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Podcast Episode

Steven Holt: Keeping the Human Experience at the Center

Ask Ashley··21 September 2026·31 min

About this episode

Empathy and business results pull in the same direction, and Steven Holt has spent his career proving it. Steven is a Human Resources Business Partner at Apple whose path ran through Google DeepMind, Tesla, Archer Aviation and Uber, and started with a year each in Ukraine and Moldova at 18. He lost his father to brain cancer at five, grew up in a single parent home of four kids, and now works alongside AI while guarding what makes people human. He talks with Ashley Russo about all of it. Chapters: 00:00 Welcome to Ask Ashley 00:59 Steven's start in Ukraine and Moldova 02:23 A stroke of luck: seven and a half years at Google 04:19 Tesla, Archer Aviation, Uber, and joining Apple 05:38 Why move through so many companies 07:23 Growing up in the Valley in a single parent home 10:16 Holding empathy alongside revenue goals 13:11 Using AI without losing your own thinking 17:45 Keeping the employee experience real 20:26 Team Human and the human experience 23:40 Staying grounded through hard things 27:32 What he would say to his younger self You can follow Steven Holt here: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-j-holt/