Wednesday, November 5, 2025
Lauren Cantor
AI in Action: Practical Tools for Immediate Impact - Wednesday November 5, 6:30-8:30PM, Santa Monica
Wharton SoCal is excited to host a fast-moving, hands-on session designed to turn AI from abstract concept into a practical business advantage. In just 60 minutes, you’ll see how today’s most powerful AI tools can collapse hours of work into minutes and open up entirely new ways of thinking about growth, strategy, and communication.
The format is interactive and participant-driven:
- Live demonstrations tailored to the audience, whether that’s generating brand-authentic content, accelerating research, or simulating high-stakes executive conversations.
- Open dialogue where your questions and challenges guide the direction of the session.
- Collaborative exploration that helps you identify the AI use cases with the biggest immediate impact in your own professional context.
This will be an interactive session where you’ll experiment with AI in real time, swap insights with peers, and leave with a short list of ready-to-implement applications you can put into practice the very next day.
We hope you will join us for a special and insightful session.
Date: Wednesday, November 5, 6:30-8:30PM PT
Location: Blank Spaces, 929 Colorado Ave, Santa Monica, CA 90401
Pricing: $20 for Wharton SoCal Members, $40 for non-Members (tickets are non-refundable)
Event registration will close on Wed 11/5 at 4:30pm! Sorry, there are no walk-ins for this event.
Parking: There is street parking near the venue. Please allow time to find a spot.
Event Flow:
6:30-7 PM: Network and enjoy lite snacks
7-8 PM: AI discussion with Q&A
8:30-9 PM: Session wrap-up and networking
About the Speakers:
Lauren Cantor helps executives understand how AI changes the fundamental questions about value creation. Her unconventional path from Columbia astrophysics to managing billion-dollar trading operations at UBS and MF Global, then graduating as valedictorian from SVA's MFA program as Milton Glaser's assistant, provides a unique perspective on pattern recognition in complex systems. Through her consultancy Field + Edge, she works at the intersection of business design, data, and culture. She worked on several books on business model innovation at Strategyzer and teaches Innovation and Entrepreneurship at ArtCenter College of Design and the School of Visual Arts. She publishes "Verses Over Variables," cutting through AI hype to focus on what matters for business strategy.
Stephen Smith, CEO of Intelligence by Intent, is a Wharton-trained revenue and operations strategist with 25+ years of experience turning data, technology, and disciplined execution into outsized growth for B2B enterprises. He has scaled revenues into the hundreds of millions, lifted EBITDA by double digits, and today helps law firms, PE firms, and SaaS companies deploy generative AI to accelerate research, analytics, and go-to-market performance. Smith publishes Intelligence By Intent which covers the latest AI news, insightful tutorials and impactful use cases.
