Turn a pink‑slip into 140 million views with Valerie Chapman
Turn a pink‑slip into 140 million LinkedIn views
I just sat down with Valerie Chapman.
LinkedIn strategist whose layoff‑driven pivot earned 140 million impressions in twelve months.
In this episode you’ll learn
The 7‑word prompt that unlocked 140 M views
• A mirror routine that crushes imposter syndrome in 60 seconds
• Why she says 9‑to‑5 jobs disappear by 2034
We dive into the details later in the conversation.
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
02:27 Layoff to LinkedIn breakout
05:29 Building a personal brand playbook
14:09 Killing imposter syndrome with mirror talk
26:02 How work changes when 9‑to‑5s vanish
36:05 Vibe coding—building apps without code
49:13 Confidence, community, and service
51:16 What success really means
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Here’s the full transcript:
Speaker 1 (00:00.046)
Gen Z men are 25 % more likely than Gen Z women to use AI tools. AI tools have gotten me 3 million impressions on LinkedIn. So I became just like obsessed. And I was like, I need to drill down on AI content because I don’t see any other women doing it. And that could cause systemic problems if people who look like me aren’t talking about the most important technology of our time.
Speaker 1 (00:30.99)
Thanks for having me.
So I want to talk to you about the moment you got fired from your day job. What was going on in your mind? How did that low point lead to you discovering AI as a tool for change in your life and the path that you now lead as a content creator in this space?
I feel like you get that email and it’s like, Hey, we have nine AM and I’ve been there before because this is actually my second layoff. So this time around I was working on a job in advertising and it was actually the job that told me, Hey, you should post on LinkedIn. you’re a thought leader. And so I started posting on LinkedIn. Like I was a thought leader while I was at this job. But after just about three months, I get the email that, know, Hey, can I call? And
I knew that I was going to get laid off. Like I knew. And I wrote actually on my kitchen counter an expo marker and I wrote, I surrender. Like I basically wrote a prayer to Jesus. I like knew that this was like the last time I would work a corporate job. And so I felt like a lot of peace actually going into the call. But with any layoff, it’s obviously like a little bit like ouch, you know, because you don’t want to feel like you’re not contributing to society or whatever. But
I felt a tremendous amount of peace about this one in particular because up until that point, I had amassed three million impressions on LinkedIn with the content that I had been posting. had I never even gotten that job to begin with, I never would have posted on the platform. And so there was just a lot of silver linings. And I decided because I was coming from this business development background and being in corporate sales, I really understood how to reach out to people and create opportunities out of nothing.
Speaker 1 (02:21.718)
I knew that now having had impressions and a little bit of buzz that I could really leverage that. I thought, OK, I could either apply to more jobs on LinkedIn, which I did. And then I was like, what am I doing? Like, I just need to invest in myself and like really make something of this. And so after a couple of weeks, I was just like, I’m going all in. And then after just a few more months, I had over 140 million impressions on LinkedIn. And so things really started to take off.
I credit it definitely to AI because had I not popped into Chatubti one day and asked it, hey, help me build a personal brand strategy to position me as a thought leader in X, Y, and Z, I would absolutely not be in this seat right now. I wouldn’t have been featured in Fortune Magazine, in CNBC, and I definitely wouldn’t have cultivated and built an audience of women who are now super intrigued and interested in AI.
Brilliant. So what’s the context of your early years that got you to the point where you were working in sales and that didn’t work out? Was it a personality thing or was it just bad luck? Like, were you just never meant for the nine to five work? And how has that then led to who you are now and the direction you’re taking?
Yeah, I have always been very entrepreneurial from a very young age. My first ever business was a massage business that I made in my house. And I took furniture from all different places in the house. And I said, this is my business. And I had Manila folders. And I charged my family ridiculous amounts of money in order for them to get a massage. I was really good at it. And so I always had that entrepreneurial bug. But I come from a family.
who immigrated from Venezuela. And so I definitely had the immigrant mindset infused into my home. And so that has a lot to do with just taking a stable job and working in nine to five. And my mom was a manager and she managed engineers. So she obviously had a really great role, but it was still very much about stability and succeeding in that way. And I didn’t really have anyone around me who was entrepreneurial. And so for me, pursuing entrepreneurship felt like this rebellion.
Speaker 1 (04:42.392)
that I loved and I knew. And I knew that I was made for it. And so I started several different companies growing up. I was started creating prototypes when I was 13 years old for a company I called I model and and it was just like so fun for me to build things. And then I went to college at NYU where I became really involved in their entrepreneurial program. I created my own major there.
because I’ve never been someone who does things conventionally. So for me, the thought of going to a school and just doing some cookie cutter major, like repulsed me. Although it’s like such a great privilege to go to school. Like that just wasn’t going to be how I did it. And so I was always doing things kind of a little bit differently. And then when it time to get it, when it came time to get a job, I had someone tell me like, if you get into sales, that’ll be a great role because once you know how to sell, you can really do anything. And so
I ended up getting a job at a company called Wonderkin, which was in the World Trade Center. And I was like, my gosh, this is incredible. What an awesome opportunity. And I learned so much about outreach and sending really personalized emails through that job. after like four or five months, I got laid off. And I was like, what the heck? like made it to the top of this building. It was just a layoff. Like tech has a lot of layoffs. And so like, it’s kind of like, one in, first one out.
I was like, what the heck? My mom wanted me to get a stable job, but corporate America is not stable. just like laid me off out of the blue. Yeah. And I was like, this is crazy. And I was like, also at that point had been working some social media jobs and was kind of making money on my own. And I could have probably gone that route, but it was also COVID and there was just a lot of uncertainty. So I thought, let me just get this corporate job. So I kept applying to more like sales jobs after that ended up working at Compass. And then I,
limited upside.
