Title:GTA Alumni Spotlight: Jennifer Miller (L’00)

Meet Jennifer Miller (L’00), General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Superhuman!

Please introduce yourself.

I’m Jennifer Miller, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Superhuman — formerly known as Grammarly, hopefully a tool many of you at Georgetown already use. I graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center in 2000. Before that, I did my undergraduate degree at Mount Holyoke College and have a master’s from George Washington University.

How did your time at Georgetown influence your career path in the tech industry?

Law school starts with a prescribed curriculum, but by the second year, I could choose electives. In retrospect, those choices steered me toward tech, even though I didn’t plan it that way. I thought I’d end up at a law firm, working across multiple clients. While I did initially work at two law firms, I pivoted to be an in-house lawyer at tech companies when we left Washington, DC, for the Bay Area. Now, I’ve been here in Silicon Valley for nearly 20 years. Time flies!

At the Law Center, classes like Intellectual Property, Corporate Law, Contracts, and Negotiations turned out to be foundational to everything I do now. More broadly, law school teaches you to think analytically. You learn to break problems into smaller pieces and work through complex issues systematically. That skill is essential in tech, where in-house lawyers are constantly helping companies get products to market, protect IP, and maintain strong corporate governance. I just didn’t realize that at the time.

Georgetown also gave me access to exceptional professors and a remarkable network. It puts you on a wide highway with a lot of exits, with so many opportunities that you don’t fully appreciate until you look back. That’s a big part of why I stay so involved with the law school.

What are you most excited about for the future of AI?

A lot of people view AI through a doomsday lens, that it’s going to eliminate jobs and slow things down. I see it the opposite way. I don’t really like the word “artificial” intelligence. That implies that AI will replace our brains. I prefer augmentative intelligence, because that’s what it actually does: it helps knowledge workers, students, anyone, do their work more effectively and productively.

What excites me most is the pace of innovation and the genuine productivity gains AI is unlocking. Recently at one of our company all-hands, we saw demos of new agents and assistants coming to our platform that will free people up to focus their energy on the work that really matters.

Superhuman comprises three products: Grammarly, Coda (an all-in-one doc tool), and Superhuman Mail, an AI layer on top of email. I hadn’t used Superhuman Mail before we acquired the company, but it genuinely transforms how fast and effectively you can manage your inbox.

What do you wish more people knew about the tech industry?

Two things. First, a lot of people, especially lawyers, wrongly assume you need an IP or patent engineering background to work in tech. You don’t. I took one IP class in law school. I’m not an IP lawyer or an engineer. I studied politics and religion as an undergrad, came to law school mostly undecided, but initially thought I’d go into tax law. The skills you build in law school are far more transferable than people realize. There are lawyers of every background and focus supporting tech companies and helping tech companies solve business problems.

Second, yes, tech can feel hard to break into, but it’s not impossible, especially if you build a strong network. Personal referrals at tech companies are very real and hugely valuable, especially if you’ve worked with the person before at a prior company. A referral gets your resume looked at when it might otherwise be lost in a pile. So get to know people, stay in touch with classmates and teammates from everywhere you work, and don’t underestimate where those connections will lead. Finally, all backgrounds are welcome and encouraged. There are so many different paths into tech that are not engineering.

I’d also add: don’t overlook B2B companies, which are businesses that sell directly to other businesses instead of directly to consumers. There are innumerable B2B companies selling into enterprises, in spaces such as cloud, database, hardware, software, and AI infrastructure, among others. These companies are sometimes less visible and therefore not as well known to consumers, but that can actually make them easier to break into early in your career. These are the companies that power the consumer brands everyone knows so well.

What is your favorite app or website, and why?

The New York Times Cooking app. Our kids are out of the house now, so my husband and I are cooking for two and using it to try all kinds of new recipes. I love that I can share recipes and notes with my sons, my husband, and my sister. It’s become a family thing.

What’s a piece of advice you would give to a Georgetown student that is interested in tech?

Build your network. Georgetown alumni are everywhere in tech, and most of us genuinely want to help younger alums, especially curious, motivated students. Don’t be afraid to reach out and do so thoughtfully and clearly. Use the alumni network to find people at companies that interest you, because that connection is often the best way through the door. Informational interviews are a great way to learn about the pathways available. Good luck!!

For more GTA Alumni Spotlights, click here.