September 2025

Work is supposed to be a space of growth, innovation, and purpose. Yet for many professionals, it has become the opposite: draining, toxic, and harmful to well-being. At the same time, many leaders step into their roles without ever being fully aware of their blind spots and often unintentionally creating cultures that stifle rather than empower. The result is a silent crisis that erodes organizations from the inside: burnout, disengagement, high turnover, and a workforce struggling to thrive. It’s a challenge we can no longer ignore. And it’s exactly why we are building Ayana, an AI-powered bot designed to transform the way we see leadership and toxic work spaces. Why Ayana? Most workplace interventions either focus on individual professional development or organizational culture change. Rarely do they connect the dots in a way that is accessible, continuous, and data-driven. Ayana was created to bridge this gap. She is not just a bot. Ayana is the first AI Bot designed for leadership and workplace transformation, shaped by the realities of African professionals yet relevant globally. Her role is two-fold: For Leaders, Ayana acts as a mirror. She identifies leadership gaps whether it’s empathy, delegation, adaptability, presence, or conflict resolution and guides leaders on how to close those gaps through learning journeys tailored to their needs. For Professionals, Ayana acts as a compass. She helps individuals detect signs of toxic work spaces, assess their level of toxicity exposure, and guide them on a recovery journey that restores agency, resilience, and well-being. Together, these two roles create a cycle of awareness and action equipping both leaders and teams to build healthier, more human-centered workplaces. Where Ayana truly becomes transformative is in her ability to generate actionable data. Through her interactions, organizations and partners gain access to: Interactive Dashboards  which will show real-time toxicity and leadership heatmaps across the continent, highlighting regions and sectors where challenges are most pressing. Workplace Index which a first-of-its-kind benchmarking tool that compiles this data into annual reports, tracking progress, identifying trends, and ranking areas that need urgent attention. Organizational Insights which will be tailored analytics that help organizations identify internal hotspots, invest resources where they are needed most, and design interventions that address root causes rather than symptoms. This makes Ayana not just an AI bot, but a decision-making tool for leaders, HR teams, policymakers, and development partners committed to healthier work cultures. But we won’t stop at dashboards and reports. The insights gathered by Ayana will fuel our Global Leap Convenings which we’re curating them to be high-level gatherings of leaders, professionals, and changemakers across cities and regions. These convenings will be spaces for reflection, solution-building, and collaboration, ensuring that the data doesn’t just sit in reports but translates into real-world change. Imagine an event where leaders come face-to-face with data on their industries’ biggest leadership gaps, or imagine professionals convening to share lived experiences validated by continental toxicity heatmaps, or imagine organizations committing to measurable changes while collaborating on new models for work. That’s the vision behind the convenings, we want to move from data to dialogue, and from dialogue to action. Why This Matters to Partners For those who join us as partners, Ayana offers more than just access to technology. She provides: Early access to transformative tools therefore positioning partners as pioneers in workplace innovation. Visibility and thought leadership  through the Workplace Index and convenings, partners gain recognition as drivers of change. Strategic advantage with insights that sharpen decision-making, inform policy, and align investments with the areas that need them most. Co-creation opportunities where partners will be working directly with us to shape convenings, refine the index, and influence how workplaces evolve across Africa and beyond. To us, this is more than a project. It’s an ecosystem for leaders, professionals, and organizations to take the leap and reimagine work together. A Leap into the Future of Work The team bringing this to life will be lead by Mathew. As the founder, I am deeply glad to see this project finally coming to life. What started as an idea has grown into a movement powered by AI, leadership science, and lived workplace realities. I cannot wait for the official launch, not just because of what Ayana represents for professionals and leaders, but because of the possibilities it opens up for organizations and partners who dare to take the leap and reimagine work with us. Ayana is more than technology. To us, she is a movement, a guide, and a mirror. She’s proof that AI can be used to make workplaces more human, not less. This is how we’re taking a leap, and we’re asking leaders everywhere to take the leap with us. To learn more get in touch with shi@toxicworkspaces.com