Speaker 1 (06:32.332)
I thought it was a sales job. It turns out I was like recruiting real estate agents and I was like, am I doing this? is not my purpose. While it was a great job also, like I just was like, this is not what I’m supposed to be doing. And then, and then I worked at a couple of different other places. Honestly, I’ve had so many jobs. It’s like, it would be too confusing to go into all of them. But always in the sales marketing and social media vein. And honestly, the reason why I got most of any of the jobs that I have is because of my personal brand, even from the beginning.
Right. So how did you begin to cultivate your personal brand?
I started really young because I initially moved to New York for modeling. so my agent, I was like 16 or 17. It was honestly so incredible. I learned so much about business actually through my work as a model, because you’re essentially self-employed from such a young age and you also have to market yourself. And so I had an agent and at the time Instagram was like really popping off and it was like,
Bobby when you moved?
What does that do to a person?
Speaker 1 (07:35.502)
you know, 2016 or so. he was like, Valerie, like, you’re really good with like aesthetics and like making things look good. You should like post a lot more on Instagram. And I was like, okay, but, and so I took it like super seriously. And actually when I first started, um, there were no influencer platforms or any of that, but I was always thinking ahead and I would always like know how to capitalize on opportunities and be very savvy. That was always a skill that I had. And so,
I didn’t have any money. I was sleeping on my brother’s couch, which was like a foot shorter than mine for like two years, from Miami originally. so, yeah. He went to NY U2. And so I was sleeping on his couch making whatever I needed to do to make it work. And when my agent told me, you should post on Instagram, I was like, OK. But I don’t do anything like normal. So I was like, I’m going to email all these brands because I can’t afford any clothes for my modeling castings.
So where’s your family from?
Speaker 2 (08:09.942)
I was like...
Speaker 1 (08:29.154)
but I want all this like cool stuff. I didn’t even know I was doing sales at the time, but I kind of was and I would create Excel sheets and I would message all these brands and I would draft messages to them and then they would send me, know, PR packages. Back in the day, it was just like, I was like, hey, I’m a model. Like I’d love to create content for you guys. And that’s kind of how I got started. And so before I knew it, I had like 20 packages in my brother’s apartment and he was like, Valerie, you have a shopping problem. I was like, no, I don’t. All this stuff is free.
And so I wasn’t getting paid for it, but it was like, was kind of building the infrastructure that now today exists at like a pretty high level with the whole influencer marketing stuff. And so that was a great opportunity. That’s kind how I started to gain my following. And from there I realized, okay, I’m the guinea pig in my personal brand. Why don’t I go try and get some other clients? So I started kind of offering the services. I worked with plastic surgeons in New York.
like doing their social media. I worked with different aesthetic companies, fashion companies, anyone that would take me. I would just like work with them while I was in college. And that was like my side gig was being a social media manager. And I just, I just loved it. I loved building my personal brand and my presence, but also helping others do the same.
So when you turn to chat GPT to help you build your personal brand, what did you say?
Yeah, I said.
Speaker 2 (09:56.802)
And what version were you using?
Oh, I mean, this was, I mean, there’s so many ones that came out, but it was June of last year. So whatever was the current at that time. No, not even. Yeah. But it was still like great. Like I was paying the $20 a month and I was like gung ho on chat. I was like, this is going to be great. And I came from a marketing background too. So I basically the way any business creates a marketing plan.
I created a marketing plan, but for Valerie Chapman. And so I said, help me build a personal brand strategy to position me as a thought leader in X, Y, and Z. So I knew that I needed content pillars. And so I told it, hey, I love human behavior. I love business. I love entrepreneurship. Like, help me craft some stuff. And so through a couple of iterations, I eventually got to a place where I was like,
I have a seven page document and this is like the best marketing plan anyone’s ever made. And so I decided, okay, let’s run with this. Let’s implement this. I had templates now for how I was going to position myself on LinkedIn. And in the past, I had only posted on LinkedIn things like, so excited about my new job. And so it was a little different. And I did spend a lot of time actually studying other LinkedIn creators.
Who do you like the most?
Speaker 1 (11:16.45)
The one that honestly made a huge difference for me is kind of basic, but it was Justin Welsh. And I bought a course of his where the first 25 % of the course actually says to update the headline and your bio. And so was like, OK, we got to start with the basics because presentation is everything. And so I actually changed my headline to I help x, y, and z do x, and z because it previously used to just be like,
sales associate, know, like some people just put their role in there. And now I truly have this belief that like you need to put who you help in there. And that makes the biggest difference for who’s going to reach out to you. Cause when they see your page, they know, he helps entrepreneurs be seen and heard, you know, like instead of podcaster.
Yeah, see, I don’t know what I’m doing.
No, but like that like little thing makes such a big difference. Like I led a workshop with over 40 women and I asked them, who do you help? And you would not believe that like the room did not know who like what to say. And so as people who are trying to sell services, we really need to understand who we’re helping and we need to advertise that right away.
See, I’m not trying to sell anything.
Speaker 1 (12:29.198)
But it’s not even trying to like sell. mean, if you’re self-employed, are constantly selling yourself.
Yeah. Yeah, it’s, I mean, look, to be honest, I’ve really struggled to find that niche that’s been the struggle the whole time. It’s just a very wide base of interests. It doesn’t seem to narrow.
Yeah. mean, mine wasn’t, it’s not like I popped out of the womb talking about AI. You know what I mean? But for me, I was like, what can I talk about all day that I won’t get bored of? Because while I was working a job, I had to get some LinkedIn posts up because it was part of the role. So was like, what the heck am I going to talk about? And I was fascinated with human behavior because I had studied a bit of that in college. And I knew I could talk about body language all day. So I started making posts about Oprah’s famous handshake because she does like,
Something where she like puts her hand over.
yeah, it’s very comforting.
