Noelle RussellChief Executive Officer, AI Leadership Institute · 5x Microsoft Trustworthy AI MVP | 3.4+ million students | #1 Thought Leader in Agentic AI | AI-Powered Revenue Growth + Cost Optimization Expert ✨Best-Selling Author: Scaling Responsible AI | TEDx Sp

The Loyalty Problem in Tech Nobody's Talking About #WomenInTech #AI

12 Jan 2026 · 1 min

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Women who face mistreatment or layoffs in tech often leave the industry entirely, not just the offending company. The speaker left tech two decades ago to open a yoga studio, a move she doesn't regret but wonders if staying might have given her more influence over companies and other women in the field.

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because women are known, known to go into an organization, and if that organization hurts them, if they are betrayed by that company, if that company lays them off, they don't just hate that, like, leave that company. They don't just say that company— they like dismiss the entire industry, and they leave AI, they leave technology, and they go do something else. And I was this person, like, when I was younger. I, um, ended up leaving technology to go open up a yoga studio. And I loved it. Which is the danger. I loved it. But if I did that, that was 20 years ago before I had any children. If I had stayed on that path, like maybe I wouldn't have had the impact on the women that I've had in my career. Maybe I wouldn't have had the impact on the companies that I've had.