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Open for projects · Nairobi & remote worldwide

I train AI,build with it,and teach it.

I'm Mashel, an AI specialist in Nairobi, Kenya. I've trained frontier models for Turing, Outlier and iMerit, shipped agentic AI products, and taught 200+ people the craft, with a scientist's precision and dual degrees in Computer Science and Molecular Biology.

Trained models forTuringOutlier AIiMeritHandshake AIFortune 500 teams
Mashel Odera, AI specialist, in Nairobi, Kenya
Mashel Odera Nairobi, Kenya

Trusted with frontier-AI training & evaluation

  • Turing
  • Outlier AI
  • iMerit
  • Handshake AI
  • Fortune 500 companies
  • TechUp Africa

Most people in AI do one of these. The interesting work happens where all three meet.

Train

I train the models.

RLHF, SFT, and multimodal evaluation for frontier AI. I grade outputs, build task trajectories, and catch the failures reward models miss.

Top 10% QA accuracy at Outlier AI · −25% annotation ambiguity at Turing

Build

I build with them.

Agentic apps, RAG pipelines, and full-stack products. Function-calling, vector retrieval, and a frontend that makes AI feel trustworthy.

Onagi: a Gemini 3 vision + RAG agent with sub-millisecond reasoning latency

Teach

I teach the craft.

Workshops, cohorts, and one-on-one upskilling. I make the hard parts of AI legible to people who want to actually use them.

200+ students taught across 3 schools · mentored junior annotators

Selected work

A few products I designed and built end to end. Each one starts with a real problem and ends with shipped, working software.

Roadbuck homepage: a dark steel-and-safety-yellow hero reading 'Built to take a beating' over a workshop photo.
Marketing / Lead-gen2026

Roadbuck

A marketing and lead-generation site for Roadbuck, a global supplier and manufacturer of automotive garage machinery, that turns a spec-heavy catalogue into quotes over WhatsApp.

  • WhatsApp + 'Get a quote' as the primary conversion
  • 'Find my kit' guided picker across the catalogue
  • Compare specs across machines side by side
Next.jsReact 19TypeScriptTailwind v4
Read case study
Agentic AI2026

Onagi

An autonomous agent that watches the screen, reasons over what it sees with Gemini 3 Vision, and acts, writing to the database and calling APIs based on the user's intent.

  • Real-time multimodal RAG over live screen content
  • Native function-calling that triggers DB writes and API calls
  • Sub-millisecond reasoning latency via context caching
Gemini 3 VisionPlaywrightRAGFunction Calling
Read case study
BizFlow AI command-center dashboard: dark sidebar navigation beside light stat cards tracking documents, workflows, and AI outputs.
AI Product2026

BizFlow AI

A command center where small teams upload documents, get grounded AI summaries and drafts, and approve every automation before it runs.

  • Document-to-action in under 2 minutes
  • Every automation gated by human approval
  • Answers grounded in your own files via RAG
Next.jsReactTypeScriptTailwind
Read case study
Full-stack2025

Vibe Coding Snake

A classic game rebuilt as a real product: an authenticated FastAPI + PostgreSQL backend, a 60 FPS React 19 frontend, and a CI/CD pipeline that tests and ships on every push.

  • Zero-latency 60 FPS game loop in React 19
  • FastAPI + PostgreSQL backend with JWT auth
  • CI/CD via GitHub Actions and Docker Compose with automated tests
React 19FastAPIPostgreSQLJWT
Read case study

Have something you want built, trained, or taught?

Tell me what you're working on. Honest take, clear scope, no pressure.

Ways to work with me

One person across the modern AI stack, from training the model to shipping the product around it.

AI solutions & agents

RAG systems, autonomous agents, function-calling pipelines, and AI features wired into your product or workflow.

AI training & evaluation

RLHF/SFT data, model evaluation, red-teaming, and annotation pipelines, run with measurable QA discipline.

