178 - How this Founder is using engaging with AI Innovation - Claudia Villegas

Speaker A: Yeah, I would probably be like that and myself from that age, I would think that if she could look at where I am right now, even while I might not be feeling, um, at my top, like my old self from back then would look at my current self and be like, you've made it.

Speaker B: Our featured speaker today is a marketing data and AI strategist with over 15 years bridging business, product and data systems. She previously served as CEO and business intelligence director at LunaV Digital and is most recently led data and BI at FoodStream Network. Today she's focused on AI driven innovation and experimentation, building tools like an AI agent for campaign analytics that won the reacher track at the Nozima Hackathon. And Claudia AI, an AI digital twin trained on her own experience. Claudia, it's a great pleasure to have you joining us again as our featured guest. Thank you so much for taking this time to share your journey with us.

Speaker A: Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be back here, um, especially after it's been only a couple of years, but it's felt like a lifetime in terms of technology and changes.

Speaker B: Absolutely. I can agree with you on that one. Um, and I know it has been some time, um, but I'd love it if you could just catch us up a little bit on your life and if, um, you want to start by sharing how you recently entered the hackathon, um, I'd really love to hear about that experience, what led to you entering, and maybe what some of your takeaways from the experience were. Yeah.

Speaker A: So one of the things is that after my journey with Foodstream Network ended, I suddenly had all of this time and I was seeing all the tools and everything. But a lot of times you can get overwhelmed with everything that is out there with technology. So I found that all of these hackathons are not only a great idea because you have a constrained time, so you're like, you're only able to do as much as possible in a short amount of time. I've joined some that are like two hours and some that are 12 hours. This one, the somnium one, was 12 hours long. And also you get exposed to a lot of people. So when I joined this particular one, I have enjoyed others, like smaller ones that were more marketing led, and that's sort of where I felt more comfortable. But this one, like, I got there and it was a little bit intimidating. Like, you have like this almost teenager founders and you're looking at a room of people that they all have great ideas and great careers. So it can feel overwhelming. Um, but once you get in there, like, I didn't even have a partner for that, for that one. Like I found one like the day off, we met that day and all of a sudden you're given this task where it's like, okay, these are the tracks and this particular track, like the one from Richer, they are a TikTok shop, um, company that is focused on being able to enable the sales and to add like an AI intelligence layer to that. So the moment I saw that, I was like, this is something that I can do in my sleep. I understand perfectly the logic. I might not know the tool itself, but they gave us access to their data dictionary and you could see all the information behind it. And for me that was like the spark mode. And my partner for the hackathon, uh, Joaquin, like, big hands off to him because I told him like in a very, uh, serious way, like, do you trust me? We can do this. He's like, okay, I have no idea about marketing, but let's go for it. And we just had a blast. Like, it was so much fun. It wasn't that stressful, like wrapping up just before the, the deadline. No, no. We even had time to like perfect our logo and get like funky with how we were going to present. And basically what we did is that years, um, of pain points from agency life, uh, that I had been to, like, I know how, um, complicated sometimes the briefing can be. And a client might come and be like, I want user generated content, but I want sales at the end of the day, but I want engagement. And you get all of these different variables that when you actually want to take it down into, well, what are the KPIs, it's not just one or the other. So we created this way where you could get all of that unstructured data and translate that into a weighted KPI structure. And then using the technology from Richer, we would be able to actually run like this, uh, prediction engine. So that if you said, like, ooh, I want to move, um, user generated content like this, then what will happen? And get recommendations and stuff like this. And it was just so much fun. And when we got in there and with the judges, it's kind of like your old self comes back. So I felt just right at home with the agency mode on, like speaking to the judges, pitching and yeah, we didn't know that we were the winners until like right at the end because they were focusing on all of the other tracks and I was like, oh, well, like it was fun. Yay. And I was almost by the door when they said, like, oh, yeah, campaign os, and I was like. And I came back and just had a blast.

Speaker C: So, yeah, that's really impressive to like, have just met your, your team member on this, your partner on this, and immediately have enough alignment to get to win the track. That's like, really, really cool. I think, um, you did very, very well to have achieved that. Um, can you talk a little bit about some of the other projects you've been building recently? It sounds like you've been doing a couple of really interesting things.

