Imbalances in Tech, Industry and AI with Lauren Celenza (Throwback)

What if the key to navigating technology, AI and modern life is just knowing where to look for the imbalance? In this episode of GUTS, we sit down with Lauren Celenza, software designer and navigator of the relationship between humans and technology, who helped redesign Google Maps for communities across Indonesia, India, Nigeria and Brazil, and built the free tax filing tool that saved Americans over $90 million. But the conversation goes much deeper than tech. In this episode: - Growing up with a dad shaped by de-industrialization and what that taught her about work - Why it's a radical act to love family members with different political views - The biggest imbalances she sees in AI right now and who holds the power - What it means to be part of the last generation that remembers life before the internet - Independence vs interdependence and why that distinction matters more than ever - What her dad told her about finding a career that won't consume you Welcome to Getting Under The Skin, where genuine curiosity guides honest, human to human exchanges about how we are shaped by the lives we've lived. 👉 Mentioned in this episode: • Monika Jiang’s “Sharing Our Loneliness” — https://www.monikajiang.org/sharing-our-loneliness • Inside the beloved IRS Direct File tool — and why it’s under threat — https://www.nextgov.com/digital-government/2025/06/direct-file-beloved-its-users-internal-irs-report-says/405883/?oref=ng-homepage-riverand • Why Direct File is now open-source (and what that means) — https://www.404media.co/directfile-open-source-irs-tax-filing-software-turbotax-is-trying-to-kil/ • On deindustrialisation and its lasting impact on working-class communities — https://inthesetimes.com/article/deindustrialization-offshoring-manufacturing-factory-factories-unemployment-layoff-work-labor-workers-working-people-working-class-industry-ohio-michigan-south-carolina-pepsi-gm Subscribe for updates: topazadizes.com Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/guts.podcast/ TikTok | https://www.tiktok.com/@guts.podcast LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/topazadizes/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices