Marie Roker-Jones
Curiosity and AI Strategist at Curious Culture LLC
Innovation
Education: Fordham University - UMASS Graduate Certificate
New York, NY, USA
Biography
Some people chase answers. I chase better questions.
Curiosity is my superpower.
I help founders, executives, and entrepreneurs uncover unseen opportunities before the market catches up. I turn curiosity into a business advantage, helping companies build strategies, products, and communities that don’t just compete but define new spaces entirely.
As a 2x founder and military spouse, I’ve raised over $2M, collaborated with organizations like Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Foundation and LVMH’s La Maison des Startups, and scaled inclusive communities to over 25K members.
I am the Women in AI Lead for AI2030, where I champion equitable and ethical approaches to artificial intelligence.
Curiosity is the single most underrated growth strategy in business. AI, Web3, and scaling won’t succeed without leaders who ask the right questions before rushing to answers.
Curiosity as a Service™ (CaaS) is my framework to help companies break free from predictable thinking and unlock new opportunities before their competitors do.
Through CaaS, my clients become proactive, shaping the future instead of responding to it.
They unlock entirely new revenue streams and build communities that shift industries.
They don’t ask, "What’s possible?" They ask, “What’s missing?" and then they build it.
Signature Talks & Workshops
The Curiosity Edge: How to Stay Ahead in an AI-Powered World
Learn how curiosity drives innovation, growth, and resilience in a rapidly changing world.
AI That Feels Human: How to Leverage AI Without Losing Your Soul
Most businesses are losing their unique edge in the rush to integrate AI. This keynote reveals how to use AI to drive new revenue, deeper customer relationships, and long-term trust without becoming a carbon copy of everyone else.
The Curiosity Code: How to Think Like a Founder and Scale Like a Community
Some businesses grow fast, and others last. The secret? Curiosity and community. This talk explores how modern brands are built through conversation, trust, and shared curiosity, not just traditional marketing.
Blue Ocean AI: How to Create Untapped Markets Instead of Fighting for Attention
Most leaders default to efficiency thinking, which kills innovation. This keynote introduces Curiosity as a Service™ and shows how companies can use better questions to drive better business outcomes.
AI isn’t just about efficiency, it’s about creating something no one can compete with.
Curious Queens: How Women Entrepreneurs Can Scale Boldly with AI and Strategy
Women-led businesses are one of the biggest untapped growth opportunities in the economy. This talk shows female founders how to scale strategically on their terms.
I don’t teach the obvious. I offer original, thought-provoking strategies that make people rethink what’s possible.
I challenge audiences to think differently. My keynotes aren’t about passive learning, they’re a wake-up call to action.
I’ve done this work myself. I don’t just talk about AI, innovation, and strategy. I’ve built businesses, led teams, and helped founders secure funding and scale.
Passion
I believe in asking better questions.
I’ve always asked, "But what if we did it differently?"
It’s never been enough for me to follow the usual path or accept things as they are. I want to know why things work the way they do, who they’re working for (and who they’re not), and what’s possible when we stop assuming and start exploring.
That mindset has shaped everything I’ve built.
As a military spouse and 2x founder, I’ve had to navigate uncertainty in ways most people never experience because I asked the right questions.
Curiosity is how I move through the world. It’s how I uncover opportunities, connect people, and build with impact.
I’ve always been drawn to big ideas and the 'what ifs' of the world. But it wasn’t until I stepped away from my last startup that I realized curiosity is one of the most undervalued growth strategies in business.
I’ve seen people with world-changing ideas make them smaller because they thought that was the only way to be taken seriously.
That’s why I do this work. Curiosity fuels my mission to help entrepreneurs, founders, and leaders turn uncertainty into opportunity.
I don’t tell people to be bold. I make it impossible for them not to be.
I challenge their thinking, keeping them stuck. I push them to stop watering down their ideas and start owning what makes them different.
I’m passionate about helping people succeed and helping them stop making themselves small.
Best Story
Every time my husband was deployed, I felt myself slipping further away from who I was. Life as a military spouse revolved around giving everything I had to create stability for everyone else, and I lost sight of what I needed for myself.
My wake-up call was being diagnosed with an autoimmune condition. It was my body's way of saying, "You can't keep living like this." All the pushing, the overcommitting, and the constant sacrificing had finally caught up with me. None of it left space to ask: Who am I beyond all of this? For a while, I didn't have an answer.
Then, one day, I stopped focusing on answers and started asking questions instead. What would happen if I got curious? That question shifted everything. I stopped bracing myself to "push through" and began to see every challenge as an opportunity to design a life that worked for me, not against me.
Curiosity became my compass. I stopped asking, "What's wrong with me?" and started asking, "What's this teaching me?" That shift changed how I approached my health and my work.
Curiosity taught me to approach life like a founder: with no blueprint and no guarantees, just a willingness to design, test, and iterate. I used it to rebuild myself.
I connected with women who felt unseen, started building SheLeadsAI to bridge the gap between ambition and emotional support, and created communities where values matter more than optics. That's why I always tell entrepreneurs and founders: Success doesn't come from sticking to a script. It comes from asking better questions and making space for the answers that challenge you to grow.
My autoimmune condition has taught me how to pause, reimagine success, and take meaningful steps forward.
You don't need a perfect plan to build something extraordinary. You need the courage to ask the right questions and the patience to build from there.
Origin Story
Even as a child, I paid attention to who was left out.
My mom would always tell me, "Don't just look out for yourself; look out for the people who don’t get invited to play." That advice stuck with me. It shaped how I see the world and solve problems, and it explains why I’ve always asked more questions than I’ve given answers.
But for a long time, I didn’t know how to be curious about myself or how to set healthy boundaries.
As a military spouse, I became the queen of reinvention, constantly adapting and holding everything together for family, work, and community. I got so caught up in keeping things running that I stopped asking myself:
What do I want out of life?
Then came the breaking point.
When I was diagnosed with an autoimmune condition, it was my body’s way of saying: This isn’t sustainable. The constant doing, overextending, and sacrificing myself was breaking me.
Instead of focusing on solutions, I thought, "What if I got curious about this?"
That one question changed everything.
I stopped seeing my life as a list of obligations and started treating it as something I could design. I built systems that worked for me, not against me. I reconnected with women who felt unseen and unsupported, and together, we built spaces where we didn’t just talk about our struggles, we moved forward.
I started helping other women entrepreneurs secure partnerships, capital, and resources.
Today, as The Curiosity Architect, I help women entrepreneurs stop shrinking their ideas and start asking better questions, the kind that leads to capital, partnerships, growth, and community.
I am willing to travel
Up to 100 miles
When it comes to payments
I generally get paid for speaking but make exceptions
Topics
Best Story
Every time my husband was deployed, I felt myself slipping further away from who I was. Life as a military spouse revolved around giving everything I had to create stability for everyone else, and I lost sight of what I needed for myself.
My wake-up call was being diagnosed with an autoimmune condition. It was my body's way of saying, "You can't keep living like this." All the pushing, the overcommitting, and the constant sacrificing had finally caught up with me. None of it left space to ask: Who am I beyond all of this? For a while, I didn't have an answer.
Then, one day, I stopped focusing on answers and started asking questions instead. What would happen if I got curious? That question shifted everything. I stopped bracing myself to "push through" and began to see every challenge as an opportunity to design a life that worked for me, not against me.
Curiosity became my compass. I stopped asking, "What's wrong with me?" and started asking, "What's this teaching me?" That shift changed how I approached my health and my work.
Curiosity taught me to approach life like a founder: with no blueprint and no guarantees, just a willingness to design, test, and iterate. I used it to rebuild myself.
I connected with women who felt unseen, started building SheLeadsAI to bridge the gap between ambition and emotional support, and created communities where values matter more than optics. That's why I always tell entrepreneurs and founders: Success doesn't come from sticking to a script. It comes from asking better questions and making space for the answers that challenge you to grow.
My autoimmune condition has taught me how to pause, reimagine success, and take meaningful steps forward.
You don't need a perfect plan to build something extraordinary. You need the courage to ask the right questions and the patience to build from there.
Origin Story
Even as a child, I paid attention to who was left out.
My mom would always tell me, "Don't just look out for yourself; look out for the people who don’t get invited to play." That advice stuck with me. It shaped how I see the world and solve problems, and it explains why I’ve always asked more questions than I’ve given answers.
But for a long time, I didn’t know how to be curious about myself or how to set healthy boundaries.
As a military spouse, I became the queen of reinvention, constantly adapting and holding everything together for family, work, and community. I got so caught up in keeping things running that I stopped asking myself:
What do I want out of life?
Then came the breaking point.
When I was diagnosed with an autoimmune condition, it was my body’s way of saying: This isn’t sustainable. The constant doing, overextending, and sacrificing myself was breaking me.
Instead of focusing on solutions, I thought, "What if I got curious about this?"
That one question changed everything.
I stopped seeing my life as a list of obligations and started treating it as something I could design. I built systems that worked for me, not against me. I reconnected with women who felt unseen and unsupported, and together, we built spaces where we didn’t just talk about our struggles, we moved forward.
I started helping other women entrepreneurs secure partnerships, capital, and resources.
Today, as The Curiosity Architect, I help women entrepreneurs stop shrinking their ideas and start asking better questions, the kind that leads to capital, partnerships, growth, and community.