技术系列中的女性 (WOMEN IN TECHNOLOGY SERIES)

Over the past few years, tech companies and researchers all over the world have been competing to advance the frontiers of artificial intelligence. With the broadening and fast-paced developments in the space of technology, it is clear that utilizing AI in the financial industry is key to economic development. Now, more than ever, it is evident that these theoretical revolutions in computer science bring novel applications of AI across global markets.

在过去的几年中，世界各地的科技公司和研究人员一直在竞争以推进人工智能的前沿。 随着技术领域的不断发展和快速发展，很明显，在金融行业中利用人工智能是经济发展的关键。 如今，计算机科学的这些理论革命比以往任何时候都更加明显地带来了AI在全球市场上的新颖应用。

In countries like the Philippines, where the service sector has been one of the “strongest and fast-growing sectors”¹ of the economy, innovations in AI have the potential to increase national participation in global value chains. Moreover, AI developments and multinational companies that engage with national talent could involve the country more deeply in the international services trade and accelerate the spread of AI-specific tacit knowledge.

在菲律宾等服务业一直是经济中“最强劲和快速增长的行业”¹的国家中，人工智能的创新有可能增加各国在全球价值链中的参与度。 此外，人工智能的发展和与本国人才交往的跨国公司可以使该国更深入地参与国际服务贸易，并加速特定于人工智能的隐性知识的传播。

Jean Alfonso-Decena is making huge strides across the conversational AI space amidst this era of disruption. With her outlook of “exploration and experimentation”², Jean is creating value both within the Philippine technology landscape, and across AI in the global fin-tech space. As the Head of Operations & Partnerships at Starbutter AI, she sits at the intersection of business, data science, product, and engineering. Awarded by Google as one of the Best 3 AI Agents on the Google Assistant Platform, Starbutter AI was founded to help consumers select financial products³. Jean oversees the company’s business operations and manages partner relationships, and helps design and build artificially-intelligent virtual assistants to “help consumers pick financial products and discover [these products] through conversational advertising and performance marketing”⁴.

在这个颠覆性的时代中，Jean Alfonso-Decena在对话式AI领域取得了巨大进步。 凭借“探索与实验”²的眼光，Jean在菲律宾技术领域以及全球金融科技领域的AI领域都创造了价值。 作为Starbutter AI的运营与合作关系负责人，她坐在业务，数据科学，产品和工程的交汇处。 Starbutter AI被Google授予Google助手平台上最佳的3种AI代理之一，旨在帮助消费者选择金融产品³。 Jean负责监督公司的业务运营和管理合作伙伴关系，并帮助设计和构建人工智能的虚拟助手，以“帮助消费者通过对话广告和绩效营销来挑选金融产品并发现[这些产品]”。

Amber: Could you tell us a bit about your background?Jean: I worked in the Startup — Customer Service space for over a decade starting with 7 years of IBM tenure when they invested in a BPO arm in Manila, Philippines. I was part of the pioneering team that helped train and ramp up the organization finding and building talents that supported a major US Telco. After an astonishing leadership growth journey with IBM I moved on to the Silicon Valley scene, shifting into copywriting work for a major e-Commerce company based in Redwood City. After just a few weeks I was pulled out of the Content Team to form the pioneer Customer Service team which I led and helped grow for the next 4 years. Took a break from the corporate scene to become an entrepreneur, only to find my way back into leading and growing another CS team for a media giant based in Boston.

琥珀色 ：您能谈谈您的背景吗？ Jean：我在Startup —客户服务领域工作了十多年，从IBM在菲律宾马尼拉的BPO部门投资7年开始。 我是开拓团队的一员，该团队帮助培训和提升了组织的发现能力，并培养了为美国主要电信公司提供支持的人才。 在与IBM取得惊人的领导力成长之旅之后，我进入了硅谷，转而为位于Redwood City的一家大型电子商务公司从事文案写作工作。 短短几周后，我退出了内容团队，成立了先锋客户服务团队，由我领导并帮助其在接下来的4年中不断发展。 从企业界脱颖而出，成为一名企业家，但后来又回到了领导和成长为波士顿一家媒体巨头的另一个CS团队的道路上。

The customer service scene has been a huge blessing to me in that the space allowed me to grow in all levels, not just professionally. Took another break to get yoga/meditation teaching certification in Sri Lanka and Rishikesh in India. Then Starbutter AI came along. It’s been one long auspicious journey to finally be in this special place called Starbutter AI.

