Builder. Experimenter. Observer of humanity.
Tanya Powell
I'm Tanya. I build things that matter, run experiments I probably shouldn't, and think about what happens when culture meets technology.
Right now I'm building Rainforest Studio, a cultural intelligence tool that asks whose knowledge gets to live inside AI. Before that, and alongside it, I've been connecting patterns across domains most people keep in separate drawers.
This is my corner of the internet. Have a look around.
About Me
I'm Tanya Powell. London-based, Jamaican heritage (St. Elizabeth and Clarendon, if you know you know 🇯🇲🇬🇧). Cat mum to Satoshi and Stitch, who contribute nothing to the household but are somehow in charge.
I founded Rainforest Studio because I kept asking a question nobody had a good answer to. Whose knowledge matters when we build AI systems? Living Archive is the first thing to come out of that question. It's a conversational interface for community archives. Instead of searching metadata the way archivists think, you just ask. The system understands context, follows threads, cites sources. RAG technology designed for heritage, not help desks.
Four consecutive years on Computer Weekly's Most Influential Women in UK Tech longlist (2022, 2023, 2024, 2025). I mention it because it happened, not because it's the point.
I also run experiments. Garden experiments (28 plant varieties, food sovereignty infrastructure). Financial experiments (18 consecutive optimal outcomes, still going). Tech experiments (can Bayesian forecasting beat Goldman Sachs?). I document what happens because the process is where the interesting stuff lives.
BSc Media Production. MSc Software Engineering. Observer of humanity. Thinking across domains at once is just how my brain works. I stopped apologising for it.
Rainforest Studio
I'm building cultural infrastructure for oral histories. That sentence took me two years to write.
Living Archive is a conversational interface for community archives. You don't search the way an archivist thinks. You ask questions the way a person thinks. The system understands context, follows threads, cites its sources.
The pilot launches in N15 (Tottenham, Borough of Culture 2027) with 10–15 participants from Caribbean and African diaspora communities. We're testing whether conversational archives actually reduce barriers to engagement, or whether that's just something we all assumed.
This is infrastructure, not a feature. Archives should be participatory. Knowledge should be accessible without needing a library science degree to navigate it.