In this series, PAN Communications invites you to get to know the 2018 Cohort of the New York Fashion Tech Lab (NYFT Lab). Helmed out of the global fashion capital – New York City – for the last five years, the NYFT Lab has been at the forefront of retail and fashion technology innovation and integration. As part of PAN New York’s engagement with NYFT Lab, we’re bringing you a sneak peek at the amazing women and their killer tech that’s being tested among some of the world’s leading brands and retail companies.

In less than a year, Melissa Munnerlyn has built a lead-gen empire. Her New York based company, CherryPick.ai, makes comments on Instagram actionable, expanding sales leads for brands and retailers. In fact, she’s using AI and Machine Learning to make one area of computer science fashion forward again: Natural Language Processing.

Back in 1950, famed British Enigma cryptologist and codebreaker, Alan Turing, penned his seminal paper “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” asking “Can machines think?” In just under 70 years, the answer is a clear: ????‍♀️! In fact, that’s exactly what Munnerlyn has taught her algorithm to do. CherryPick.ai takes the hundreds of thousands of comments left on brands’ Instagram posts each day and gives brands and retailers brands access into real-time consumer intent for product SKUs across the beauty industry. CherryPick.ai also integrates with marketing tools to generate user alerts, or better said “tailored insights.” That “TAKE MY MONEY ? ?” comment you left on that little black dress translates to consumer intent to the brand or retailer, and they now know to retarget you with it via ads and email.

A lover of language, Munnerlyn had dreams of becoming a book editor, but instead fell in love with the emerging language of social media and its impact on how our culture communicates and consumes information. She thrives on understanding how this quickly evolving language of shorthand and pictures is translating into how people form new communities.

“The future of any industry has always sat in knowing how people are talking about your brand – and now, that’s been visualized,” said Munnerlyn. “Watching a visualized conversation unfold is just as valuable as reading plain English today and it’s helping brands know who they’re losing purchase intent to – and how to better target audiences and differentiate themselves.”

At its core, CherryPick.ai leverages the latest machine learning technology to capitalize on social media leads in real time by delivering real-time insights as well as product-specific, actionable emails and ad campaigns based on what customers are saying. The platform holds value for publishers as well as brands as monitoring products being lauded by their followers can help to influence stronger affiliate marketing campaigns.

“We’re unlocking the true value of social media – which is consumer intent – and allowing it to be a two-way street,” added Munnerlyn. “Better customer experience and brand engagement are right around the corner if everyone is speaking, or at least understanding, the same language.”

Prior to being a part of the 2018 New York Fashion Tech Lab, Cherrypick.ai raised $260,000 from angel investors, and will close its $1 million seed round by the end of this year from Brilliant Ventures and others.

Interested in learning more about NYFT Labs?

• Meet the 2018 New York Fashion Tech Lab Cohort – Headliner Labs
• Meet the 2018 New York Fashion Tech Lab Cohort – Fashwell & EverThread