客户服务场景对我来说是一个巨大的祝福，因为这个空间使我能够在各个层面上发展，而不仅仅是专业上。 再次获得斯里兰卡和印度的瑞诗凯诗瑜伽/冥想教学认证。 然后，Starbutter AI出现了。 终于来到这个叫做Starbutter AI的特殊地方，这是一段漫长的吉祥旅程。

A: Did you always know that working in the fin-tech space was what you wanted to do? What inspired you to pursue a career in the startup world and work with Starbutter AI? And what perspective did your experience in information and communication studies contribute to that decision?

答：您一直知道您想在金融科技领域工作吗？ 是什么激发了您在创业世界从事职业并与Starbutter AI合作的灵感？ 您在信息和传播研究中的经验对这个决定有什么帮助？

J: Working in fin-tech was never in my plans or wildest dreams, let alone in AI. I had a totally different trajectory — I was gearing up to spread love and light through conscious entrepreneurship while using all the years of leadership, e-Commerce and people/project management training I’ve received. While in the middle of my spiritual travels, I got connected with Starbutter AI. The company name intrigued me so I looked it up, and between yoga and meditation, I was researching the team, AI and fintech more and more. The company mission, values and the founders piqued my brain and captured my heart. The possibility of jumping into a deeply mysterious (AI) realm, learning about fintech and working with some of the brightest minds in the space were my main reasons for shifting gears.

J：从事金融科技从来都不是我的计划，也不是我梦wild以求的事情，更不用说在AI了。 我有完全不同的轨迹-我正准备通过有意识的企业家精神传播爱与光，同时使用我所接受的所有年领导力，电子商务和人员/项目管理培训。 在进行精神旅行的过程中，我与Starbutter AI建立了联系。 公司名称吸引了我，所以我抬起头来，在瑜伽和冥想之间，我正在对团队，人工智能和金融科技进行越来越多的研究。 公司的使命，价值观和创始人激起了我的大脑，俘获了我的心。 我跳入一个深奥的(AI)领域，学习金融科技以及与该领域一些最聪明的人一起工作的可能性是我换档的主要原因。

My self-talk at that time, in a nutshell: when you receive the opportunity of a lifetime to help build bots that augment the lives of humans, grab it. The founders’ unique mission is what signed me up.

简而言之，当时我的自言自语：当您获得千载难逢的机会来帮助构建能够增加人类生活的机器人时，请抓住它 。 创始人的独特使命是使我签名的。

A: In your DEVCON Lightning Talk, “Jobs of the Future”, you described the innovation and interdisciplinary cooperation needed to create products in the AI virtual assistant space. You also described how AI and machine learning applications are highly influenced by the environment they are built in, and the people they are built by. Why do you think it is important for technologists to take this collaborative approach when building chatbots and other products that are used by a diverse subset of customers?J: I always use the “human baby” metaphor when I speak about building chatbots. Although they’re not entirely the same, they have commonalities. Raising a baby takes a village — I know as I’m a mom. But even before the baby is born, plenty of preparation is to be done to ensure the child grows beautifully in the womb, and comes out healthy. This journey is best taken with the mother’s support network to optimise growth and delivery of the baby which includes family, health specialists, parent communities and other experts in the field.

答：在您的DEVCON闪电演讲“未来的工作”中，您描述了在AI虚拟助手空间中创建产品所需的创新和跨学科合作。 您还描述了AI和机器学习应用程序如何受其构建环境以及构建人员的极大影响。 您为什么认为对于技术人员在构建供不同客户群使用的聊天机器人和其他产品时采用这种协作方法很重要？ J：当我谈论构建聊天机器人时，我总是使用“人类宝贝”的比喻。 尽管它们并不完全相同，但是它们具有共同点。 抚养婴儿需要一个村庄-我知道我是妈妈。 但是即使在婴儿出生之前，也要做好很多准备，以确保孩子在子宫中长得漂亮，并且健康。 最好通过母亲的支持网络来完成这一旅程，以优化婴儿的生长和分娩，包括家庭，卫生专家，父母社区和该领域的其他专家。

“When you receive the opportunity of a lifetime to help build bots that augment the lives of humans, grab it.”

