Aug 31, 2026
This week, Ivy Slater, host of Her
Success Story, chats with her guest, Sayre Blake.
The two talk about merging art and engineering to revolutionize
corporate training, leveraging AI as a disciplined cognitive tool,
and building a lean, sustainable technology company.
In this episode, we discuss:
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How gamified software platforms address the gap in training soft skills like communication, sales, and conflict management.
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What it takes to build a lean, decentralized team while avoiding the high burn rates of traditional startup culture.
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When using AI internally is genuinely effective, and why avoiding agentic workflows protects both cost and workflow.
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Why viewing AI as a mathematical description of shared human experience, rather than an expert intelligence, changes how we interact with technology.
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Who you allow into your cap table as investors, and why being selective preserves long-term vision.
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How AI can be used as a "cognitive prosthesis" to boost team productivity by 10x to 30x without causing burnout.
Sayre Blake, Technical Founder & CEO @ SkillSaige
At the beginning of my career, I studied engineering and design with equal enthusiasm (and drove my illustration professors up a wall with my attempts to link what I’d learned about light in my quantum mechanics classes with our studies of color theory).
Now, 10+ years on in my career as a systems engineer, programmer, and designer, nothing delights me more than the challenge of balancing complex technical needs with striking, artful visuals. I’m equally at home creating custom 3D art pipelines as I am refining nuanced decisions of light, form, and narrative design.
Programming languages are like visual mediums to me: there’s no one right answer, and the right choice depends intimately on the needs of a client and project.
When not diving deep into a new aspect of 3D development or illustration techniques, I’m balancing work with life with my two kids, dog, and leopard gecko in the beautiful outdoors of Colorado.
For me, creation isn’t about a specific medium or project, but the joy of the process as a whole: whether it’s programming, animation, or design, it all lends itself to the magic of storytelling in any form.
Website: https://www.sayreblake.com/
Social Media Links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sayre-blake/