Seema Alexander: This is the best time to build. It's like there's so many problems. Solve one of them and help people because, I can't tell you where it's all going, but I can tell you this is something that you have to monitor for or else you're gonna perpetuate the problem.

Erica Rooney: Welcome to Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floors, the podcast where we stop playing small, start calling things out, and actually do something about it. I'm your host, Erica Rooney, executive coach, speaker, and a little bit of a movement maker, and I'm on a mission to get more women into positions of power and keep them there.

Erica Rooney: All right, y'all know that I'm obsessed with AI. I talk about it all the time. I have written an entire book about it, and I honestly believe that it is the most important thing that women anywhere, corporate America, whether they're an entrepreneur, but it is the most important thing that they need to focus on right now.

And so when I get to sit down with somebody who has been living and breathing in this space from the business side, not the tech side, not the theory side, but the actual how do you rewire a real company side, I tend to nerd out a little bit. But today's guest has spent over two decades helping CEOs and founders grow at the intersection of brand, innovation, and community, and she saw AI coming before most people were even paying attention.

She went all in and she built Disruptive AI, a strategy and development studio which really helps companies rethink, reimagine, and rewire for the era that, y'all, we are sitting in today. She hosts The AI CEO Podcast. And her keynote, Why AI Is Bigger Than the Internet, has been delivered on stages across the country and internationally.

Now, her mission is to equip one million CEOs with the fluency, the strategy, and the confidence to lead boldly into this AI era, and y'all, she's already well on her way. So Seema Alexander, welcome to the Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floors podcast. How are we doing today?

Seema Alexander: We are doing great. Erica, I love your energy.

Erica Rooney: That is awesome. And I want to ask and just kick it off with this question because, number one, you are so deep into AI. I want to know when did that click for you? Was there a specific moment when you were like, “Okay, this is really interesting. I think it's gonna change the way we do things,” to, “I gotta go all in”?

Seema Alexander: Yeah, I call it my “Aha, oh sh*t” moment, right? And I think everybody, if you haven't played and done the things with AI, you need multiple “Aha, oh sh*t” moments to really understand, aha, oh my God, this actually happened. Or, oh sh*t, what's even possible, the fact that just happened, right?

And so the first time, I would tell you, almost four years ago, I was asked to advise a company called MagicML. And Magic was an agentic development environment. Ooh, that sounds so fancy, right? But it is fancy because at this point, I think not everybody, but a lot of people understand what an AI agent is, right?

And this concept, it was all theory back then. And so this company was focused on taking this theory and actually on the back end saying, “We're gonna develop these agents,” right? And they were so early that they were consulting Google's agentic group. They were so early where our product was highlighted at Google I/O.

And what happened in the back end, I remember this very particular story. There was this high-end cinematographer in our beta, and I did a lot of customer discovery interviews because I was very curious of why people are using it, what they're using it for, what they hope the product will become.

And he was like, “Look, Seema, it takes me six months to take my storyboards and bring them to life, and that's what it takes for funding and everything else.” And at that point, it's early stage ChatGPT. He's like, “I want to take segments of my movie, my film, put it in ChatGPT, get it clearly outlined, put it in something called Midjourney.” At that time, it was the earliest generative AI image generator. “And then take that and put it into RunwayML,” which was the earliest sort of video AI generation. And he's like, “I want to do it with a click of a button.” And as we were talking it through, I was like, “Holy sh*t, this is literally rewiring the way business is going to be done.”

And it wasn't just about automation, right? As I got deeper with this group, they were what I consider AI accelerationists. So they were like the people who would tell me, “Hey, humans and robots are supposed to live together, Seema.” Or they were big Westworld people, and they're like, “This stuff is coming true.” And I'm like, “What do you mean?”

I can keep going, but the point of it was sci-fi was becoming real. The other side of it is, wow, the way we operate business is completely changing, and this is the weakest the technology will ever be. So I had to go down the rabbit hole of business model, and man, the responsibility I got from that day on of, I have to inform the business community this is happening. This is bigger than the advent of the internet, right? And that's, Erica, where it started, and it's just taken off from there.

Erica Rooney: Oh my gosh. Okay, so we've talked a little bit about you and your bio, but you've got this conference coming up. It's gonna be amazing. It's in DC. It's in March of next year, I think, March

Seema Alexander: March

Erica Rooney: 2027?

Seema Alexander: That's right.

Erica Rooney: Yes. Tell me all about it. What are we learning there? Who needs to be there? What's going on?

Seema Alexander: Yeah. So the theory goes, and this is validated. Look, I think people like you and me live in an AI bubble. Let's just be honest. We know too much, right? But when you're talking to the layman... Now, at this point, what's interesting, I think CEOs are really understanding, okay, AI is a thing. We get it, right? We're testing, we're doing certain things.

But what I have validated is they're thinking about this very incrementally, right? They're thinking about it as productivity, which they should, right? Efficiency, which they should, right? Intelligence and automation, which they should, but they're not seeing the bigger picture of, as this technology gets stronger and stronger, what does it look like for their business when intelligence becomes embedded in everything in companies, right? Or these frontier labs like the OpenAIs and the Metas and the Googles, they're building products every day that are taking out businesses and startups.

