and is still teaching founders how AI fits into that. And that’s not the whole list. We’re also shouting out Alicia Little, Marlene Chumal, and Raisha Smith, because Black Women Who AI was never meant to mean just the two of us. We also get into why Ella takes you from zero to 20 and Sharitta takes you from 20 to 40, and what happens when you put those two approaches in the same room. This isn’t a highlight reel of two people. It’s a list that keeps growing, and we want your names on it too. Listen to the full episode now. Work With Us This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blackwomenwhoai.substack.com (https://blackwomenwhoai.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

4. 

   1 Sept 2026

   Build the Room, Own the Room Episode 6

   Black Women Who AI just crossed 1,000 subscribers, and Sharitta and Ella are marking it with the episode that started it all: AI is not smarter than you. It just processes data faster. In this episode, Sharitta breaks down what AI actually is (spoiler: it's not just ChatGPT and Claude, it's your Netflix recommendations, your bank's fraud alerts, your insurance premium) and why the "AI is too complicated" or "AI is unethical" narratives so often keep Black women out of the room entirely. Ella brings the real cost into focus: fear doesn't just rob you of understanding, it robs you of peace, opportunity, and the ability to even imagine what's possible. They get into it on: Why AI has been shaping your life for years, invisibly, long before ChatGPT put the wheel in your hands Who actually benefits when Black women stay intimidated by these tools The ethics conversation and why being absent from the data means being absent from the outcome The widening AI proficiency gap (jumped 75% year over year) and what it's already costing The "assembly line" analogy for how large language models actually work, and why they get it wrong Why your judgment, expertise, and secret sauce can't be replaced, only sped up Start small. Try the tool you've been avoiding. Lead with judgment, not fear. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blackwomenwhoai.substack.com (https://blackwomenwhoai.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

5. 

   27 Aug 2026

   Build the Room, Own the Room Episode 5

   It's the last week of the month, which means it's time for AI News That Actually Matters on Black Women Who AI. Sharitta and Ella cut through the hype cycle and cover what actually affects how you work, build, earn, and make decisions. This month: the data on how AI bias shows up in the real world, not the theoretical one. Facial recognition misclassifying dark-skinned women at 42 times the rate of light-skinned men. A landmark Stanford study of 4 million job applications finding 26% of Black applicants applied to roles where the AI system showed measurable racial disparity. Medical algorithms linked to a 30% higher death rate for Black patients. They break down why this isn't a glitch, why it's the system working exactly as trained, and what to actually do about it, including your right to ask what data was used in a healthcare or hiring decision that affects you. Also on deck: Anthropic posts its first profitable quarter ever, revenue up 14-fold year over year, driven largely by Claude Code Sam Altman admits his own timeline for AI disrupting the economy was way off, and what that says about the real cost of enterprise AI adoption The Westlake, Texas data center fight: a 1.1 million square foot facility, a neighboring city fighting back, and why this keeps happening The AI proficiency gap for AI-exposed jobs is changing twice as fast as less-exposed roles. Don't wait around. Full source links for every statistic are in the Substack post so you can go verify it yourself. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blackwomenwhoai.substack.com (https://blackwomenwhoai.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

6. 

   20 Aug 2026

   Build the Room, Own the Room Episode 4

   Build the Room, Own the Room Episode 4: "The Tools Aren't Neutral" Hosts: Sharitta Marshall + Ella Nance Episode 2 named who's missing from the rooms where AI gets funded and built. This episode closes that loop. Even once you're in the room, the tools carry the bias of the rooms that built them, and Sharitta and Ella walk through the receipts on facial recognition, hiring, and healthcare AI to prove it. Key moments: Facial recognition misclassifies dark-skinned women at up to 34.7%, versus 0.8% for light-skinned men, roughly a 43-to-1 gap and the most documented case of racial bias in AI. Sourced from the landmark 2018 Gender Shades study by Joy Buolamwini and Timnit Gebru (MIT Media Lab), corroborated by a 2019 NIST study of 189 algorithms across 99 developers. AI hiring tools favor white-associated names 85% of the time, per a University of Washington study running over three million resume-job comparisons. The largest study of AI hiring algorithms to date found 26% of Black applicants applied to roles where the AI system showed measurable racial disparity, measured against the EEOC's four-fifths rule. Sharitta's own numbers: 800+ job applications, a master's degree, over 10 years in SaaS, and fewer than 10 callbacks. A live example of what the hiring stats look like from the inside. Healthcare AI bias linked to a 30% higher death rate for non-Hispanic Black patients. Radiology AI trained mostly on male patients. Pulse oximeters that misread darker skin. AI pregnancy monitoring missing 30% more complications in women of color. The business case: gender-biased AI costs companies an estimated $1.2 billion a year in lost productivity. The World Economic Forum estimates fixing it could add $12 trillion to global GDP. Sharitta's take: it's cost-effective to stop being biased, and companies still won't. A real-world consequence: a Black teenager dislocated his shoulder after police wrongly detained him off a facial recognition misidentification, walking home from school with his backpack on. Data ownership in practice: Ella and Sharitta on asking every provider and platform why they need your data, and opting out by default when the answer doesn't hold up. Sharitta's mammogram story, asking a hospital directly if her data as a Black woman would be used to improve preventative care for other Black women. The reframe on "building": you're building the algorithm every time you like, search, or scroll, not just when you sit down to code. Living conscious of that is part of the work. Closing question for the audience: has an algorithm ever made a decision about you that was wrong because of who you are? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blackwomenwhoai.substack.com (https://blackwomenwhoai.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

7. 