Speaker 1 (13:24.686)
Yeah, but it’s also dominant in a nurturing way. So it’s very sneaky. But I’m fascinated by body language, so I knew I could talk about that all the time. And so my initial posts were about that. But then it evolved. And so it evolved because as I was doing research for some of my posts, I came across an article in Fast Company that said, Gen Z men are 25 % more likely than Gen Z women to use AI tools. And I was like, what the heck? AI tools?
have gotten me three million impressions on LinkedIn. Like I need to get every female founder that I know and every woman that I know posting on this platform so that they can increase their visibility and therefore get more opportunities. And so I became just like obsessed and I was like, I need to drill down on AI content because I don’t see any other women doing it. And that could cause systemic problems if people who look like me aren’t talking about the most important technology of our time.
Yeah, so what do you think is going on there?
I mean, I think just historically, tech is a boys club and so is business in a lot of ways, but I don’t think that always has to be that way. We just need to mobilize as women and be loud, right? Because sometimes like there are maybe 18, 20 % of women in AI right now, but they’re often a little bit more shy, a little bit more reserved. And so all it takes is
turning up the dial on confidence to make that gap and that percentage a lot higher. And I really believe that like that can really cause a movement when we’re just a little bit louder about what we’re doing.
Speaker 2 (15:05.262)
Digging into this a little bit more, because I’m fascinated about the differences in genders and the way people approach different things. AI, chat GBT is a tool that anybody can get. It’s not like it’s out of the reach of anybody. what’s stopping, genuinely what’s stopping more women from being like, I’m going to just do this. No one’s stopping anything. It’s just a lack of what? I don’t know.
Yeah, I mean, from what I’ve found, because I’ve led workshops with like 40 women in the room, right? And I’ve listened to executives tell me why they’re not posting on LinkedIn or why they’re not using AI tools. And oftentimes it comes down to two things. They’re concerned about the environmental implications of AI, which women tend to care more about. And then they’re also concerned that they may be perceived as cheating. So there’s this notion that if they use AI, then they’re cutting corners.
And men don’t think about that. are just like, whatever I got to do to get it done, let me do it. Women are like, how do we get it all right? Like, are constantly, you know, there’s just a different standard.
at all times.
Speaker 2 (16:17.986)
What’s an example of the different standard that you’ve found that’s tied into the work you’ve done with women in the AI space?
Well, I mean, I think women just tend to, I hate to genderize it because there are obviously very bold women out there, but there are, there is a big group of women that I have found that tend to be more timid. And that’s just because first off, there is a confidence gap. There are things like imposter syndrome that a lot of men that I’ve spoken to don’t deal with, but
because of these systemic issues of women maybe not being in the rooms where tech conversations are happening or business conversations are happening when they do get in that room finally, which is well-deserved, they feel, I don’t belong here. And that’s not true. And I felt that way in my first few years living in New York. I often, you know, battled with imposter syndrome. And then I was like, I need to snap out of this because this is not going to get me the goals and the results that I need. And unfortunately, like women are still very much plagued by
that mindset of just feeling like they don’t belong and that’s not their fault. It’s just the rooms genuinely have not been open and women didn’t have access to credit cards without a man’s name on it 50 years ago. So these are very real problems that we’re now getting to a point where we can overcome.
So on the imposter syndrome component, how would, well, I mean, we can talk specifically about women because it’s relevant for what you’re focusing on, but just generally how can you break through that? Yeah. Because that’s an internal thing.
Speaker 1 (17:53.486)
Yeah, it’s an internal thing for sure. I think for me, what I have done is I take affirmations very seriously. I think for a long time, I just used to write them in a journal and be like, I am X, Y, Z. And you know, we do those and those are great. For me, what really made a change is saying the affirmations out loud in the mirror. So for instance, when I wanted to post on LinkedIn and
be a LinkedIn thought leader. And my boss has said, you have to post on LinkedIn like a thought leader. I’m not just going to post on LinkedIn like some random Joe Schmoe, like I’m going to be a thought leader. And so I had to look in the mirror. I had to confront the fears of being seen all over again on a new platform that now perceives me as being some expert. And I said, I am a LinkedIn thought leader. Millions of people care about what I have to say. And I looked in the mirror and every single day I did it.
And every single day that I did that, I also noticed that I was bolder in my communication online. I was a little bit more sure of myself. I did deeper research, which, you know, I was like, Hey, Chachibiddy, how can I sound like a Harvard professor? know, like, whereas if I didn’t do those affirmations, I might’ve just like plopped something online because like, you know, I didn’t train my subconscious to think millions of people were watching it. So that’s huge.
So to dig into this a little bit more, what you’re saying is you
brainwashness.
Speaker 2 (19:18.024)
Brainwash yourself into thinking you were somebody who would have means of people watching you before you were and you weren’t, that didn’t come naturally. Where did you come across that idea?
No, I had to train myself.
I mean, I’ve always been, no, I’ve always been very resilient. think having grown up in a household where there was a bit of a scarcity mindset, where there was maybe doubt, know, like dealing with doubters, I’m so good at that. And so for me, like, I’m not going to doubt myself. I’m not going to like see an obstacle, like become a LinkedIn thought leader and be like, you can’t do that. I’m going look in the mirror and I’m going to be like, of course you can do that. And I’m just like kind of delusional about it, but you have to be like, if you want to accomplish great things.
you have to first believe that you can do them. I think within three months, like, I mean, I felt a quantum leap happen in my life. Like everything changed. I was getting featured in articles with Fortune, with CNBC, most recently as of, you know, a few days ago, Harper’s Bazaar. Like these are things that would have never happened in my life if I didn’t do that mirror work.
