DES MOINES ENTREPRENEUR RIANA LEJEUNE SELECTED AS AI CHANGEMAKER, YALE GUEST LECTURER AND WOMEN IN AI PITCH FINALIST
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DES MOINES ENTREPRENEUR RIANA LEJEUNE SELECTED AS AI CHANGEMAKER, YALE GUEST LECTURER AND WOMEN IN AI PITCH FINALIST
Founder of Repinned and Renewabl begins national and international tour connecting artificial intelligence, skilled trades, neurodiversity and sustainable innovation
DES MOINES, Iowa — September 8, 2026 — Riana LeJeune, an award-winning Iowa artisan, entrepreneur and applied AI technologist, has been selected for the AI-Powered Women 100 Changemakers Initiative, invited to deliver a guest lecture at the Inclusive Growth Summit at Yale University and named a finalist in the Oasis Collective Women in AI Pitch Competition in New York City.
The three appearances are part of a broader national and international fall tour during which LeJeune will represent Iowa entrepreneurship and advance a central idea: some of the most consequential applications of artificial intelligence will come from people solving problems inside industries technology has historically overlooked.
“This journey represents more than a series of events,” LeJeune said. “It reflects growing recognition that innovation does not have to begin in a traditional technology environment. It can begin inside a small business, a workshop or an overlooked industry—and it can be built by someone who understands the problem from the inside.”
LeJeune is the founder of Repinned Upholstery & Restoration, a Des Moines custom upholstery and furniture-restoration company she has operated since 2013, and the founder and CEO of Renewabl Furniture Inc.
AI-POWERED WOMEN 100 CHANGEMAKERS
LeJeune will begin the tour in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she will join women leaders, founders, researchers and technologists at the 2026 AI-Powered Women Conference on September 12–13 at Kresge Auditorium on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus.
Her selection for the AI-Powered Women 100 Changemakers Initiative recognizes her work applying artificial intelligence, human-centered technology and systems thinking to furniture renewal, skilled-trades businesses and workforce development.
“I entered technology through more than a decade of solving real operational, workforce and customer-experience problems inside an upholstery and restoration business,” LeJeune said. “This recognition affirms that lived experience is expertise—and that the people closest to an industry’s challenges can also be the ones who build its future.”
GUEST LECTURE AT YALE’S INCLUSIVE GROWTH SUMMIT
LeJeune will then travel to New Haven, Connecticut, to deliver a guest lecture at the Inclusive Growth Summit at Yale University on September 15.
Her presentation will explore neurodiversity as a source of innovation and examine how skilled trades, apprenticeship, neuroplasticity, systems thinking and inclusive leadership can create more accessible pathways to meaningful work.
Diagnosed with autism and ADHD at age 41, LeJeune has become an advocate for neurodivergent leadership and nontraditional innovation. She credits her nonlinear thinking and pattern recognition as important sources of her creativity and ability to connect challenges across business, technology and workforce systems.
“Inclusive growth requires us to stop measuring human potential against a single definition of intelligence or success,” LeJeune said. “The traits I once believed I needed to minimize are the same traits that help me recognize patterns, connect disciplines and envision systems that do not yet exist.”
OASIS COLLECTIVE WOMEN IN AI PITCH FINALIST
LeJeune will conclude the Northeast portion of the tour in New York City, where she will pitch Renewabl as a finalist in the Oasis Collective Women in AI Pitch Competition on September 17.
Renewabl is a connected technology ecosystem designed to support furniture-renewal professionals and other craft-based businesses. Its AI-powered visualization platform allows homeowners and professionals to see the potential in existing furniture before replacing it.
Renewabl OS provides the operational infrastructure behind that work, connecting sales, estimating, project management, production, job costing, workforce development and apprenticeship tracking. Together, the platforms address interconnected challenges including furniture waste, fragmented business operations, skilled-labor shortages and the loss of specialized craft knowledge.
“We are not using AI to remove the human from craftsmanship,” LeJeune said. “We are using technology to make skilled work more visible, transferable, sustainable and economically viable.”
FROM AN IOWA WORKROOM TO NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL STAGES
Following her Northeast appearances, LeJeune will exhibit Renewabl at the 2026 Custom Workroom Conference in Erie, Pennsylvania. The industry gathering brings together upholstery, window-treatment and soft-furnishings professionals from across the country.
In October, she will travel to Birmingham, England, to participate in a panel at the Festival of Upholstery. LeJeune will discuss artificial intelligence, emerging technology and the future of the upholstery industry with an international audience of craftspeople and industry leaders.
The tour connects several dimensions of LeJeune’s work: technology and women’s leadership in Cambridge, inclusive growth and neurodiversity at Yale, startup innovation in New York, entrepreneurship and industry advancement in Pennsylvania, and the future of craftsmanship in the United Kingdom.
LeJeune also helped establish the nation’s first U.S. Department of Labor Registered Apprenticeship for Professional Custom Upholstery. The competency-based program provides a structured, paid pathway through which emerging artisans can develop technical skills under the guidance of experienced professionals.
She is now developing Craft Systems Science, an interdisciplinary framework combining systems thinking, project dynamics, leadership, workforce development, neurodiversity and applied technology. Its purpose is to help craft-based businesses preserve knowledge, develop people, strengthen operations and grow without losing the judgment and flexibility craftsmanship requires.
“Cambridge represents emerging technology and women’s leadership. Yale represents inclusive growth and human potential. New York represents the opportunity to transform an idea into scalable infrastructure,” LeJeune said. “The Custom Workroom Conference and Festival of Upholstery bring that work back to the artisans and industry it is meant to serve.”
ABOUT RIANA LEJEUNE
Riana LeJeune is an award-winning artisan, serial entrepreneur, speaker and applied AI technologist based in Des Moines, Iowa. She is the founder of Repinned Upholstery & Restoration and founder and CEO of Renewabl Furniture Inc. Her work connects craftsmanship, artificial intelligence, sustainability, systems thinking, neurodiversity and workforce development.
Her honors include NAWBO Iowa’s 2025 Woman Business Owner of the Year, the West Side Chamber’s 2024 Business of the Year and recognition as a 2026 Enterprising Women of the Year honoree.
ABOUT RENEWABL
Renewabl is a connected technology ecosystem designed to support the future of furniture renewal and craft-based businesses. Its visualization platform helps clients and professionals envision the potential of existing furniture, while Renewabl OS provides infrastructure for sales, project management, production, finances, workforce development and apprenticeship. Renewabl’s mission is to make furniture renewal easier to envision, operate and scale while preserving skilled knowledge and reducing unnecessary waste.
MEDIA CONTACT
Riana LeJeune
Founder and CEO
Renewabl Furniture Inc (SaaS)
Repinned Upholstery & Restoration
https://renewabl.app
https://renewabl.pro/
www.repinnedupholstery.com
Renewabl.app@gmail.com
515-778-3749
Editor’s note: The AI-Powered Women Conference is independently organized and operated by AI-Powered Women. It will take place at Kresge Auditorium on the MIT campus but is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.