“当您获得千载难逢的机会来帮助构建能够增加人类生活的机器人时，请抓住它。 ”

The whole process of building chatbots, from end-to-end, involves careful curation of designing and building it. Several factors come into play including user experience, machine learning and a host of other considerations. It literally takes several brains and hands to build a single bot that delights its users. Skipping one is like leaving a critical element out of the picture. The bot will come out incomplete and user experience will feel off. You never want that, especially in the conversational AI space. Moreso if you have diverse customer demographics, which we have. You want to make sure that all bases are covered before you bring your bot out to the world and keep improving from launch.

从头到尾构建聊天机器人的整个过程都涉及精心设计和构建聊天机器人。 影响因素包括用户体验，机器学习和许多其他考虑因素。 从字面上看，需要几个大脑和双手来构建一个使用户满意的机器人。 跳过其中就好比将关键要素留在图片之外。 该漫游器会出现不完整的情况，用户体验会有所下降。 您永远都不需要，尤其是在对话式AI领域。 此外，如果您有不同的客户统计资料，我们也会提供。 在将您的机器人推向世界并从发布开始不断改进之前，您需要确保覆盖所有基础。

I think this applies to any product or line of work — but rings truer in the world of virtual assistant design.

我认为这适用于任何产品或工作线，但在虚拟助手设计领域更为真实。

A: Starbutter AI aims to help customers get “matched with financial products as easily as possible”. How does Starbutter AI achieve this mission, and what role do Starbutter AI’s conversation agents play in this? Could you describe your experience working on this goal during your time as a senior AI trainer focusing on natural language processing, machine learning, and UI/UX?J: The world of financial products is still a conundrum as far as finding helpful information. It takes weeks up to months of researching online, comparing literature, visiting banks, doing phone calls or emails, and consulting your financial-savvy friends and relatives to help you decide which insurance to take or which bank to pick in opening a savings account. It involves a lot of resources and giving your trust and finally making this huge life decision. Starbutter AI makes it easy by deploying our virtual assistant that serves a short three-to-four-question form, and customizes the top three company recommendations based on their answers. Our virtual agents do the heavy-lifting for the users — what usually takes months entails less than 30 seconds for the bot to process. The users still own the decision — our agents’ job is to propose their best matches after answering the form.

答： Starbutter AI旨在帮助客户“尽可能轻松地与金融产品匹配”。 Starbutter AI如何完成这项任务？Starbutter AI的对话代理在其中扮演什么角色？ 您能否描述您在高级AI培训师期间专注于自然语言处理，机器学习和UI / UX的实现这一目标的经历？ J：就寻找有用的信息而言，金融产品世界仍然是一个难题。 在线研究，比较文献资料，访问银行，打电话或发电子邮件，并咨询精通财务的亲戚，可能需要数周至数月的时间，以帮助您决定在开立储蓄帐户时应选择哪种保险或选择哪家银行。 它涉及大量资源并给予您信任，并最终做出这个重大的人生决定。 通过部署我们的虚拟助手，Starbutter AI可以轻松实现这一目的，该助手可提供简短的三至四题形式，并根据他们的回答自定义前三名公司的建议。 我们的虚拟代理为用户带来了繁重的工作-通常情况下，机器人要花费几个月的时间，不到30秒即可完成处理。 用户仍然拥有决定权-我们的代理商的工作是在回答表格后提出他们的最佳搭配。

“The radical shift in technologies is taking tasks away from humans, so we need to know what we’ll make out of our university degree and work experience. We need to know what will remain relevant and which skills and knowledge we can capitalize on as we move forward.”⁵

“技术的根本转变正在使人类摆脱繁重的工作，因此，我们需要知道我们将从大学学位和工作经验中学到什么。 我们需要知道什么仍将是重要的，并在前进的过程中可以利用哪些技能和知识。”⁵

I had a blast helping build these bots as a Senior AI Trainer — tons of research, analytics and design done to get a single bot launched and running. I’m still involved in the process, but as a trainer I was right in the frontlines of training and improving them. Much like training and coaching a human agent.