Yeah. The fear of being seen is an interesting one. So let’s dig into that a little bit more. So what makes that a more feminine leaning fear? Because I’m going to just, for the rest of this podcast, I’m going to preface that it’s not male, female. It’s masculine and feminine because there’s two different energy types. Yeah. So I don’t want to be like women because you’re right, there’s plenty of women that are just like fucking.
Speaker 2 (20:47.906)
going for it. And it’s a bit more of a forward driven masculine approach to life and business. let’s maybe talk about the more feminine side of the business world and why that’s a challenge. And then we can loop back into the AI tools.
Yeah, I think, you know, women in the workplace typically tend to be more reserved or a little bit more aware of what they’re saying all of the time. And so what I have found is like that fear of visibility comes from like, like, hey, you should post on LinkedIn. And they’re like, yeah, but what if I say something wrong? What if my employer doesn’t like it? There’s a lot of fear actually around using one’s voice and
I think that’s just because women’s voices systemically have not really been at the top of the totem pole, right? It’s always like, well, mean, even the man leading the household, things like that, a lot of these patriarchal values that, while they can do some good, obviously have some bad implications as well, making women feel like their opinions don’t matter and they can’t speak up. So I think I try every day to fight that.
Because while I feel sometimes those feelings, I know that that’s not true freedom.
with the, I mean, there’s no free lunch, right? Like every, everything is a pendulum that swings between multiple directions. And there’s always going to be some underlying second order and third order negative consequences from any positive, potential positive thing that happens. So I mean, we spoke off air that you are quite also religious and religion also has like a very masculine feminine dynamic. So how are you balancing this with that?
Speaker 1 (22:37.112)
Yeah, I think, I mean, my religion has shaped me my entire life. I feel like I’ve had a very deep closeness to God. I think it actually grew when I moved to New York. Yeah. Because I was, you know, alone and you’re like, my gosh, I have these big dreams. But you realize that like, wait, my foundation is weak. And for me, now that I’m self-employed, a creator, I basically also had an affirmation that was like, I
get paid to be myself. Those are things that are very bold and audacious and if you don’t have a firm foundation, there is no way you’re gonna succeed. So for me, my relationship with God is the only reason I have any success in life. And I don’t look at that as feminine or masculine. That to me, I don’t think about. I just think about God and making sure I deliver my message and that I’m being used as a vessel for good.
Okay, so maybe there’s something in that point of like having a firm foundation with the challenges that women face in the workplace and using technology and stuff. It’s kind of pioneering stuff. Like we’re talking about very forward thinking, forward leaping stuff and without generalizing, men are more open to doing that innately because we’re just like, we’re getting...
get after it because we want to hunt and hook up. women are a bit more like, again, feminine people are a bit more consensus driven, thoughtful about the group. So it makes sense that having female leaders to lead women into the more unknown parts of the world is important.
How can women, especially in AI and tech, build that firmer foundation without relying on the need for another woman to tell them it’s okay?
Speaker 1 (24:42.412)
Yeah, I mean, I think it comes down to like building a strategy. Like I said, like the thing that really clicked for me, having been in content now for 10 years, it didn’t click for me until year eight. Yeah. Like that’s when it clicked. And it was because I sat down with Chachi BT and I said, let’s build a strategy just for me. Yeah. Up until then, I’m just shooting and putting pasta at the wall and seeing what sticks. Yeah. And so I think
Women need to put their strategy hat on. Right now in this moment in 2025, this is a time to be more strategic than ever about how we are showing up online because we are being inundated with things like OnlyFans and women doing makeup videos all day. And it’s like, we have way more to offer than putting mascara on and tagging brand names, which like I love that content too. But what is your business acumen? What do have to offer? What is value that you’re creating in the world outside of vanity?
And I think those are conversations that matter. And I think that women do have something to say. They just haven’t built a firm foundation so that they know what message to deliver.
Yeah, OK. That makes sense. So outside of the strategy component of mapping that out, what are some other techniques that are really powerful and useful now with AI?
Yeah, I think we mentioned it before, how chat GPT has like the $200 a month operator, which like, know I do. use all of them. think being an early adopter is so important. So when I came across this, I came across this video and someone was like, people who spend hundreds, thousands of dollars on AI today will be the future millionaires.
Speaker 2 (26:08.724)
Use operator. To use operator. Keeping it to log in.
Speaker 1 (26:28.396)
And I was like, whoa, this is my opportunity to be an early adopter. As someone who’s Gen Z, we saw what happened with the Apple iPhone and with apps like Instagram and TikTok. And we’ve seen these technological advances. And so for me, I’m like, this is pattern recognition, right? Like you see AI. And to not opt in is insane. It’s like not using the iPhone when everyone else is using it. It’s like absolutely bonkers. And so I think leaning into being an early adopter,
Being visible online, using AI to craft your message is hugely important, especially as normal entry-level jobs become harder to come by every day.
Yeah, I mean, it’s moving away from the formal structure of work, especially with AI, because the people that are left in the companies are doing way more than the people that, like, profit per person is going through the roof right now, especially with AI. So what’s left is these small, I think these small one to three person businesses that can do a lot and can make good enough money to live comfortably.
But you need to understand how to amplify your skill sets through these tools because it’s one of the most impactful things going on in the world right now for sure.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:48.334)
For sure. mean, I think we’re just going to see a complete shift from like people having nine to fives. mean, the founder of LinkedIn the other day said that by 2034, I believe that nine to five jobs will be virtually obsolete. 2034 is tomorrow. Do know what I mean? And so to hear people in finance jobs and all these other jobs that may be affected, not be building their personal brand because they’re scared what their employer is going to think, that’s scary. That’s a huge problem.
