Using AI for Good // Co-founder + VP of Content @ProfJim

Maria Walley is a Co-founder and Vice President of Content at Creatium Inc., a 40-person edtech company using AI to make online learning interactive. Creatium earned recognition by HolonIQ as one of North America’s most promising edtech startups in 2023, 2024, and 2025. Creatium's client roster includes several of the world’s most prestigious brands in workforce training and education publishing. In 2024 and 2025, Maria was recognized at the ASU+GSV Summit as one of the women leading the AI revolution in education.

Previously, Maria was on the leadership team of Verily Magazine, the first women’s magazine to enforce a no-Photoshop policy. As the Relationships section editor, she managed over 30 freelancers and helped grow that section into Verily’s most-read section, surpassing 1 million unique visitors per month.

After Verily, Maria worked as an independent content consultant for a range of tech and education clients. Notably, she supported Microsoft’s team in creating the Microsoft Learn platform, helping subject-matter experts and other non-writers become confident content creators. She has provided content strategy and storytelling for organizations from Fortune 500 companies to early-stage startups, translating complex ideas into engaging learning materials.

On the personal side, Maria lives in Cincinnati with her husband and two young sons. She enjoys immersing herself in fiction and travel. Maria earned her B.A. in English from the University of Dallas, where she studied on a Fine Arts scholarship.

To clear the air: Yes. Yes I'm six months pregnant. The bump can no longer be hidden. I'll be having my third boy in May because Jason Walley and I are crazy.

All that said... last Friday was a wrap at #DLAC26. Thank you Dr. Rachel Book, Robert Clements, Charlie Thayer, and Lincoln Learning Solutions for your ongoing vision and belief in what our collaboration could be.

Together we've built what would have seemed impossible only a year ago:
An AI-powered learning coach that doesn't give away answers... it guides students to think critically, like a good Socratic tutor would. All with a homework helper that walks you through questions... refusing to write your paper for you... but asks the right questions to get you started.

The guardrails are strong. Kids stay focused on learning objectives. No rabbit holes allowed. But it adapts... an 11th grader gets a different conversation about WW2 than a 3rd grader. And a 3rd grader with a killer vocabulary won't be held back if they want to go deep into science.

And for teachers and parents: a bird's-eye control panel that flags when a student is struggling... academically or personally. This tool is not a therapist or companion. But it will alert the right people when intervention matters.

I can confidently say the online learning tools and integrated multimedia we've built together are a cut above the rest. So honored to be your partner, Lincoln Learning. ❤️ 

For everyone else: you really need to see it to believe it. And we're just getting started.

And it's not lost on me... that while I'm literally creating the next generation at home, I'm helping build the tools that will change how that generation learns. Prettty wild.

Maria Walley

Making online learning less 2016, more 2026 | Co‑founder @Creatium | Leading woman in AI @ ASU+GSV | CHIEF member

People ask me all the time: "How do you do it all?" Well... I don't. 

I think people expect me to say something about discipline, or time management, or waking up at 5am. (I wake up at 6:45, which is the last possible second that gives me enough time to shower, get dressed, and get my bouncy kids into the car by 7:30am.)

Here's what "all" looks like this week. 20 hours of meetings scheduled; most of them discovery/sales calls. 6 landing pages to roll out; oh, and my husband is gone the entire week at a conference ... and I'm 30 weeks pregnant. And I have two school-aged kids with extracurriculars.

Here's what I actually do: I pay people to help me.

And I've had to get over a surprising amount of guilt to type that. 

I pay for eMeals to plan my dinners, and zap the ingredients into Kroger delivery. I pay for Kroger delivery because I cannot be trusted inside a grocery store. It saves time, it's easier to budget on an app, and taking my kids to the grocery store is the circle of hell that Dante forgot to include in the inferno. And I exercise at home because the idea of "going to the gym" with this schedule is genuinely hilarious to me. 

We pay for aftercare. On those random days off that schools love to spring on you (teacher in-service days, President's Day...) ... I use a sitting agency. It's expensive. I pay for it anyway.

I do not clean my house. I hire a cleaning service. 

I do not do laundry. I hired a retired woman, who, and I say this with deep admiration, derives genuine joy from folding things into perfect, neat little piles. She is better at this than I will ever be, and I have made peace with that.

My kids do have chores, but we've made them chores that matter. They take out the garbage; They pack their own lunches. They set and clear the table. And my personal favorite: they're on "security detail," which means checking that all the doors are locked and lights are off before bed. (They take this particular job v seriously.)

The American reality is "you're on your own kid."  My parents are amazing grandparents, but this is no household with multigenerational help. If I need help on a Tuesday at 3pm, I'm paying for it. 
 
