ABOUT
Hi, I'm Shannon.
Director of Context Wizardry — and the real AI Wizard, according to my colleagues.
I bring a lot of energy and genuine curiosity to everything I build. I'm always scanning for the next problem worth solving — the bottleneck someone has quietly accepted, the manual task that nobody loves doing, the question students or staff keep asking that nobody has time to answer well. Then I figure out how AI can change it.
I design and build intelligent tools, assistants, and automations that reduce friction in real work, combining AI capability with human-centred design and genuinely practical user experiences.
How I got here
I've spent more than 12 years in higher education, starting in customer and student support roles where I learned quickly that the small details matter, a clear answer at the right moment, a process that respects someone's time, and a tone that makes people feel welcomed rather than processed.
From there, I moved into student and program coordination, working at the intersection of operations, governance, and the lived experience of being a learner. Then into learning design, where the question shifted from “How do we run this?” to “How do people actually learn this?” and where the craft is making something feel effortless for the person on the other side.
When AI arrived in earnest, it felt like everything I'd been advocating for finally had the tools to support it: personalised guidance, instant clarity, fewer dead ends, all at a scale that simply wasn't possible before. I went all-in, and I haven't looked back.
Coming to this from outside the traditional IT world has turned out to be one of my biggest strengths. I've spent far more time navigating complex systems as a user than building them, which means I can translate between technical possibility and plain language. No jargon, no acronyms, no glazed-over expressions in the room. The people I build for understand exactly what's being made, why it matters, and how it helps them, and that's where the magic really happens.
What I build
The patterns work across industries — the same assistant that helps a customer also helps an employee, a student, or a service-user. Every project on the projects page is something I've designed, built, or led.
Customer & user-facing assistants
Chatbots, booking assistants, support agents, and coaches — for customer service, FAQ, onboarding, scheduling, and self-service. Built to assist and guide, not replace human judgement.
Team & Operational Assistants
Friendly, grounded assistants that surface the right policy, the right process, and the right answer — fast. The same pattern works wherever a team is fielding repetitive questions.
Bespoke AI tools
Custom-built tools for problems most platforms don't solve out of the box — research aides, decision-support apps, scoring and review tools, risk auditors, and assistant-builders. Tailored to specific workflows and business rules.
Why I started Context Wizardry
After leading an AI enterprise rollout to over 20,000 staff and students, I started Context Wizardry to bring this work to organisations beyond a single institution. The same patterns that lift staff and student confidence in a university also lift staff confidence in a small business, a clinic, a council, or a not-for-profit. The technology is here — the magic is in designing it so people actually enjoy using it. That's the part I love most, and the part I'd love to do alongside you.