The intersection of technology and social impact is ripe with possibilities, but many non-profits struggle to keep pace with the rapidly evolving digital landscape. In this insightful episode, Kate Byrne welcomes Bourgogne Kinlaw, Senior Business Program Manager at Microsoft, to shed light on navigating this complexity. From corporate boardrooms to nonprofit teams to her own consulting work, Bourgogne has carved a path defined by purpose, connection, and a refusal to fit neatly into anyone else’s box. Bourgogne shares how to get it done on her own terms. She unveils her extensive experience in connecting tech companies with the social sector, offering practical strategies for non-profits to leverage technology effectively and bridge the digital divide by adopting free and low-cost tech tools, and using AI to work smarter, or even at all. We also get real about the power of relationship-building, future-proofing your career and how to stay relevant, as well as tips for how and what it takes to move between the corporate and social impact worlds without losing your way. Tune in for a warm and informative discussion packed with actionable insights. Bourgogne is proof that leading with heart, smarts, and strategy can be your career strategy. And her advice? Timeless: With good intentions, you’ll always land on your feet.
If you’re in the nonprofit space, considering a career pivot, or just curious about how tech can actually serve social good, this episode is your roadmap. Tune in for actionable insights, relatable wisdom, and a fresh perspective on leadership in a tech-transformed world.
—
Watch the episode here
Listen to the podcast here
Inside The System, Outside The Box And Beyond The Buzzwords: Leading Real Change With Microsoft Sr. Program Manager, Bourgogne Kinlaw
Meet Bourgogne: Her Journey, Skills For Social Impact, & Power Of Connection
Everyone, we’re going to dive into the intersection of technology and the social sector with my guest, Bourgogne Kinlaw, who’s a senior business program manager at Nonprofit Tech Acceleration, where she provides skills for social impact, working with nonprofits, and also helping and advising a number of large corporations.
Bourgogne is on a mission to help nonprofits leverage technology to access the resources they need and stay ahead in this ever-changing, ever-shifting sands of world that we live in, in this digital landscape, without frankly breaking the bank. Our conversation ranges across so many powerful nuggets. We’ll talk a little bit about how technology is transforming the nonprofit impact, how it helps them punch above their weight, the role that the power of connection and collaboration plays in your career, and also working in collaboration with the social sector.
She’ll provide some thoughts on some free and low-cost tech tools that every nonprofit should know about it and resources. Frankly, maybe not necessarily future-proof your career, but how do you stay current in a world where tech moves so fast? If you’re in the nonprofit world and if you’re frankly just curious about how tech can drive real change, this is one you’re going to want to listen to. Let’s get going.
Welcome, Bourgogne Kinlaw, a Senior Business Program Manager for Nonprofit Tech Acceleration. She provides skills for social impact. She advises numerous technology companies. Bourgogne, welcome to the show. I’m excited to dive into this conversation with you.
I’m happy to be here, Kate. Not only do I support technology companies, but I also support nonprofits and small businesses. Happy to have this conversation with you.
It’s such an important one, to have, especially in this day and age when folks are trying to figure out one, how can I stay alive. Also, two, how can I grow and thrive, especially amongst these shifting sands. Before we get into that, I want to take a second, take a quick beat, and hear a little bit about your journey. What was the milestone that helped you get to where you are? Like, were you always thinking, “I love tech and I’m going to help the nonprofit sector.”
What helped me get here, honestly, is the power of connection and working with people. One thing that I’m really good at is being a connector and relationship building. The relationships that I’ve built along the way throughout my career have helped me get to this point. Just to take a step back, my career has been focused mainly on business development. For the last fifteen years, I’ve been focused on building relationships with different corporations.
If it had to do with learning, development, whatever it was, my role was always being the bridge builder when it comes to connecting, maybe the private sector with the public sector. I’ve always been a relationship person. When I was in business development, I had a large book of business with a lot of organizations, companies, and I kept those relationships warm, and those relationships helped me throughout my career. I moved to Atlanta, Georgia, in 2010 for an organization, a for-profit university.
I built up their community, and the external relations and their community outreach program did extremely well at that. That organization said, “I think Bourgogne would be a great fit to help us build relationships with chief learning officers to see if those corporations need support with learning and development.” I did that, it was extremely well. I went to another organization, helped them build up their program around learning and development, and connecting with CLOs. I miss the nonprofit sector. I’m extremely involved. I have always been in the community.
