I arrived a little early for the interview in order to get a sense of the place. The company I had come to see – ‘Neurosentia’ – was supposedly a startup but had already taken over several of the floors of the tower building connected to the University here. This place was foreign territory for me, I had finished my postgraduate at a different uni altogether but my doctorate was very much in line with the interests of this particular company, the pairing of AI and sex.
Joanna Simmonds met me at the reception and escorted me upstairs to the interview room. CTO and co-founder, she was in her early 40s and looked just as poised and as elegant as in her YouTube videos. This woman was already a huge role model for me, though I knew better than to mention it. I did not want to appear like I was fawning. As I stood in the elevator with her, I took the chance to examine her up close, such a nice cut of clothes. This is how I wanted to be when I reached middle age. Damn, I was fawning.