Dr. Vivienne Ming: Mad Scientist
Computational neuroscientist who applies data-driven insights to learning, performance, and scalable human systems to boost outcomes across teams and education.
Quick Facts:
- Entrepreneur and theoretical neuroscientist Vivienne Ming will describe how we can best harness and maximize our human potential, and the personal transformations that can take place once that potential is unleashed.
- Ming is a top theoretical neuroscientist, top entrepreneur speaker, and author.
- She launched Socos Labs to combine her varied work with that of other creative experts and expand their impact on global policy issues, both inside companies and throughout our communities.
- Ming is transgender and speaks frequently on issues of LGBT inclusion and gender in technology.
- Formats: Keynote, Workshop, Executive Briefing, Virtual Lab
- Audiences: Education and corporate teams (25–200); Conferences (150–1,500)
- Outcomes:
- Translate learning science into measurable training strategies.
- Build data-backed interventions to improve performance.
- Create scalable feedback loops for improved outcomes.
- Travels from: Berkeley, CA
- **Fee range: $35,001 - $50,000
Talent Services
Keynote Topics:
The Opportunities and Limitations of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI is Augmented Intelligence
Building a better person without choosing a soul
AI is a powerful tool with seemingly unlimited potential but it must be better understood to be effective for most organizations.
With exclusive research and case studies for each audience’s industry or sector, Dr. Ming shares some of her foundational stories of AI’s breakthroughs, where the technology is being applied, where it could be better utilized, and where it’s headed.
The Neuroscience of Trust and the Diversity-Innovation Paradox
Building a culture that embraces the tension between trust and diversity takes time and effort. When led correctly, diverse teams outperform non-diverse teams in terms of higher collective intelligence, innovation and creative problem solving.
However, even when leaders believe in the power of diversity and the value proposition for diverse teams, many struggle to capture this value – because of the way we’re wired.
In this keynote and/or discussion, Dr. Ming shares: the complexity of The Neuroscience of Trust and how our brains process information about other people, why creating a culture of trust in diverse teams is harder than it looks, and what we need to do about it.
Vivienne shares research and experience in real organizations and has explored ways leaders and teams can “hack” their brains and overcome instincts that impede their ability to hire and nurture winning diverse teams.
These same ideas can be applied to how sales teams connect, build and maintain relationships with customers, how marketers better understand target audiences, and leaders can leverage special, ultra-diverse teams for special projects and key initiatives.
The Tax on Being Different: Data on Diversity
There is an unspoken tax that we all pay. It is a tax that impedes growth and stagnates economies, a tax that causes massive amounts of money and productivity to be lost every year.
This tax is collected around the world and often targets those least able to pay it. It is the tax on being queer, POC, or female. It is the tax on being different.
Dr. Vivienne Ming provocatively addresses this tax by making it tangible. Leveraging massive amounts of HR data, she rewrites issues of bias and discrimination in order to understand and quantify what your differences are costing you.
Simultaneously didactic and richly autobiographical, The Tax on Being Different combines vibrant life stories with profound insights about people and, more importantly, how we can change them for the better.
Talent Short Bio
Dr. Vivienne Ming is a theoretical neuroscientist, entrepreneur, and one of the world’s leading experts at the intersection of artificial intelligence, neuroscience, and human development. Named one of Inc. Magazine’s “Top 10 Women to Watch in Tech,” she is widely recognized for using technology to maximize human potential.
As co-founder of Socos Labs, Dr. Ming builds AI-driven systems designed to improve education, workforce development, and healthcare. Her work spans predictive models for autism, AI systems to support lifelong learning, and platforms that foster diversity and inclusion in organizations. A sought-after advisor, she has consulted with governments, Fortune 500 companies, and NGOs on issues of future workforce strategy, inclusive technology, and leadership.
Dr. Ming is also a passionate advocate for equity, often sharing her own personal journey as a transgender woman in science and tech. Her insights are both deeply scientific and profoundly human, offering a rare balance of rigorous data with lived experience.
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Fee Range Information
All talent fees exclude VAT, travel and accommodation where required.