作为高级AI培训师，我投入了大量精力来帮助构建这些机器人-进行了大量的研究，分析和设计，以启动并运行一个机器人。 我仍然参与该过程，但是作为一名培训师，我在培训和改进它们的最前沿是正确的。 很像培训和指导人员。

A: What was the biggest challenge you faced as the head of operations and partnerships at Starbutter AI, and how did you overcome it?J: Stopping myself from bringing out into the world as many virtual assistants and providing solutions to as many clients as I want!

答：作为Starbutter AI的运营和合作负责人，您面临的最大挑战是什么？您如何克服它？ J：阻止自己进入尽可能多的虚拟助手并为我想要的客户提供解决方案！

Seriously, there’s a lot of opportunities in this space, given that Conversational AI is still nascent. It’s a lot of fun to build these, and knowing that your solution truly brings value to individuals and organizations makes the whole process truly rewarding. I have to remind myself to take things slowly.

认真地说，鉴于对话式AI仍处于新生阶段，因此在这个领域有很多机会。 构建这些代码很有趣，而且知道您的解决方案确实为个人和组织带来了价值，因此使整个过程真正有意义。 我必须提醒自己慢慢走。

A: Aside from your work in the AI virtual assistant space, you are also very active in the Philippine startup community. Are there any new innovations in the Philippine startup world that you’re particularly excited about?

答：除了在AI虚拟助手领域工作外，您在菲律宾的创业社区也非常活跃。 您对菲律宾的创业世界有什么特别激动的新创新吗？

J: Perfect timing! One of the groups that I had the honor to mentor at a Startup Weekend Manila in 2019 just launched the community they built as an initial offering to the vegan community in the Philippines called Swage. It is a marketplace for vegans and future-vegans in Manila, that connects underrepresented merchants and customers. What makes them unique is that they are a no-frills, straightforward community that aims to connect the two ends of the vegan marketplace spectrum. This is just the beginning, Swage has more technology in store in the coming months. My favorite part of this startup is that it was built by high school women founders who are not even vegan. Goes to show the brilliant minds of the Filipino youth and the power of the vegan message to get something built from the ground up.

J：完美的时机！ 我很荣幸在2019年马尼拉创业周末组织中指导的一个团队刚刚成立了他们建立的社区，作为向菲律宾的素食主义者社区提供的初步服务，称为Swage 。 它是马尼拉纯素食主义者和未来素食主义者的市场，它连接了代表性不足的商人和客户。 它们的独特之处在于，它们是一个简洁而直截了当的社区，旨在将素食主义者市场范围的两端连接起来。 这仅仅是开始，在接下来的几个月中，Swage将拥有更多技术。 我最喜欢这家创业公司的部分是它是由甚至不是纯素食主义者的高中女生创办的。 展现菲律宾青年的聪明才智和纯素食信息的力量，使您从头开始构建自己的东西。

Other startups I’m excited about are a couple of technologies currently being developed to address mental health and agriculture/farmer livelihood issues. I’m not in liberty to talk in-depth about these yet, but these are definitely worth watching out for.

我很兴奋的其他初创公司是目前正在开发的解决心理健康和农业/农民生计问题的两项技术。 我还没有自由谈论这些，但是绝对值得提防。

“We need to surround ourselves with the kind of people that think and live creatively, totally out of the box. We need, all the more, to strengthen our human connection because through this, we can build relationships that can propel us in the right direction.”⁶

“我们需要与那种思维开阔，富有创意的人一起生活，这完全是开箱即用的。 我们更需要加强人与人之间的联系，因为通过这一点，我们可以建立可以推动我们朝着正确方向前进的关系。”⁶

A: What do you think is the biggest challenge for the next generation of aspiring technologists, and what can data scientists who are currently in the industry do to help?J: Technologists old and new, are not exactly apprised of the newest innovations and evolutions of the very same technology that they work with unless they seek it out (or have proactive mentors). There’s a lot of passive waiting and watching for what’s happening now, or coming out next. We all need to own our learning and evolution in the tech scene — we have to always be hungry and stay hungry for knowledge and opportunities in the world. Not just in technology. Most of these are not proactively offered — in fact, we have to find and get them.

