Rachel Brooks

AI-native product leader · consumer experiences · scaling businesses

15 years building products for billions of people — across AI, social, health, and e-commerce. Founder of DerbyDay, an AI-native SaaS built entirely with Claude.

LinkedIn
Previously at

Selected Work

Building at scale.

WhatsApp · Meta

Private AI for 3 billion people

Speculative, high-profile product work at the frontier of AI — developing and iterating on new AI primitives for the world's most used messaging app. These are flagship offerings central to Meta's superintelligence vision: delivering AI at unprecedented scale while preserving the privacy and trust that defines WhatsApp.

  • Tested and iterated on multiple experimental hero AI experiences — driving concept development, user research, and rapid iteration to identify what works at global scale
  • Defining and building new AI primitives for WhatsApp — foundational capabilities that shape how billions of people experience AI for the first time
  • Products are flagship to Meta's superintelligence strategy, designed for scale across every culture, context, and level of technical literacy
  • AI runs inside Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) — encrypted content processed in a secure enclave where even Meta's servers can't read it
WhatsApp Newsroom — Incognito Chat with Meta AI
Private AI TEE Meta 2024–Present
3B monthly active users
D
DerbyDay · Founder

AI-native SaaS, built with Claude

Auto parts resellers lose hours per vehicle on manual VIN lookup, part valuation, and re-entering listings across platforms. DerbyDay eliminates that pipeline: AI decodes the VIN, generates a priced parts checklist, and pushes listings to Facebook Marketplace, eBay, and Shopify in one workflow. Multi-tier subscription with usage-based pricing, upgrade gates, and a freemium entry point — built zero to production entirely in collaboration with Claude.

Next.js Claude API Stripe Prisma
Visit derbydayapp.com
Instagram · Meta

Fairness inside the feed algorithm

Founding GPM for Instagram's algorithmic fairness program — defining what equitable content distribution means when a ranking system decides whose voice reaches a billion people.

  • Defined fairness for a ranked feed: reach rates, suppression rates, and share of voice; built systems to improve distribution for mid-tier and emerging voices without degrading relevance
  • Established content eligibility policy spanning safety, integrity, social/political sensitivity, and cultural context — what's divisive in one market may be mainstream in another
  • Shipped user-facing transparency features on how ranking works, and co-led published model cards on Instagram's recommendation systems
Meta System Card — Instagram Feed Ranking
Algorithmic Fairness Content Distribution Safety & Integrity 2020–2023
SXF
Savage X Fenty
Founded by Rihanna
$3B
brand valuation
Head of Product
  • Led the full product org and an international team across 3 continents
  • Drove record YoY revenue growth through AOV and LTV gains
  • 2× throughput improvement, 90% defect reduction
One Medical
Now Amazon Health
Pre-IPO
joined before Amazon acquisition
Head of Consumer Product
  • Built and led the consumer product org pre-IPO
  • Launched ML-driven care services that improved patient self-service, NPS, and provider efficiency
  • One Medical is now Amazon's flagship healthcare offering
Meta Reality Labs
0→1
youth metaverse, built from scratch
Head of Youth, Metaverse
  • Defined what "safe" means for children in a brand new medium — no precedent, high regulatory scrutiny
  • Shipped the first youth-appropriate metaverse experiences at Meta
  • Engaged directly with country-level regulatory bodies to co-design standards for safe engagement with online services and gaming — achieving 100% compliance across all markets
TW
Thoughtworks
Global
enterprise client portfolio
Exec Operating Partner
  • Embedded at the executive level with Credit Suisse, Adidas, Hilti, and Aldo
  • Extensive international experience — clients across Canada, Switzerland, Brazil, Germany, and throughout the US
  • Advised on product strategy, team formation, and scaled delivery

About

Grounded in what it means to ship.

I build AI products for billions of people — and I take that responsibility seriously. At Meta, I lead AI product for WhatsApp, focused on a genuinely hard problem: giving 3 billion people across different cultures and contexts access to AI while preserving the privacy and trust that makes a messaging app worth using. Before that, I was founding GPM for Instagram's ML & Product Fairness initiative — developing deep expertise in how ranking systems affect fairness, representation, and trust at scale.

Before Meta, I was Head of Product at Savage X Fenty, leading an international team and helping scale to a $3B valuation. Outside my day job, I built DerbyDay — a production SaaS built entirely with Claude — which is how I stay grounded in what it actually takes to ship. I'm most energized by products that shape how people experience their health, identity, creativity, and culture.

Press & Recognition

Talks, coverage, and recognition.

Webby Awards

2025 Honoree — Horizon Worlds Parental Supervision

University of Michigan

Guest Lecturer, Ross School of Business — 2022–2023

Meta AI

Instagram Feed Ranking System Card — 2021

SXSW

Speaker — March 2016

Washington Post

November 2015

TED HQ

Speaker — December 2013

Contact

Let's talk.

Open to Director and VP of Product roles, fractional product leadership, advisory engagements, and conversations about building responsible AI at scale.

linkedin.com/in/rachelabrooks