Teaja Smith
Program Manager
Teaja Smith is the Program Manager for AI4ALL. She identifies as a compassionate disruptor, someone who strives to collaborate with and in the creation of environments that are diverse, equitable, and inclusive through a growth mindset lens. She now hopes to contribute to creating greater access to AI and technological spaces for those from historically excluded groups.
Teaja received her Master’s of Science in Counseling from Long Beach State and completed bachelor’s degrees in Biology and Society as well as Sociology with minors in Inequality and Business from Cornell University. She has a background in mental health, foster/probation youth and families, sociological and biological research, higher education, counseling, diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as social impact/corporate social responsibility.
Prior to joining AI4ALL, Teaja worked at Amplitude as a Program Associate of DEI and Social impact. During her time there, she managed employee resource groups, built a DEI learning journey, worked on policies/programming/mentorship programs, helped with diversity recruitment, and developed a social impact branch. Before Amplitude, Teaja worked in higher education within the cultural centers for students from historically excluded groups, assisting through the use of counseling skills as well as programming that focused on identity, academic, and professional development. Teaja believes that while talent is universal, access is not – especially as it pertains to students from historically excluded groups, which drew her to AI4ALL and its mission.
In her free time, Teaja loves to dance like she is in the circus, eat with her loved ones, and either be outside in nature or cuddled up on the couch with a comic book or video games.