   11 Aug 2026

   Build the Room, Own the Room: Episode 3

   Build the Room, Own the Room: Episode 3 Episode Summary Knowing AI is one thing. Getting paid for it is another. This episode tackles the gap between the two, starting with mindset and ending with the real numbers behind pricing your work. What They Cover Why imposter syndrome doesn't hold up for Black women, and why the systemic issues that shape our experience make it the wrong framework to begin with The AI consulting market: worth an estimated $14 billion this year, heading toward $116 billion within a decade Starting from where you are: identifying the skills you already have and turning them into paid offers, AI included Why AI is not smarter than you, and why the real value is in solving the right problem, not the tool itself Market stats: AI hourly rates ranging $150 to $1,000 in 2026, AI corporate training spend at $7.5 billion heading to $18 billion by 2031, and 50% of job roles expected to require AI skills within the next year or two The pricing gap: women average $126/hour in consulting versus $154/hour for men doing comparable work, with intersectionality widening the gap further Value-based pricing versus hourly: 51% of value-based consultants land $10K+ projects versus 39% of those pricing hourly Naming the guilt that shows up around charging what you're worth, and separating that guilt from the actual data Closing reflection: what AI skill have you not yet tied to a charge, a service, or visibility? Notable Moments Ella's reframe: "You can start from where you are and build." Skills already in use, from managing a household budget to organizing logistics to storytelling, count as sellable expertise. Sharitta's mindset cut-through: focus on the problem you're solving, not on keeping up with AI itself, since the tools change constantly but the skill of finding the right solution doesn't. Ella's story on building a personal "sanity checker" tool to catch herself before underpricing out of guilt or fear of losing a client. Sharitta's closer: run on the fact that you are not the people who've gotten by with no proof of concept and no job experience. You have both. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blackwomenwhoai.substack.com (https://blackwomenwhoai.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

8. 

