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Some of the best conversations at a conference happen in the hallway.
In October I spent a few days in Salt Lake City at CREATE, the She Leads AI conference. I spoke on stage, ran a hands-on session with index cards and Post-it notes, and spent every spare minute at our little podcast booth. Between sessions, I grabbed women as they walked by and asked them three questions. Who are you and what do you do with AI? What was your biggest takeaway from the weekend? What are you most excited to build when you get back to real life?
The answers were short and unscripted. They were also some of the boldest ideas I heard all weekend.
Here is what I keep thinking about.
Unseen means unfunded
Vannessa Lindsey teaches nonprofit founders how to start and grow their organizations. She said this, and it landed hard:
"I find a lot of non-profits aren't getting money because they're unseen. And if they're unseen, they're probably going to be unfunded."
Nonprofit founders are community people. They did not get into this work to post on Facebook all day. Vannessa knows that. She also knows the reality: "But we have to be Instagram creators now."
This applies to you even if you run a for-profit business. If the people who need your work cannot see it, they cannot find you, hire you, or fund you. Vannessa wants to use AI to help mission-driven leaders show their mission online without losing it. That last part matters most to me. You can show up more often and still sound like yourself. That is what good AI use looks like.
Your wisdom is the asset
Vannessa also said something nobody else said all weekend. She looked around the room and saw herself as a "one percenter." Seniors belong in the AI conversation, and she wants to help founders use AI to build a succession plan, so their organization keeps going long after they are gone.
"For the seniors, we have so much experience, wisdom, knowledge that we need to leave here before we leave this room. We don't want to take it with us."
I told her that wisdom and experience are a premium in a world where AI can replicate so much else. She added feelings and emotions to that list. She is right.
"That is a much bigger mission than just how to write an Instagram caption with AI." I said that to her in the booth, and I meant it. If you have spent years building expertise, AI can help you capture it and pass it on.
The gates are coming down
Courtney Jennings is building an AI-enabled business to help women survive contractors. After a brutal remodel, she saw how many ways a contractor can take a woman's money, intimidate her, or push inferior work because he assumes she does not know what she is talking about.
She put the bigger picture plainly:
"Women have been gatekept from a lot of different things throughout all of history."
She named funding, technology, expertise, and business networks. Then she said, "AI is, at least in part, helping break all of that down."
Here is what I love about her story. Her business grew out of a problem the system created for her. So look at the thing that makes you furious. There might be a tool hiding in there, and you are allowed to build it.
Spend the time you get back on yourself
When I asked Vannessa what she wanted to implement, she named the workflow exercise from my session. Post-it notes. What do you do? What can AI do? What do you need to do together?
She told me, "I'm so outcome-oriented. I never really think about the process." Mapping it out step by step was the part that clicked. Then she said she wanted to let AI handle some things so she could go out and play a little.
My answer: "How can we use the time that we're getting back from AI to play, to read, to rest?"
This is my anti-hustle soapbox. If AI saves you an hour and you pour it straight back into your inbox, you missed the point. Vannessa said it best. With AI, she might even get a lunch break. Take the lunch break.
Learn it by playing, and learn it together
Kimberly Inez Mays guides small businesses and mission-driven teams through AI change management. She said, "Change is hard, especially change with technology, and even more so now with AI." Her fix is simple: low stakes and quick wins. Some people do not even want to log in to the tool their boss asked them to use. So you start there, one small win at a time.
Corean Canty is all about remembering your human edge. We talked about testing new tools yourself, because that is how you learn what they can do and where your own boundaries and ethics sit. As I put it, "You have to do it through play, through curiosity."
And you do not have to play alone. Courtney pointed out that what we learned last year is already stale. Claude artifacts were barely a thing a year ago. Your AI community is how you keep up. As Courtney said, "bring us the cheat codes so that we're not just trying to learn it uphill, Sisyphean style, all day long."
Come build with us
If one of these stories lit a fire, bring that problem to a Buildathon. Pick the thing that bugs you, play with it, and build it alongside other women who get it. Join us at aiqueens.com/build.
Key takeaways
If your work is unseen, it will struggle to get funded. AI can help you show up online and still sound like you.
Your wisdom and experience are your edge. AI can help you capture them and build a plan so your work outlives you.
Women have been gatekept from funding, tech, expertise, and networks. AI is helping break those gates down.
A business can grow from a problem the system created. Look at what makes you mad.
Map your workflow: what you do, what AI does, what you do together.
Spend the time AI gives back on play, reading, and rest.
Start with low-stakes quick wins, learn through play, and find your AI community.
Keep building and keep reigning with AI
