How Fundación del Saber is transforming education, health, and workforce development through empathy-led AI.
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Show Notes:
In this Mission Matters episode, Adam Torres interviews Leah Pollak, CEO of Fundación del Saber, on how her organization is using tech and AI to tackle social challenges in Latin America. From offering full-ride scholarships in engineering to launching Thrive, an AI-powered women’s health platform, Leah is reimagining what innovation means—by leading with empathy.
About Leah Pollak
Leah bridges ideas and solutions, transforming proof of concepts into scalable realities. Initially focused on Chile’s challenges-such as water scarcity, access to quality education, clean energy, and worker training in the digital era-her expertise now spans 35 countries across Latin America, Africa, and Asia. With 20 years of experience leading international public-private partnerships and non-profit initiatives, Leah collaborates globally with organizations like the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. After leading Fundación Chile’s foresight and business development portfolio and corporate affairs team, she worked closely with remarkable talent and two founding partners: the State of Chile and BHP. Today, she serves as CEO of Fundación del Saber, expanding her impact from Chile to the world. Leah earned her B.A. with distinction from Duke University in International Relations and History, and her MPP with honors in International Policy and Development from Georgetown University. Married and the mother of 2 girls, Leah draws inspiration from reading “Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls” every night.
About Fundación del Saber
Fundación del Saber is a nonprofit driving inclusive innovation by showcasing Latin American talent globally. Through technology, we expand opportunities, promote mental well-being, and create pathways for individuals and communities to reach their full potential. Join us in shaping a future where leadership is accessible to all.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you’d like to apply to be a guest in the show, just head on over to mission matters.com and click on Be Our Guest to Apply. All right, today on the show I have Leah Polak, and she’s the CEO over at Fundación del Saber. Leah, welcome to the show.
Thank you Adam, and you pronounced that perfectly. So Leah, and thank you for that. You attended the Milken Global conference in Beverly Hills and for everybody listening. This particular interview is part of that Milken Global conference series where we, we bring on guests that we’re at the, conference.
Um, bring on, VIPs, speakers, panelists, all of the above. Leah, I’m always curious. I know. Been a little bit since the conference, but, what’s your connection to the conference? This is your first time going. Have you been before, like, talk about the experience please? Absolutely. it was actually my first time.
It was Oh, welcome, welcome a newbie. That’s amazing. I know. I love it. Go ahead. I know I met people that it was their eighth, 20th time. Wow. So that was also, really interesting. Mm-hmm. I definitely think I’ll be going there again and we’ll be a regular, I actually had heard you could kind of compare it to a Davos World Economic Forum.
Mm-hmm. But it’s kind of like an adopted version in the us. Hmm. So I personally found it very efficient and a very effective way to meeting up with global counterparts. Mm-hmm. In my case, in tech, philanthropy, health and education. Yeah. In a very informal environment, which, I think is also really useful to kind of break the ice.
Yeah, I definitely agree with you and one thing that I, I hope to see at future conferences, I know we didn’t get to meet in person on this one, but, happy to obviously meet you through the podcast. But, one of the things that I noticed is like, year over year, it just is interesting ’cause you get to know the, it’s, it really is a community, a community of individuals that are coming together and, uh, you know, breaking bread and learning and, and getting stuff done.
Like, that’s the really cool. Thing about it, in my opinion. so you, definitely have that to look forward to as you continue to come in future years. let’s switch it up a bit. So I do wanna get into what you’re working on right now. So Fundación del Saber, um, us a little bit more about the organization please.
Absolutely. So was started about three years ago. Mm-hmm. And I took the role of CEOA year and a half ago and. It is a foundation whose base is three pillars fostering, education and workforce development. I would say also solutions for the gender gap. Mm-hmm. And what we would call zero hunger or nourishment.
All leveraged through technology. That’s kind of the, the solutions that we look for are all technology based in those three sectors. Hmm. And we work with, I would say what’s interesting, uh, of the model is a combination of expertise and domain expertise of, the leadership group that we’ve been able to form research and hands-on experience in the ground, which is incredibly important to make this happen.
the foundation has a presence in 20 countries in Latin America. Mm-hmm. A community of 12,000 members. Everything from students, professionals, and or collaborating organizations. And I think one of the important programs this was actually built off was, also granting full ride in scholarships to one of our partners.
Mm-hmm. Which is Jolly University. Mm-hmm. A US based university, but it’s a hundred percent online and it actually provides the scholarships we provide. Our full rides sponsored by industry for engineering BS degrees for vulnerable youth. Mm-hmm. Within Latin America. So it’s a full ride, four year BS degree and you stay in your country, which today, in today’s context, I think is a, a really interesting new model of hands-on education.
Yeah. That’s super interesting. Fundación del Saber, it’s a relatively new organization, but I mean, you’re meeting, you’re leading major initiatives like Thrive. what do you think, and maybe explain Thrive by the way, just so that people understand what it is, but maybe, do you think some of the reasons behind the success are?
