How a Pittsburgh founder’s AI social platform could help revive Downtown

Pittsburgh-based CoExperiences is partnering with the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership to promote the Golden Triangle

Madeleine Rubin
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
mrubin@post-gazette.com

When Pittsburgh native Emily Stewart began developing an AI platform to manage her social life, expanding into 125 U.S. cities, Canada and the United Kingdom was not on her mind. Her goal was far simpler.

“I’m surrounded by male colleagues,” Ms. Stewart said. “And I’m sitting there going, how the heck do I find somebody to watch the Bachelor with me on Monday nights?”

After moving to a new city for a job, a desire to meet people in her new home led Ms. Stewart to found CoExperiences, a platform that uses artificial intelligence to match users with people and events based on their interests.

Now, organizations across the country, from large companies to universities, pay for CoExperiences so employees and students can use the platform to connect with others for free.

Based in Pittsburgh and used by more than 10,000 people, CoExperiences is soon to grow in its hometown: The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, a nonprofit that promotes the Golden Triangle, announced in December that it will begin using the platform to bring more people Downtown and support the corridor’s businesses.

On CoExperiences, users will be exposed to a wide range of Downtown events, from trivia in Steel Plaza to farmers markets in front of PPG Place. The digital tool will help people “connect with Downtown in more personal and meaningful ways,” said PDP’s spokesman, Richard Hooper.

“Revitalization isn’t just about space, it’s about people,” Mr. Hooper said. “Tools like this help create activity, connection and energy.”

‘Pittsburgh is an AI capital’

Around 2018, Ms. Stewart accepted a job with a large accounting firm in Charlotte, N.C., a new city she hoped to explore with new colleagues and friends.

There was just one problem: “I couldn’t tell you anything fun to do,” she said.

It wasn’t until she enlisted the help of artificial intelligence that CoExperiences was created.

CoExperiences was built from the same technology Ms. Stewart was then using at her day job: recommender systems that produce custom suggestions using AI.

“Think of it like Netflix,” Ms. Stewart said. “You have inputs and outputs. If you tell Netflix, ‘I really like true crime,’ it will say, ‘Great, why don’t you watch CSI: Miami.’”

Today, companies and schools pay annual subscription fees to offer the platform for internal use among staff and students. Those who opt in take a brief survey that asks the basics: What are your hobbies and interests? When are you free, and how often are you looking for plans?

Meanwhile, the platform finds and stores a host of local happenings to recommend, anything from, for instance, Paint and Sip classes in Mellon Square to Story Club nights at City of Asylum on the North Side.

Drawing from users’ survey responses, the platform sends catered invites along with the names of others in their community with similar preferences and schedules.

“If you say ‘yes,’ we say, ‘Great, reservations booked. See you there,’” Ms. Stewart said. “All you have to do is show up and just enjoy yourself.”

CoExperiences is completely customizable: Users can get notifications as often as once a week or as little as once a year, Ms. Stewart said.

“It’s totally up to what the person wants, and that’s the beauty of AI,” she said. “It’s like every single one of us has some social matchmaker in our back pocket.

“It would be absolutely impossible, without the machine learning, to pull this off.”

To found the company, Ms. Stewart moved back to Pittsburgh and began working with her father, Patrick Stewart, chair of CoExperiences’ board and head of a startup accelerator that has funded hundreds of companies in the region over the last 25 years.

Ms. Stewart’s first employees were Carnegie Mellon University students.

“Pittsburgh is an AI capital,” Mr. Stewart said. “It’s a lot easier to build a company here in AI than it is in other cities. That was one of the other reasons she [Emily] came back.”

‘This is an economic development tool’

When Ms. Stewart started CoExperiences, she imagined the platform would be useful for large companies like the accounting firm she once worked at. But the pandemic changed everything: Organizations with as few as 20 employees began reaching out with an interest in the platform.

“The entire country got so much more disconnected,” she said.

“From churches to apartment complexes to colleges, every single person felt the same way,” she added. “It was like, I just want to get off my couch and go do something fun with great people.”

As the company grows, its clientele continues to surprise Ms. Stewart. It was not until a meeting with Point Park University President Chris Brussalis that she realized the tool could benefit Downtown Pittsburgh.

“He said, ‘this is an economic development tool, you know exactly where people are going and what kind of businesses are being impacted,’” she recalled. That’s what prompted the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership to partner with the organization.

As one of Downtown’s biggest advocates, the PDP stages some of the corridor’s largest events, from Picklesburgh to the Peoples Gas Holiday Market, and has helped at least 16 new businesses open their doors in Downtown over the last few years.

With CoExperiences, the organization will gain a better understanding of what events residents are attending and which Downtown businesses they are supporting. The platform also collects feedback after events, allowing organizations to make changes based on responses.

The partnership will allow the PDP to make “smarter and more informed decisions Downtown,” Mr. Hooper said.

“Understanding what people are interested in and how they engage helps us design experiences that better reflect the community’s needs and interests,” he said.

The PDP is leading an overhaul of Market Square that’s over halfway complete and one of the flagship projects of a $600 million plan to breathe new life into Downtown Pittsburgh. As part of the historic investment, aging office towers will turn into new apartment complexes, while several public spaces, including Point State Park and a vacant lot in the Cultural District, are being transformed and upgraded.

Using CoExperiences, the PDP will be able to measure the success of these investments, gauging interest in events like next year’s annual holiday market or the Three Rivers Arts Festival, both planned in the upgraded public spaces Downtown.

“They’re fixing up a lot of Point State Park. Market Square has gotten a total revamp, there’s so many amazing programming spots now,” Ms. Stewart said. “Let’s track exactly what the return on investment is.”

While some major Downtown employers already use CoExperiences, the PDP plans to reach out to other groups directly to introduce the platform and promote it across their social media pages and newsletters. By helping colleagues build relationships with one another, the platform could boost employee retention Downtown, Mr. Hooper said. And it provides free advertising for small and local shops, restaurants and more.

“When you go to that girls’ night at the pottery studio, you are actually giving the pottery studio money [and] supporting small businesses,” Ms. Stewart said. “You don’t think about it that way … but that’s what you’re doing.”

The PDP is the first Downtown organization to partner with CoExperiences, but Ms. Stewart hopes it won’t be the last. The company wants to expand the site to 50,000 users.

“It’s a beautiful thing to be able to watch it flourish in Pittsburgh,” Ms. Stewart said.

PUBLISHED: JAN 8, 2026 4:00 AM