I decided to work within nonprofits. I worked at a nonprofit, and my role was to get the interns ready for corporate America. Again, still building relationships, but I missed that corporate piece of working with CLOs and working with for-profit universities. All in all, kept going back and forth. One of the women leaders that I built a relationship with was working at Bank of America at the time. I stayed in touch with her. I think working really opened me up to the tech space, and now I worked at a technology company supporting them with their tech acceleration program. I would say it’s been relationships throughout my career, Kate.
Tech & Non-Profit Intersection: Reshaping The Sector & Unlocking Resources
Let’s talk a little bit, though, about your discovery of that intersection or crossroads, if you will, between technology and social impact. How do you see tech reshaping the whole nonprofit sector? Often, those folks don’t have as many resources available to put towards them, which is one of the things you’re helping them find. Talk a little bit about that.
Now with AI, I think that technology is going to help nonprofits work smarter and faster. One of the things that I’ve uncovered by working in the capacity of a consultant at a technology company and with several nonprofits is that a lot of times, nonprofits don’t have the time to find the free resources or unlock the free resources. There are so many free resources out there for nonprofits to help them unlock the potential of what they could do. One of the gaps that I see is that nonprofits don’t have the time to find those resources.
They don’t have the manpower to get everybody to adopt new technology resources. I think one of the biggest things is just helping nonprofits know that there are resources out there, letting them know that, “You’re going to have to take the time to investigate what works best for your team and making sure that your team can adopt the new technology that is available because it’s going to help you work faster and smarter.”
Nonprofits should know resources exist to help them. They need to investigate and adopt new technology that will enable their teams to work faster and smarter. Share on XOne of the things I’m curious about, and you’ve touched upon it right there is say, a nonprofit finally gets access to the technology, but are they going to actually use it? A lot of times, I jokingly call my daughters my IT staff sometimes. I’m not a Luddite, but I’m just saying, I know what I’m talking about. I’m just wondering, has there been a shift? I know younger generations also want to work for purpose-driven organizations. Do you see that as a potential forward movement or a help for getting nonprofits to maybe get a little bit ahead, in addition to resources such as those that you provide?
One of the things that I think is really important is that Generations at Work is something that is real. I think that every time a new generation comes into the workforce, an older generation might be a little bit resistant to it. I really think that the generations that are coming into the workforce or wanting to do social impact work are extremely important because they know the trends, they know what’s important, and they know what matters.
I think it’s important for other generations, I’m an older millennial, to pause and listen to what the younger generations have to say about what’s important, what will stick. Social media is extremely important. When I first started working, social media wasn’t a thing. We weren’t promoting businesses or nonprofits on social media, but now that’s how people are learning about the mission. People are learning about the work. It’s important, I think, for older generations to adopt the ideas of the newer generations.
I totally agree. Sometimes that’s harder to do than we think. As we’re looking at AI adoption, because I believe there are so many, and I can remember you and I even had this conversation. I am one of our coworkers who had this conversation, AI, friend or foe. I would say that especially with the nonprofit sector. Now I have a better understanding of how it helps those folks punch above their weight if they use it properly. Are there ethical concerns that nonprofits should keep in mind? Are you coming up against that where they’re thinking, “AI, we don’t want to use it. It’s going to get all our information. Is it eventually going to work me out of a job?”
A lot of people are concerned about that, not just nonprofits. I think educators are also concerned about that. We do a lot of work with educators and work with nonprofits. Yes, I think there is a responsible way to use AI. You don’t have to upload all your information into an AI tool, but there are ways that you can use it to help you be smarter.
There's a responsible way to use AI without uploading all your information. You can use it to help you be smarter. Share on XIf you want to build a marketing strategy, if you want to find some ways to connect with the community a bit better, if you want to expand your nonprofit’s reach, there are so many different things that you can do with AI. Again, you do have to research what you’re doing. That’s with anything, that’s with any new tool that you’re using, any new technology that you’re using.
You have to understand the responsible way to use it because you don’t want to just add all of your information or the people who are utilizing your services information into an AI tool, but you want to make sure that you’re using it strategically so that you can help your business grow, your nonprofit grow. You have to just be responsible, but that’s the responsibility of an executive director or program director, or development director to identify what’s the most responsible way to use it for that nonprofit.
Essential Tech Skills: Strategy, Marketing, And Impact Measurement
While we’re talking about that whole notion of skills in general, and which are the most critical. In your mind, what do you believe to be the most critical tech skills that nonprofit leaders and teams need to develop? If you had to pick, I know there are so many, but if you did, the top 2 or top 3.
