7. The Need for Space

In this deeply inspiring episode, Laura speaks with Allison Sagraves, data and AI strategist, educator, and lifelong learner whose unconventional journey led her from corporate burnout to a cabin in the woods and to an entirely new way of living.

What began as a quiet yearning for space became a full transformation: from feeling claustrophobic in her career to creating a wild sanctuary rooted in nature, community, and creative purpose. Allison shares how buying a tiny cabin led her into beekeeping, rewilding her land, and reconnecting with the rhythms of the natural world, all while continuing to teach and consult at the highest levels of data and AI leadership.

This conversation beautifully bridges the practical and the spiritual, the technological and the natural. It’s a story of listening deeply, following intuition, and allowing life to unfold in its own time, an act of applied serendipity in every sense.

What You’ll Hear in This Episode:

• How Allison’s yearning for space sparked a life-changing journey

• The healing connection between grief, land, and freedom

• From corporate claustrophobia to cabin life: what happens when you listen to intuition

• How one small cabin turned into a compound of creativity, connection, and care

• The surprising intersections between AI, data science, and citizen science

• What nature can teach us about systems, resilience, and balance

• The future of community: family, tribe, and shared spaces of belonging

• Healing through simplicity, rest, and reconnection

• Allison’s reflections on risk, resilience, and reclaiming her own narrative

Bio

Allison Sagraves is a data strategist, AI advisor, and educator who helps organizations around the world design intelligent data systems with integrity and insight. She serves on the faculty at Carnegie Mellon University in the Chief Data and AI Officer Program and is the founder of Applied Serendipity, where she blends technology, strategy, and soulful leadership.

Resources & Links

Connect with Alison on Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/allisonsagraves/ or Instagram https://www.instagram.com/appliedserenity

Or visit her website https://www.allisonsagraves.com/

The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

Pete Oudolf and native plant design

Music Featured

The music in each episode of Surrendering to the Signs has been carefully curated to enhance the episode, below is a list of all tracks featured.

List of Music

Saggie, Steven Beddall & Jenny Penkin - Easy to Love

Ben Winwood - Intimacy

Louis Island - Forest Fire - Instrumental

Michael Drake - Milk Honey

Lior Soltz - Glistening Ripples Lullaby

Elad Perez - Only This

Southern Call - Cactus Flower