Meet Nazifa Mouli

We recently connected with Nazifa Mouli and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Nazifa, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

I’ve always been committed to self-improvement and reaching my highest potential. Whenever I encountered gaps in my knowledge, I compensated with hard work and persistence. My confidence in learning quickly meant that I saw challenges as opportunities to grow, tackling them head-on with learning and effort.

A major source of my resilience is my mother, who has been a constant inspiration. Growing up in a conservative environment where women were often viewed as secondary, she faced her own set of challenges. Despite these societal norms, she always believed in my potential and treated me and my brother equally, encouraging us to seize opportunities and strive for independence. Whenever I doubted myself, she would ask, “Why can’t you do it?” Her strength, persistence, and commitment to providing a better future instilled in me the resilience I carry today. Every challenge I face is a reminder of her example, pushing me to keep moving forward.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

During my undergraduate years, I volunteered at an NGO providing collateral-free loans to women in group settings. This experience was eye-opening, revealing that while many aspire to improve their lives, access to resources and opportunities is not universal. These women didn’t seek charity—they wanted tools to empower themselves and their families. This realization became a driving force for my professional path.

Currently, I lead Research and Development at Coding Shikhbe Bangladesh (CSB), a platform designed to equip individuals in Bangladesh with programming skills that can open doors to high-paying jobs in Western markets. What excites me most is that we’re not just teaching technical skills; we’re providing a pathway for those who otherwise may not have access to quality education and employment opportunities. We made history by organizing Bangladesh’s first international hackathon, which saw participation from students and professionals worldwide. Alongside my role at CSB, I’m pursuing a PhD at Iowa State University, focusing on ethical language model development. In AI, it’s crucial to build not just intelligent systems but trustworthy ones. A major challenge lies in ensuring that AI models are free from bias and misinformation—especially in educational contexts where fairness is vital. At CSB, my work centers on developing tools to evaluate students’ interview skills, and these tools need to be not only technically sound but also ethically responsible.

One of the greatest challenges we face is mitigating biases in AI models. It requires extensive computational power and careful data curation. Retraining models with unbiased data is no easy task, but it’s essential to ensure the technology we develop remains fair and inclusive. As a team, we are working diligently to address these issues, balancing the push for innovation with our commitment to ethics. We believe that by directly tackling these challenges, we can build tools that empower individuals while fostering trust and fairness in AI.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Looking back, strategic thinking, resilience, and rapid learning have been the most impactful qualities in my journey.

1) Strategic Thinking: Having a goal is important, but the real challenge lies in planning and executing the steps to achieve it. For instance, developing ethical AI models requires a strategic approach to address complex issues like bias. By breaking large goals into smaller, manageable milestones, I’ve been able to refine models effectively. My advice for those starting out is to set long-term goals and craft a flexible, actionable plan. Strategic thinking will help you navigate obstacles and steadily move toward your objectives.

2) Resilience: Success often comes with setbacks. In AI research, issues like biased data, ethical dilemmas, and technical failures can be discouraging. My resilience has helped me push through these challenges, treating them as opportunities to learn and grow. My advice: expect hurdles, but don’t let them deter you. The ability to persevere is key to maintaining progress, even when it seems slow.

3) Fast Learning Capability: The AI field evolves rapidly, with new research, tools, and methodologies emerging constantly. Being able to quickly absorb and adapt to new information has been crucial in staying at the forefront of developments. Whether exploring a new machine learning framework or understanding ethical implications, rapid learning has kept me ahead. For those beginning their journey, cultivate a habit of continuous learning—be curious, stay informed, and step outside your comfort zone.

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?

In the past year, my biggest area of growth has been time management. Realizing that there are only 24 hours in a day, I learned the importance of prioritizing tasks effectively.

Balancing my responsibilities—between active study, skill development, and research—has been challenging, especially in a fast-paced field like machine learning. With new techniques constantly emerging, staying up-to-date requires continuous effort. To manage this, I created a structured approach to my daily schedule, prioritizing tasks aligned with my long-term goals. This approach allowed me to effectively contribute to CSB, make progress in my research, and continue personal growth. While the journey hasn’t been without hiccups, refining my time management skills has been key to achieving more within limited time frames.

• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nazifamouli

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