The top two skills. One of the things that I see that I think is important for nonprofits, and this is probably cliche, but I think strategy. Overall strategy for the year for the nonprofit. That involves everything from volunteer management to program execution to reaching out to corporate partners to identify what your priority is. One thing that we see sometimes with nonprofits that reach out to us is that they might be a little bit all over the place.
There’s no clear focus or no true North. I think sometimes if a nonprofit comes to the table, especially when they’re approaching a technology company for support, if they share their true North for that year, that will let other brands or other companies, volunteers, board of directors, future board of directors understand how they can contribute to that organization’s mission. If you’re all over the place, people don’t know where they can plug in to help and support.
That’s even from a consultant standpoint. I also think another area that I think is important for nonprofits is a marketing strategy. With social media being extremely important, I think nonprofits need to identify ways that they can share their nonprofit story and impact. Like, “Where is the impact happening? What are you doing locally? What are you doing in other cities or other states? What are you doing with the youth or with educators?”
Given social media's importance right now, nonprofits need to identify ways to share their story and impact through marketing strategies. Share on XNow, when a nonprofit develops the impact report, you can share it. Before, I just lived on the website, people would have to go find it. How are you leveraging other platforms outside of Facebook? A lot of nonprofits are on Facebook. What about LinkedIn? Are you leveraging LinkedIn? Are you leveraging other Substacks? Are you blogging? There are so many different ways to communicate with a large group of people and stakeholders, so they can understand what your mission is.
Are you doing that? I don’t see a lot of nonprofits doing that. I see them on Facebook, but I’m not on Facebook a lot. I’m on there because my family is on there, and they want to see pictures of my family. I don’t see them on LinkedIn. I don’t see nonprofits posting blogs. That’s important because they’re doing really important work in their community, and people want to read about it.
It’s interesting to me because with regards to impact, I think in some ways, nonprofits that I’ve worked with, their existence that’s our impact. No, it’s so much more than that, and then part of the pieces have what do we measure measure but what are you measuring and why? That can actually, when you have an impact plan, that can shift. You can have a three-year plan, often you have to, because your impact isn’t always going to be overnight.
Impact looks different. It’s sometimes it’s internal with your organization. How are you impacting your staff members, your volunteers? There are just so many great stories that come out of nonprofits that we just don’t see often. I know this because I’ve worked at several nonprofits. If people knew the work we were doing behind the scenes and how we were supporting the community, I’m sure we probably would have had a lot more support.
Why do you think that is? What is it? I know some folks don’t want to toot their horn. Maybe it’s a situation where they feel, as I said earlier, our work speaks for itself. If it’s speaking in a whisper, it’s not speaking.
I don’t know if nonprofits have the staff. Nonprofits are literally focused on making it day to day. Some nonprofits are doing extremely well. Some are just trying to stay afloat to support the people in their community. Sometimes, they may not have the staff to focus on that marketing component. I think if they made it a priority, it could be easier than they think it is, I believe. Especially now with AI, like I said, you can use AI to help you curate stories about the impact you’re making. Before, someone might be intimidated that creating a blog or a story might take a team member all day, with AI cuts half the time that you need to develop something like that.
AI As A Tool: Enhancing Strategy & Communication For Non-Profits
I agree. Using AI for that thing, just make sure you go back and you add your own little special system. Too often, think folks have, and I think we probably both know people who like they get it and they post it. You’re you can do that. That’s fine. You might have a little greater impact if you add your own personal touch to it. People know that, in fact, it is coming from you or that you had some thought?
You have to look at it as though it’s a colleague that you’re bouncing ideas off of instead of someone doing your work. If you’re building an impact strategy or a marketing strategy, just say, “I’m thinking about doing something for the next four months.” These are the important things that are happening at our nonprofit. You can create a prop to help them think of ideas that will resonate with the community, based on what’s going on in the country, and based on what’s going on in your nonprofit. Just ideate around that. As you said, add your words, but use it as someone that you’re bouncing ideas off of that’s in the office with you. That’s how you have to look at it.
I agree. I always look at it like a coach. You just said a coworker is a great way of looking at it. You just said a phrase, and it’s true. Times are crazy, ever-shifting sands. Funding’s getting trickier and trickier. What advice would you give, or in your mind, how do you think people could in the nonprofit sector? I don’t know if this is even powerful, dare I say future-proof their career when this world is ever creasing, technologically driven. Is it reading bright? What would you say?
