Ep 15 – Harnessing AI for Early Childhood Development with Lirvana Labs

Christie is co-founder and co-CEO of Lirvana Labs, a leading AI company focused on developing safe, effective learning tools powered by the latest advancements in Large and Specific Language Models out of Silicon Valley. Since the founding of the company in 2022, her work has been deeply rooted and guided by cognitive development research, efficacy, and inclusion in AI adoption, in partnership with UN advisors, Harvard and Stanford researchers. The Lirvana Labs team of experts, under the leadership of Christie and her cofounder Clement (with 27 patents under his belt in ML and successful exits >400m), consists of data scientists from Google and Apple, product designers from Amazon, Disney board members, Stanford Senior Research Directors, and advisors from AERDF and Character Foundation.

Christie was named Women of Impact by Kapor Capital, and also a Leading Woman in AI in Education by Arizona State University and Global Silicon Valley (ASU+GSV). Having delivered AI-powered learning to over 20,000 children globally in less than one year of launch, in partnership with schools across three continents, Christie cares deeply about how to empower teachers and parents to raise thoughtful, creative, and critical thinkers with these tools. She also cares deeply about making teaching fun and effective again for teachers who are suffering from burnout despite what EdTech may have promised up to this point in time.

Christie regularly speaks worldwide on AI literacy for teachers, and on the AI industry's best practices on privacy and well-being of children, and has been championing for equal access by working in partnership with NGOs serving displaced refugee children, needs-based schools, and has propelled Lirvana Labs to secure Stanford Research studies to document Lirvana's impact across global cohorts.

Prior to founding Lirvana Labs, Christie has over a decade of banking experience, including as Head of TMT, Head of Policy and Stakeholder Engagement, and Project Manager to Group Chairman of HSBC.
Christie graduated with 10As (HKCEE ‘04) from Diocesan Girls’ School, is the Top 10 Most Outstanding Students of Hong Kong (‘04), and holds a BA (Distinguished Hon.) in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (Business and Legal Ethics) from University of Pennsylvania (C’09), graduating magna cum laude.

She is a proud mother of 3 and a champion for women in AI and finance.

Champion - Balance & Diversity, HSBC
Winner - Penn Wharton Innovation Fund Award 2018
Winner - Hult@ Wharton Prize 2019; Semifinalist - The Hult Prize 2019

Links to Referenced Media:

Yeti Confetti Kids

News: Yeti Confetti Kids app reports half-grade level improvement in math and english in just 10 weeks

https://solve.mit.edu/challenges/2024-global-learning-challenge/solutions/88457

https://www.instituteforedinnovation.com/supes-choice