And I think we’re just going to see a rise in the creator economy, like things like this podcast, like this is just going to be the future. Everyone’s going to have one and, everyone’s going to have a newsletter that speaks to a very niche topic and a niche community. And that is how people will get the news. There will be a complete revolution of media, especially with just the distrust of AI coming into, into the picture and also just normal legacy media, you know, sometimes being a little biased.
Sometimes.
So yeah, I think there’s just a great deal of distrust and ultimately we’re going to be trusting people like Adam Metwally to give us our news.
See, I’m a little concerned about that because someone said to me recently, the democratization of microphones is going to be the end of society.
Speaker 1 (29:03.53)
Or is it going to be the start? Like, why is that so bad? Why is it so bad to give normal everyday people autonomy to share important messages? I think we’re still going to need discernment, of course, but I mean, you can only help stupid people so much. You know what I mean? Like you have to have discernment and you have all the tools at your disposal to do the research. Like that is where our real critical thinking skills is going to evolve. It’s not going to be, can you do this math problem? It’s going to be
Yeah, the
Speaker 1 (29:32.846)
Can you verify with resources that that fact is true?
The challenge is that a lot of these AR tools are trained on biased information as well.
Yeah, you know, it’s not going to be perfect, but it is definitely going to change a lot. I mean, there’s just like, people want to complain and it’s like, we have all the resources to make our dream life. Get to it. Yeah. Like, seriously, it’s crazy.
So, moving forward a little bit, what are some stories where you’ve heard AI has helped other women outside of yourself that really surprised you?
Yeah, I’ve heard so many stories. In one of the workshops that I led, I got a message a few weeks later and someone was like, I’d never used AI, but your workshop really inspired me. And I actually had a horrible day at work today and I ended up downloading chat GPT, walked through it and I feel so much better now. And that’s exactly what I think AI can do for women is just give them that, that little confidence boost that like so many of us struggle with. Like we all, despite gender deal with these insecurities that
Speaker 1 (30:47.554)
just having someone in your back pocket to reassure you that everything’s fine is just a game changer for one’s mental health, I think.
Yeah, definitely. I mean, I’ve been using it lately to just become a little personal therapist that I never used to do. that’s great.
Yeah, people joke about that, but it’s like, of course you should make it your therapist.
Yeah, I think at the very least, it allows a bit of a gap between the stimulus and my initial response if I like default to, like I’m, I find it challenging to sit down and be like, I’m in a journal about this right now. But it’s a lot easier to just chuck it into the thing and kind of work through the pain points and the issues in real time as you’re feeling it. And it seems to blunt the potential reactionary response, which is a good thing.
Yeah, I think it helps tremendously with self-reflection and I feel like it’s made me understand myself so much better. Like I ask like, hey, what are my strengths and weaknesses based on everything you know about me? And like, I’m not gonna ask someone my weaknesses, but I’ll ask Chachi Puthu, you know?
Speaker 2 (31:49.454)
Yeah, for sure. Just quickly though, I love doing this podcast. If it’s positively impacted you in some way and you would like to support us, please subscribe. By subscribing, it allows us to build a much bigger base of listeners, which results in better guests, better production, and a better show overall. Alternatively, please take a look at the affiliate links of the products that I use and love in the comments below and consider purchasing using those links.
They’ll give you a discount and they’ll also provide the podcast a small kickback. These are two very easy ways for you to support us as we continue to grow the podcast that we absolutely love doing. Thank you for your support and now back to the episode. With content, how are you juggling the AI contribution that can sometimes seem robotic? And there’s some certain nuances around
the way it responds that you can really tell it’s like not real versus when you’re jumping in. Like, what’s your strategy around that now?
Yeah, I think AI obviously is not perfect. And there’s a lot of conversation about this now about just the importance of taste. And I’m someone who’s always valued good taste, good writing, like even in college, like I love to research like the Virginia Woolf’s and the Joan Didion. So if you have a good idea of like who are some great writers that you really admire, then it’s really easy to take an idea that you had on a walk.
All my ideas will come from a walk. Every day I go on a big long walk. Yeah, I don’t call it that. I just call it like, you know, my content time. So that’s call it for me. Yeah. And I go for a walk and I’ll get all these ideas. Like people’s brains all think differently. Mine thinks like it’s writing a book like all the time. And so if I don’t write those ideas down, they just disappear. Like they straight up go poof. And so on the walk, I have my notes section out and I go boom.
Speaker 1 (33:48.418)
write it out down. And then after the walk, I’m like, damn, there’s some bars in here. And so I take those and those are like the seeds of the idea and I put them in my chat and I go, help me make a post about this. I think we should talk about, you know, the gender wage gap and how I pulled this, you know, resource from fast company. Like, why don’t we like put that all together and then add a call to action. And that’s how I use it. And so from there I’ll iterate, I’ll take that version.
and I’ll make it a little bit more me and I’ll be like, can you write this more like Joan Didion or make me sound more like a Harvard scholar or, you know, like you can get a little creative and ultimately you get to craft who you want to be. It’s like the same as like, you know, when you decide what kind of makeup you want to do that day, who do you want to show up online as? I think about it a lot.
Yeah, the challenge with AI is really training it. how have you tried? So do you just have one thread that you’re like, let’s just go down the content route. You just have one thread that you’re just constantly putting into or you using new threads every time. How are you communicating the way you want to approach the responses, et cetera?
Yeah, I have custom GPTs depending on various aspects of my life. So if you can like think about your life like a Venn diagram.
So custom JPTs, what do you mean?
Speaker 1 (35:03.278)
So a custom GPT is like basically its own little chat bot that you train on a specific task. Yeah. And you can really train it. You can give it an actual prompt and it’ll be exactly that. So if you want to train a custom GPT to be your expert digital marketer, then that’s what it’s trained on. And so I have a few of those. So if you think about life, like your life in a Venn diagram, I’ll have not a Venn diagram, in like a web, I’ll have like God in the middle and then I’ll have things like
one thread.
