Nikki speaks on the human strengths that matter most as AI changes how teams work, and how a small team can run on AI without losing the human part.
Nikki Tugano is the Founder and CEO of SeenCulture. She's a former HR leader and accredited Coaching Psychologist who taught at the University of Melbourne's Centre for Wellbeing Science. Her work brings behavioural science and data together to make recognition at work fairer and faster.
SeenCulture is "Moneyball for work teams". It reveals the strengths hiding in a team, as seen by the people who work with each person, then builds AI around them. The mission: a world where everyone feels seen.
In 2026 SeenCulture rebuilt itself as a human and AI team. AI handles the updates and handovers, so people spend their time on direction and decisions. Nikki speaks on how that works in practice, as a non-engineer founder who built it on a lean budget.
She also speaks on overcoming bias with data, and on her own path as an underrepresented, neurodiverse and introverted founder, first backed through Techstars and since by investors in Australia, the US and Japan.
She uses her own product. All seven people who shared feedback on her saw her more strongly than she saw herself.
Our vision is to create a world where everyone feels seen.
Because talent is evenly distributed, opportunity is not.
We believe AI can be an amplifier of human potential, not a replacement of our jobs. But only if we design our ways of working with intention, that puts people first.
Selected for Techstars Sydney 2023, one of 12 startups globally. A$1.5M raised from InterValley Ventures (lead), M8 Ventures, LaunchVic, Cut Through Ventures, Aussie Angels and Atrae/Wevox (Japan).
Want this for your whole leadership team?SeenCulture works for individual leaders and for groups. Nikki is the right conversation.
"The goal was never speed. The goal is to be seen."
Nikki Tugano, The Hidden Wavelength, HEXPO 2026 · as recapped by HEX
An invite-only lunch with Simon Murphy for Melbourne founders and their operators. Each team left with its own AI operating system on one page. Every seat was taken.
"Within two days of the first workshop we'd already started streamlining our meetings, written an AI governance doc and I'd built my first Claude skills to automate workflows."Tom Lowe, Head of Marketing, Thirst Creative
Nikki opened with a day when she and a teammate sent zero messages and the work still moved. Then, the five human strengths AI can't replace: empathy, presence, opinion, creativity and hope. Her message: a background in psychology, HR or education may be the perfect training for the age of AI.
Won the 10th HR + L&D Innovation & Tech Fest, for vision, uniqueness and technology.
On what leaders can learn from psychology, alongside Didier Elzinga (Culture Amp), Philippa Watson (Ubank), Amy Glancey (Atlassian) and Jess Blomfield (Airtree).
Sharing the SeenCulture story of untapped potential with founders, investors and city leaders.
Most organisations ask what AI can replace. The better question is what it makes worth more. Nikki makes the case for five human strengths: empathy, presence, opinion, creativity and hope.
Ideal forExecutive teams, HR strategy, future-of-work conferences, graduate audiences
The honest story of a non-engineer founder building an AI operating system from scratch: how shared context replaces status updates, and what it frees people up to do. Practical enough to start on Monday.
Ideal forFounders, accelerators, women-in-business programs, operations teams
The strengths others rely on most are often the ones we've never claimed. Nikki starts with her own feedback, then shows what changes when recognition catches up with reality.
Ideal forLeadership summits, people & culture conferences, offsites, academic networks
Every organisation overlooks some of its best people. How bias-aware feedback and people analytics find them first.
Ideal forHR tech, future-of-work, data & AI conferences
An honest account of building a venture-backed company in a system not designed for her, and what it reveals about who gets seen, funded and promoted.
Ideal forDEI programs, ERG events, founder and women-in-tech audiences
Decades of evidence on what helps people thrive, and how little of it most workplaces use. A practical tour of the research worth acting on.
Ideal forUniversities, executive education, corporate L&D programs
Every talk is tailored to your audience and time slot, as a keynote, panel, fireside, workshop or guest lecture.
For leaders of teams of 5 to 50 who want to keep performing as AI arrives. Not a tool tutorial, and not about replacing people.
"Nikki has been instrumental in mapping out my team's AI adoption strategy with real use cases and easy-to-follow frameworks."
Tom Lowe, Head of Marketing, Thirst CreativeNamed among the founders reshaping modern entrepreneurship, alongside the country's most recognisable brands.
Recognised for HR innovation, uniqueness and technology among Australia's top HR leaders.
Awarded for leadership in DE&I workplace innovation.
Awarded for agility, innovation and market responsiveness, recognising SeenCulture's rapid product and traction growth.
One of 12 startups selected globally for the inaugural Techstars Tech Central cohort.
Unmapped with Mike Kelly
Keynotes, panels, podcasts, workshops and guest lectures. Tell Nikki what you have in mind.
Prefer email? hello@seenculture.com · Connect on LinkedIn · See Nikki's Seen profile