Published: April 24, 2025
by Rose Kaz

Defaults Are Design, Not de Facto

Tech is still a baby. And not he's not exactly chill.

Think colicky, fussy, and somehow making major decisions about our futures before it’s fully learned how to function. 

Most of what we’re calling “the future” is still running on version one logic—trained on lopsided data, coded by a few, possibly overconfident engineers, and launched at scale without much reflection.

Yet we tend to gobble up most of the tricks & the occasional useful tool these tech...errr marketing companies bake up for us. Critical mass examination of tech isn't yet trending. Insights into what digital pathways we are traveling, whose info or data we are consuming, and how these default settings may actually be harmful instead of neutral. 

Same can be said about the human brain. Stay with me now.... Our understanding of how our very own internal processors work is only in version one, possibly V2 as more women study our brains - all of our brains, not just cis white mens. 

Most research on the human brain has been built on studies of a very specific kind of person, asking a very specific kind of question. It’s only recently that researchers have started asking, “Wait—who did we leave out?”

Spoiler alert: Systems don’t fix themselves.

They just keep reinforcing what they were built to believe—unless someone steps in and changes the defaults.

And that someone is me.

I started Business 4 Good because I was tired of watching powerful tools get gate kept, whitewashed, and turned into buzzwords while the people who could benefit most were told they needed a technical degree—or a personality transplant—to access them.

I work with women-led businesses to help them actually use AI: not just as a trendy concept, but as a real tool in their go-to-market strategy, e-commerce, lead generation, and daily operations. 

I also build custom bots. I decode AI compliance. I explain what the platforms aren’t saying. And I do it with a whole lot of respect for the founders who are trying to scale without selling out. Most recently, I am building a Leading Lady LLM so that our combined and collaborative efforts as women leaders - both inside enterprise and in building our own- can harness the info we share aka data that we already have. And by harness, I mean make money from our genius, our ideas and our contributions to the world. Also see : closing the wage gap!

Let me be super clear: most tech is not designed with you or me in mind as the ender user but more as the product itself to be extracted from. And the default systems on those types of 'technology' aka marketing tools? They’re not neutral. They’re profit-first, extraction-based, and allergic to nuance. Certainly, biased but we already covered that!

📌 That’s why we check the settings.
📌That’s why we build something better.

📌That’s why we share information in new ways. 

Why This Matters

and why it’s costing you more than you think

Tech’s job is to feel seamless. It's marketing finese is to make you 'feel' like your life is easier and you are in charge. But seamless feels doesn’t actually mean safe and it most certainly is not—or sovereign - no matter what the broligarchs say

Most systems you’re using today were not designed with your privacy in mind. Or your business model. Or your values. From default security settings to hidden permissions and unchecked algorithmic bias, you are being shaped by tools you didn’t choose and companies that don’t care.

• WIRED shows how deeply surveillance is baked into the tech we use every day.
• Retrofit explains why those “helpful” default settings are also massive liabilities.
• Asurion offers a few quick fixes to help you take back some digital agency.

This isn’t about being alarmist. I'm here to offer more alignment to the tech tools we use daily and also build better. 

You don’t have to burn it all down. But you do need to know what’s actually running in the background.

What Are You Defaulting To?

Let’s talk business.

Are you using a system because it came with the template?
Still following a launch plan that never felt right, but hey—it converts?
Tolerating a tool that low-key drives you nuts because switching sounds hard?

Trust. I know, I've been there, sis. But here’s the thing, just because something works doesn’t mean it works for you and is sustainable. Systems need constant updating to evolve. And yes I am speaking both about technology and our own operating systems, aka our brains!

Keep reading if you’re ready to gut-check your systems:

• Book a Business Audit. We’ll walk through your tools, language, strategy, and ops—together—and align it all to what you’re really building.
• Launching soon? A Go to Market Strategy Sprint will help you move fast without losing yourself in the noise.

There are no default setting for integrity. You’ve got to manually select that sh*t, sis!

📌 Money, Sex & Politics Is Back

Season 3 of Money, Sex & Politics podcast is finally live! These topics are the core settings of every system—and they’ve all been programmed with some pretty outdated logic. When women discuss these important topics, especially online, we change the internet and the world!

Catch new episodes over on YouTube @Business4Good → Here’s a peek at what we’re unpacking this season:

💸 Money
The venture funding model wasn’t built for women. Or equity. Or sustainability. Sarah Anto breaks down exactly why—and what needs to change. 📌 Want a funding path that doesn’t require pitching into a void ?
How to Find Funding for Women in Business →

⚧️ Sex
AI is being trained on the past—and it shows. AnitaB.org reminds us that if we’re not part of the build, we’ll be part of the bias. Either we help shape it, or it shapes us. 📌 Start where you are: Intro to AI for Women in Business →

✊🏾 ️ Politics
Business is political. If you’re building anything, you’re already in the system—so you might as well shape it.

Right to Start is fighting for policy that actually supports entrepreneurs

Tune in and tune up your voice to speak more regularly in your own circles about topics that will lead us into the future of a better and more equitable world for everyone! 

One Default to Ditch This Week

Pick something. One small thing.

A setting you’ve never questioned.
A habit you’re tired of justifying.
A system that’s quietly taking more than it gives.

Try asking yourself:

• Who made this decision?
• Do I still want to follow it?
• What would I do differently if I wasn’t trying to fit in?

That’s how we change the game. One unchecked box at a time.

📬 Want more? Read the full newsletter, subscribe to Money, Sex & Politics, or reach out to talk strategy.

We don’t build the future by accepting what we’re handed.
We build it by rewriting the defaults