答：您认为下一代有抱负的技术人员面临的最大挑战是什么？当前行业中的数据科学家可以做什么以帮助您？ J：无论技术人员是新老，都不会完全了解与他们一起使用的同一技术的最新创新和发展，除非他们寻求它(或有积极的导师)。 现在有很多被动的等待和观察正在发生的事情，或者接下来要发生的事情。 我们所有人都需要在技术领域拥有自己的学习和发展-我们必须永远饿着肚子，并渴望着世界上的知识和机会。 不只是在技术上。 其中大多数都不是主动提供的-实际上，我们必须找到并得到它们。

Having come from a no-technology background, I passionately advocate [the above], and supplementing this with authentic networking efforts. Connecting with others in and out of the tech scene brings forth new ideas and opportunities. You’ll never know what’s out there, what’s up and about and what’s next if you stay in your corner. There’s a lot of value in bringing yourself out there and having conversations.

我来自无技术背景，因此我极力主张[上述]，并通过可靠的联网工作对其进行补充。 与其他人在技术界内外建立联系可以带来新的想法和机会。 如果您呆在角落里，您将永远不会知道那里发生了什么，正在发生什么，即将发生什么以及接下来会发生什么。 将自己带到外面并进行对话有很多价值。

Read voraciously, learn non-stop, network authentically.

博览群书，学习不间断，真实地交流。

A: How can our readers get involved with Starbutter AI?J: Our website https://www.starbutter.com/ is a great place to start!

答：我们的读者如何参与Starbutter AI？ J：我们的网站https://www.starbutter.com/是一个不错的起点！

In addition to making waves in the AI space with her role as a leading AI trainer, Jean has been an active mentor and thought leader in the Philippine startup industry. Her broad and deep experience at the heart of technology and product continues to inspire women technologists to innovate in data science. Today, Jean is leading a movement to democratize artificial intelligence and financial accessibility. As well as being a role model for Filipinas, Jean empowers women from diverse backgrounds to use technology for positive social change.

除了以领先的AI培训师的身份在AI领域引起轰动外，Jean还是菲律宾新兴行业的活跃导师和思想领袖。 她在技术和产品核心领域的广泛而深刻的经验继续激励着女性技术专家在数据科学领域进行创新。 如今，Jean正在领导一项使人工智能和财务可及性民主化的运动。 吉恩不仅是菲律宾人的榜样，还赋权了来自不同背景的妇女，使他们能够利用技术促进积极的社会变革。

Special thanks to Jean Alfonso-Decena for allowing me to interview her for this series, and a huge shout out to the TDS Editorial Team for supporting this project.

特别感谢让·阿方索·德塞纳(Jean Alfonso-Decena)允许我采访她的本系列节目，并向TDS编辑团队大声疾呼，以支持该项目。

Do you know an inspiring woman in tech who you would like featured in this series? Are you working on any cool data science and tech projects that you’d like me to write about? Feel free to email me at angelamarieteng@gmail.com for comments and suggestions. Thanks for reading!

您是否知道本系​​列中有一位鼓舞人心的高科技女性？ 您是否正在从事任何我想写的很酷的数据科学和技术项目？ 请随时通过angelamarieteng@gmail.com给我发送电子邮件，以提出评论和建议。 谢谢阅读！

[1] Statistics obtained from the Philippine government official website http://industry.gov.ph/category/services/#:~:text=Services%20has%20been%20one%20of,6.3%25%20from%202000%20to%202014.

[1]从菲律宾政府官方网站http://industry.gov.ph/category/services/#:~:text=Services%20has%20been%20one%20of,6.3%25%20from%202000%20to获得的统计数据％202014。

[2] https://www.hcamag.com/asia/news/general/manilas-it-talent-to-tackle-industry-4.0-challenges/170535

[2] https://www.hcamag.com/asia/news/general/manilas-it-talent-to-tackle-industry-4.0-challenges/170535

[3] https://www.starbutter.com/ourstory

[3] https://www.starbutter.com/ourstory

[4] https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanalfonsodecena/?originalSubdomain=ph

[4] https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeanalfonsodecena/?originalSubdomain=ph

[5] https://www.hcamag.com/asia/news/general/manilas-it-talent-to-tackle-industry-4.0-challenges/170535

[5] https://www.hcamag.com/asia/news/general/manilas-it-talent-to-tackle-industry-4.0-challenges/170535

[6] https://www.hcamag.com/asia/news/general/manilas-it-talent-to-tackle-industry-4.0-challenges/170535

[6] https://www.hcamag.com/asia/news/general/manilas-it-talent-to-tackle-industry-4.0-challenges/170535