Reviews
Canopy is a privacy startup located in Brooklyn that combines on-device machine learning and differential privacy to ensure no personal data leaves your device.
“Allison brought clarity to the possibilities of our vision at Canopy and pushed us on the fundamental questions of what we’re doing. Her in-depth research, strategic analysis, product contributions and network helped us to define a clear strategy and get a deeper understanding of possibilities and limitations of tech.”-Brian Whitman & Annika Goldman, Canopy CEO & COO
UNICEF Office of Innovation takes emerging technological tools and tests how they can be applied to benefit the world’s most vulnerable women and children. If successful, we scale those technologies to positively impact children around the world.
“As the Speculative Hardware lead for UNICEF Innovation, Allison met with key government officials, UN stakeholders, industry leaders, and students to help negotiate the first-of-its kind drone testing corridor for humanitarian and development testing of UAVs in Malawi. She helped bring a consensus together on the use of drones for vaccine delivery and flood response, far ahead of its time. Allison understood the international tech landscape and how to strategically use power to accomplish the UN innovation goals. She advised the UNICEF Venture fund on key UAV investments.”
-Ariam Mogos, Office of Innovation
Cooperation Jackson is a vehicle for sustainable community development, economic democracy, and community ownership in Jackson, Mississippi. We have developed a cooperative network that consists of an urban farming cooperative, a lawn care cooperative, a small scale manufacturing cooperative, a cooperative incubator and a cooperative education and training center. Cooperation Jackson also has a Community Land Trust which stewards over 40 properties, including 3 commercial lots and a shopping mall.
“Allison came to Jackson with a unique capacity to deeply and quickly understand our technical, political and social situation. She contributed to the framework to build the Fabrication Lab, 6-figure grants we successfully got, and advised on how to build our technical capacity with schools and institutions. We had a lot of timely discussions on what to build and what not to build regarding blockchain, software development and digital fabrication. We’re really glad we worked with her. We’d recommend her to any institution that needs a big-picture technical thinker but also someone who understands humans with deep empathy.”
- Kali Akuno, Executive Director of Cooperation Jackson
Meredith Whittaker and I first collaborated when she asked me to speak about privacy in 2015. Since then, I’ve advised her on her multiple projects involving the implications of artificial intelligence and labor organizing around ethical issues in the tech industry.
“Allison is the ultimate BS detector. She’s been in and around the tech industry for over a decade, as have I, and I’ve rarely met someone who is able to get to the heart of a technical issues and their broader implications with as much clarity and precision. I wish she’d been at many of the meetings where bad projects based on incomplete thinking were approved. If every tech-related effort had Allison as an advisor, we’d have a radically improved tech sector.”
- Meredith Whittaker, Co-founder of NYU’s AI Now Institute