Layla Masri

Interview Summary

Layla Masri leads Customer and Product Intelligence and AI Strategy Adoption at Higher Logic. She previously founded and grew Being Creative, a web and app development firm that she sold in 2019 after 22 years. Much of her career has focused on helping associations, nonprofits, museums, educational organizations, and other mission-driven groups understand and apply emerging technology.

Layla has been an AWTC member and describes the organization as an invaluable source of relationships, resources, and professional support. She has also contributed to AWTC programming, including a presentation with Gretchen Steenstra on using data more effectively across association technology systems.

Cecilia Sepp:
Hello and welcome to this edition of AWTC Presents Her Story, a series where we profile our AWTC members. I am your host, Cecilia Sepp. I'm also an AWTC member, and I'm currently volunteering on the Marketing and Communication Committee.

In this edition, we are featuring our AWTC member, Layla Masri, and she is going to tell us a little bit about herself. Welcome to Her Story, Layla.

Layla Masri:
Thank you. I'd love to dive in on myself. I've had a really interesting career.

Currently, I'm at Higher Logic, where I'm leading Customer and Product Intelligence and AI Strategy Adoption. I've been doing this for almost a year now, and it's been an absolute whirlwind and a true delight to help people put their toes into the water and get serious about the benefits of AI.

But before Higher Logic, I founded and grew Being Creative. That's how a lot of folks know me—as a web and app development firm. I sold it after 22 years, back in 2019.

A lot of the work that I did during that time was with associations, nonprofits, museums, education organizations, and other mission-driven groups. So the association world, and really servicing very bespoke industries, has been part of my career from the very beginning.

I would say probably the simplest way to describe my career is that I've spent it helping people make sense of new technology and figure out where it can create value.

I was thinking about this the other day because when I first started, it was the web. I used to have to go and tell people what a website was and why they might want one.

Then it was mobile, with iPods and iPhones and tablets and apps, and now it's AI. So this through line has been being a layperson who can translate technology into plain English and connect people to practical use cases.

I love helping people move from, "I don't understand what I could use this for," to, "I see exactly how this thing could help my organization," and getting people excited to do it.

So I ask a lot of questions. I usually go through all of the "Why do you want this? Why do you actually need it?" questions before I encourage anyone to jump into new technologies.

It's really a tool, and you don't need the sledgehammer to hit the fly. I try not to get too involved in anything that's new and shiny unless it really is something that I think is going to move the needle.

Cecilia Sepp:
That's a great overview of your background. And I'm sure people appreciate that because I'm a tech lover too. I like to use things that are going to help, though.

You said you like to ask a lot of questions, so I'm going to ask you a couple. How did you get started working with associations?

Layla Masri:
It was actually my very first job out of college. It was so long ago that I saw the ad—it was a classified ad in the Washington Post, in print.

So associations were my entry point into the professional world. My first job was actually at the American Society of Travel Agents, which is an industry, by the way, that has seen a serious amount of tech disruption.

That was where I first learned how associations work: how they bring people together around a profession, how you create resources, how you support members, and how you build community.

I'm pretty sure I worked on IMS 1.0 back then. My start was actually as an advertising copywriter, so I didn't have this tech background to begin with.

One of the jobs I did a lot at ASTA was writing those welcome letters from the executive director that introduced you to every industry conference. I'd gotten it down to a science, like a Mad Libs:

"Welcome to the beautiful city of blank. We have a packed agenda to help you maximize X and Y and Z and to boost your travel agency profits..."

I got really good at that. But that only sustained you for so long.

It was exciting to jump into tech and see how it could really enhance what I was doing as a marketer. It's also actually where I met my husband, at ASTA. We started Being Creative together.

Associations are an integral part of my life. When I started Being Creative, that was when digital technology was really taking off. It was actually the beginning of the information superhighway, taking us back to the '90s.

It was really exciting to help associations figure out how to use the web, how to understand and develop and use mobile apps, interactive tools, and digital experiences.

That whole idea of serving the member—I learned that on the job.

I think I was also really drawn to associations because I really enjoy purposeful work. It's not just, "I want to help somebody make a buck," or "I'm here to sell this widget."

It's: How do you help people learn? How do you help people improve themselves in their career? How do you advocate for something? How do you help an organization deliver more effectively and more value?

That mission-driven piece has always really mattered to me.

Cecilia Sepp:
I agree. It's one of the reasons I've stayed in association management myself. It's so fun working with people who want to make something happen.

Layla Masri:
And the community is just like—it can't be beat. Everyone who works in the association world is an A-class person.

Cecilia Sepp:
Oh, that's nice. On behalf of the rest of us, thank you.

Cecilia Sepp:
You've already touched on my next question a little bit. Can you tell us about a time that you felt really good about your work?

Layla Masri:
Yeah, of course. I've worked with so many different organizations. I was at Being Creative for 22 years.

