Annalisa Nash Fernandez is a cultural expert at the intersection of technology, language, and society at BecauseCulture. Her sessions explore cultural differences in digital communication, from AI language models, to the meaning of emoji, to the framing of digital privacy.
As technology breaks down traditional borders, cultural differences are the last frontier. Annalisa navigates the cultural elements in the monetary systems, social networks, and ecommerce platforms that are our new world borders, exploring identity and citizenship on the digital rails. Whether it’s to engage customers in new markets, or to optimize multicultural teamwork, developing cultural competence is a valuable skill in today’s world.
Annalisa says “When I speak to your audience, I’m one of them” after a career in global roles as an expatriate executive developing new markets for leading multinational companies including Kraft Foods and Philip Morris, and for global investment banks. Annalisa holds a degree in international finance from Georgetown University, and a master’s in languages and translation from the University of Wisconsin. She has lived, worked, and studied in nine countries and speaks fluent English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Because Culture’s sessions, as detailed below, span the topics of cultural elements in digital privacy, cybersecurity, user interface, experience, and engagement, multicultural marketing, and financial technologies and systems. They are interactive, dynamic, featuring trending cultural and geopolitical topics. Everybody loves to talk about their international experiences, from how they pay to how they play, and share experiences relating to the customs, norms, and values that shape our world. Annalisa’s sessions always create a buzz of conversation about new ideas and shared experiences, and set a positive tone around embracing technology for global innovation and an inclusive digital future.
Annalisa has been engaged to navigate cultural strategy for leading corporations, and most recently is engaged as a linguistic consultant on a new large language model. Her engagements include Lloyd’s of London, the International Air Transport Association, Xtreme Networks, Rocket Companies, and Royal Caribbean. She is a top-rated speaker at global conferences, including NDC Software Developers, Content Marketing World, Hacker Halted, Enigma Security and Privacy, International Search Summit for SEO, World Social Media Forum, CDM’s CIO Summit, and HUE Technology. Her expert quotes are widely featured in media such as The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, CIO Magazine, and the BBC, and her articles are published across trade journals and mainstream media. You can find her latest cultural commentary on X @BecauseCulture.
Speaking Topics-
AI and Apple Pie: Digital Culture for a New Era of Citizenship
Rome was not built in a day, and the foundation of our digital society is only just beginning. Battling it out are social media versus newspapers, effective altruists vs decels, Ubers vs taxis, crypto vs cash, ChatGPT vs writing, texting vs talking. Explore concepts of modern citizenship like e-states in Estonia, digital nomad visas in Portugal, tech utopias, and network states with digital borders. Learn some digital vocabulary and leave ready to face the new frontier.
AI to Zoom with Emoji in Between: Cross-cultural Communication in a Digital World
Break out of your cultural comfort zone to lead and communicate globally. Technology is connecting us more than ever, but we still face linguistic and cultural barriers. Explore communication styles across world regions, and decode cultural elements in the digital realm to master cultural intelligence.
Don’t Fear the Digital Future
Disinformation, data bias, DoS attacks, dopamine addiction. Is our digital transformation going dystopian? Trace the evolution of societal views on industrial change, from the likes of Thomas Edison to Elon Musk. Examine AI’s positive impacts in lowering barriers to access and giving voice to the marginalized. Tackle myths about misinformation and see how media has brought us full circle back to an oral culture. Take away that the digital future is bright and inclusive.
Influencers as the Travelling Salespeople of the Digital Age
e-commerce | sales culture | AI personalization
Enter the post-digital brand content arena, where social media maps new global connections between brands and consumers. As trust and attention shift away from traditional media, tap into influencer marketing’s ability to deliver cultural values of trust and relationships. Explore how AI brings us full-circle back to the personalization of “main street” and how video influencers recreate the one-on-one selling of the travelling salesman. Grow business globally with hyper-relevant content in your customers’ cultural context.
Data Science as a Social Science: Security and Privacy across Cultural Borders
digital privacy | tech culture | geopolitics
Privacy translates to protection in the EU, to liability in the US, and to responsibility in China. Decode such geo-cultural dimensions of privacy, security, trust, and communication, enabling effective global policy. Gain unique insight into how data science is rooted in social science, and how data interpretation and AI systems embed cultural elements and biases. Explore case studies of digital sovereignty, tech diplomacy, data localization and colonialism, and social credit systems. Because as globalization makes our borders invisible, digital boundaries reinstate them.
The Culture of Currency: Modern Money, Crypto Communities, and the Fintech Frontier
fintech | culture and inclusion | geopolitics
Money is a social agreement. From coffee beans for trade, gold as a store of value, to dollars and Euros and now cryptocurrency, it’s an evolving mechanism for distribution. But as money decentralizes, it’s about the risk, value, and privacy in diverse cultural contexts of trust, regulation, and sovereignty. From the “unbanked” to cryptocurrency communities, we’ll tackle money’s cultural dynamics shaped by history, religion, ethics, and politics, and explore how to make fintech a powerful force for global inclusion.
The Anthropology of AI: Language as a Soft Power in the Digital World
language | culture and inclusion | AI systems
If words are the building blocks of thought, and software the language of automation, then language models are the ambassadors of a new linguistic frontier. We are communicating more than ever, and topics like inclusive language and power dynamics, censorship and content moderation, and AI systems and bias have been elevated to the world stage. Explore English as a “lingua franca” and how certain nations are rejecting a western “language colonization” of the digital space. Master the socio-cultural engineering of LLMs for an inclusive future.
Design for your NEXT User: Diverse User Experience Across Cultures
UX and UI | sales culture | AI personalization
Your digital content is designed for a few markets, but consumed globally as technology yields unprecedented access across national borders. Rising internet penetration is creating the next tier of users, and brand growth now depends on reaching lesser developed markets, where relevance is a barrier to engagement. Meet your customer in their cultural context by localizing layout, animation, color, sound and even numbers while preserving the brand message. Leverage fintech, AI, and social selling for an inclusive customer journey on the path to global excellence.
From the Fortress to the Fedimint: Emerging Digital Cultures and Communities
fintech | culture and inclusion | geopolitics
Unpack the digital revolution’s emerging and diverging cultural groups: techno-optimists, e/acc advocates, decels, and more points on the techno-cultural spectrum reorganizing around AI. The tethers of our workplace and community are being replaced by digital communities of shared interests, purpose, and values. Could a network state that transcends geographical boundaries be next? Where DAOs provide governance and open-source reigns? Harness the philosophies that shape society, leading to next-level collaboration and innovation.