Speaker 2 (35:20.813)
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:32.034)
finances, personal brand, podcasting. I’m just like spewing out a couple of different categories in one’s life that they want to ultimately fill those buckets up. I will create a custom GPT for each of those things. And then I essentially have these like mini experts on my team, which are my custom GPTs. And the one I use the most is the personal brand one, because in that one, I have it trained on my previous LinkedIn content. It knows.
I’ve uploaded all of your-
Yeah, has all any articles that I’ve been featured in. has like literally everything. And it has all these ideas that I’ve worked on and posts that I’ve drafted. And so it really has a deep understanding of my voice. And that’s how you can get your chat GPT to give you better outputs than just putting it in a random thread. Because then it’s going to be like dash, dash, dash, like so many times. Whereas if you train your custom GPT and go.
I don’t want any MDOTs in my content and you’re going to write like Joan Didion, like then it’s going to do that every time.
Yeah, yeah, the dash has been killing me.
Speaker 1 (36:36.46)
Yeah, that’s like social suicide.
No one uses dashes. I love dashes.
I used to love them, but now it’s like so obvious that it’s like chat GBT. So I can’t do an dash anymore. I’m more of a parentheses person now. Yeah.
So how do you teach women in your courses to understand prompting?
I make sure to tell them that the more context, the better. There’s different frameworks that you can find online about what needs to be included in the prompt.
Speaker 2 (37:09.39)
Do you have any favorites that you’ve memorized?
No, because that’s, don’t like do things with like so much structure. Like I’m a Pisces. You know, like, and so no, but you’re what? I was, you’re giving that the podcast was very organized. no. And so I do things like very much from like emotion and like fluidity. But with that said, like context is really important in the prompting. So,
you know, I’ll just tell it the whole situation. I’ll be like, I just had a podcast with Adam. Like I want to make a LinkedIn post about this. Here is the transcription of our episode, like as much context as possible. And then you could even be like, like, let’s say I want this to go somewhere. I want to leverage this opportunity to do something else. I could be like, how can I leverage my podcast opportunity with Adam to do X, Y, and Z? What ideas do you have? Like think big. I constantly tell my chat, should be to think.
Super big.
I like that. Think big, no dashes. There’s also a lot of the times, there’s just these certain words that no person ever uses.
Speaker 1 (38:09.538)
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:20.014)
It’s a simple language. It’s so dynamic. I hate that one.
Trailblazer. So you’re training AI with a lot of context, trying to keep it as natural as possible, lots of just back and forth. What other trends are you really excited about right now that you’re thinking in the next six months are going to be really important to learn now?
Vibe coding, 100%. I vibe code for hours every single day. Do you know about vibe coding? You’re like, obviously I know. Okay, so I mean, can’t tell you that I’m vibe coding yet, but it’s iconic. No, I can’t.
What are you coding?
Speaker 2 (39:01.802)
Drop it. Drop a Taser.
I mean, it’s very aligned with what I make content about. I’m doing things. I’m doing things, you know, we’re creating, right? No, but more than anything, it’s about like using these tools to create things that have never been possible before. Like I said, I had created my first prototype for an app when I was like 13 and in an entrepreneurial program that was available to me at my public school in Miami. And it completely changed my life. But I really didn’t have the
Bye.
Speaker 1 (39:33.422)
technical expertise to fully code it back in 2013. And now all of these incredible ideas that I have or these solutions to help people are truly possible. And don’t get me wrong, it’s not easy. The tools that I use are lovable and cursor. And the tools that I use, it takes time and there’s so much troubleshooting and I’ll have moments where I’m like, I’m gonna have a mental beat because things aren’t. And it’s truly an emotional process. But I think when you,
breakdown for anybody listening.
Speaker 1 (40:03.106)
when you realize you’re building something that could help people’s lives at scale, you’re like, have to just get through this. And, you know, even if it doesn’t work out or whatever, I’m still one of the best people who knows how to use this brand new tool. Like, so if I did, God forbid, have to go back to corporate America, I now know lovable probably more than most people in the world. And I think so more women need to be using lovable. Like, lovable basically allows you to,
I don’t know what
write just like in chat GBT and code and it creates the back end code for you as well as the user interface. And so if you’re someone who really has a deep understanding of web design or product design, you are super well suited for a tool like Lovable.
So what’s the difference between that and cursor?
Cursor scares people who aren’t technical off the get-go because it’s a little bit more confusing of an interface. And you’re like, I don’t know how to do this. But it’s actually not as hard as it seems. Lovable definitely is a lot more user-friendly. But to be honest, they work pretty similar. Cursor is probably more advanced. And so I would say build the foundation of whatever app you want to build on Lovable. Then switch your code over to Cursor and do the final tweaks on there. And that’s what I’ve found to be really helpful.
Speaker 2 (41:18.828)
So how come you don’t use Chatch GPT for coding?
I do a little bit to ask it like, hey, I’ll like put a lot of screenshots into chat GPT and be like, how can I improve the user interface for this? And then I ask it to give me a prompts specific for lovable. But I actually found that Claude is a lot better for coding, at least at this stage for me. So I use Claude and Claude code pretty frequently.
vibe coding thing is really interesting. There’s a guy called, what’s his Twitter? It’s like Levelco or something, Levelso, and his whole thing is he just creates like, starts these companies by himself and documents the whole process. And he’s like, I built a company where like 800K ARR, doing X and it’s really interesting. He’s pretty, pretty fascinating. And he’s a big vibe coder.
It’s just insane. like, if you just have an idea for something and you know what it looks and you know what it feels like, you can make it. Like what I’m building right now is not just like some random little app. Like it’s comprehensive. Like, I’m like, this is, could change people’s lives. So just the barrier to entry has never been lower. Of course, like these tools cost money and you know, I’m investing a couple hundred dollars into something that, you
could make millions.