Speaker A: Yes. So as part of this immersion in AI and also one of the things that the hackathons give you is that they give you credits. So once you have these credits, you are able to do a little bit more, or they might give you, um, a trial period to test out some of the tools. I've been taking that as much as possible to try to get and build as much as possible. I'm currently, uh, beta testing, um, with a tool called Playful. They are taking a different approach to vive coding, where it's not so much to get an MVP or something like that, it's more to get something personal, to get something more, like crafting. Like, you might be having a very specific solution for your own personal life and instead of going and using an app that it's out there, you craft your own. So for instance, uh, with them, one of the most significant things that I built, uh, well, I would say two. One was a job search garden. So I wanted to take all the frustration and like that sinking feeling of rejection that you get when you're constantly applying to jobs and just getting rejected because sometimes you don't, you don't see, uh, that you're getting through and you're advancing. So it felt very much like gardening because I just started, uh, balcony garden, not so much. But I have flowers.

Speaker B: It counts.

Speaker A: We've got blooms from seeds. Um, so it felt very much like that. And I turned my entire job search into something you can actually see and share. So it's not the same to tell you that I've applied to 100 and something. Right now I'm on like 200 something, um, job applications. But it's not the same to say it like that than to actually see a full garden full of seedlings. Some might have been pruned, some might be flowering, which are like, when I've moved on to interviews. And it creates a different narrative. And it also feels a little bit more, ah, heartwarming to see that the actual Progress, especially when you are facing rejection after rejection. Um, it resonated with a lot of people in the way that uh, it's also a different approach to opening up the conversation and being vulnerable out there and saying, hey, I'm job searching right now. Because I know that there are some people who might be seeing this as something even shameful at some point. Like to say that I've been trying, I've been failing so much because you're putting it out there. It's like I've sent this many applications and I've got this many rejections, but when you turn it in this way, it kind of change that for people as well. And I included in that garden a link where people can actually help if they want to. Even if it's just giving a hands up and just saying keep the good work, uh, or actually send a referral or something like that. That project is open out there. Whoever wants to use it, they can, they can do it. Um, so yeah, it's, it's out there.

Speaker B: I think it's such an interesting way to like conceptualize the job seeking process. But I think I would personally find that encouraging too to see, like, okay, well, you know, even though these didn't work out, like, you know, here, here's where I have seen some blooms, um, and I definitely would find it helpful, um, you know, amongst a community of motivated people to have that sort of encouragement. So I think this is a really interesting, uh, way very different from how LinkedIn makes it feel. I love LinkedIn for a lot of things, but it does feel a little cold on the job front search.

Speaker C: Um. Oh yeah, yeah.

Speaker B: I'll be really interested to hear how that goes as you do have more people using it too.

Speaker A: I was gonna say that it was also something that came from seeing all of the other tools out there for job search, um, that are popping up right now beyond LinkedIn. And a lot of them, ah, especially with AI, are focusing on super targeting your resume for this or this or that and getting AI voice recognition when you're posting and blah, blah, blah. But I feel like we're still, even with AI, we can still keep the human side, you know, and I feel like this is using AI, but it's bringing it back to the human and what makes us human in terms of those emotions.

Speaker B: Yeah. And I feel like you're a person that's really good at seeing both the value of the human workforce and, you know, how it can pair with AI rather than it being one or the other, which I really appreciate. And I am going to use that as a transition to, um. I do understand that you were invited to be a judge for the Paute Award, if I'm saying that correctly, at the National Science Fair in Mexico. So, um, what was that like and what insights did you glean from that experience?