Like how have you been able to gain such traction really so fast? for being, you know, a couple years in. I think one, thing is the foundation. Mm-hmm. And I guess in my case, I’ve worked in this space of tech transfer for the last 20 years. Hmm. So one of the big things is, and and this is Adam, what you do, and this is why we’re, talking on the podcast, putting connections together.
Mm-hmm. And I would say particularly after COVID, more and more. You are able to have the data and connect people easily to the right solutions. Mm-hmm. You mentioned Thrive, for example. Mm-hmm. And I just mentioned Jah University. Jah University. When it started, it was meant to be a physical university, actually based in tba, Bolivia, but it completely pivoted during COVID into this online model.
And what happened to it is that it started in our regular platforms that we all use for work. zoom teams, et cetera. But when you’re actually creating a, virtual community or university, you start having different challenges in terms of this. Mm-hmm. So what’s interesting about JLL U and its r and D team is that they created a solution that is called me point, that was developed by students and professors together.
To, based on the metaverse to create this, basically, I would say Metaverse platform for the community. Mm-hmm. So the actual technology behind Thrive. Is me point because when I’m sitting in a meeting with, the main software architect, I realized that the same technology, for example, measuring the attention that you’re putting towards your screen, the camera mm-hmm.
As you blink measures dopamine, you can actually tell how, much dopamine levels you’re producing Additionally. With regards to biometrics, you can also do it through your camera screen and measure. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. That provides, certain data that you can use to predict with your hip to waist ratio.
Yeah. Which, gives you, about an 80% probability of predicting, Polycystic ovary syndrome, for example. And why did I know this? Because this was something that I’ve lived with since I’ve been 13. Mm-hmm. So by identifying this technology that we’d been working with, jolly University, yeah. We also were able to purely start designing and developing Thrive with the actual doctors that I’ve been working with.
For myself. Mm-hmm. I guess for the last 20 years. Yeah. And the lead doctor in this case is? Mm-hmm. She’s the number one physician in the world. In the space of hormones. Mm-hmm. And I am very glad that she not only joined the foundation as a board member, but is also the chair and leading the medical team on Thrive.
Mm-hmm. Where the AI-based platform that we’re, we’re developing. Mm-hmm. It’s all of her expertise as a domain expert in this sector, which makes this incredibly unique. Hmm. And let’s go further on that. in that topic of ai, and I know, I mean, what they’re doing, they’re trying to shift the conversation from AI for efficiency to AI for empathy.
Like, can you kind of expand on that a bit? Yeah, and I would say my aha moment. It. This was an I was definitely coming into Milken already with AI and Thrive in my mind. Mm-hmm. But Milken just reaffirmed that this is the right moment for capital investment and right moment in terms of what we’re leading.
Yeah. while I was sitting in listening to one of the big panels where you had all of the different, I would say heads of AI at all the big tech companies. And one of their statements was actually that we were, all beyond the area of, wave of efficiency and productivity of ai.
And Okay. You can kind of say maybe, yes. Probably 80% of the world population’s not there yet. But the second wave that they really, and resounded to me, was their, and I would say their face was kind of worried is, and what I mean by AI for empathy is healthcare. Mm-hmm. And what they were able to see with their own.
Gem and I chat GBT. I’m not gonna keep on naming companies. Sure. But all of them is basically that their users were using the platform for different medical questions. probably questions that should have been answered by therapists and the level, I would say, at this point of concern on their end that.
Probably the content and that they were delivering is, isn’t ready to give the solutions that today people are actually asking, um mm-hmm. Whatever AI agent they’re, using, um, Mm-hmm. So my aha moment was, the moment is now. in the intersection of healthcare, mental health.
Mm-hmm. And I would add on hormones. Which is incredibly important. And they’re all correlated. Hmm. So, other areas that were really interesting, for me at least, was listening to the panel of I would say pharma, and different health solutions and medical solutions that were taking place.
And with the different leaders of those panels. Yeah. So it, it’s a space where you can corroborate your hypothesis and make your connections that will definitely be able to help you scale up what, your concrete solution. That’s great. Leah, this has been fun having you on the show today and learning more about the work that you’re doing, and especially getting into the AI side of things and just, you just got a lot of good things going on here.
Um, and I know we, there’s much more you have to offer and that, being said, if somebody’s listening or watching to the, and they want to follow up and they wanna learn more about what you’re doing over at Fundación del Saberor, any of your other work, how do they do that? go directly to our website, www ion de.org.
And Adam, I know you’ll be posting that probably to make sure that everyone can go there. Also, our LinkedIn, uh, site, and you guys can also message me directly at LinkedIn by just, uh, looking at my name, Leah Pollak. And I’ll be happy to answer any message that comes my way. Fantastic. I’ve already watching, just so you know.
Of course, we’ll put some links in the show notes for you. And speaking of the audience, if this is your first time with Mission Matters and you haven’t done it yet, hit that subscribe or follow button. This is a daily show each and every day, bringing you new content, new ideas, and hopefully new inspiration to help you along the way on your journey as well.
So again, hit that subscribe or follow button. And Leah, thanks again for coming on the show. Thank you, Adam. Appreciate it and look forward to meeting you at Milken in the future.
