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EQUITABLE: Claim Your Equal Seat at the Table

Inspiration

As a team, we were deeply inspired by the stark realities women face in the workplace. The numbers spoke volumes - women hold only 31.7% of senior leadership positions globally, and in STEM and AI, that figure plummets to just 12.2%. This staggering disparity could take 134 years to overcome. Driven by the belief that every woman deserves an equal seat at the table, we set out to create a solution that could make a real, sustainable impact.

Our research uncovered the critical skills women lack access to, from strategic negotiation to assertive communication. We were particularly struck by a study revealing that women who don't negotiate can earn up to 30% less than their peers. Inspired by the findings of "Why Women's Leadership is Everybody's Business", we knew tailored training was essential to closing this confidence gap.

Our Solution: EQUITABLE

EQUITABLE is an AI-powered platform that simulates the real-world scenarios women encounter every day - from negotiating promotions to handling microaggressions. Users choose the specific challenge they want to practice, along with the counterpart persona they'll be interacting with, whether a tough negotiator or a supportive ally.

What sets EQUITABLE apart is its commitment to realism. Harnessing the power of cutting-edge AI, we created a fully speech-enabled experience, allowing users to engage in fast-paced, emotionally-charged negotiations just as they would in the real world. After each session, our platform provides detailed feedback and actionable next steps, ensuring women don't just practice - they truly master the critical skills needed to thrive.

Focusing on women's economic empowerment and leadership development, which directly addresses UN Sustainable Development Goal 5, EQUITABLE makes this possible by providing accessible, scalable, and personalized support.

Challenges we ran into

As an AI-powered platform, we faced several technical hurdles in building EQUITABLE, but our team tackled them head-on with creativity and persistence.

Finding the Right AI Agent

Selecting the ideal AI agent was crucial. We explored options like OpenAI's Negotiation GPT, but they lacked the comprehensive feedback and lifelike interactions we envisioned. After rigorous testing, we settled on Anthropic's Claude model. Its lifelike conversational skills, robust reasoning, and Anthropic's commitment to responsible AI development gave us the confidence to build our app as a safe space for women to practice and perfect these critical skills.

Optimizing Voice Interactions

Integrating speech-to-text and text-to-speech was another key challenge. The initial Google and ElevenLabs integrations showed promise but encountered performance issues. By switching to the Phone Call Model for faster transcriptions and the Turbo text-to-speech model, we were able to provide near-instant voice responses that felt natural and engaging.

Overcoming Deployment Hurdles

The final obstacle was deploying our Streamlit-based app. While the Streamlit Community Cloud was a tempting option, we ran into errors we couldn't resolve in time. This setback has only motivated us to explore alternative hosting solutions to ensure EQUITABLE reaches the women who need it most!

Empowering Women, One Conversation at a Time

Despite these challenges, we remained focused on creating a technologically sound, user-friendly, and impactful platform aligned with women's empowerment. Our determination to overcome obstacles and deliver an innovative solution is a testament to our team's creativity and dedication.

EQUITABLE is designed to be accessible to a broad demographic of women, regardless of their region or background. Any user who identifies as a woman and can speak English can access our safe, supportive environment to practice emotionally charged, high-stakes scenarios. We've heard from diverse users that our app has already made a tangible difference in their lives!

One user shared how EQUITABLE helped her tackle a difficult conversation at a work dinner, giving her the confidence to respond to dismissive comments. Feedback from our diverse testing group has only reinforced our belief in the necessity of a tool like EQUITABLE.

As we look to the future, our vision is clear: to transform the leadership landscape by equipping women with the critical skills they need to thrive. With EQUITABLE, every woman can claim her equal seat at the table, armed with the power to negotiate, communicate, and lead with confidence.