Speaker A: So PAUTA is this amazing organization that they are doing, like you can adopt a talent and it's really bringing technology back to a lot of kids that might have not seen it, uh, otherwise. So they have a lot of great experiences for the kids where they can get close to technology, but also a lot of really high profile people in Mexico City can be, um, there with them and teaching courses. And they get to grow up with this support that really opens their eyes in terms of what technology is possible. And I've started doing some volunteering work with them again, using the free time all of a sudden to trying to find things that just make me happy while I'm doing all of this. And I was able to be a judge in this, um, contest that is called Pensamento critico y and y tecnologia, which basically means critical thinking. AI and technology. And it was such an incredible experience. One because, uh, being in the Bay Area, you sometimes forget the bubble that you're in. You're so used to just walking outside and seeing on the highways or in the bus stop, like, is your agent working for you now? Do you know what your agent is doing? And even some like really niche jokes in those posters that you kind of lose track that the rest of the world or even the rest of the US is not in that bubble. So, um, when I was speaking to the kids, they were all presenting different projects that they had to do research on. And they follow like traditional research. Like they did surveys, they had a hypothesis, they presented the results, they had to add, uh, like all of these other different sources. And a lot of them focused on AI and the impact that it was having on their communities. And these are kids that were from middle school to high school. And I was really surprised to see the shift and the gap from what they think about AI and the things that they are not aware of that for me, it was one the ones that really saw it in terms of the impact and understanding that it's a tool and you have to use it as a tool and not as a friend. Um, that was really, really important because these are very, these are kids that are still growing. So the idea that they might be seeing AI as their friend, it's really scary. And the second Thing is that they have a very interesting idea of what the models are and what the companies playing there are. So one of the assumptions that they had was that Gemini, because it's part of Google and uses Google Scholar, it's more trustworthy. And for me that was like, you have to go a step back and understand how AI works. And I think that there's a lot of need to really get into AI literacy across a lot of fields to truly understand what a model is, where the data comes from, what biases it might have so that they can truly get that critical thinking and not just take its word for it. And some of the projects that were the highest rated, for instance, they were, um, really narrowing down into what the models are doing. So they were thinking, for instance, like, what's a prompt? And how do I see that in terms of hallucinations? And we were having conversations about like, you even have to check the type of model that you're using in the same way that you would cite like on an APA style thing. Um, when you retrieve the information from the Internet, like now thinking about AI, you have to think about what model you use and in which moment of time because it's so broad. But it makes me hopeful to see that the kids are having this opportunity to actually challenge, um, what AI is for them and how to use it. Um, so it was a really good reminder and I really want to get out there and do more on AI literacy at some point.

Speaker C: I think that's such an interesting point. During our, like, development when we were younger, we went, we were the generation that sort of went from the period of there's not really an Internet that people can use very well to like, everyone always has access to the Internet and how that's like a totally different experience to what our parents had. And now I feel like there's this generation that's like their AI. The use of AI is just like the standard operating procedure for them, not like this normal thing and how they're choosing to interpret it without, as you say, maybe the level of AI literacy that might be valuable to have. I'd say, you know, adults and people, even people in tech companies, I've found that don't have a great level of AI literacy that they probably should have. Um, so I think it's a super fascinating point. Thank you very much. You actually have a AI that you sort of trained on your experiences, right? How, how do you find that process of doing that and what do you think is like the useful outputs from that?

Speaker A: So that project was really, really fun to create because I, I was looking to. First of all I wanted to understand how far I could take it. You know, like I didn't want just to put my resume in and for it to be a translation of my resume. I wanted to have a differentiator and I was thinking a lot about again like using my background into what, what can I highlight the most. And I think one of my strengths, it's around that translation of business and that human side and technology. It became a question of how do I bring that into an AI twin. What I did is that I took a very different approach of just doing the traditional resume. I actually had Cloth interview me in voice mode to have that more uh, conversational and to take out the super polished way as we write our resume and to have more of a, a little bit of just let my thoughts go on like train of thought type of conversation and narrow that down. But I also use other sources that had um. I had done a lot of psychometric tests around personality and uh, leadership styles and I had really created a knowledge graph around my personality. I had a uh, bucket of information that was more factual in terms of my resume and things that I've done. I added the voice interview as ah, a little bit of spice you could say into how I speak, how I think. And then the last part were projects because I was already working on my website and translating like more case study like information. The last thing that I added were a lot of the things that are just deep down on LinkedIn and I don't think anybody sees anymore that are some of the reviews that other people leave from you so that you have that verbatim um, um conversational style way of people saying this person, it's like X, Y and Z. I took all of that information and that's structure in the back end for the AI with a guideline that it's not supposed to replace my thinking. It's supposed to get people interested in having the conversation but then it will sideways and say now you want to speak with Claudia. Like you're seeing that. Um, and the name, it was also intentional as a way to highlight like in Spanish, um, yeah, it's uh, intelligence artificial. So it's also a way to highlight my bilingual, bicultural um, heritage in the name itself. So it's already giving you a little bit of that personality. And it's been such an interesting experiment because I can also see what people ask. So someone for instance asked like why should I trust you? And the reply that came Back was these are factual things, like you can research for them on the Internet, like, this is just facts, but feel free to ask her and you'll see if this is true. Or, uh, I could also see some things where their response might not be 100% right. It might be factually correct, but it wouldn't fit the context, like if it was saying recently and it was two years ago. So I also created the structure behind the scenes to be able to flag those things and correct them in those nuances where it might be the context or it might be, um, more into how I wanted to reply. So, M. It's given me like a front row seat into seeing this, um, evolve. That it's no risk because it's my own information, first party data. Um, but it's been really interesting to see people interact with and also the ones that don't want to interact with it, I would say that that's also very interesting.

