Interview “Inside Out” : Meriem Aamri, AI Leader & jazz singer

Our employees
Our employees

For this new edition of Inside Out, we are pleased to welcome Meriem Aamri, AI Leader at BNP Paribas Personal Finance and jazz singer.

Double graduate of HEC and ENSAE Paris in engineering and business, Meriem Aamri has been with BNP Paribas Personal Finance for 9 years at the Mérignac site.

She entered at BNP Paribas Personal Finance in 2017 as a Data Scientist, then became B2B IT Manager in 2022, and has since held the position of Head of PF’s AI Center of Expertise for 1 year.

Her role is pivotal and cross-functional: she plays a key strategic role in orchestrating AI transformation across PF France, ensuring alignment and collaboration between central and local teams and the rest of AI stakeholders at BNP Paribas. 

Hello Meriem, what is your “Unexpected job” ? 

I think, i would say that i’m a “IA maestro”,​

If I were to summarize my work in three missions, it would be: ​

  1. Shape the vision: define the AI strategy, governance, and priorities that support the organization’s transformation objectives.
  2. Accelerate transformation: turn ambition into action by defining pragmatic roadmaps, scaling innovation responsibly, and fostering an AI-driven culture.
  3. Create impact: deliver and scale AI solutions that improve decision-making, productivity, customer experience, and operational efficiency.

✍🏻 What is your “little something extra” ? 

My life would not be the same without music 🎤✨ ! I sing since I was little, in several languages and in several groups. It’s something intuitive, even without musical training. I have explored many settings: choirs, stages, competitions… Two years ago, I even experienced the adventure of a national competition representing Aquitaine with my choir. ​

This year I am focusing on a duo acoustic group, meaning I share the stage with bass player. It is a less common set up than guitar-voice duos, which makes our specificity. Currently, we are doing stage performances; the goal is to continue this momentum and, above all, to succeed in creating our own tracks.

The name of our group “Layali Echoes” is also a nod to our universe: Layali in Arabic refers to the night, a symbol of dream, emotion and contemplation. We revisit classics in Arabic, English, Spanish, with our in-house arrangements. The result gives a smooth blend of jazz and oriental influences! ​

When I sing, everything aligns, I feel free and simply myself. Even when I do late rehearsals, tired, I always come out feeling refreshed. The place I give music in my life is essential and I wish it would evolve with even more stages and more creation.

😃 Because life isn’t just about work, what are your “3 Blissful Moments a Day” ?

1.Spending quality time with my children and family: it’s essential to me, and music is always on the background there to set the rhythm. My two children share my love for music, they are always humming songs while they play, reminding me of when I was their age.

2.Reading or listening to podcasts about psychology and neuroscience: I first discovered psychology during an exchange semester as part of my master’s degree, and I immediately fell in love with the field. I am fascinated by the way the human brain works and by the factors that influence our decisions, emotions, and behaviours.

By the way, I highly recommend Andrew Huberman’s podcast. And if I had to suggest one book, it would be Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.

3.30 min training: Sport has never been a natural passion for me. However, three years ago, I decided to become more disciplined and committed to exercising for at least 30 minutes every other day. Since then, I have experienced firsthand the many benefits it brings, not only physically but also mentally, helping me maintain energy, focus, and balance.

✨ The mascot has a magic wand, what are your 3 wishes for BNP Paribas Personal Finance?

  1. Effectively implementing AI in the practices of BNP Paribas Personal Finance: I would like us to be able to speak of a corporate culture that has overall matured on AI topics, where every employee masters its challenges and opportunities.
  2. Strengthen our ability to innovate and scale together, continue breaking down silos, leveraging the collective intelligence of our countries, functions, and experts to transform successful local initiatives into global success stories.
  3. And finally, never lose sight of the human behind the technology.

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