You say to future-proof their career in this ever-changing time.
This sector of the world, especially, I’m going to say, older folks.
That’s a really good question. I think that’s something that everybody is thinking about, including myself. I think the true answer to that is that we have to stay up to date with the skills and the technology that is coming out every day, every week, every month. There are so many different free resources out there to get skills to make sure that you’re staying up to date when it comes to all of
We have to stay current with the skills and technology that come out every day, week, and month. Share on Xthe changes, especially when it comes to technology. I’m seeing people post on LinkedIn, take this free training on AI, learn how to prompt, learn more about Co-Pilot, or ChatGPT.
That’s important. I think that is the only way that people can stay up to date with the skills because things are going to be moving very swiftly. I know it’s a very simple answer, but I think it’s a very important answer because people need to take advantage of the free resources that are out there or workshops or trainings or webinars to understand how to stay up to date with their skills and the fast pace of technology.
True. It may be simple yet, it is also just a basic truth of in this day and age, regardless of your age, it literally comes down to you and your accountability. You keeping yourself it’s on you because to your point, you can go to YouTube. Everything is on fricking YouTube. It runs the gamut. I’m always amazed. There’s an app for that. There’s a video for that. There’s a reel for that. It’s like, “My God.”
It is. I think one of the things that you brought up earlier that was interesting is we’re talking about younger generation. Sometimes when we go to a webinar, we tend to watch a speaker that is maybe our age or a little bit older. Maybe think about watching a speaker who might be younger. I think getting outside of your comfort zone and then you have to think of this world as you have to get the business of you together.
The same way we talked about an impact report for a nonprofit. If you work at a nonprofit or you have a small business, maybe create an impact report for yourself of how you’ve impacted people on your team. How you’ve impacted your nonprofit? Things and ideas that you have come up with. That is really important because what I’m seeing from a lot of people that are younger than me is that they have a portfolio, they have a website and it may not be extensive, but they’re letting what they’re doing. I think that’s helping them out a lot.
I completely agree. It always blows me away. I always say, “Thank God I don’t have to get into college now.” Just because I thought I’d done enough a lot but nothing nothing compared to what what folks have to do. I’m curious for you because I think there are lot of folks as as we as we keep moving forward there some folks that at some point often is the case. People decide, I’ve had with the corporate world. How do they ship that I want to give my hand at nonprofits? Now, sometimes that can work. Sometimes it paces. That’s another webinar in and of itself conversation. If somebody did want to transition from the corporate tech world into the social impact realm, what advice would you give them?
Transitioning Careers: From Corporate Tech To Social Impact Consultancy
That is a good question as well. The way that I transitioned, to be honest with you, because I bounced back and forth from corporate to nonprofit, and now I act as a consultant for a technology company. I’m like the liaison between public and private, like I mentioned earlier. I went through an agency. Now, will I do that for most of my career? Maybe not. There are so many great agencies and not really a staffing organization, but agencies that focus on social impact that might have a book of business of corporations that are looking for consultants to do social impact work.
That’s something that I unlocked about four years ago through my colleague I worked with at the bank, the lady I worked with through Bank of America. She’s a consultant now doing social impact work. I’m a consultant now. I think if that is a good way to get your feet wet to see how being your own consultant can be beneficial, I say do it. There are so many agencies out there. I’ll just speak about the one that I went through, which is called Lions and Tigers.
They’re based out of Seattle. That was a great opportunity for me to get my feet wet when it comes to being a consultant and getting a taste of what being an entrepreneur is like. Sometimes, with being in the corporate space, transitioning to a nonprofit can be a big shift. If you think about, “Maybe I can do it from a consultant standpoint.” I’ll have an opportunity to support multiple nonprofits at one time instead of being tied full-time to one nonprofit. That’s a great way to approach it.
I feel like being a consultant is like a secret career that a lot of people don’t know about, but it’s very beneficial. It gives you flexibility. I’m a mom of two. This was the best route for me. Now that my kids are getting older, maybe I’ll do move forward with being an entrepreneur full time. I think that’s a great way to transition smoothly from being corporate America to maybe being a nonprofit, maybe through an agency or just think about being a consultant.
It also gives you the ability to frankly, have a choice of work with whom you want to work. Also, it’s a safe way to test. Is this even really what I want to do? I think so often one of my daughters is going through this. We put so much towards, “This is what I want to be. This is what I want to do.” You get in it. “It’s not what I thought it was or my energy, the way I operate, what I need and how I go through a day doesn’t match with the demands of this.” How do I reimagine myself? This is a really smart way to do it.