Speaker B: That is interesting. And, you know, I think we were talking about this sort of offline in the beginning, like the pros and cons of, you know, being in person with people. Um, you know, like, there's not a feeling that can really, like, replicate that. I think. I think we kind of all agreed on that. But, um, I'd be curious to hear your perspective too, on how you think AI and humanity can sort of coexist. Because I know there's like, all this worry about AI replacing jobs and ultimately replacing a human workforce too. And I feel like you're someone that's like, at the forefront of that. Do you think that is a legitimate worry? Um, and I'd love it if you want to offer some examples of responsible AI adoption that you see too.

Speaker A: Yes. I think that we are at a point where there are two things you have on one side, like this thirst of seeing what else the models can do, and people are starting to get their feet wet and understanding like, ooh, this is something that used to take me 10 hours that now I can solve in one. So there is this really big bucket. And then you also have the ones where, um, AI is becoming something that they have to do. Like, I've read stories, like horror stories on LinkedIn of people saying that they have AI usage measures. So they were measuring not how. Like they were not. M. The output that they were measuring was not if there was an increase or an improvement on their work. They were measuring how many hours they were spending on, like, ChatGPT or how many tokens they were spending. So you also have to see that through that lens. And one of the examples that I've seen that I was really surprised by, uh, was IKEA in terms of using AI responsible. Because what they did was that instead of taking the workforce and having it train the AI and then getting rid of them, they actually use that knowledge to one, make the tools that they were using stronger. But also that workforce was able to move into different roles. That also strengthened out the sales. They had this amazing uh, result where not only their sales improved, they also had a rise in what was their previous, um, tool response in terms of performance. So it went from like um, 60% to 89%. And you get a workforce that it's also going to be focused on making that the best because it's on the best interest of everyone. And whenever I speak to uh, especially young people in the workforce that are trying to use AI, I always tell them, like, make sure that the AI is a tool and it should be your assistant. Do not outsource your thinking to the tool. Like the moment you start to outsource your thinking to the tool, then that's where you are becoming the assistant to the AI and it should always be the other way around. So, um, I feel like IKEA is like a really specific example, but I don't think that there's that much barrier for a lot of companies to do that if they know how to.

Speaker C: I think treating AI as the assistant and you're still the person doing the decision making is the right approach. You've worked in a couple of different countries and cultures. Um, how do you think that's shaped your sort of approach to uh, your career and your worldview in a more general sense?

