Parents carry the heavy responsibility of helping manage their children’s online lives, but that responsibility becomes more complicated as children become teenagers. Between the ages of 12 and 18, young people gain more independence, encounter greater peer pressure, and have more opportunities to shape their digital world. Gaming, social media, online shopping, and even simply browsing the internet can leave behind a trail of information. Tracking technologies can collect si

Last Friday was a busy day for me. Not only was I working and keeping up with the many tasks required to run a startup, but I was also taking care of my 8-year-old daughter. Sometimes, when you're trying to get everything done, you forget to stop, pause before responding, and really take a moment to review your emails thoroughly. My focus was simply to respond and move on to the next task. I wasn't thinking about security. I was thinking about getting through my day. At that

Eight Privacy Awareness & Digital Safety Skills Every Child Should Learn Before Middle School By the time children reach middle school, many already have access to tablets, smartphones, messaging apps, online games, and AI-powered tools. While technology continues to evolve, the skills children need to protect themselves remain surprisingly consistent. Here are eight essential privacy awareness and digital safety skills every child should begin learning before middle school.

Earlier this week, I read Privacy, Please! by Lorrie Faith Cranor with my daughter — an appropriately timed read, given that the Federal Trade Commission’s updated Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule reached its compliance deadline. Two moments. One shared lesson on methods to enhance protections for children. As a privacy consultant, I aim to help organizations build programs that meet regulatory expectations. As a mom, I spend my evenings teaching my daughter to recog

Everyone is still excited about the evolution of AI. Companies are pushing adoption hard, requiring faster output, leaner teams, and higher margins. AI is the new trendy excuse to justify significant workforce reductions. In the short term, that may look like a winning strategy, but there’s a bigger question that seems to be getting lost in the excitement: What is the true cost of AI, and who or what is paying for it? The Invisible System Powering AI Every prompt, every outp

As a Black woman in technology, Black History Month carries personal and professional meaning for me. It is an opportunity to recognize the contributions of innovators who helped build the very infrastructure that powers today’s digital world, contributions that are too often overlooked. It is also a moment for reflection. Despite measurable contributions Black Americans have made to science, computing, telecommunications, and enterprise technology, representation in leadersh

Learning, Networking, and Opening Doors in the Age of Agentic AI Last year, I made a deliberate commitment to be more intentional about my professional growth, specifically around enabling responsible and scalable AI innovation. That commitment led me to step outside my day-to-day work and immerse myself in the broader AI ecosystem by attending multiple AI-focused conferences. In early September 2025, I attended Intuit’s Program Management in the Age of the AI Revolution , fo

AI adoption is accelerating quickly, yet we aren’t talking enough about the gap between adoption and organizational readiness growing just as fast. Productivity gains are real — but so are trust gaps, skill erosion, and leadership blind spots. The challenge is no longer whether to adopt AI, it’s whether organizations are prepared to lead responsibly once they do. This tension was the focus of a recent Brown University School of Professional Studies webinar, “Responsible AI: