Uplevyl Uplifts Possibilities
Uplevyl Uplifts Possibilities
Uplevyl's Manifesto
There’sextensiveresearchonhowtoday’stechnologiesaffectwomenandgirls.Iwanttonamethecoreissuebehindit:thebusinessmodel.Mostdigitalplatformsrunononeprinciple—youdon’tpayfortheproductbecauseyouaretheproduct.Dataisextractedandmonetizedinsideanattentioneconomy.Thecontentthatkeepspeopleonplatforms—thecontentthatmaximizesprofit—toooftenismisogyny,outrage,andharm.That’sabrokenmodel.Notbecausetechnologyisbad,butbecauseincentivesaremisalignedwithwomen’ssafety,dignity,andadvancement.So,therealquestionis:Whatwoulditlookliketobuildtechnologythatactuallyserveswomen?We’relivingthroughaonce-in-humanhistoryinflectionpoint.AIisalreadyredesigningworkflowsandreengineeringindustries,withastaggeringeconomicimpact.We’reattheinningone.Andyet,mostofthistechnologyisnotbuiltbywomen,andnotbuiltforwomen.So,let’sflipit.WhatifAIweredeliberatelybuiltbyandforwomen?I’moftenasked:“Whyagenderlens?Whynotgeneral-purposeAIforeveryone?”Becausewomen’srealitiesaren’tedgecases.Wearehalftheworld—andourlivesshowupinspecificwaysacrosscoredomains.
There’sextensiveresearchonhowtoday’stechnologiesaffectwomenandgirls.Iwanttonamethecoreissuebehindit:thebusinessmodel.Mostdigitalplatformsrunononeprinciple—youdon’tpayfortheproductbecauseyouaretheproduct.Dataisextractedandmonetizedinsideanattentioneconomy.Thecontentthatkeepspeopleonplatforms—thecontentthatmaximizesprofit—toooftenismisogyny,outrage,andharm.That’sabrokenmodel.Notbecausetechnologyisbad,butbecauseincentivesaremisalignedwithwomen’ssafety,dignity,andadvancement.So,therealquestionis:Whatwoulditlookliketobuildtechnologythatactuallyserveswomen?We’relivingthroughaonce-in-humanhistoryinflectionpoint.AIisalreadyredesigningworkflowsandreengineeringindustries,withastaggeringeconomicimpact.We’reattheinningone.Andyet,mostofthistechnologyisnotbuiltbywomen,andnotbuiltforwomen.So,let’sflipit.WhatifAIweredeliberatelybuiltbyandforwomen?I’moftenasked:“Whyagenderlens?Whynotgeneral-purposeAIforeveryone?”Becausewomen’srealitiesaren’tedgecases.Wearehalftheworld—andourlivesshowupinspecificwaysacrosscoredomains.
There’sextensiveresearchonhowtoday’stechnologiesaffectwomenandgirls.Iwanttonamethecoreissuebehindit:thebusinessmodel.Mostdigitalplatformsrunononeprinciple—youdon’tpayfortheproductbecauseyouaretheproduct.Dataisextractedandmonetizedinsideanattentioneconomy.Thecontentthatkeepspeopleonplatforms—thecontentthatmaximizesprofit—toooftenismisogyny,outrage,andharm.That’sabrokenmodel.Notbecausetechnologyisbad,butbecauseincentivesaremisalignedwithwomen’ssafety,dignity,andadvancement.So,therealquestionis:Whatwoulditlookliketobuildtechnologythatactuallyserveswomen?We’relivingthroughaonce-in-humanhistoryinflectionpoint.AIisalreadyredesigningworkflowsandreengineeringindustries,withastaggeringeconomicimpact.We’reattheinningone.Andyet,mostofthistechnologyisnotbuiltbywomen,andnotbuiltforwomen.So,let’sflipit.WhatifAIweredeliberatelybuiltbyandforwomen?I’moftenasked:“Whyagenderlens?Whynotgeneral-purposeAIforeveryone?”Becausewomen’srealitiesaren’tedgecases.Wearehalftheworld—andourlivesshowupinspecificwaysacrosscoredomains.
Here are a few examples:
Women and health.
We are not “small men,” yet much of research and care has treated us that way. Fertility, contraception, pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, menopause, autoimmune conditions—gendered experiences, under-collected or not disaggregated. Generic AI won’t see us clearly, and that has real consequences.
We are not “small men,” yet much of research and care has treated us that way. Fertility, contraception, pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, menopause, autoimmune conditions—gendered experiences, under-collected or not disaggregated. Generic AI won’t see us clearly, and that has real consequences.
Women and money.
We live longer with less money. We earn less, invest less, take more career breaks, shoulder more unpaid care work, and are more exposed to financial abuse. The research is there; the products and algorithms rarely reflect that complexity. The shortage of women founders in fintech shows up as a shortage of choices.
We live longer with less money. We earn less, invest less, take more career breaks, shoulder more unpaid care work, and are more exposed to financial abuse. The research is there; the products and algorithms rarely reflect that complexity. The shortage of women founders in fintech shows up as a shortage of choices.
Women and safety.
One in three women globally experiences gender-based violence. It intersects with financial abuse and health. There’s still no single, trusted digital place to understand rights, explore options at work and at home, and protect economic security—without retraumatization.
