Luminosity Advising — Amy Chen Kulesa

About

Amy Chen Kulesa

Amy Chen Kulesa is a strategic advisor who helps schools, nonprofits, and foundations make good decisions about artificial intelligence (AI), strategy, and organizational change.

Most recently, Amy launched and led the AI portfolio at Bellwether, where she advised foundations, published research on AI in education, and worked directly with organizations deploying AI in their programs. She also partnered with organizations on strategic planning, growth, and continuous improvement efforts spanning instructional materials, professional learning, STEM education, charter schools, postsecondary and career pathways, early college, and whole-child approaches to student development.

Before Bellwether, Amy was the Director of Data and Analytics at Boston Prep, where she managed the school's data infrastructure and collaborated on a growth application that earned a state commissioner's recommendation for expansion. She started her career as a consultant at Booz & Company, advising Fortune 500 clients on operations strategy. She serves on the board of Match Charter Public School and the AI Advisory Group for OpenSciEd.

Services

How I can help

AI Strategy & Implementation

AI is moving fast, and the organizations getting it right are the ones that approach it with both ambition and care. There's a lot to be hopeful about and a lot to be careful about. I try to hold both. I help organizations navigate the real constraints, ground in research evidence, and work through the messy middle.

This could include: assessing your organization's readiness, facilitating sessions to build a shared AI plan, designing convenings where stakeholders develop policy or practice together, helping your team build the skills and judgment to use AI well, or thinking through the design and implementation of specific tools and practices.

Strategic Advising

The best decisions come from bringing the right questions, the right information, and the right people into the room. I work with schools, nonprofits, and foundations who are working through complexity, taking in different perspectives, stress-testing assumptions, and helping get to a clear answer they trust.

This could include: developing a strategic plan, facilitation of a planning process with your team, a structured engagement around a specific decision you're facing, or ongoing thought partnership.

Philanthropic Advising

I work across the funding ecosystem: with foundations thinking through strategy and priorities, and with the organizations they fund who are navigating growth or change. I bring deep knowledge of how both sides of that relationship work, and what it actually takes to create change that sticks.

This could include: advising a foundation on portfolio strategy or grantmaking priorities, supporting a foundation launching work in a new area, helping funders think through how AI fits into their giving, working with a grantee organization to strengthen their strategy, or serving as a thought partner to a program officer or nonprofit leader navigating a complex moment.

Interim & Fractional Leadership

Not every leadership need requires a permanent hire. Sometimes organizations need an experienced leader for a defined window to cover a vacancy, own a growth or partnerships function, or keep a critical workstream moving while a longer-term plan comes together. I step into these roles with full ownership and accountability.

This could include: serving as a fractional leadership role during a transition or search, taking on a time-bound strategy role, acting as a fractional chief growth or partnerships officer for an early-stage organization that needs that function but isn't ready to hire for it full time.

Every child deserves a world-class education, one filled with curiosity, meaningful challenges, and lasting relationships.