You said, “How do I reimagine myself?” I feel like it gives you that time and that space to figure out what feels good for you. What do you like about working with nonprofits? It also gives you a full view of the organization itself. You’re a consultant, you’re not a full-time employee. You’re not tied to all the KPIs. You’re just supporting a project. It lets you see the full view of that organization, how they operate. I like it. It was a smooth way for me to transition back into being in corporate America and a little bit involved with nonprofits as well. I love nonprofits, but I’m not sure I want to be a full-time employee at a nonprofit. I wasn’t ready to be a full-time employee at a corporation.
I’m with you. The truth is, honestly, I’ve discovered that once I got my taste in freedom, I got to do things. I’m like, “I like this.” Winding up a bit here with this notion of looking out onto the horizon. As a leader in this space, what keeps you up at night when you think about the future of social impact and tech?
The Future Of Tech & Social Impact: Will Resources Stay Available?
A lot keeps me up at night now when it comes to social impact and tech. I believe that there were a lot of wins for nonprofits in the last couple of years when it came to closing the digital divide. The thing that keeps me up at night is wondering if that will stop because technology is moving so fast. I hope that nonprofits will still have access to the resources that will help them scale because a lot of nonprofits don’t have the staff or the resources to compete with enterprise size nonprofits, but they want to do good work.
I think that keeps me up at night is hoping that resources aren’t taken away from them so that they regress instead of continue to progress when it comes to supporting the people that need the resources the most, which nonprofits do through their organizations every day. They support people who need the resources and want the resources. That’s the thing that keeps me up at night.
That’s a big one. It’s definitely a valid one. Interesting this next few months, I’m not going to even say year.
As I mentioned, there’s a lot of free resources out there now, but I’m hoping those free resources will stay. I hope companies will continue to support nonprofits, support their missions and continue to provide those free resources and provide access. Hopefully, board members will continue to help their nonprofits move forward and get the resources needed. That’s the thing that keeps me up at night because nonprofits cannot do the work the way they’re doing it if technology continues to progress, and they regress and aren’t able to get access to that technology to keep up.
I’ve always wanted, and I know some companies say they practice this because they will support a nonprofit. To me, it was almost, “Wouldn’t it be great if a large company adopted, as it were was like a big brother, big sister to a little brother, little sister nonprofit and ensure that they got on their feet.” They went because so many large corporations are trying to figure out, especially with the demands of incoming younger generations who want some a purposeful aspect to their work. It helps them solve that and provides that opportunity. Likewise, you also are really seeing, I don’t know, the community thrive for us through the work of the nonprofit and the two together. Any learning business, frankly, business acumen and best business practices too.
I agree with that. I actually worked on a project with Dell. It was called a pro bono program, and we matched employees from the organization I consult with with Dell employees. We took about 25 nonprofits, and they all had different business problems. It was different. It was from marketing to operations to tech. We matched them with employees and employees spent a week with them, really helping them solve that problem. That nonprofit walked away with a blueprint on how they need to implement that marketing strategy or that operations strategy.
Hopefully, more companies do stuff like that. The organization that I consult with now they have a month full of opportunities for nonprofits to get involved or for employees to get involved with nonprofits they might not have known about. There are a lot of different programs out there within different organizations. That’s another avenue nonprofits can look into. What programs are organizations offering to expose their employees to different nonprofits? How can I get involved? That would be extremely beneficial to support them in their growth.
Advice For Women In Tech & Social Impact & The Power Of Connection
Now I’ve got two closing questions for you. This one I call if I knew then what I know now, because you’ve got a daughter, what advice would you give your younger self and your daughter, knowing what now?
In general, or about tech or social impact?
I’m going to say I think in general and then also in social impact.
In my advice, I feel like it’s simple, but maybe it’s not. What I would tell my younger self today is that you’ll always be okay. You’ll always land on your feet. That’s what I’m telling myself, just because things are changing so much in the social impact space and the nonprofit space. I think it’s important for women to know that. Things are always going to change, especially when it comes to work that you do when it’s behind passion.
When you’re working in a space where you’re passionate about a mission or organization or entity or the work, there’s going to be ebbs and flows. There’s going to be great moments and high moments where you’re feeling good. There’s going to be moments where things don’t look so good, but you just have to remember to keep on your path and that it will always be okay. You will always land on your feet. If you have a good intention, you will always land on your feet. That’s what I continue to tell myself. I tell my daughter.