Speaker A: It's been really interesting because before moving to the U.S. i like, I have a very different uh, upbringing in terms that it was bicultural. So my high school was bicultural. Like I took, I read the US History by Howard Sin. In high school I was taking U.S. history lessons. Um, like half my curriculum was in English. So I was immersed in the culture, but I was still an outsider looking in. Like you're still from this point of view. And then as we started growing with the agency, we started having clients from all over Latin America and it was mostly the Hispanic speaking, um, markets. And there you also start getting all of the nuances from all of Latin America and especially with Spanish, um, and the cultural differences and you start to get a little bit of this patchwork of what it means to be Latin, for instance. But it doesn't really translate as much when you are living in a country like Mexico. And I would come to the US for conferences or I would go even to Europe for short, uh, trips, but it still wasn't as visible. And the moment that I made the full transition and moved here to the US full time, you all of a sudden get this really visible idea of, oh, I'm a Mexican, I'm, um, a Latin woman in technology in the Bay area, in the U.S. and all of a sudden it's like you kind of feel the spotlight turning to yourself. And at first it's a very weird experience, but then I've also found it to be a segue into understanding um, a little bit more of that nuance of the melting pot. Which, it's a very different time right now, but it's still something that has allowed me to connect with more people. Because you have that tapestry of experiences that I might not be for instance from um, I don't know, like Argentina or another country or. But I don't work with people from there. So I might know a little bit thing or two and I can connect. And one of the first things that I did when I moved here was that it would just be fascinating to hear all the voices around me and try to identify the nuance between the languages. So I was already learning French, um, back in, like back in Mexico. But when I move here I've actually started trying to learn Japanese, um, because the Bay Area has a very large Japanese, uh, culture and uh, community. And I also have a long time friend that speaks German. So I've also been picking up on my German. And it helps you kind of break those barriers. And you might not be able to have a full conversation or a full business conversation, but if you are in the mall and you see something, you are like, oh, this means blah, like you, you can see what's similar instead of what's different. And when you translate that into technology, it's a little bit of the same because AI, it's fed through all of these shared experiences. And if the information that you're putting out there, it's biased, you're going to get biased results. So the more you can get this point of view that it's taking all of this culture, you can also make sure that whatever is out there, it's encompassing. So I, um, think that that has been a little bit of my experience.

Speaker B: I love the way you articulated that, you know, seeing what's similar instead of what's different, like, um, you know, cross cultures and then also applying that to technology. Wisely said, um, and I find it really admirable that you jumped from learning French to Japanese, because at least French is another love language that Japanese is quite difficult to take on. So good for you. And I will look forward to hearing how that develops and what opportunities that opens up for you as well.

Speaker A: It's actually easier to pronounce Japanese than German, so closer to Spanish. So. Yeah.

Speaker B: Yeah, that's not what my brain thinks, but, no, I'm glad it makes sense to yours.

Speaker A: Yeah, all. I mean, the change, the most challenging part is actually, like, reading the characters, but pronunciation wise, it's more similar to Spanish. So my brain actually felt like a relief after trying to pronounce all of the words in Germany. Like, oh, this is easier. Yeah.

Speaker C: Ah.

Speaker A: My German friend just said to me, like, once you can pronounce squirrel in German, then you're good to go. Like, that's your. Your. Your goal.

Speaker B: That's interesting. That's a German word. I don't know. I'll have to look it up.

Speaker A: It's.

Speaker B: Oh, goodness. Okay.

Speaker A: Yeah. M. So, yeah, it's like, you have to, like the, uh. Okay, it's like, with that and then it's eich.

Speaker B: But we do have some German words built into the English language, and I think because there is so much German heritage in my family, we use them more. So I probably think that my German pronunciation is okay and it's probably terrible. But I appreciate your view.

Speaker A: I'm pretty sure mine is not great. Um, but at least, like, I can speak about the weather, and my friend always has a blast, like, whenever I try to do that. But, yeah, and it's just getting out there and trying it. Like, when last time we were in Japantown, I was like, I'm going to say water. There was a really nice lady and I wanted to get some water, and I was just like, okay, misu. And, uh, like. And it's just not being afraid of putting yourself out there. And what's the worst that can happen? You say something wrong, that's it.

Speaker B: Yes. No, you're absolutely right. And I love that you're, you know, a bridge builder in that sense. Um, so I know that you've had, you know, several different roles, um, at this point in your career. You know, how do you view your strengths? What do you think? Um, are the things that, like, really stand out that you're most good at?