   5 Aug 2026

   Build the Room, Own the Room, a Black Women Who AI Podcast - Episode 2

   Build the Room, Own the Room Black Women Who AI (BWWAI), Season 1, Episode 2: "Why Us, Why Now" Hosts: Sharitta Marshall and Ella Nance Episode Description Black founders raised $643 million by May 2026, and everyone is calling it a comeback year. One deal, SambaNova's $350 million round, is propping up that whole number. Take it out and Black founders are still sitting at 0.32% of national venture capital. Sharitta and Ella refuse to call that a comeback, and use it as the entry point into a wider conversation about funding, representation, and what it actually means to own the room instead of waiting to be invited into it. Timestamps 00:00 Cold open. The $643M "comeback" stat and why it does not hold up. 00:30 Welcome back, episode framing: Why Us, Why Now. 00:52 Breaking down the 2026 "comeback year" claim. SambaNova's $350M round versus the real number once it's removed: 0.32%. 01:38 "Don't call it a comeback." Reaction to the math. 02:19 Reality check: talented Black women in tech exist, they're just invisible in the room. Question raised about whether these numbers reflect the recent DEI rollback. 02:52 The funding gap in context: 0.32-0.4% of VC going to Black founders is not a talent problem, it is an access problem. 03:44 The Series A ceiling: 17% of Black-founded companies reach Series A versus 37% overall. 04:26 The Freedom Fund story. A Black women-led VC fund that got sued for funding Black women's organizations, and what that cost the fund and the founders who relied on it. 05:37 The real funding reality for Black founders: self-funded, credit cards, no generational wealth cushion to fall back on. Sharitta shares having had to stop a business after running out of capital. 06:23 The leadership gap: 3% of Black women hold executive roles in corporate America, not CEO roles, executive roles overall. 07:08 Personal segment: "When did you notice you were the only one in the room?" 07:15 Ella's story. A first job she remembered as easy, realizing mid-conversation it was also the only place she wasn't the only Black woman in the department. Every role since, being mistaken by name for the one other Black woman in the building, an executive she looked nothing like and shared no role with. 10:52 Sharitta's story. One of one, or one of less than three, for her entire corporate career, and a precarious situation that came from being one of two. 11:31 The pivot: how do you move from surviving the room to owning it? 11:41 Defining "Build the Room, Own the Room": the difference between using what you have and actually owning it. 12:27 Why waiting to be invited in is a losing strategy when only 0.4% of capital is available at all. 13:24 The stat that stops the room: women-funded companies generate 78 cents of revenue per dollar invested versus 31 cents for male-founded companies, and still get under 2% of funding. Proof it was never about merit. 14:45 Ella on "my work will speak for itself," and why waiting for your work to be noticed is its own kind of permission-seeking. 15:37 Why Ella decided to build something of her own instead of waiting to be recognized inside someone else's. 16:39 Why Sharitta and Ella started Black Women Who AI: living these stats, and refusing to let the numbers get worse as AI reshapes who gets access to opportunity. 17:55 Calling out the double standard: companies raising millions on an idea with no MVP while Black women builders with real products and real demand get passed over. 18:23 The mission: AI as an equitable resource, and making sure Black women know there is already a community of women building, teaching, and running AI-driven businesses. 19:10 Closing thoughts. This is a sisterhood, not content. Invitation to comment, subscribe, and be part of the community. 20:04 Ella's closing takeaway: success is not one definition. It can be a side business, remote work by the water, whatever version is actually yours. 21:17 The audience challenge: if nothing were holding you back, what would that thing actually be? 22:39 Sign-off and outro. Key Stats Referenced This Episode Black founders raised $643M by May 2026, the strongest quarter since 2022, propped up almost entirely by one company (SambaNova, $350M). Remove that deal and Black founders sit at 0.32% of national VC. Black founders received 0.4% of all US venture funding in 2024, down from 1.3% at the 2021 peak, while total US startup funding rose to $314 billion. Only 17% of Black-founded startups reach Series A, versus 37% overall. Only 3% of Black women hold executive roles in corporate America (not CEO roles specifically, executive roles overall). Women-founded companies generate 78 cents of revenue per dollar invested versus 31 cents for male-founded companies, and still receive under 2% of total funding. Mentioned in This Episode The Freedom Fund (Georgia): a Black women-led venture fund that faced a lawsuit over funding Black women's organizations. SambaNova Systems: the single funding round responsible for most of 2026's "comeback" narrative. Source Notes Crunchbase Diversity Spotlight / Crunchbase News (Q1 2026), Forbes ("Black Founders Get 0.4% of VC," March 2026), AfroTech / Yahoo Finance Black founder funding tracking, BLCK VC 2025 State of Black Venture Report, PitchBook Female Founders Dashboard, Black Enterprise ("AI Power Shift," March 2026), AnitaB.org (http://AnitaB.org) workforce study, MIT Sloan Management Review ("Diversity in AI"), CIO.com (http://CIO.com) women in tech statistics 2026. This Episode's Question If there was nothing holding you back, what would that thing actually be? Drop your answer in the comments. Subscribe To hear New episodes of Build the Room, Own the Room and join the Black Women Who AI community. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blackwomenwhoai.substack.com (https://blackwomenwhoai.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

9. 

   24 Jul 2026

   Build the Room, Own the Room: Episode 1

   Build the Room, Own the Room: Episode 1 A Black Women Who AI Podcast Hosts: Sharitta Marshall (Visionary Development Consulting) and Ella Nance (Nance Coaching Studio, Nance Collective) Episode Summary Welcome to the first episode of Build the Room, Own the Room. This is the origin story. Sharitta Marshall and Ella Nance sit down to explain why Black Women Who AI exists, how the two of them found each other, and what listeners can expect from this show going forward. It started with a TikTok live, a random message neither of them would normally send, and a first call that clicked. From there, Sharitta and Ella built a community focused on one thing: making sure Black women are not left out of the AI conversation, whether that means building it, applying it, or sitting on the boards that decide how it gets used. What They Cover The TikTok live that led to Ella reaching out to Sharitta, and why that first call turned into a full partnership The mission behind Black Women Who AI: helping Black women move past AI hesitation and ethics concerns to see AI as a tool for economic self-determination Why representation in AI matters, and what it means to build community, financial literacy, and consistency around the technology How Sharitta and Ella complement each other. Ella is the careful, foundations-first trainer who meets people at the beginning of their AI journey. Sharitta is the "all gas, no brakes" strategist who takes a big idea and breaks it into an executable plan Why two Black women running this together, unapologetically, is the point, not a footnote The show's content pillars going forward: the business of AI, culture and power, and AI news and impact What to expect from future episodes, including guest builders: Notable Moments Ella on why she reached out to Sharitta after a shared TikTok live, even though cold outreach isn't her usual style Sharitta on being "the puzzle master" who takes a big picture idea and breaks it into pieces that actually get built Ella on representation: seeing someone who looks like you doing something you didn't know was possible can change a life Sharitta on being an HBCU alum - Thee Howard University and why that lineage shapes how she shows up in this work Call to Action Subscribe so you don't miss what's next. If you want to help keep this going, a paid subscription supports the work directly. Drop a comment with your questions or ideas for future episodes. Sharitta and Ella want to hear what you want covered around AI. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blackwomenwhoai.substack.com (https://blackwomenwhoai.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)