What if the most inclusive team you could build starts with one reframe: the human first, the role second?

Lisa Mae Brunson has spent a decade building Wonder Women Tech, the conferences, hackathons, and STEAM programs for the people the tech industry left out, as someone who knew exactly what being left out felt like. She and Elena get into how belonging actually gets designed, why so much "inclusion" is theater, what designing access for the Deaf and hard-of-hearing taught her about every "accessible" room, and where technology that includes people can quietly begin to surveil them.

New episodes of Connected Conversations every week on YouTube and Spotify. Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music also carry the show.

Hosted by Elena Petrova. Connected Conversations is produced by Ad Astra, Inc.

Ten languages moved freely through the house Sheriff Issaka grew up in. Then he came to the US and watched the people he loved most be unable to say a word to each other.

In this episode, Elena Petrova sits down with Sheriff Issaka, Founder and Head of Research at the African Languages Lab, who turned that gap into his life's work: building the tools to bring African languages into the technology the rest of us already take for granted.

It starts as one person's story and opens into a bigger question. Who gets to be understood by the systems we are all about to live inside, and who is actually in the room building them? Along the way: what it really costs to be a "low resource" language, why localization decides whether technology helps a community or harms it, why Sheriff calls Africa the world's next market, and his challenge to everyone building AI, look at who is in the room.

Plus Sheriff answers the question we ask every guest: what conversation do more people need to be having right now?

Hosted by Elena Petrova. Connected Conversations is produced by Ad Astra, Inc.

The story continues. And it gets stranger.

In 1978, Rick Smolan was twenty-eight years old andphotographing an eleven-year-old girl in Korea when her grandmother made an impossible request. Part 1 of this conversation told you what she asked. Part 2 tells you what happened next — including a night in a burning Seoul hotel that neither of them was supposed to survive, and a promise Rick made to God on an eleventh-floor balcony that has shaped the forty-five years since.

From there, Elena and Rick go somewhere harder. They talkabout the shyness that quietly shaped a life spent behind a camera. About smartphones giving everyone a camera, and AI taking away our ability to trust any of the images they produce. About Rick's original idea — the "algorithm exchange" — and what it reveals about the invisible systems already deciding what you see, buy, and believe. And about a conversation Rick believes society is still refusing to have.

A conversation about truth, trust, human connection, andour responsibility to shape the tools we build before they begin shaping us.

Plus Rick answers the question we now ask every guest:what conversation do more people need to be having right now?

Hosted by Elena Petrova.Connected Conversations is produced by Ad Astra, Inc.

Rick Smolan has spent more than four decades telling stories that connect people across cultures, generations, and technologies.In this mini episode of Connected Conversations, Rick explains how storytelling has evolved beyond the printed page. From photographing Robyn Davidson's legendary journey across the Australian Outback to creating smartphone-enabled books that instantly unlock TED Talks, videos, and behind-the-scenes moments, he shares why technology should enrich a story—not replace it.Together, Elena and Rick explore:• Why storytelling continues long after a photograph is taken• How technology can deepen human connection instead of distracting from it• The evolution from traditional books to interactive storytelling experiences• Why the best technology helps people experience stories in entirely new waysTechnology changes.Great stories endure.Hosted by Elena Petrova, Founder & CEO of Ad Astra, Inc. and AdAstraConnect.Subscribe for more conversations about communication, storytelling, technology, and the communities we build around them.

Rick Smolan was twenty-eight years old, photographing for Time magazine, when a dying grandmother in a Korean village asked him to take her eleven-year-old granddaughter to America. He said yes — and that yes set the shape of everything that came next.

In Part 1 of this conversation, Rick Smolan shares the remarkable story behind Natasha's adoption, the chance encounter that made it possible, and the lessons about human connection, storytelling, and serendipity that have shaped his life's work.

In this episode, Elena Petrova talks with Rick about the famous photograph that became the talk seen by over a million people — and about the four-decade arc of work that followed it: the Day in the Life book series, 24 Hours in Cyberspace, The Human Face of Big Data, and the smartphone-enabled books that anticipated AI by years.

We talk about why he calls himself the chief cat herder rather than the star. Why an introvert with a camera became one of the world's most prolific crowd-sourced storytellers. What a photograph knows about human connection that words don't. And how a chance meeting in line at an American Express office in Madrid quietly changed a child's life eight years later.

A conversation about how we actually reach each other, across language, across distance, across time.Hosted by Elena Petrova, Founder & CEO of Ad Astra, Inc. and AdAstraConnect.

Subscribe for more conversations about communication, leadership, technology, and the communities we build around them.

