AI Queens: Smart AF AI Tools, Automation, & Business Tips with Erika Stanley

You In Danger, Girl: What 10 Days in NYC Taught Me About AI & the Future of Work

Queens, I just spent 10 days in New York City, and AI was not just in my phone like usual. It was on every billboard, in every subway car, in the shop windows, and even at the brunch table next to me. The whole trip I kept bouncing between two feelings: is this all hype, or is there real hope here? I think it's both right now, exciting and uncertain at the same time, and I have a feeling I'm not the only one who feels that way. It started at a tiny restaurant on my last day, where I overheard a woman talk about dropping a slow research department's report into AI and getting her answers in minutes. That little moment stuck with me the entire trip, because it's a window into how fast the future of work is shifting and who gets to thrive in it. Here's what stood out: * You don't need a big project to start. Hand AI one annoying thing on your plate (mine was packing a carry-on for 10 days across two wild climates) and just see what it does. * There's a real difference between using AI well and using it lazily. Curating and editing the output looks intentional. Slapping whatever falls out on a sign tells your customers you didn't care. * New York Tech Week showed me two versions of the future in one week: a cold room of dudes optimizing for bots, and a warm room of women building together and helping each other get unstuck. * The person who decides to get genuinely good at directing AI is the one their company can't live without. That person can be you. The wave is coming, and you get to choose whether you watch it roll toward you or learn to ride it. You don't have to wait for someone else to build the tools you need. The barrier is so much lower than you think, and you can start this month, this week, today. Want to actually build something with me? Join the free live AI Queens Buildathon on June 24th at 1pm Eastern. We'll build a Claude Command Center together, step by step, no coding required. Don't be the one in danger. Be the one who builds. Grab your spot at aiqueens.com/build [http://aiqueens.com/build]. Mentioned in this episode: * Register for the Buildathon: aiqueens.com/build [http://aiqueens.com/build] * My NYC packing plan, built with Claude: Erika's NYC Trip — Outfit Planner v2 [https://fabulous-marzipan-2ba166.netlify.app/] * The Claude Command Center precursor episode: Claude Runs My Day: How I Built a Morning Command Center to Stop Holding It All in My Head [https://pod.link/1796118250/episode/ODQzZDdkMzQtMzQ5Ny0xMWYxLThmZGEtYWI0OWVhMjJkMTZl] Connect with Erika * Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@erikatheaiqueen⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/erikatheaiqueen] * Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠AIQueens.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://aiqueens.com] * Mile End Digital: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠MileEndDigital.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://mileenddigital.com] * AI Queens Society Substack: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠AI Queens Society [https://aiqueenssociety.substack.com]

Build Your AI CMO: Turn One Blog Post Into 30 Pieces of Content (Part 2)

Last week you built your AI COO. Now it's time to meet the other half of your executive team. In part two of this series, originally recorded for Jordan Gill's Systems Saved Me podcast, Erika walks you through building your AI Chief Marketing Officer. Think of her as a marketing powerhouse with decades of experience who just walked in on day one. She knows marketing cold, but she doesn't know you yet. So Erika shows you exactly how to brief her so the advice you get back is strategic and tailored, not generic. Here's what we cover: * The Market Researcher: send your AI CMO to competitor sites, Reddit, and Facebook groups to learn your audience's real frustrations and the exact language they use * The Content Strategist: turn one blog post into 30 platform-tailored pieces and build a real content ecosystem, not one-off posts * The Data Analyst: drop in your podcast, email, or ad analytics and get clear, data-driven recommendations on what to make next * The free CEO Cheat Codes app Erika vibe-coded to build custom strategic prompts, even if you don't have a formal brand strategy yet This is the big mindset shift: AI is a strategic partner, not a slot machine you pull for a caption a few times a week..Get in, brief your CMO, and watch what happens. Then keep building, because we believe every woman can be making custom solutions herself. Want a head start on part two? Grab Erika's free AI CMO custom GPT at ⁠aiqueens.com/cmo⁠ [https://aiqueens.com/cmo]. Ready to stop overthinking and start building? Sign up for our next AI Queens Buildathon at ⁠⁠aiqueens.com/build⁠⁠ [http://aiqueens.com/build]. Connect with Erika * Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@erikatheaiqueen⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/erikatheaiqueen] * Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠AIQueens.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://aiqueens.com] * Mile End Digital: ⁠⁠⁠⁠MileEndDigital.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ [https://mileenddigital.com] * AI Queens Society Substack: ⁠⁠⁠⁠AI Queens Society [https://aiqueenssociety.substack.com]

Stop Treating AI Like an Intern: How to Build an AI COO (Part 1)

