ADVISOR | DEMOCRACY ACTIVIST | SPEAKER

Tackling the intersection of ethics, tech, and democracy.

 

Yaël is the founder of Kilele Global, a strategic advisory firm that helps companies, governments, and investors align technology to better serve the public. She strives to bridge the divide between government and tech, to help foster a healthier, more democratic information ecosystem.

 

She has spent 20 years working around the globe on democracy and security issues as a CIA officer, a White House advisor, the Global Head of Elections Integrity Operations for political advertising at Facebook, a diplomat, and the head of a global risk firm. She was a Future of Democracy Fellow at Berggruen Institute in 2021-22, a Researcher-in-Residence at Betalab in 2020-21 and a Visiting Fellow at Cornell Tech's Digital Life Initiative in 2019-2020, where she focused on technology's effects on discourse and democracy and taught a multi-university course on Tech, Media and Democracy. She was also an Adjunct Professor at NYU's Center for Global Affairs in 2017-18.

 

Yaël has become a key voice and public advocate for transparency and accountability in tech, particularly where real-world-consequences affect democracy and societies around the world. See her 2020 mainstage TED talk on this subject.

 

Yaël travels internationally as a keynote speaker at any number of venues seeking informed, inspirational women to help make sense of our world's most difficult challenges. She can be booked through the Lavin Agency. 

 

Yaël i s a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, was named to Forbes' 2017 list of “40 Women to Watch Over 40”, and provides context and analysis on social media, elections integrity, political and foreign affairs in the media. She has been published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Brookings Techstream, TIME, WIRED, Quartz and The Huffington Post, has appeared on CNN, BBC World News, CBS Sunday Morning, Bloomberg News, CBS News, PBS and C-SPAN, in policy forums, and on a number of podcasts. She earned an M.A. in International Affairs from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

 

Photo: On stage at Tech Open Air Berlin, 2017