17 years of trying new things
3 continents I call home, in 4 languages
18 months from 0 to 1

I've spent the last 18 months going deep on AI. I can build prototypes now, and I like it. I’ve since applied this product development skill to things I believe are important, and experimented a little. I especially like that it pushes me to think bigger and work with teams I otherwise couldn’t.

I can apply editorial judgment and design how AI behaves in the world. Not the models. The layer above: voice, personality, character, ethical boundaries. The decisions that determine whether a person trusts a brand — or not.

Working on Nike, IKEA and Google at Wieden+Kennedy, BMP/DDB London, JWT New York, and Host, Sydney taught me how people in different cultures respond to language, tone, authority, and silence. That's the skillset AI products are missing — someone who can design an AI's character for a specific human audience and hold the line on it.

Some moms bake cookies. I decided to help some Brooklyn parents get some sleep. I spent two years building Need/Done, an app for my dual-income, urban, parent friends who insisted a “village” would make childcare all better, so I put one an app. Designed the whole two-sided prototype, bled money, piloted it in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. The whole journey was documented across four podcast episodes of WNYC's Note to Self with Manoush Zomorodi. We ran out of runway. The idea kept going.

These days, I mostly vibe code. I can’t help myself. It’s like AI’s given me a whole new mental playground. The other week in an AI PM Bootcamp, I developed and designed something called HELPER — an AI voice-first companion for aging parents and the adult children who coordinate their care. I enjoyed building that so much that I also built myself this Chrome extension to manage my slightly concerning AI-enabling subscription addiction.

Sundance. Cannes Lions. Spikes Asia Grand Prix. Wieden. TED NYC Incubator. Google Creative Lab. Founded CVLRY. Four languages.

What makes me proudest? Ask me for the PRD.

Leslie Ali Walker I Creative Director I AI-Fluent

LIVE FOR ORIGINAL IDEAS AND HARD TO SOLVE PROBLEMS. WAY MORE INTERESTING NOT KNOWING THAN BEING THE SMARTEST PERSON IN THE ROOM. WALK IN STUPID. GET A DOG. ENJOY THE WEATHER, NOT MATTER WHAT THE WEATHER. TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT AND WELCOME THE UNKOWN.