Speaker A: When I started my career, I was like, this kid that was obsessed with Gardner Graph, that said social media was going to be the next big thing. So I was coming from an it background, I was doing a, uh, business intelligence specialty. And that all seemed very like just dashboards and static and business. And I kept seeing social media, um, and I was able to get my start there. So I started seeing the power of community through that. I started seeing how different the way that we were measuring things was. And then that became a commodity, and I turned into data science because I. It felt like the natural next step. It was very much aligned with business intelligence, but it was a little bit more, um, broad. When I understood that, it kind of felt like I was seeing through the Matrix for the first time. Like, oh, my God, I understand how things are happening behind the scenes. But it was really hard to translate that into marketing. So it wasn't. I don't think it was a time, uh, for a lot of the things that we were trying out back then with the agency. I do feel like we were a little bit ahead of ourselves, um, with some of the things that we were planning. We were doing these dashboards and all of these big things 10 years ago that now are what you would expect, um, AI to do. Um, and of course, back then, it took us three, four times the amount of time, money, effort, everything. And after seeing that, it gave me this point of view where I'm able to have these conversations with businesses and just take all of this messy stuff and translate that into frameworks, into a, uh, structure. And when I was given the opportunity to become CEO, it was also during the pandemic. It was also at the point where the agency was facing a little bit of a crisis due to the pandemic, as I think a lot of the businesses were. So it was like, just as a good time as any to take on the risk. And it was also at the same time that my husband got the opportunity to move here to the Bay Area for an amazing job opportunity. So I was facing a lot of life challenges as well as business, um, challenges. So I think that that made me a little bit, um, fearless in a way that it's again, like, what's the world like? What's the worst that can happen? And I went deep, and I got to have to make very hard decisions around budgets, around PNLs, around the actual business. And, you know, it's kind of like with, uh, I mean, recently with the World cup, like, everyone can see the game and be like, oh, they should have done this, but now you're in the hot seat that you're the one that has to do the decision. And it's ten times, uh, harder. But I Came out of that with such a different uh, point of view of the business. I don't want to say a colder approach, but I would say that it's more um, I can see a little bit more of the grace that you sometimes have to, and the trade offs that you sometimes have to make at that point where it's like, yeah, we, we used to love the office that we were in, but it was a pandemic and we needed to make adjustments financially. So it's hard. Like you, you feel that in your core but you know it's for the best. So you, you kind of get that thick skin, um, to, but you always remembering that you're doing it for the business, for the people or I think that if you lose that then you go to the dark side. But um, for me at least it was that. And then I changed gears 100% with a startup around food insecurity and all of a sudden I was not measuring um, just clicks and likes. It was how do you measure food insecurity when there's not even a, ah, uh, really specific idea of what insecure food insecurity means? Like a lot of organizations have different definitions. They change from place to place. If the organization measuring it has uh, hasn't put out data since 2023 and you're in 2025. And again the base of the work was a little bit same. It's like taking messy data, creating the frameworks to make it make sense and approach it like an experiment and just start testing and seeing what works. And, and being a startup also meant that I was wearing many hats. So I was also getting my hands dirty with a lot of things that had to do with the tech, with the AI and yeah, just, just having that understanding. And now in the stage that I'm in where I, I felt like this few past months I've been going so deep into all of the technology AI world, the Bay Area, that uh, I have enough baggage to be able to translate like this big marketing, especially in marketing, um, and business, to be able to converge that keeping always that human point of view.

Speaker C: Thank you so much. It's fascinating. Just like you going into the CEO role right in the Black Swan event where everyone was having trouble and like having to navigate there. How do you think that experience and other experiences before and since have shifted how you view leadership, um, and how you personally approach it. Are there any things that you went into that role being like I'm going to do this or have this philosophy and after a bit of experience being like actually uh, that, that doesn't make sense in this context because of this experience. Experience?

Speaker A: Yeah, I mean like I said, like the, like the couch coaches where you're seeing the game and you're like, should be a no brainer. Um, yeah. I have been in the company for many years, so I knew it from that point of view. But once you're on the seat and you have access to all of the information, that's where things shift because you start to see where the trade offs are. You start to see where a, um, lot of the decisions, like you get a better understanding of why some decisions have been slower or they haven't been made. That being said, it also, I also went in with a framework because that's kind of the way that I translate life. So I, um, gave myself this very clear pathway of understanding what were the things that I was able to do so that I uh, could be very, very direct with the team and not have false expectations of just because I'm a new person here in the role. Like everything will change. That's not reality. Um, I read a really good book, the first 90 days as well, where they explain how change management works and how like true change from within won't be visible in the company until a couple of months afterwards because you cannot expect a shift like that to happen even in three months. So it gives you that uh, point of view. So it allowed me to have that again, like mental framework as well as an actual framework that I presented with slides, um, into the understanding of what leadership looks like. And now here in the Bay Area, one of the things that I keep seeing is that AI, and again, AI shouldn't take on the thinking. And I feel like there's this idea sometimes that you can get something out really quickly, but if you are not having the background into the leadership of what does that mean for the product, the company, like all of that business baggage, it might not make sense. So you need to keep that in mind. And I think that a lot of companies might have that gap where they have the technology, they are moving faster in some areas, but they still need someone to bridge the two worlds, the technology and the human side. And that's something where I would love to just get my hands dirty across different verticals and not only marketing.