I will say the one standout to me was a time that we worked with a client that, unfortunately, was dealing with some internal sabotage moments. Their IT department decided to up and quit.

I'm obviously not going to name names here, but their IT department decided to up and quit and start their own IT company and then consult back to this association. There were some very squirrely things, as you can imagine, that happened with that.

And IT is integral to pretty much every association's ability to do business. You're taking registrations, processing payments across the board, whether it's for membership or otherwise. Your certifications can come to a standstill.

It was really, really perilous.

So we brought our team in and did a very quick triage: What's the state of the state? Then we tried to unravel what was going on. Thankfully, very quickly, we were able to unravel it, put in some stopgaps, and stabilize the situation.

What I was really proud about, though, was not just that ability to quickly come in and calm the situation. As part of that process, we became very trustworthy when somebody opens up like that. They were mortified and terrified.

What was great about that process was that we built a shared trust. Once we came out of that initial panic period, we were then able to have that bird's-eye view of their entire ecosystem and help them really streamline and back away from some of the things they had been paying for and implementing that weren't really helping them.

At the end of the day, we staunched some pretty serious bleeding, but they also came out of it with a stronger infrastructure and lowered their costs on top of it.

We were like, "Oh, I don't know how there's anything better than that."

That was really a great win, and our team was just so happy about that. You can't have your favorites, right? Your children, they're all your favorites. But that was a particularly interesting story to be a part of.

Cecilia Sepp:
That's very interesting, especially since we're located in the Washington, D.C., area, and that sounds very much like a congressional staff move—going to advise on the law that you helped write.

You've really been in tech most of your career. I use it—I'm a high-end user—but you help people learn it and apply it and help them identify the right tools.

As we know, there aren't a lot of women in IT. It's still majority men, and nothing against men. You're okay, men. But what advice helped you as a woman working in the IT area?

Layla Masri:
My company was one of the first women-owned tech businesses in the D.C. area. I'll give a shout-out to Joanna Pineda, who also founded Matrix Group and was one of the OGs.

First and foremost, it's finding the people who can support you in that way.

But I think the biggest piece of advice that I've carried with me is truly: never let someone else's lack of imagination kill your vision. And if it's not out there, go build it yourself.

Those have been things I've really taken to heart, and it's been true throughout my career.

When I started Being Creative, the web was very new. I mentioned that people didn't know what it was, and I'd have to go talk to them and tell them what a website was and why it might be helpful.

Part of that conversation, a lot of times when I went out to pitch websites, was that we were a small business and then we grew. I was the chief bottle-washing officer, the HR person, and you do all the things, right?

I was our salesperson, and I went to pitch websites. I was often meeting with men. On more than one occasion, when I said I was one of the programmers, there was absolute skepticism.

There was an assumption that I was this cute little salesperson, the project manager, maybe some creative person, but not the person writing the code.

That experience absolutely stayed with me.

It's one of the many reasons why I really feel strongly about AWTC and the fact that we women in technology need networks like this. We need places where women are recognized. We need places where women can build each other up, where there are safe spaces where you can be like, "I honestly don't understand this thing. Can someone please explain this to me?"

You can just kind of let your hair down and push for parity and respect in our own ways.

If I waited for everyone else to fully understand the potential of the web or to fully recognize my role in building it, I probably wouldn't have built the company that I built.

So I think my advice, especially relevant for women in tech, is that you may be the first person in the room to see where something's going. You may be connecting dots that other people don't see yet.

That doesn't mean your vision's wrong. It just means that you're early.

And I think the other thing, too, is that you don't have to fit someone else's picture of what a technologist looks like.

I clearly didn't to some people that I met with, and that's okay.

I also thought that I had to be the most technical person in the room to be credible, and I'm not.

I work with people right now at Higher Logic where we're building and deploying these incredibly robust AI tools. I'm not a developer anymore. But where I provide value is that I have enough chops that I can be the person who helps bridge the gap between these deeply technical people and the people who need to make decisions or use the tools.

That's where I've developed my sweet spot.

AWTC is a fabulous place to test out your own combination of skills, learn from other people, and use their resources and networks and groups of people. I've worked with people throughout my time with AWTC, and those are absolutely invaluable network folks that I lean on all the time.

Cecilia Sepp:
Well, you're sort of jumping ahead to some of my later questions.

You've already talked a lot about why you value AWTC and what you get out of it, why you like being part of it and what you like best.

So if you were talking to somebody else and saying to them why they should join AWTC, what would you say?

Layla Masri:
I really see the value of understanding where technology is leading associations.

I see working, as I do right now in AI, how technology has been and is becoming more of a tool to help people deliver this very personalized, responsive, insight-driven type of experience.

As an example, one of the more memorable times that I had at AWTC was when I gave a presentation with Gretchen Steenstra. We had this awesome thing about, "Does your data spark joy?"

This was when Marie Kondo was really big, so we were taking pop culture and applying it to technology things.

