From Peace Corps to Legal Innovation at Udemy

Teri's path has been non-linear in the best way. A California native, she studied architecture at Berkeley, learning to think methodically and solve problems creatively. But instead of heading to a drafting table after graduation, she made a bold pivot: joining the Peace Corps to teach environmental education to middle school students in West Africa.

That experience taught her resilience, humility, and how to build solutions with limited resources—lessons that would shape everything that followed. When she returned to the U.S., she joined a fast-growing San Francisco startup that was ultimately acquired by Rackspace, giving her firsthand experience with the intensity of scaling through rapid growth. The journey took her to London and then to nearly a decade at a micro private equity firm, where she wore every hat imaginable, even stepping in as CEO of portfolio companies during critical growth phases.

A few years ago, Teri reflected on what mattered most and realized she wanted to marry her early interest in education with her hard-won expertise in technology and operations. That led her to Udemy in 2021, where she's been able to build and shape legal operations, develop the ESG program, and establish enterprise risk management in ways that support both innovation and responsible growth.

Beyond the demo

"Anyone can run a demo; the hard part is building AI into how an organization operates day to day."

For Teri, AI adoption isn't about flashy pilots or impressive presentations. It's about the unglamorous work that happens after the excitement fades—the change management, the workflow design, the careful attention to how teams actually use these tools.

She spends her time thinking about sustainability over spectacle. "The technology moves fast, but the real challenge is shaping how it gets embedded into strategy and operations so it delivers value beyond the pilot phase."