Nashlie Sephus facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Nashlie Sephus
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| Born |
Jackson, Mississippi, U.S.
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| Alma mater | Mississippi State University Georgia Institute of Technology College of Engineering |
| Occupation | Computer engineer, entrepreneur, technology evangelist |
| Awards | Ada Lovelace Award (2019) |
Nashlie H. Sephus is an amazing American computer engineer and a business owner. She is an expert in machine learning, which is how computers learn from data. She also helps find and fix algorithmic bias, which is when computer programs are unfair. Nashlie is a technology evangelist at Amazon Web Services, meaning she shares exciting new tech ideas with others.
She is also a co-founder and CEO of Bean Path. This is a non-profit company that is building the Jackson Tech District. It's a special area in Jackson, Mississippi, designed to help new technology businesses grow.
Contents
Nashlie's Journey
Early Life and Education
Nashlie Sephus was born and grew up in Jackson, Mississippi. She lived in a home with only women, which was a big influence on her. When she was younger, she went to a two-week engineering camp for girls. This camp helped her discover her love for computer engineering.
She finished Murrah High School in 2003. Then, in 2007, she earned her first degree in computer engineering from Mississippi State University. After that, Nashlie received a special scholarship called a GEM fellowship. This scholarship paid for her advanced degrees and gave her job opportunities. She went on to earn both a master's degree and a Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering in 2014. She studied at the Georgia Institute of Technology College of Engineering.
Working with Technology
In 2013, while still studying for her Ph.D., Nashlie started working part-time at a new company called Partpic. This company was started by all black women. At Partpic, Nashlie helped create special computer programs that could "see" and recognize things. These were called visual recognition algorithms.
Later, she worked as a software engineer in New York. In 2015, she joined Partpic full-time as their chief technology officer. This meant she was in charge of all the technology at the company. In 2016, a very big company, Amazon, bought Partpic. After this, Nashlie became a leader on the Amazon Visual Search team in Atlanta.
Nashlie then moved to a role at Amazon Web Services Artificial Intelligence. Her team works on creating tools to find and fix bias in machine learning models. This is important to make sure computer programs are fair to everyone. Today, she is a technology evangelist at Amazon, sharing her knowledge and passion for technology.
Building the Jackson Tech District
In 2018, Nashlie Sephus started making plans for a new technology community. She wanted to create a place where new tech businesses could start and grow in Jackson, Mississippi. This idea became part of her non-profit company, Bean Path. She is the co-founder and CEO of this company.
In 2019, Nashlie and Julie Cwikla received the Ada Lovelace Award. This award celebrates women who have made important contributions to technology. On September 11, 2020, Nashlie bought 12 acres of land near Jackson State University. This land is being used to build the Jackson Tech District, a place where technology and innovation can thrive.
See also
