Wikipedia Biography / Profile Background
Introduction :
- Carol Reiley is an Asian-American entrepreneur, researcher and roboticist. She is the co-founder and President of drive.ai, a Silicon Valley start-up working on software for self-drive cars.
- Reiley is also an author of several papers and books, including two children’s books that explores the growth mindset. She holds several robotics and technical patents and was selected by Forbes as one of “20 Incredible Women in AI.”
Personal Life : Parents, Family and Education
- Carol’s family originally hailed from Kaoshiung, Taiwan. She was born in Flint, Michigan, and moved to Vancouver, Washington at the age of five.
- She attended Mount View High School, where she excelled in academics as well as playing sports like tennis.
- She, then, attended Santa Clara University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering. Carol went on to John Hopkins University and did her Ph.D. in Computer Science and Robotics.
Wedding and Marriage Details :
- In 2009, Carol met her future husband, Andrew Ng, at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Kobe, Japan. Sparks flew but it was not until three years later that they met up for coffee and was in a relationship.
- Andrew proposed and for their wedding, the couple rented out two large houses in Carmel, California. Witnessed by close friends and family, they took their vows on a cliff, overlooking the beach. They then moved the wedding indoors where the happy couple cut a heart-shaped two-tier wedding cake decorated with cherry blossoms.
- The bride wore the traditional white wedding dress for the ceremony but changed into a fiery red and gold cheongsam as a nod to her and her husband’s Chinese roots.
Career, Income, Salary and Net Worth :
- 2011 – 2014 : Clinical Development Engineering Consultant at Intuitive Surgical
- 2010 – 2014 : Founder/Design Engineer of Tinkerbelle Laboratories
- 2015 – present : Co-founder, President of Drive (dot) ai
- While Carol has an illustrious career, she fondly remembers her first job as a tutor for a live local cable TV show. The show’s name was Homework Helpline and her role was to solve math problems for K-12 students and desig fun science experiments.
Interesting Facts, Height and Trivia :
- Carol speaks English, Mandarin and Spanish. She is a licensed open water diver and can ride a motorcycle.
- Her favorite movie is Disney’s Toy Story while her favorite book is Ender’s Game.
- Carol champions diversity in tech and is a strong advocate for more women in engineering. She realized early on that women made up only 12% of engineers. She believes that this is an issue of confidence, not intelligence.
- Her computer engineer father was her biggest career inspiration. However, a volunteer stint at a hospital at a young age had sparked her interest in medical care. She had witnessed pacemakers and was fascinated by them.