The latest candidate in our series of Q&As with influential women in the technology business is Fatima Yusuf, Founder & CEO, ImagineCreate AI, software that allows brands to generate product and fashion photography with AI.
Name: Fatima Yusuf
Job Title & Company: Founder & CEO, ImagineCreate AI
Years in the Industry: 10 Years (Technology and E-commerce)
The Quote That Most Inspires You: “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” (– Theodore Roosevelt)
What drew you to a career in the consumer and/or business technology industry?
I knew I wanted to create and have an impact and was always intrigued by business as a path to do that. Witnessing the growth of mobile, social media, e-commerce, and the economy that was created on those platforms opened my eyes to the opportunities that exist in tech to create impact at scale.
I got the entrepreneurship bug in university when I started a fashion-related non-profit with my roommate. After a few years in consulting, I quit and moved to NYC to start my first ecommerce company with a friend. I then joined Shopify a few years later where I was inspired everyday by the merchants and developers building businesses on the platform, and the people inside the company making it happen.
Have you encountered any roadblocks along the way that were related to your gender?
I have been very fortunate throughout my career with the sponsors I’ve had. Sponsors play a large role in helping you get into rooms that women may not have been in before you or where representation is limited. It’s important to have supporters in your corner and play that role for others navigating their career growth.
There is a real disparity in funding dynamics for women but there are lots of investors that are trying to change that landscape. It’s really a cycle that just needs more fuel — when more women have outsized wins as operators, founders, or investors, they generally give back and support other women to create a cycle of change and new patterns in the industry.
What unique characteristics or perspective do you feel you bring to your organization as a woman?
My experience as a founder, operator, and frequent online shopper gives me a unique perspective on the dynamics of our product, company, and customers. In our business of product photography and marketing with AI, the more you understand the buyer and purchasing patterns, the easier it is to help the merchant succeed. I think the combination of my personal and professional experiences helps me build for our users in a more impactful and empathetic way.
Technology is historically a male-dominated industry, yet the use of tech is fully embraced by women, and many studies even suggest that females are the primary buyers of tech in the home. What do you feel the technology industry needs to attract more women, particularly into high-level positions?
There are already a lot of stats out there proving diverse teams build better and more innovative products. To attract and retain high performing women in general, they need to be met with opportunities that match their potential, provided the space to go after them, and the recognition when they deliver. All of this should be paired with policies that support personal family circumstances, so women don’t feel they have to make binary choices on family or career development through different life stages.
If you had to sum up what it is like being a woman in this male-dominated technology industry in just a few words, what would you say?
Being a female senior leader in this industry increases your responsibility to make sure other women continue to enter the room after you, and any glass ceiling a woman breaks in her capacity should be met with a ladder to bring others up.
Are there women in the tech industry who inspire you?
Of course. I’ve been inspired by many incredible women I’ve worked with over the years at Shopify and so many of the merchants on the platform. Other women in tech I haven’t directly worked with but find inspiring include Susan Wojcicki, who led YouTube through massive growth, and Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx, who inspired a lot of female founders to start brands based on problems they experienced first-hand.
What are some of the misconceptions/myths about women working in the technology space that you’d like to dispel?
Myth: “Women who succeed in tech had to sacrifice their personal lives or don’t want a family.”
There’s a perception that successful women in tech must have sacrificed family, hobbies, or personal well-being. While balancing personal and professional life can be challenging for anyone, this myth unfairly pressures women and implies that tech success comes at a personal cost or assumes ambitious women don’t also want thriving family and personal lives. It’s important to recognize that tech careers should support a well-rounded life for everyone, regardless of gender and not label women who want success in multiple aspects of their life.
Myth: “Women in tech are more suited for non-technical roles like HR or marketing.”
This is another misconception. Women are thriving in highly technical roles—from software development to AI research. We need to toss out these narrow stereotypes and recognize that women can and do succeed across all aspects of tech.
What’s one thing you wish was done differently in the industry, and why?
I think the whole “unicorn or bust” mentality in startup culture may be limiting high potential entrepreneurs from entering the arena. Not every tech company needs to be a unicorn, and there are plenty of highly successful companies not on the VC train. The push for “all or nothing” can actually turn a lot of people away who feel like building a startup would be too disruptive to their personal lives. We should highlight and create space for sustainable, profitable companies that grow at a healthier pace and deliver real, long-term value. This way, more diverse voices can step into the entrepreneurial arena without feeling like they have to choose between success and everything else or thinking there’s only one way to “win.”
Are you optimistic for the future in general and for the industry?
Yes, I believe we’re still in the beginning of a new tidal wave of technology enabled by AI and overall, there will be more good than bad as the market shakes out. Similar to the dotcom and mobile era, this technology will be fundamentally important over the decades to come and create a lot of opportunity for new business. It also lowers the barrier to entry to execute on new ideas, which should foster significant innovation for those entrepreneurs who previously felt restricted because of limited resources or capital.