We were workshopping how to streamline critical information across your AMS, LMS, event registration system, and so on, so you could create more efficient, personalized websites.

For me, that's the nugget. It's not just about learning or building these relationships, but it's that give and take.

I learned so much from people, and I gave back to this community. It's all organic. You're a volunteer, right? And a lot of times, you get more than you give.

So you just feel more compelled to help other people learn and go through their career trajectory.

Cecilia Sepp:
Yeah, that is so true. I agree. And I'm a very high-level volunteer.

And when I say high-level, I mean I get involved in a lot of different things. So I know what you mean.

I think that's really great insight into AWTC.

Then we'll wrap up. Instead of wrapping up with AWTC, where do you see technology taking associations in the future? You kind of touched on that with that phrase, but what do you think is going to happen? Where do you think we're going to end up?

Layla Masri:
Oh, gosh. If I had that crystal ball.

But I will say where I see this going: associations obviously have something incredibly valuable that not a lot of other industries do have.

We have trusted content, expert communities, member conversations, these networks we've been talking about, and this deep knowledge of these industries.

And this is what we're seeing with the advent of these AI tools and different opportunities we have to leverage them: we all know associations are sitting on this absolute trove of information.

But the challenge is that a lot of that value can be hard to surface.

You might have older systems that might be harder to use. You might have search tools that haven't kept up. People do come and go sometimes from roles in associations.

So who's really curating and making sure that content is bubbling up to the surface? Discussion threads, libraries, staff knowledge—there are so many different places.

How do you make sure that this stuff talks well to each other?

I'm all in on AI. That's the role that I have at Higher Logic, so allow me to evangelize for a little bit.

I feel like AI really gives associations the opportunity to unlock a lot more of that value. And it's coming at us fast and furious. We were watching this six months ago, and there'll be additional changes we can talk about.

But I think the beauty is that technology is just unlocking ways for members to find the right answer faster.

It's connecting all of us to relevant resources, discussions, and peers. It's helping staff understand patterns way more than we could before.

Not just pulling up a dashboard, but having insights like, "Hey, you might not have noticed this." AI can dig in and really glean some very keen insights that we might as humans miss.

You're seeing that even in the medical industry, where they're catching minute types of things that doctors or radiologists or whoever can't catch. That's kind of that same analogy.

But I don't think that the future is replacing people. I think the future is technology making the human side a lot more accessible and scalable.

I think it frees us up to use our strategic brains to do the things that we do best.

To me, the most exciting question isn't, "How do we use AI?" because everyone's talking about it. It's, "What are we trying to help our members do? How can technology make that faster or more meaningful?"

And I think that's where associations can really shine in this type of environment.

When new technologies come along, just being open to dipping your toe in the water—that's the one thing I tell everyone who wants to get their start with AI and feels like it's overwhelming.

Pick the one thing that you spend a lot of time on.

"Gosh, I really wish I didn't have to help every member find their password again or tell them when the annual event is."

Pick that recurring thing you could outsource to a bot that then frees you up to, again, have those one-on-one discussions with members and actually help them solve maybe a little bit more of a meaty problem.

Cecilia Sepp:
Yes. Well said.

And there are so many tools out there. You have to find the one that works for you.

Layla Masri:
Absolutely. Not one size fits all.

I can't tell you how many times when I ran my business, I would talk people out of doing things, to my dismay sometimes. Like, "Why did you do that?"

But I mean, it's only fair, right?

If someone's like, "The board says we need to have an app, and so we're coming to you to make an app," I will say, "I want this app to be successful for you. What do you want the app to do? How would it move the needle for you?"

And if they don't have an answer, I'm going to challenge them to go back and think about it.

Do you really want to spend that money on that? Or could we talk about something else that might be more useful?

So, yeah, technology can be very interesting that way.

But, again, that's the benefit of these types of conversations: surfacing how we're all doing this.

Cecilia Sepp:
Yes. Yes. And this has been a very fun conversation.

Thank you for being so positive and high energy. I really appreciate it. And thanks for joining me here on Her Story.

Layla Masri:
Absolutely. And I will say anyone who's not already involved in AWTC, figure out how to get yourself involved.

Go to the programs. The happy hours are banger. Ask the questions. Volunteer. Mentor.

The sharing is caring. It's really such a fabulous community to be a part of and a really special place inside of the association world.

Cecilia Sepp:
It is.

And if you want to learn more about AWTC, please go to our website, awtc.tech. You can find out about all of our events. They are really fun.

Most of them are no fee and they're open to everyone, so check out our calendar and see if there's something that's right for you.

You can also fill out our membership application form. There's no fee for membership, so it's the most valuable no-fee membership on the planet. Check that out as well.

And check out some of our other Her Story episodes. It's very easy to get involved at AWTC.

Once again, awtc.tech.

Thanks for joining us for this edition of AWTC Presents Her Story, and we will see you in the future.