AI 101

"Where do I start with AI?"

The question that buzzes around in my head almost daily. It's the one that gets asked on every Community Expert Workshop, the one that I get DM'd about weekly, and the one that haunts me in my sleep.

So I am tackling it head on. I'm presenting an AI 101 session to a group of early-career women next week, and I thought I would share that knowledge with you all today!

Additionally, I am super excited to announce the launch of my new IG Reels series titled "Where Do I Start with AI?" … I know, super clever! Stay tuned for that coming out in the next few weeks!! You may see some familiar faces.

What's inside this week:

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🧃 Here's what I'm covering in AI 101

First: AI is just a tool. It's software trained on massive amounts of text, images, and data so it can generate responses, make predictions, and complete tasks. Think of it like a very fast, very well-read collaborator who needs good direction from you. The better you communicate with it, the better it performs. It's not magic, it's only as useful as the person using it.

Second: Common terms to know. There's a handful of terms that come up constantly in AI conversations, and once you know them, everything clicks faster. LLM (Large Language Model) — that's the engine behind tools like ChatGPT and Claude. Prompt — the instructions you give AI; better prompts = better outputs (this is your superpower). Hallucination — when AI confidently makes something up (always fact-check!). Vibe coding — building apps with plain English, no traditional code required. And Agent — an AI that doesn't just answer, it takes action. Books meetings, sends emails, browses the web. That's the frontier we're headed toward.

Third: your starter stack. You don't need a million tools. Just start small. Experiment and try them all. And most importantly - pick which one you like the most!!

🪄 NotebookLM — This is Google's AI research assistant, and it's quietly one of the most useful tools out there. You upload your own documents (PDFs, Google Docs, YouTube videos, websites, etc) and then you have a conversation with them. I use it to summarize long reports instantly, prep for meetings by uploading the deck beforehand, turn messy piles of notes into structured summaries, and even create audio "podcast" overviews of dense material. Try this today: upload a document you've been meaning to read. Ask: "What are the 5 most important things I need to know?" Then ask a follow-up question. Notice how it cites its sources, that's how you know it's not making things up.

🪄 Claude — Made by Anthropic, Claude is the tool I reach for when I need to actually think something through. It's known for being thoughtful, nuanced, and genuinely good at writing and reasoning. I use it to draft emails, proposals, and presentations, to think through hard decisions ("what am I missing here?"), to edit and tighten my own writing, and to brainstorm when I'm stuck and staring at a blank page. Try this today: paste something you've written and say "Make this clearer and more direct. Keep my voice." See what comes back. You'll be surprised how well it preserves your tone while sharpening your message.

🪄 Lovable — This is a vibe coding tool, which means it turns plain English descriptions into actual, working web apps. You describe what you want to build. It builds it. No code required. I've used it to build simple tools and calculators, create landing pages and waitlist forms, prototype ideas before hiring a developer, and bring personal projects to life that had been sitting in my "someday" list forever. Try this today: type "Build me a simple tracker where I can log my daily habits and mark them complete." Then watch what happens. The first time you see it generate a working app from a sentence, something shifts in your brain about what's possible.

🪄 Relay App — Think of this as a simpler, more flexible version of Zapier. It's a workflow automation tool where you build sequences of steps that run automatically when triggered, so your tools finally talk to each other. I think about it for automating onboarding flows and follow-up emails, building processes that run without a human in the loop, and connecting tools so nothing falls through the cracks. Try this today: map one thing you do manually every week — a recurring email, a data entry task, a follow-up you always forget. Ask yourself: "Could this run on its own?" That's your first automation candidate.

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