Gentle Ramirez
New York

Gentle Ramirez

Engineering · Writing · Stage · Research

Gentle Ramirez

Contact

Applied AI Engineer, Wall Street · they/them

Gentle Ramirez is an applied AI engineer on Wall Street, where they have spent more than five years building AI systems and tooling.

Gentle's career includes stops at Twitter, HBO, The New York Times and Sotheby's Institute of Art. They have been invited to events hosted by TikTok, Google, Netflix and Spotify, including moderating a panel at TikTok's NY Tech Week.

A poet and essayist, Gentle is the author of the essay collection Ultram. Their poetry has been published in NYU's West 10th, and they have been featured in The Columbia Spectator and Washington Square News. They have performed at Columbia University and represented NYU at the College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational (CUPSI). Outside of engineering, they DJ as DJ Adjective, have walked the runway at New York Fashion Week and Accra Fashion Week, and were a state finalist for Miss New Jersey USA.

A Bronx native and Prep for Prep alum, Gentle attended the Lawrenceville School, where they conducted research with the University of Pennsylvania's Center for the Study of Boys' and Girls' Lives and studied abroad in India, focusing on women's inequality and LGBTQ rights. At New York University, they were part of Anne L. Washington's research lab, studying AI and data policy. Their senior thesis drew on the Black Panther Party's tradition of community self-defense to frame technological self-defense, centering privacy, data sovereignty and digital autonomy for Black communities. They also conducted ethnographic research at NYU Accra in Ghana on necropolitics, Hoodoo and African traditional religions, examining how power decides who lives and dies and how spiritual traditions have helped people survive it. They graduated from NYU magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in Africana Studies, Creative Writing and Computer Science.

Lo and behold, an unexpected full-circle moment came when Gentle matriculated at the University of Pennsylvania for graduate school, joining Desmond Patton's SAFElab and the Program on Race, Science & Society led by Dorothy Roberts. They hold a Master of Applied Science in Computer Science with a concentration in AI from Penn.

Driven by a strong sense of justice, Gentle daydreams about serving as a judge one day. Their childhood dream was to become an astronaut. Above all, though, they are working on being well rested and aspire to become a beachcomber with their wife.

Selected Work

  1. Artificial Intelligence

    Building AI Systems on Wall Street

    Gentle designs and builds AI systems and tooling, taking ideas from concept to production.

    Applied AI Engineer · 2020 – Present
  2. Tech Industry

    Invited to Events at TikTok, Google, Netflix and Spotify

    Gentle moderated a panel at TikTok's NY Tech Week and was a featured guest at Google's Vision Summit, one of 150 innovators invited.

    Panels & Summits ·
  3. Social Media

    A Community Twitter Bot That Connected 2,000 Users

    Built with Python, the Twitter API and Google News, the project won the "Twitter for Everyone" category.

    Twitter · Software Engineer
  4. Documentary

    Researching the Obama Presidency for HBO's Obama: In Pursuit of a More Perfect Union

    For the HBO docuseries, Gentle completed 15 research projects on Barack Obama's presidency, evaluating 100 events from 2008 to 2016, including how his health care policies affected 30 million Americans.

    HBO · Archivist & Researcher
  5. Books

    Ultram, a Collection of Essays

    Gentle's published essay collection.

    Author
  6. Poetry

    Published in West 10th, Featured in The Columbia Spectator and Washington Square News

    Gentle's poems appeared in NYU's undergraduate literary journal. They performed at Columbia University and represented NYU at the College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational.

    Poet
  7. Style

    On the Runway at New York Fashion Week and Accra Fashion Week

    Gentle walked New York Fashion Week in 2015, 2018, 2023 and 2024, and Accra Fashion Week in 2021. In 2024 they were a state finalist for Miss New Jersey USA.

    Runway Model · 2015 – 2024
  8. Nightlife

    DJ Adjective Behind the Decks

    Gentle DJs and produces independent events, including a night at Henrietta Hudson that drew more than 200 guests.

    DJ & Producer · Ongoing
  9. Africa

    Ethnographic Research in Accra on Necropolitics, Hoodoo and African Traditional Religions

    The study examined how power decides who lives and dies, and how spiritual traditions have helped people survive it.

    NYU Accra, Ghana
  10. Asia

    Studying Women's Inequality and LGBTQ Rights in India

    A program in politics and government abroad with the Lawrenceville School.

    The Lawrenceville School