Each year, Ada Lovelace Day celebrates the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. For me, it's also an opportunity to reflect on the different journeys that bring people into technology and the perspectives they contribute along the way.
One of the questions I'm often asked is how I ended up working in AI.
My answer usually surprises people. I didn't study computer science, and I didn't begin my career in technology. I started in a travel agency before studying Business Administration and Tourism, and later worked across areas including process management, business intelligence and data management. What connected those experiences wasn't technology itself, but a curiosity about how things work and how they can be improved.
Looking back, that curiosity was what ultimately led me to AI.
Curiosity opened the door
What attracted me to technology was never the technology alone. It was the opportunity to solve complex problems and create value for people and businesses. Through my work in the travel industry, I saw first-hand how data and technology help connect and power an incredibly complex ecosystem. Joining Amadeus gave me the opportunity to combine my passion for travel with innovation and to help shape how technology can improve the travel experience.
Today, AI is creating exciting opportunities across our industry, and in my experience, the most successful AI initiatives don't begin with technology looking for an application. They begin with a real problem that needs solving.
Start with the problem, not the technology
When generative AI started gaining momentum, I was fascinated by both its potential and its limitations. What convinced me of its value wasn't experimenting with the technology itself but speaking to customers about the challenges they face every day. Those conversations reinforced an important lesson: the goal isn't to use AI everywhere. It's to identify where it can make a meaningful difference, and that continues to motivate me in my role today.
One area I'm particularly excited about is agentic servicing and its potential to help manage travel disruption. When plans change unexpectedly, travelers and travel professionals often need to work through a huge number of options, policies, and constraints in a very short time. AI has the potential to help navigate that complexity more efficiently and support better decisions.
For me, that's where technology is at its best: not as a showcase for innovation, but as a practical way to reduce friction and improve people's experiences.
Building AI people can trust
As AI continues to evolve, I've also become increasingly focused on another question: not just what AI can do, but what it should do.
Building trustworthy AI requires us to think carefully about responsibility, governance and the impact technology has on people. It also requires different perspectives. No individual or team can anticipate every implication of a technology as transformative as AI.
In my experience, the strongest solutions emerge when people with different backgrounds, skills, and experiences come together to challenge assumptions and learn from one another. That's one of the reasons diversity matters so much in technology. Different perspectives don't just help us build more innovative products; they also help us build more responsible ones.
Why there is no single path into AI
That’s perhaps the most important message I’d like to share on Ada Lovelace Day. Almost two centuries ago, Ada Lovelace described how a mechanical machine could follow a sequence of instructions to perform a complex calculation. More importantly, she looked beyond its immediate mathematical purpose and imagined what it might one day make possible.
Of course, AI needs software engineers, data scientists, and technical specialists. It also needs people who understand customers, operations, business processes, ethics, design, and human behavior. It needs people who ask questions, challenge assumptions and bring different perspectives to the table, and my own career is proof that there are many ways into this field.
For anyone considering a career in technology, especially young women who may not see themselves reflected in traditional stereotypes of the industry, my advice is simple: stay curious. You don't need to have everything figured out before you begin. Some of the most rewarding opportunities come from being willing to learn, adapt and explore a path you hadn't originally imagined.
Technology will continue to evolve, and AI certainly will. But in my view, curiosity will always be one of the most valuable skills any of us can bring to the journey.