Speaker B: Yeah, thank you so much for um, being so honest about your experience. I think, um, leadership is just one of those things that takes many forms too. And even what you were sharing right now about connecting with partners, parts of your community too, like, I mean that's not a form of leadership that we necessarily get credit for, you know, on a resume or in a job interview. But I think that that's the kind of powerful leadership that, like, shapes our world. Um, and I. I really respect that about you. Um, so we like to ask some introspective questions kind of towards the end, too. So if you could go back and give yourself, um, at any point in your journey, some life advice, what age do you think you needed advice at? And what would you say?

Speaker A: Oh, I would probably go back into. I mean, I would love my future self to just cheer me up right now, but.

Speaker B: Oh, yes, yes.

Speaker A: Yeah. But I would say that looking back, um, especially when I was, like, so hungry for making it, you know, when. Right when I was starting in the agency world, I was just working super long hours, I was kind of not, um, I would say not taking such a good care of my health because I was so focused on working and not sleeping. And I mean, you are in your early 20s. You feel like you can do anything. Um, I would go back to that part and be like, slow down. Like, you're still gonna make it, so you don't need to rush it. Just enjoy the ride. Um, yeah, I would probably be like that and myself from that age. I would think that if she could look at where I am right now, if, even while I might not be feeling, um, at my top, like my old self from back then would look at my current self and be like, you've made it. So I kind of have to keep reminding myself that

Speaker C: I think that's a good thing to remind yourself of. I do also think the me of, like, you know, 10 years ago or something probably would be too stubborn to listen to advice from me now. So I don't know if I'd be able to do much, uh, for that. But now, unfortunately for us, we've got about five more minutes within the hour. Um, and we do have a particular question that we like to close out on. Um, which is, what do you think has been the best lesson or takeaway from your journey that you'd like to share with us today?

Speaker A: I would go back into the community part. Like, just remember that you're not alone. You can ask for help and. Yeah, ask for help. You're not alone. There's always going to be someone out there willing to help and, uh, willing to lend a hand, even when you might feel like there's none.

Speaker B: That's an excellent sentiment, and I really appreciate that. Thank you so much, Claudia, for spending, um, so much time with us and sharing your insights and wisdom. Um, we feel really grateful to be part of this community with you, um, and we appreciate your time and energy and thoughtfulness. If people want to connect with you further, um, to get to know you, um, if they have questions about your journey, your projects, how would you like them to get hold of you?

Speaker A: I think that the easiest one is my website, so vcloud.com if they want to chat with my twin, AI.vcloud.com uh, and they can always find me on LinkedIn as well.

Speaker B: Excellent. Well, thank you so much again for, um, taking this time with us, and thank you to our community. Spencer and I feel really fortunate to be part of this group with you and for the opportunity to bring you cooperative learning experiences like this one each week. Um, please check out Claudia's, uh, first interview, which will be out later this week. I mean, when you're listening to this one, it will have been out for a while, but, but please check that out. Um, either by going to founders voyage.org or searching for Founders Voyage on your favorite podcast platform. Um, and then you can also check us out and support our editing on Patreon. And in the meantime, we wish you all a great rest of your Saturday and weekend ahead.

Speaker A: Thank you so much for having me, guys.

Speaker C: Thank you so much, Claudia.

Speaker B: The pleasure is ours. Have a great rest of your day.

Speaker C: Have a great day. Bye, guys.

Speaker B: You've just finished another episode of Founders

Speaker A: Voyage, the podcast for entrepreneurs by entrepreneurs.

Speaker B: The team at Founders Voyage wants to thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We hope you enjoyed your time with us, and if so, please share this with someone else who might enjoy this podcast. You can also support us by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and by donating to our Patreon outro. Music Today is Something for Nothing by Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band.