Speaker 2 (42:33.902)
Yeah, that’s a great ROI. From the rapid fire, that was probably, I was hoping you would say ChatTPT Pro subscription when the thing was like something that gives you 100 times more.
I mean, I could say that.
That’s a good one because it feels crazy. Like talking about this, I use AI for everything. Like it’s a little bit out of pocket because I have my personal stuff and then I have all of my team in my, in my thing. But we use it for everything. Yeah. From scripting out guest research to questions to rolling out content. So I have my like
VA that I work with and she’s from the Philippines so she doesn’t have like that level of taste that’s quite there but with the right prompts she can get 80 % of the way there and just that’s not a bad shout at all. And yeah I think it’s probably the most important thing that everybody should be spending their time on to the point where when I’m recently I’m like I need to stop all these other hobbies and just purely be focusing on this.
You need a vibe code tonight. Like I’m not joking. I know you have so much on your plate, but this is some game changer stuff. Just like download it. Play around like, or ask your chat GPT be like based on everything you know about me and my podcast, like what’s a product that I could create? The idea will come.
Speaker 2 (43:50.574)
you have any ideas to vibe code? I’ve got it. I do have it.
Speaker 2 (44:02.188)
Yeah. We’re going to start with the personal brand strategy first. That’s where we’re going to begin. Products don’t matter. I’m not trying to sell anything yet. I’m trying to build the audience. Yeah. Without LinkedIn, apparently.
Just a couple steps.
Speaker 1 (44:13.282)
Yeah. Like a fool. No, but you’re gonna crush on Lincoln.
Yeah. So wrapping up this part of the podcast, there was one more question I had around setting up an AI tutor. So what frameworks do you use, frameworks, prompts, and use cases for setting up an AI tutor to learn without losing originality?
Yeah. I mean, I think this term of like AI tutor is honestly just what’s being used to help people digest what AI is capable of in terms of helping you learn at a faster rate. And so for me, the Chachi BT AI like Chachi BT is my AI tutor. And whenever I have a curiosity, I make sure to put it in there and I solve that question right away. think a lot of people go through life and they’ll be like, why is the sky blue? La dee da dee da. Keep walking. Like
answer those curiosities. That is how you get closer to your mission in life and like figuring out what your purpose is, like by constantly following those curiosities, getting to the bottom of them and just investigating. I think tools like ChachiBT, tools like Claude can help us learn more about who we are.
Yeah, yeah. So wrapping up on this part, the lesson is spend the $200 a month if you can afford it. mean, honestly, it’s probably the best investment anyone could make that has any, even as one person business. Yeah. Get into it. So I’d love to move to more, some more just general philosophical views. That’s how like to wrap up most of the podcast. So what views do you have that would make
Speaker 2 (46:01.058)
People either scratch their head or potentially get angry.
okay. When I, like when I got laid off from my first corporate job, I wrote in red lipstick on my mirror, just, just so you know a little bit about the kind of person I am in red lipstick on my mirror. wrote F the system and build your own. That’s something I fully live by is you can either be a part of the system and you can be a little cog in the machine or you can build your own and
create an army of people behind a mission that really needs to be changed and solved. And I live by that every single day.
So powered by spite.
Absolutely. Not even it’s just powered by like truly wanting to make a difference in the world.
Speaker 2 (46:43.65)
Yeah, nice. And what’s the biggest thing over the last two years you’ve changed your mind on?
I think I’ve changed my mind a lot around how I see money. I think for a long time, I kind of ignored it and I was like, it’s just gonna come, it’s just gonna come. And in the last few years, I realized like, unless you have radical responsibility and you are disciplined, like money doesn’t come, right? Because like God, you know, wants to see that you are taking the gifts he gives you and like you’re valuing them and you’re, you know, fueling them with good, not just like leaving them there and like operating out of fear. So,
I think that was definitely something that my eyes were open to because I, for a long time, just wanted to like shove in the corner, ignore it and be like, it’s not real. I’m just a girl. And yeah, and I really had to like take a good hard look and it’s still something that I’m figuring out every single day, but like no one’s coming to save you.
Actually on this, no one is coming to save you. That’s something I think that’s something that I feel like men specifically learn really early on. Like that no one is coming to save us. Women have a little time.
We’ll learn that later.
Speaker 1 (47:52.448)
that after men cheat on us and we’re like, actually I can’t marry Rich.
Yeah, I can, but there’s no free lunch. There is no free lunch. Yeah. What is an example of a small kind gesture that somebody has done for you that had a massive impact?
I think I come across a lot of kindness in my life because I give a lot of it out. And I think I’ve had experiences with friends of mine who have just been really generous in terms of giving me opportunities. So my friend, Lauren Franco has a nonprofit that we volunteered together to bring women across New York into community. And she gave me an opportunity to lead a workshop with women and speak about personal branding and AI.
And I think that kind of generosity that you experienced from your community and of women wanting to open doors for you too, it has completely changed my life because now I feel more empowered and emboldened to go do more of those kinds of workshops. And I think like we really underestimate the power of those ripple effects. And Lauren probably doesn’t even know like how much that’s changed my life, but I feel more confident doing this podcast because she gave me that opportunity.
Yeah. So how is that? How are you applying that to the way you live your life?
Speaker 1 (49:08.204)
I think always wanting to open doors for other people, always wanting to just share without gatekeeping. I’m very anti gatekeeper. I think that’s like the wackest thing you could be is a gatekeeper. And so I just love to share whatever I’ve learned with anyone. Like even before we did this podcast, I was like, you need to do this and this and this. Like this will make a huge difference in your business. Like that is just how I treat every single person that I know.