I love that because really at the end of the day, I think so often what happens when the things do look a little scary and make you queasy. It’s remembering one foot in front of the other. That whole notion of just take care of where you are, because that’s what you know right now. The rest, it’s amazing when you look back to over your shoulder and you look at your life when you faced other scary moments. How the heck did it all happen? It did. You’re still here, and you live to tell the tale. More often than not, you’re in a better spot than you ever would have dreamed of.
Especially when you have good intentions. If you know your intentions are good, if you know what you’re doing comes from a good place, it will be okay. I think when you work in a social impact space, you have to remind yourself of that. Everybody doesn’t believe in the work. A lot of people do. You’ll have ups and downs, but you just have to remember that.
If you have good intentions, you will always land on your feet. Share on XBe true to you, as you said, find your true north and stick to that. Last one, opportunity knocks. Where do you see the greatest opportunity for women moving forward?
The greatest opportunity for women moving forward, to be honest with you, Kate, I think we’re killing it now. I think our voices are very important. I think if we continue to support one another, and like I told you, the reason I am where I am today is because of women. It’s because of women sharing secrets with me. It’s because of women having very transparent conversations with me about pay, about opportunities, about schools, about resources. If we continue to do that, we will be fine.
I think there was a time where women might have kept information to themselves because they were afraid of sharing resources, but I think it’s very important to do that with each other. That’s the only way I think we’re going to continue to get ahead and continue to be the smartest and the fastest when it comes to work and everything else. If we continue to have a society of where we’re supporting each other, we’re sharing resources with each other, regardless of what organization, what nonprofit, we just have to continue to uplift and work with each other.
Truer words. Bourgogne Kinlaw, thank you for everything. Thank you for your many pearls. I’ve so enjoyed this. If folks want to get in touch with you, where’s the best place for them to do that? On LinkedIn?
Yes, the best place to do that is LinkedIn. Just search my name, Bourgogne Kinlaw. I’m sure you’ll have it spelled out. Yes, Bourgogne Kinlaw is where people can reach out to me. Any other links that I will have as far as a website will be on my LinkedIn page.
Listen, thank you so much. Many pearls and more to come. We’ll touch base before we know it, I bet.
Kate, you have definitely been one of the partners that I work with that I continue to connect with. You continue to share great resources with me. I appreciate you.
Thank you. I appreciate you. Bourgogne always has this fabulous smile. It is easy to share it when someone is as wonderful as you are.
Thank you, Kate.
Thanks so much.
—
I’ve known her now for I think it’s been about 3 or 4 years. I always enjoy the wisdom she imparts. For me, the four key takeaways are the importance of the power of connection. You’ve always heard it. I know my dad always said it 85 million times about not burning bridges, but it’s true. The world is an awfully small place, and it’s so important to stay connected to others and connect and provide opportunities for others to get connected.
Second, I love this notion of we’ve all heard about doing an impact report for your business, doing an impact report. Nonprofits do it all the time. What about, as Bourgogne suggests, doing an impact report for yourself? Now that I like it because you can do personal, professional, and spiritual. All three legs of the stool. I loved her suggestion of one way of future-proofing yourself. There’s no getting away from it.
Every time you point your finger at someone else, pointing back at you, it’s on you. Be accountable. You’ve got to get online. There are so many free resources now. There isn’t any excuse for not understanding or at least getting the gist of how something works. Finally, I love her last gem, which is the whole notion of you’re going to be okay. You always are. It may not feel so great, but this, too, shall pass. Next thing you know, you’ll wake up and you’ll be on to the next chapter. Look forward to continuing the conversation next time.
Important Links
About Bourgogne Kinlaw
Bourgogne Kinlaw is a strategic program leader with over 15 years of experience in large-scale partnerships across corporate and nonprofit sectors, as well as digital transformation and AI-driven initiatives.
As a Senior Program Manager Consultant at Microsoft, she has led initiatives impacting thousands of nonprofits, students, entrepreneurs, and communities, driving high-impact programs that expand technology access and collaborating with brands like Dell, PUMA, and Paramount.
A connector at heart, Bourgogne thrives on bringing people together, whether it’s launching community-driven tech programs or creating pathways for underrepresented groups in AI and digital skilling.
Beyond work, she’s a proud wife and mom to Blaise and Reagan, who keeps her on her toes and laughing daily. She loves spending time with friends, traveling, and finding the best spots for great food and conversations with the people she loves.