Frontend & UI/UX

Production React, Next.js, and TypeScript. Dashboards, AI interfaces, and marketing sites that are fast and accessible.

Teaching & workshops

Team upskilling, cohort-based masterclasses, and talks on practical AI, evaluation, and shipping with LLMs.

Growth & digital presence

Landing pages, content, and the technical side of marketing for founders who need to be found and trusted.

Not sure which one you need?

Tell me the problem. I'll tell you honestly what would actually help.

Message me

Ways to engage

Three shapes the work usually takes. Price follows scope, so there are no fixed tiers, just a clear starting point.

Comparison of project, ongoing, and workshop engagements
Project

A defined build, scoped and shipped.

Ongoing

A standing AI partner for your team.

Workshop

Level up your team, fast.

Scoped & priced upfront
Design & build
AI training & evaluationadd-on
Ongoing iteration & support
Team upskillingoptional
Async updates + scheduled calls
Start a projectLet's talkBook a session

A scientist who trains AI, and an engineer who ships it.

We can all build safe superintelligence, one piece at a time.

Mashel and friends in front of a multi-monitor coding setup
Building toward AGI with friends, one piece at a time. Nairobi.

I started in a molecular biology lab, where a 98% sample success rate isn't a brag, it's the price of being trusted. That training, evidence over vibes and precision under pressure, turned out to be exactly what modern AI is missing.

So I brought it to the models. I evaluate and train LLMs (RLHF, SFT, multimodal), catching the failures reward models miss. I build agentic products that use those models well. And I teach the craft, because the bottleneck on good AI is people who understand it, not GPUs.

The throughline is trust: making AI legible, grounded, and safe enough that a real person would stake a decision on it.

QA accuracy ranking at Outlier AI
Top 10%

QA accuracy ranking at Outlier AI

annotation ambiguity reduced at Turing
−25%

annotation ambiguity reduced at Turing

people taught the craft
200+

people taught the craft

Computer Science + Molecular Biology
2 degrees

Computer Science + Molecular Biology

AI / ML

  • LLM training (SFT / RLHF)
  • Prompt engineering
  • Agentic AI
  • RAG
  • Trajectory validation
  • Model evaluation

Engineering

  • Python
  • FastAPI
  • React 19
  • Next.js
  • SQL
  • Docker
  • Bash

Data & tools

  • pandas
  • scikit-learn
  • Playwright
  • Tableau
  • Power BI
  • Git

Foundations

  • Computer Science
  • Molecular Biology
  • AI safety & policy

Notes on building safe, useful AI

I write about what I'm learning training and building with AI: practical, honest, no hype. One piece at a time.

Read on Substack

Questions, answered

The things people usually ask before reaching out. If yours isn't here, just send it.

What kind of work do you take on?

AI features and agents, RAG systems, model training and evaluation, full-stack and frontend builds, and the occasional workshop. If it sits between 'understands the model' and 'ships a real product', it's my sweet spot.

Do you work with teams outside Kenya?

Yes. I'm Nairobi-based and work remotely with teams worldwide. Most of my training work has been remote for US companies, so async collaboration across time zones is normal for me.

Can you really both train models and build the product?

That's the whole point. I've done RLHF, SFT, and evaluation on frontier models, and I ship agentic apps and frontends. You get one person who understands both sides instead of a handoff that loses the plot.

How do you charge?

Project-based, scoped and priced before any work starts. For ongoing work I'll set up a simple retainer. No vague hourly black holes; you know the number up front.

How quickly can you start?

Usually within a week or two, depending on current commitments. Send me the rough shape of the work and I'll be honest about timing and whether I'm the right fit.

Do you do talks and workshops?

Yes, regularly. Conference talks, team workshops, and cohort-based sessions on training and building with AI. There's a dedicated page with topics and formats.

Open for projects · Nairobi & remote worldwide

Let's build something useful.

An AI feature, an agent, a dashboard, a model-eval pipeline, or a team that wants to level up. Tell me what you're working on. I usually reply within a day.