Kara Sutton
Director of Monetization Policy
Kara Sutton has spent more than a decade working on technology, privacy, and safety, and now helps shape how AI is used in products people rely on every day.
As Director of Monetization Policy at Meta, Kara leads a team working at the intersection of policy, regulation, and product development for AI, commerce, and messaging tools that connect businesses and people across Meta’s platforms. Her work spans the tools that help small businesses reach customers and the AI-powered experiences changing how people discover and buy things online. She specializes in data strategy and advocacy, with a focus on advancing innovation while considering safety, fairness, and economic impact.
Before Meta, Kara led the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s international high-tech and digital policy work, helping American companies navigate a complex global regulatory landscape.
Kara is also a mom who knows the invisible work of keeping family life running: appointments, permission slips, school emails, dinner plans, and the running list that rarely leaves your head. Her experience working on AI professionally while figuring out how to use it in her own life led her to found MentAILoad, where she helps busy moms, women, and founders use AI thoughtfully and safely to lighten their mental load. She believes people should be able to benefit from technology without needing to become experts in it first.
Kara is based in Lexington, Kentucky.
UPCOMING TALK
Safety and Privacy in Tech
Small Convenient Decisions. Long Safety Shadows.
December 8, 2026
Technology is increasingly making decisions and taking actions for us, but it starts with something much simpler: what we choose to allow. We click “accept,” give an app access to our calendar, or let an AI tool act on our behalf—and each of those choices gives technology a little more access and responsibility.
Drawing on more than a decade of experience working with technology companies and policymakers, Kara will walk the audience through how safety and privacy evolve alongside technology, and why seemingly small decisions can carry lasting consequences.
Audience takeaways include how design choices shape privacy and trust, what changes when AI moves from answering questions to taking action, and how to balance usefulness, protection, and meaningful user control.