You know you need systems. You've maybe even built a few SOPs. But what if you had a team member who actually ran those systems for you, handled the backend chaos, and never asked for a break? That's exactly what Erika is building in this episode, originally recorded for Jordan Gill's Systems Saved Me podcast. It's part one of a two-part series on turning AI from a scary tech tool (or a glorified intern) into your strategic AI C-suite. This week is all about your AI Chief Operating Officer. Here's what we get into: * The Meeting Coordinator: drop your call transcripts into ChatGPT or Claude and get summaries, action items, and testimonial-worthy quotes in seconds * The Document Analyst: upload PDFs, long emails, and reports to pull out only what you actually need to know * The Project Manager: turn your late-night brain dump into a prioritized weekly plan (a game changer for the neuro-spicy crowd) * The one prompt phrase that levels up every output you get from AI This isn't about working harder. It's about getting hours of your life back so you can focus on the work that grows your business, or honestly, just spend more time with the people you love. Try the project manager prompt right now, then come back next week when Erika builds out your AI CMO. Want a head start on part two? Grab Erika's free AI CMO custom GPT at aiqueens.com/cmo [aiqueens.com/cmo]. Ready to stop overthinking and start building? Sign up for our next AI Queens Buildathon at ⁠aiqueens.com/build⁠ [http://aiqueens.com/build]. Connect with Erika * Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠@erikatheaiqueen⁠⁠⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/erikatheaiqueen] * Website: ⁠⁠⁠AIQueens.com⁠⁠⁠ [https://aiqueens.com] * Mile End Digital: ⁠⁠⁠MileEndDigital.com⁠⁠⁠ [https://mileenddigital.com] * AI Queens Society Substack: ⁠⁠⁠AI Queens Society [https://aiqueenssociety.substack.com]

AI Won't Kill Your Art. It Might Just Fund It (with Blume Bauer)

Queens, my guest today is Blume Bauer, a fine arts illustrator, creative business educator, and founder of The Yellow Studio, where she's spent 30 years teaching artists how to turn their craft into real income. Her whole vibe is slow living and big money, and she came in ready to challenge some of the things you might believe about AI and art. Here's the part that got me. Blume teaches artists to use AI for all the non-art stuff that running a business requires, the artist statements, the captions, the SEO, the product mock-ups, so they can get back in the studio and make the thing they love. And she makes a bold case that handmade art gets more valuable as AI grows, not less. Here's what we get into: * Why the "AI is a demon coming for artists" myth misses the point entirely * How AI handles the business stuff so you can spend more time creating * The accessibility piece: how AI opens up art-making to people who couldn't make it before * Why your years of honing your craft make you a better AI user, not an obsolete one * How Blume turned a 90-day legging challenge into a sustainable print-on-demand business Here's what I want you to take away: AI doesn't replace your skill or your story. There's still a human in the loop, and that human is you. If you've been holding back because you think tech and creativity don't mix, consider this your nudge to just get in there and try it. Ready to stop overthinking and start building? Sign up for our next AI Queens Buildathon at aiqueens.com/build [http://aiqueens.com/build]. Connect with Blume Bauer: * Website: youryellowstudio.com [http://youryellowstudio.com/] * Open Studio Community: youryellowstudio.com/open-studio-invite [http://youryellowstudio.com/open-studio-invite] * YouTube: youtube.com/blumebauer [http://youtube.com/blumebauer] * LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/blumebauer [http://linkedin.com/in/blumebauer] * Everywhere else: @blumebauer Connect with Erika * Instagram: ⁠⁠@erikatheaiqueen⁠⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/erikatheaiqueen] * Website: ⁠⁠AIQueens.com⁠⁠ [https://aiqueens.com] * Mile End Digital: ⁠⁠MileEndDigital.com⁠⁠ [https://mileenddigital.com] * AI Queens Society Substack: ⁠⁠AI Queens Society [https://aiqueenssociety.substack.com]

Stop Burning Through Claude: 12 Smarter Habits for Building with AI

If you've made the jump from ChatGPT to Claude and keep slamming into the token wall mid-project, you are not alone. It's the conversation Erika keeps having at AI Business World, after workshops, and in networking event side chats. Claude is genuinely one of the most powerful AI tools out there right now, but if you don't know how it actually uses tokens under the hood, you'll burn through your usage way faster than you expect. In this episode, Erika breaks down what tokens really are (think fuel in a gas tank), why long conversations compound against you, and 12 habits you can start stacking today so you can stay in Claude and actually get your work done without bouncing back and forth like a pinball between Claude and other LLMs. What we cover: * The single highest-leverage habit: editing your original message instead of piling on corrections * Why every new message in a long chat costs you more tokens than the last one * The PDF problem nobody talks about and how to fix it with Adobe Acrobat's AI Assistant * One topic, one chat: why scope discipline saves your usage (and the planet) * How to use Projects, batching, and smart timing to stretch every token If you can just do a few of these, it's going to make a huge difference. Once they click and become part of your routine, Claude stops feeling like it's fighting you and starts working like the strategic partner it's actually meant to be. Mentioned in this episode: * Check out Adobe Acrobat AI Assistant: ⁠Get started with AI prompts for Acrobat AI Assistant⁠ [https://creatorlink.shop/4ltg0sM] * Sign up for the next AI Queens Buildathon: ⁠aiqueens.com/build⁠ [https://aiqueens.com/build] Connect with Erika * Instagram: ⁠@erikatheaiqueen⁠ [https://www.instagram.com/erikatheaiqueen] * Website: ⁠AIQueens.com⁠ [https://aiqueens.com] * Mile End Digital: ⁠MileEndDigital.com⁠ [https://mileenddigital.com] * AI Queens Society Substack: ⁠AI Queens Society [https://aiqueenssociety.substack.com]