One in three women globally experiences gender-based violence. It intersects with financial abuse and health. There’s still no single, trusted digital place to understand rights, explore options at work and at home, and protect economic security—without retraumatization.
Beneathallofthisisastructuralgap:welackrobust,organized,gender-intelligentdatasets.Extraordinaryexpertisesitsacrossthousandsofcorporates,nonprofits,advocacygroups,networks,andsurvivor-ledorganizations.It’sfragmented,underfunded,andlargelyunwiredintoourcoretechnologies.SittinginsideGoogle,watchingthespeedandscaleofAI,Irealized:genderdatawasn’tmissingattheedges—itwasmissingatthefoundation.Ifwedidn’tact,thenextgenerationofAIwouldencodeandacceleratetheinequitieswe’vebeenfightingfordecades.That’swhyIbuiltUplevyl.
Beneathallofthisisastructuralgap:welackrobust,organized,gender-intelligentdatasets.Extraordinaryexpertisesitsacrossthousandsofcorporates,nonprofits,advocacygroups,networks,andsurvivor-ledorganizations.It’sfragmented,underfunded,andlargelyunwiredintoourcoretechnologies.SittinginsideGoogle,watchingthespeedandscaleofAI,Irealized:genderdatawasn’tmissingattheedges—itwasmissingatthefoundation.Ifwedidn’tact,thenextgenerationofAIwouldencodeandacceleratetheinequitieswe’vebeenfightingfordecades.That’swhyIbuiltUplevyl.
Beneathallofthisisastructuralgap:welackrobust,organized,gender-intelligentdatasets.Extraordinaryexpertisesitsacrossthousandsofcorporates,nonprofits,advocacygroups,networks,andsurvivor-ledorganizations.It’sfragmented,underfunded,andlargelyunwiredintoourcoretechnologies.SittinginsideGoogle,watchingthespeedandscaleofAI,Irealized:genderdatawasn’tmissingattheedges—itwasmissingatthefoundation.Ifwedidn’tact,thenextgenerationofAIwouldencodeandacceleratetheinequitieswe’vebeenfightingfordecades.That’swhyIbuiltUplevyl.
What Uplevyl looks like if you build from women’s realities up
Build gender-intelligent data and knowledge layers.
With subject-matter experts and women-focused organizations, we structure authoritatively sourced knowledge into machine-readable layers. Not scraped internet text—curated, lived-experience-aware content.
Build gender-intelligent data and knowledge layers.
With subject-matter experts and women-focused organizations, we structure authoritatively sourced knowledge into machine-readable layers. Not scraped internet text—curated, lived-experience-aware content.
Build gender-intelligent data and knowledge layers.
With subject-matter experts and women-focused organizations, we structure authoritatively sourced knowledge into machine-readable layers. Not scraped internet text—curated, lived-experience-aware content.
Create AI experiences that center women.
AI agents that answer questions, support decisions, and guide personalized journeys across health, career, money, and safety—adapting to stage of life, goals, risks, and constraints. Not to replace experts, but to extend their reach safely.
Create AI experiences that center women.
AI agents that answer questions, support decisions, and guide personalized journeys across health, career, money, and safety—adapting to stage of life, goals, risks, and constraints. Not to replace experts, but to extend their reach safely.
Create AI experiences that center women.
AI agents that answer questions, support decisions, and guide personalized journeys across health, career, money, and safety—adapting to stage of life, goals, risks, and constraints. Not to replace experts, but to extend their reach safely.
Connect it all into a safe, collaborative ecosystem.
Employers, networks, and nonprofits don’t each need to build isolated tools. They can rely on shared infrastructure where data is respected, values are explicit, and women are not the product.
Connect it all into a safe, collaborative ecosystem.
Employers, networks, and nonprofits don’t each need to build isolated tools. They can rely on shared infrastructure where data is respected, values are explicit, and women are not the product.
Connect it all into a safe, collaborative ecosystem.
Employers, networks, and nonprofits don’t each need to build isolated tools. They can rely on shared infrastructure where data is respected, values are explicit, and women are not the product.
Non-negotiables at Uplevyl
Not extractive or
exploitative.
Data is curated from the populations served, validated with experts, maintained with version control and audit logs.
Privacy-first architecture; SOC 2–aligned controls; GDPR basis; PII protected
No training of foundation models on customer personal data.
So where does that leave us? Imagine a few “what ifs”—as planning prompts:
What if
we created a comprehensive gender dataset—not to surveil or extract, but to inform, advance, accelerate, serve, and protect women?
What if
every organization serving women could access world-class, future-forward, affordable technology designed to meet their impact goals—and scale from thousands to millions?
What if
We had social spaces where women’s voices are amplified and protected, and where knowledge and actions are easy to find?
What if
Funders backed deep, technology-enabled collaboration—and, where useful, consolidation—so impact scales instead of duplicating effort?
What if
Women tech founders—especially across health, motherhood, career, money, and safety—could more easily access aligned capital and the resources that already exist?
As Gloria Steinem says: use your time, treasure, and talents to make a difference for women. Imagining, dreaming, “what iff-ing” is a form of planning. If it can be imagined, it can be created. All of these “what ifs” are possible. We just have to decide to do it.
This isn’t the work of a few people or a few companies. It requires deep collaboration fueled by expertise, trust, and resources.
We are grateful for you. Let’s shift from the attention economy and build a connected, relationship-driven economy together.
With all our love,
Shubhi, Jacki and Team