Guest
Wendy Gonzalez,
CEO of Sama
"The Future Focused CXOs"
PODCAST - Episode 38
Future Focused CXOs is where founders and executives share the systems, decisions, and leadership moves behind durable businesses. In this episode, we sit down with Wendy Gonzalez, CEO of Sama, a public benefit company that provides high-quality training data for AI while creating formal employment in underserved communities.
Wendy’s path runs from EY audit to tech consulting, to startup founder, and finally to CEO, a journey shaped by personal inflection points, a servant-leader mindset, and a clear belief: talent is global, opportunity is not.
She shares what it took to guide Sama from non-profit to VC-backed public benefit corporation, to steer the company through the founder’s passing and COVID lockdowns, and to close the AI maturity gap that keeps pilots from reaching production.
Key takeaways:
- Purpose and profit can reinforce each other when standards are explicit and performance is undeniable.
- Most AI pilots stall because leaders automate weak workflows rather than fix them first.
- “AI is a mirror” that exposes data quality, process gaps, and change-management debt.
- Succession is a discipline: hire yourself, fire yourself, and design for continuity.
- Talent density compounds; the right person in the right seat moves the needle fastest.
Tune in for actionable insights from a RevOps leader on building forecast discipline, reducing friction, and driving durable growth.
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A Journey from Consulting to Conscious Leadership
Wendy began in audit at EY, added information systems, and quickly learned that technology plus business impact was her lane. Consulting delivered scale and learning, but endless travel and starting a family pushed her toward operator roles and then founding. The pivotal shift was personal: after her father’s unexpected passing, she decided to align work with purpose and joined Sama to scale impact through AI.
She says, “If I am going to spend 14 hours a day building, I want the work to matter.”
From COO to CEO in a crisis
Wendy moved from COO to interim CEO when Sama’s founder fell ill, then into the CEO role as COVID hit. She closed global offices overnight, managed curfews in Kenya and Uganda, kept 24×7 programs running, and learned board management under pressure. The leadership shift was practical: stop catching every ball, set the direction, and build the team that pulls you out of the weeds.
“There was no ‘me’ to hand off to, so I built the leadership bench I needed.”
Purpose and profit under one roof
Sama transitioned from non-profit to VC-backed public benefit corporation to fund the technology required for high-stakes AI data work. The cultural reset hinged on one truth: you reach purpose through profit. That demanded clear standards living wages, benefits, and dignified employment paired with mission-critical delivery so performance answered the hard questions.
“No one chooses us for charity. They choose us because the work is mission critical.”
Talent is global. Opportunity is not.
Sama hires from communities below the World Bank poverty line and provides formal jobs, training, and upward mobility.
“Sama means ‘equal.’ We open the door so people can walk through.”
The thesis is simple: talent is everywhere; access is not. By pairing global talent with enterprise-grade workflows, Sama proves ethical supply chains can deliver best-in-class outcomes at scale.
Closing the AI maturity gap
Wendy sees a consistent pattern: 95% of pilots never reach production because leaders treat automation as the answer. The fix is workflow first, define the outcome, the steps, the guardrails, and the evaluation plan and then apply the model.
She adds, “A bad process, automated, is still a bad process.”
She stresses model evaluation, drift monitoring, and change management so AI remains aligned with the intended use.
Human-in-the-loop and cultural relevance
Frontier models will consolidate, but context wins. Sama’s work localizes models, language, culture, and domain, so they become useful for real applications, from crop-disease detection to aerospace defect finding. Humans provide judgment, nuance, and quality control so models stay reliable over time.
“AI is less a magic wand than a mirror. It shows you your data and process, good or bad.”
Succession and team design that scales
Wendy’s continuity mantra: “Hire yourself and fire yourself.”
Define what the company needs tomorrow, not just today. Build talent density, act quickly when roles outgrow people, and align org design to workflows and outcomes, not headcount vanity.
“If you are indispensable, you have a succession problem.”
Actionable Insights for Revenue Leaders
If you’re leading a revenue organization through transformation, whether that’s AI adoption, cultural change, or scaling responsibly, here’s what Wendy’s journey teaches you:
- Tie purpose to performance. Profit sustains impact; make your mission measurable through business outcomes.
- Fix before you automate. AI only scales what already works, refine the workflow first, then apply technology.
- Design for adaptability. Roles evolve faster than titles; succession planning keeps momentum intact.
- Hire for the stage you’re in. The right person for early growth may not be right for maturity, act quickly when that changes.
- Keep curiosity as your core skill. The best leaders stay teachable, seek advice, learn from peers, and question assumptions.
- Let data guide the mission. Use analytics not just to drive revenue, but to measure equity, inclusion, and real-world outcomes.
Final Thoughts
Wendy Gonzalez’s story is a reminder that leadership is all about timing, transformation, and truth. Her journey from accounting to AI, from consulting to conscious leadership, shows how purpose and performance don’t have to compete; they can, in fact, complete each other.
As AI reshapes the way we build, hire, and decide, Wendy proves that the best systems are still built on human judgment: curiosity, empathy, and courage. Her version of success blends social mission with business rigor, showing that companies can scale responsibly without losing their soul.
For revenue leaders, the takeaway is clear.
Technology may accelerate outcomes, but only values sustain them.
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