How do you know whether an AI solution is actually useful — or just good marketing?In this mini episode of Connected Conversations, Elena Petrova sits down with Muhammad Atif, President and CTO of PureLogics, to unpack one of the biggest questions leaders are facing right now:When should you move fast with AI, and when should you slow down?Drawing from decades of experience across social media, mobile, cloud, and now AI, Atif shares practical lessons for leaders and CTOs navigating uncertainty.Together, they explore:• How leaders decide when speed matters — and when security should come first• The questions every company should ask before buying an AI solution• How to distinguish between real, value-adding AI and marketing hype• Why many AI products are being sold before they are truly ready• What leaders risk when they adopt technology without understanding the problem it solvesThis conversation is not about chasing trends.It is about asking better questions before making expensive decisions.Hosted by Elena Petrova, Founder & CEO of Ad Astra, Inc. and AdAstraConnect.Subscribe for more conversations on leadership, communication, technology, and the communities we build around them.#ArtificialIntelligence #Leadership #EnterpriseAI #DigitalTransformation #ConnectedConversations

Most organizations are racing to deploy AI. Far fewer are asking what responsible governance should look like before they do.

In this episode of Connected Conversations, Elena Petrova sits down with Muhammad Atif, President and CTO of PureLogics, for a conversation about healthcare AI, HIPAA, and the engineering decisions leaders are quietly making at the intersection of speed and responsibility.

Atif walks through the story of building an AI system for the 340B drug-pricing program — a tool designed to help hospitals predict whether a discount claim will be rejected before they submit it. His team prototyped on a cloud LLM to move quickly and earn the client's trust. They knew from day one that the production version would have to live on the client's own infrastructure, because patient information cannot leave the premises.

Together, Elena and Atif explore:

• Why building in the cloud was still the right first step, even when on-premise was always the destination
• How a healthcare AI model gets stronger over time as it sees more real-world data — and what that means for the gap between prototype and production
• Why HIPAA exists to protect people, and why following it makes engineering more disciplined rather than less
• Why every enterprise needs an AI governance policy before its employees build one in the shadows
• What twenty years of innovation cycles — social media, mobile, cloud, AI — have taught Atif about the questions leaders should actually be asking

This conversation is not just about AI. It is about responsibility. How leaders make decisions when the stakes are real. And what happens when technology moves faster than the systems designed to guide it.

Plus, Muhammad's answer to the question we ask every guest: What conversation do more people need to be having right now?

Subscribe for more conversations on communication, leadership, technology, and the communities we build around them.

Hosted by Elena Petrova, Founder & CEO of Ad Astra, Inc. and AdAstraConnect.

Editorial Note: During this conversation, Muhammad Atif references several public discussions, technology announcements, and policy developments related to artificial intelligence. These comments reflect the guest's views and interpretations at the time of recording. Listeners are encouraged to verify the information, and consult official announcements, regulatory sources, and company statements for the most current information.#HealthcareAI #ArtificialIntelligence #Leadership #HealthTech #ConnectedConversations

What happens when every business starts using the same AI tools?

According to Masha Sharma, VP of Merchant Experience at Groupon, we are entering a world where marketing risks becoming predictable, repetitive, and forgettable.

If everyone uses the same prompts, the same tools, and the same systems—

Do all brands start sounding the same?

In this mini episode of Connected Conversations, Elena Petrova and Masha explore the “cookie-cutter problem” of AI-generated marketing, why authenticity matters more than ever, and the surprising strategy Masha uses to preserve human voice at scale.

Plus, what businesses need to understand before letting AI speak on their behalf.

Hosted by Elena Petrova. Produced by Ad Astra, Inc.

"In eighteen months, most small-business owners won't be talking to their customers. They'll be talking to their agents."

Masha Sharma leads merchant experience at Groupon — over a million small businesses, many of them immigrant-owned. In this conversation, we get into what changes when 60% of work is built by AI, why every campaign is starting to sound the same, and what Masha calls becoming the "conductor of your own AI orchestra."

Plus her answer to the question we ask every guest — what conversation she wishes more people were having.

Hosted by Elena Petrova. Produced by Ad Astra, Inc.

AI, Inclusion, Digital Learning, and Why Human Connection Still Matters with Bryan Chicas

In this episode of Connected Conversations, Elena Petrova sits down with Bryan Chicas, Program Engagement Specialist at ISTE+ASCD, where he works with educators and leaders to design professional learning in technology, digital citizenship, and instructional innovation. Bryan’s argument is simple and uncomfortable: access to technology does not automatically create meaningful learning. And as AI reshapes the classroom, a new fault line is opening — one Bryan is especially focused on. The digital divide is becoming a language divide. The students who learn to use these tools intentionally, in their own language, will pull further ahead.

The ones who don’t will fall further behind. The question is no longer whether students will use these tools. The question is whether we will teach them how to use them well.

About Bryan Chicas:

Bryan Chicas is a Program Engagement Specialist at ISTE+ASCD, where he works with educators and leaders to design professional learning in technology, digital citizenship, and instructional innovation.

He is especially passionate about ensuring the digital divide does not become a language divide as AI and technology continue to reshape education.

In this episode:

• Why technology should support, not replace, human connection in the classroom

• The difference between access and inclusion — and why one without the other fails students

• How online learning communities are quietly reducing isolation among educators

• How educators can meet students where they are, instead of where the curriculum assumes they are

At Connected Conversations, we believe communication is the foundation of every strong community and education is where that starts.

#ConnectedConversations #AIinEducation #DigitalDivide