Australia is a big gatekeeping country. So that’s one thing I absolutely love about America and New York is people are really, really generous with their ideas and their time and connections. Way more than anyone in Australia. Like there’s a few, but it’s usually a counterculture group of people like, fuck this, we’re going to do this a little bit different. And a lot of them actually just come to America because they’re like, this is much nicer.
Yeah, I think it’s like the truest form of living an abundant life. You can’t live in abundance and gatekeep your ideas and think people are going to steal them.
Yeah, except for the app idea that you won’t share.
Well, that’s strategic. And that actually has taken me a lot of discipline because I used to be like, let me just say everything and blah, blah. And like, I would kind of say things too soon. And I recently got convicted about that. And it was like, no, actually you need to kind of keep things a little bit more reserved and private until it’s fully bloomed. know, Jesus didn’t come out on the earth until 33 years. He didn’t come out at 13. And so like, I really had to like sit and meditate with that and really kind of.
Speaker 1 (50:39.03)
not be so like bold and half-hazard about the things that I say and I’m still working on it because it’s hard.
So what’s the balance between that of just putting things out into the world and being like, I’m doing this even when it’s not fully fleshed out versus keeping it in your back pocket?
Yeah, I think like I’m building this right now. And while I can’t speak to exactly what I’m building, I’m building my personal brand in public and there are very much common threads within that. So I’m still very much building in public while preserving some things that are still being built. I think, I think that’s really helpful. I think a lot of people might not share anything at all or they’ll share too much when really there is a fine line to draw.
Yeah, well, I’m thinking of an analogy of planting a seed and the seed needs to be protected until it’s strong enough to be its own thing. You know, don’t just plant a seed and then just like stomp on it and maybe you need to stomp on it. like, you know what I mean? Like you kind of it a framework to just grow water and eventually it becomes its own thing and it doesn’t need any help.
after it.
Speaker 1 (51:48.952)
Yeah. Yeah. And like with that said, like once I do announce it, right, then the whole world knows and there is a certain pressure around like, you know, is this going to succeed? It has to succeed. And, you know, I need to make sure that the idea and like the foundation is strong enough to withstand any sort of hate or animosity or jealousy that may also come with, you know, doing something that’s really bold.
Great, I’m looking forward to seeing it. What is the most beautiful thing you’ve created?
I think the most beautiful thing I’ve created is my confidence. Honestly, I I feel like I’ve built it brick by brick. I did. you know, I think that the confidence that I’ve cultivated has led to ripple effects. Like I see my friends be more confident because they see maybe I did something confident, right? Or like with confidence. I think
like, drop this FYP, bruh.
Speaker 1 (52:48.608)
It just makes such a huge impact on like how I move and how I can impact the world. And if I hadn’t taken the time to really reflect and be like, what makes me happy? What is my foundation? What are my values and my beliefs? Which is obviously what has shaped my confidence. Nothing that I would ever do in life would matter. So I think the most beautiful thing anyone could build is, you know, their self-esteem and really an understanding of who they are.
So on that note, what makes you confident if I steal from that confidence guy?
Yeah, I always think about what I would say to that, but like honestly, like God makes me confident 100 % in my darkest moments and my childhood bedrooms. things felt super hard, God was always there for me. It makes me incredibly confident to know that there is a higher power that, you know, it has my best interest.
OK, so wrapping up, what’s a lesson that you hope that everyone takes from this conversation?
I think whatever you want to do in life, it is 100 % possible. I’ve had huge dreams and ambitions in my life. Every single one of them has come true. Thanks to God. And I just know anything’s possible. Like you could be like, I want to be a billionaire. I’d be like, absolutely. Like we live in a world where that’s possible. Yeah. You have to understand why, but I think like if you visualize something enough times and your intentions are pure,
Speaker 2 (54:04.462)
But you’ve got to understand why as well.
Speaker 1 (54:12.994)
and you have favor over your life, anything is possible. Yeah, just like God’s favor over your life.
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (54:20.014)
How do you gain that?
I think it’s like it comes through faith through cultivating that faith through, you know, acts of generosity and like truly being a good person. It’s one thing to like believe in God and it’s another one, another thing to really live your life in service of other people. I don’t just post on LinkedIn to get more followers and get more likes. Everything I do is in service of helping other people.
Is there anything you’re excited about at the moment you want to let anyone in on?
I’m just really excited to see the gender wage gap close. Like I really do believe that AI is going to be the thing that makes that happen. And I’m excited to see more women be emboldened by it and empowered. And I want to see more female founders showing up on LinkedIn and on platforms where they’re going to be immediately respected for their business acumen. So I think that’s going to change really quickly.
Yeah, I mean as long as you guys get moving, we gotta get moving. Because us guys are moving fast.
Speaker 1 (55:18.067)
Yeah. Don’t underestimate the underdog.
I never have. I’ve seen too many underdog stories work out. So yeah, it’s not over until it’s over and it’s never over unless we just blow ourselves up. But that’s a whole story. Yeah. takes over and wipes us out. It’s only over until it is. Yeah. Good callback. Yeah. Nice. And where can people find you if they’re interested in learning more?
Only over until it is.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (55:46.966)
Yeah, I can be found anywhere. Instagram, TikTok, streets of New York. Yeah. It’s Valerie Chapman. Just my name on all things.
It’s a New York City.
What’s your handle?
Speaker 2 (55:59.214)
Okay, and my last question for you to wrap up this episode is what is the meaning of life?
I think the meaning of life is to serve and help others. Yay! Thank you so much for having me.
Cool. Thank you for coming up. course, and if you guys have enjoyed the episode, made it this far, please go to YouTube, search That One Time with Adam Atwelly, click subscribe, like the video and leave us a comment.
Yay. Thank you.
