Dr. Nashlie Sephus is the Principal AI/ML Evangelist for Amazon AI, focusing on fairness and bias mitigation at AWS AI. Previously, she led the Amazon Visual Search team in Atlanta, launching visual search for replacement parts on the Amazon Shopping app in 2018. This technology grew from Partpic, a startup acquired by Amazon, where she served as Chief Technology Officer.
Dr. Sephus earned her Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Georgia Tech in 2014 and her B.S. in Computer Engineering from Mississippi State University in 2007. She has also worked with Exponent in New York City and completed internships at IBM, Delphi, UC Berkeley, GE, and Kwangwoon University in Seoul.
A native of Jackson, Mississippi, Dr. Sephus founded The Bean Path, a non-profit bridging the tech gap through free tech office hours, youth coding workshops, and grants. She’s also developing the Jackson Tech District, a 21-acre hub for emerging technologists in downtown Jackson.
Dr. Sephus has been featured in publications like the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Black Enterprise, Ebony, and Amazon Science, and has appeared on CBS’s Mission Unstoppable and the Your First Million podcast. She serves on advisory boards, mentors, and invests in Atlanta-based startups. In her spare time, she enjoys tennis, piano, music, bargain hunting, biking, and DIY projects.