Meet Iva Gumnishka
Meet Iva Gumnishka, who will be one of the speakers on the Young Tech Leaders’ Tech For All Panel.
Iva is the founder of Humans in the Loop, a social enterprise which provides easy and accessible freelance work to conflict-affected people in the field of data annotation for AI. Since 2017, Humans in the Loop has impacted more than 500 people in Bulgaria, Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. Iva also founded the charity arm, Humans in the Loop Foundation, which uses the profit generated by the social enterprise to provide training and support to their workers who are all refugees and conflict-affected people.
Get to know Iva below!
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Why did you want to participate in Young Tech Leaders of the Middle East?
Young Tech Leaders is a great initiative that brings together many of the key players in tech-related programs for conflict-affected people, so it’s an honor for me to be a part of it. I also see a lot of potential for it to become a long-term project after this edition so I’d love to support it.
What do you do in your current role as CEO of Humans in the Loop?
I am responsible for the growth of our organization, both in terms of business development, and in terms of workforce and new partnerships. I work closely with our clients who are computer vision and AI companies in order to design the best data sets for their needs. I also spearhead our organization’s efforts in the field of ethical AI.
What experiences prepared you for that role?
Quite frankly, I started the company with little to no previous professional experience, but I’d say some of the most useful knowledge and connections I have were acquired during my academic research for my thesis at Columbia University on refugees’ access to employment. I had also done some volunteer work with sex workers in Spain and with second-generation migrants, which was quite helpful.
What was your first job?
In 12th grade, I started a job as an English teacher for adults using the method of suggestopedia. It was a really cool experience even though I was hired completely illegally without a contract and nobody really gave me proper training. In hindsight, it was quite helpful for me to learn to assert my authority with people who were much older than me. It was also my first experience getting fired!
What is your leadership style?
You’d have to ask my team to get an objective response to this but subjectively, I’d say I am quite particular in how I like things done, and it takes time to earn my trust so that I can let people take the reins. I am also conflict-avoidant which can contribute to creating a peaceful environment but can also mean that I tend to underestimate issues or forgive too quickly instead of pushing for improvements at all costs.
What was the best advice you've ever received?
“People don’t change.” This one has stuck with me for a while now, and my life recently has been a battlefield for proving it wrong. It also leads to trying to discover the intrinsic nature of who we really are, if there is even such a thing.
What advice would you give to your 18-year-old self?
Prestige is not as important as magic! When I was choosing schools, I decided to go for the more prestigious one because I was so excited about being in the “center of the universe,” as New Yorkers feel about it. But I’ve always wondered how my life would have ended up had I decided to go to the more magical school instead.
What are your 3 favorite books?
Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges
A Spy in the House of Love by Anaïs Nin
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
What's your guilty pleasure?
Brazilian kizomba music.
If you could only live in one place for the rest of your life, where would you live?
Granada, Spain in a “carmen” type of house with all of my close friends.
