AI Strategy & Movement Building

I'm a strategist and product builder who has spent 20+ years inside worker and progressive movements and 10+ years building technology within them. Now building bridges between movements and the frontier of AI.

Looking for collaborators as I explore what's next
Work
Ask Aya
ProductAIParticipatory Design

Launched in early 2026, Ask Aya is an AI coach built for domestic workers — a population that is largely immigrant, often isolated, and historically underserved by technology. As Senior Director of Product at NDWA, I led strategy, product development, and stakeholder engagement from conception through beta launch.

1,000 workers participated in co-design. Worked with stakeholders to navigate real internal resistance and tradeoffs between speed and trust. Test cohorts showing 1 in 4 workers successfully negotiating a pay increase within 6 weeks.

AyaVisit Ask Aya →
NDWA Labs
PartnershipWorker Voice

When gig platforms started reshaping the domestic work industry, NDWA needed to figure out what engagement with those platforms could look like, without compromising the movement's values or workers' trust.

Built a strategy that led to partnerships with Handy/Angi, Care.com, Thumbtack, Airbnb, Google, and more. These partnerships drove mutually beneficial outcomes: expanded PTO benefits, stronger worker voice, reductions in unfair platform fees, underpayment, and churn, and a nearly $40M emergency safety net for tens of thousands of domestic workers during COVID.

MovementsTech
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How's Work?
Vibe CodedAIWorkers

A vibe coded, AI chat tool built for workers. Workers chat with an AI named “Sam” about their work — a difficult manager, a question about pay, a career decision, or just to VENT.

Sam learns about the worker's unique situation and brings real knowledge of workplace dynamics, pay ranges, negotiation strategies, and career paths into every conversation. The broader exploration is to use AI to create more power, voice, and wealth for workers.

01 — PERSONALIZEDSUPPORT CONVERSATIONS02 — WORKER-OWNED DATA03 — COLLECTIVE MARKETINTELLIGENCE04 — WORKERPOWER

Workers get personalized support at scale, which generates worker-owned data, collective intelligence for the workers and leverage to increase worker power in the market.

Visit howswork.ai →
Get in Touch

I work with nonprofits and movement organizations figuring out how to engage with AI, technology companies that want real perspective from the worker and progressive space, and foundations deploying capital in this area. If any of that sounds like you, I'd like to talk.

Emailswitherb@gmail.comLinkedInlinkedin.com/in/samwitherbee