Years ago, I read Laura Vanderkam, and something she said rewired how I look at all of this. I'm paraphrasing, but essentially: unless you're sewing your own clothes and growing your own food, you already outsource. No one agonizes about using Amazon Prime. But the moment a woman hires someone to fold her laundry, suddenly it's a moral question. 

Maybe it's the fact that I know this costs real money, and not everyone could do this -- and I certainly couldn't have afforded this earlier in my career either. 

But, if I didn't have this system, I couldn't function. I'd be worse at my job. I'd be worse with my kids. And I'd be running on fumes in a dirty house.

So, again... when people ask how I do it all... I don't. 

P.S. Actual picture is inspired by a real morning scenario. Beans v Bat.

Somehow I tricked my kids into doing chores willingly and I need to tell someone before the spell breaks. (Also, PSA for parents here.) 

So "take out the trash" was once met with groaning, negotiating ("I'll do it if you give me more minecraft time!!!"), and the occasional dramatic collapse on the floor.

But when I called my eldest the "Waste Manager," things changed. Nobody asked him to take out the recycling yesterday. He just noticed it was full, and handled it. Because it was his job ... not an annoying directive from management. 

My youngest is now "Chef Leo of Lunch." He packs lunches every evening (though he gets help). Maybe the initial request is not always a balanced meal, and maybe there's an aggressive amount of grapes. But he owns it. 

And both take turns on "Security detail." Every night before they go to bed, they check that all the doors are locked, and the appropriate lights are off. I did not teach them the "procedure" ... they invented it. I just told them it was important. 

It seems like a small change, but perception is everything. When I stopped framing chores as things they HAD to cross off a list ... and started framing them as things the family needed ... they saw the ability to step up and take over the job in their unique way. 

Most people with free will don't want a list of tasks. They want to take things into their own hands, see the problem for themselves, and do things their own way. Obviously this applies to adults too. Because let's be real: at our core, we are basically giant, more mild toddlers. 

When we don't sleep; we're cranky. When we forget to eat; we're desperate; When we feel overstimulated; we crawl up in the corner to die and write sad poetry about our feelings. (Oh wait... that's just me.)

I'm at DLAC today! Proud to hang out with the Lincoln Learning Solutions team and showcase the incredible learning experience we've built together. If you're here, join us for our talk at 10:30 PST!

As a mom, I think this is one of the most important questions we're asking about  AI right now. Not just "can AI help kids learn" but rather, "at what cost?" 

Will it do their homework for them? Expose them to content they're not ready for? Become their therapist? Their best friend? 

All the alarm bells go off. 

This month's AI Learning Journal includes a full breakdown of how we're tackling every one of these (legit) fears with online K12 publisher Lincoln Learning Solutions, and how Creatium helped their content come to life.

Open article: How Creatium is powering Lincoln Learning to build the AI coach parents and teachers actually trust. by Creatium • 7 min read

How Creatium is powering Lincoln Learning to build the AI coach parents and teachers actually trust.

Anyone else feel this?

Sometimes to get work done, you need to schedule a passive aggressive meeting invitation with yourself.

This year, in honor of international women's day ... I'm not sharing my stories or feelings. Instead, I've built an AI roleplay where you can practice advocating for yourself when your boss credits "the whole team" for work you did solo. 

Again. 💀

Been there? 

This can be used for ANYONE who's been in this position of being underestimated and overlooked. Try it -- and tell me how your conversation went!

Go here: https://lnkd.in/e9AzafSM

--

P.S. This roleplay is less about obvious sexism ... and more about standing up for yourself, but regardless, it's a tough conversation worth practice, and you can watch how I did in this video here. 

P.P.S. How's my acting? I think this one felt a bit too real. 😅 

#InternationalWomensDay

Welp, can't say I've ever gotten a poem as cold sales email before. Normally this is much more of a third or fourth date thing ...

To those still looking for a Valentine ... ❤️

I think I’ve been staring at our engagement metrics too long.

taplio

Maria Walley's Linkedin Analytics

Maria Walley

Performance ScoreMaria Walley's LinkedIn Performance

Maria Walley's Best Posts (last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

.css-6ytdur{background-image:linear-gradient(284deg, rgba(39, 43, 72, 1) 0%, rgba(33, 47, 183, 1) 100%);color:transparent;-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text;}Maria Walley's Linkedin Analytics

Maria Walley

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Maria Walley's LinkedIn Performance

Maria Walley's Best Posts .css-1emoo84{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:400;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);}(last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Maria Walley's Linkedin Analytics

Performance ScoreMaria Walley's LinkedIn Performance

Maria Walley's Best Posts (last 30 days)