And so my premise is five percent of business leaders and operators who truly understand what's happening should be the speakers at this conference, right? And it's not this futuristic thing. It's, here's the reality. Here's what's happening. Here's where we're headed, right?

So the people in the room should be non-technical, what I call CEOs, business, the C-suite, to founders who want to become AI native, and we can talk about AI native principles in a few. Investors, right? It's the business community, not just the CTOs or the CIOs, right? The majority of AI conferences are built for builders, right? But in my opinion, if the business leader doesn't understand the technology, and AI is a big word, right? How do you influence strategy? How do you influence innovation? How do you influence even redesigning your workflows? Because you shouldn't be AI-enabling broken workflows, and that's what a lot of people are doing, right?

And so day one is like, we're trying to get some big names. It's our first year. I have a little track record of throwing big things, but budgets are budgets, right? But we're trying to get the Garys and the Mark Cubans, and we're working hard. And if there's anybody listening who has connections, please let us know.

But day two is practical and tactical. So we're going to have solutionists. You're going to be able to touch and feel product that actually could solve your problems. You'll be able to get people's brains on your business. And that's what I think, when you walk out, is going to be much more actionable than a lot of these conferences that we go to today.

And you and I know, every year in AI is like a dog year. Everything's moving so fast that if you want to be on the cutting edge... it's not even the cutting edge. You just should know as a business leader what's happening, right? The next three years are going to be massive in terms of disruption. You don't want to be on that end. You want to be on the, “Hey, we saw it, we got it. Now we're innovating. The outcomes we're providing our customers are different. We're making more money than we've ever had. We're making more impact than we ever have.” That's what I want for the people walking in that room.

Erica Rooney: Okay. I love that you have this aha, oh sh*t, but one thing I want to dial in on, because this is a podcast for women, and I talk to them all of the time about the skills and understanding AI. What are you seeing, if anything, as it relates, because again, we live in a bubble, for women and this AI gap? Do you think it exists? What are you noticing with women just in general, and what are your thoughts on that?

Seema Alexander: So it's interesting. Look, I'm a big believer, and I'm an ecosystem person. I have two girls, right? I have a sixteen-year-old, and I have a thirteen-year-old. And it's really interesting for me because part of this is, Elon will be like, “We're gonna have more humanoids than people by 2040.” And I'm like, “Man, that could be 2050,” but the world is changing, right?

And as a woman, I think we see things differently than men. Just a clear point, right? I think everybody understands that, and I think we've learned a lot of lessons through the digital age of social media and what has occurred longer term, the whole tech bro thing with all the dopamine hits and all the stuff.

And now we're at a place that, you know, if you are intrigued, and everyone should understand it because this is not just a professional thing, this is our personal lives. Humanity is changing, right? And so as a woman, if you have any conviction and you're like, “Oh, we shouldn't be using that,” or, “Our kids shouldn't be doing that,” whatever, own it, right? Right now, own your voice, right? Learn, first of all. Go play.

I think in a lot of organizations, just like any tech, anything, and when I'm in conferences and stuff, there is a gender divide, right? But I've always been taught by a mentor at a very young age, just be in a room where you're adding value. It doesn't matter, right? And for me, it's conviction, passion, adding value, outcome, offer. You have to figure out where you fit into all of that.

But I just think women have a massive play here because we just think about this stuff and connect dots differently. And I think especially because, to your point, six months from now, we don't even know where we're gonna be. We need that type of diverse thought in the mix to support all the things that are gonna transpire over the next several years and next generations.

Erica Rooney: I was with a speaker earlier this week who focuses on humanity, and she kept referring to AI being shoved down our throats. And I was just like, “Okay, we have to remember not everybody's where you are, Erica.” And I think a lot of people, especially women, because we are known to focus on the risk more and be a bit more intentional and slow it down, but that is not the pace at which this is happening. And so from your perspective, how do women continue to show up and bring the humanity and bring our different ways of thinking while keeping up with this pace?

Seema Alexander: Look, I go back to conviction, right? Because I know a lot of women in the space, and they've selected a topic. I don't know if you know Allison Shapira. She actually just won the National Speakers Association Award. I'm very proud of this woman, but she's going deep into AI and believability, right? That's her track, and it doesn't matter where things are headed. That will be the way that she sees the world and her lens and what she's gonna provide in the space.

I know people who are big in responsible AI. Whatever you decide is your thing, you gotta stay on top of that thing, right? It's just like anything else. It'll become part of your industry, your vernacular. And part of Disruptive AI, we have a venture side, right? I love innovation, but I'm not gonna take on a portfolio company that's only solving a problem with AI today, for today, right? Part of the strategy for me is, all right, let's solve for the wedge of today, but knowing where things are going with intelligence, how is our product roadmap looking three years from now, five years from now? Even though we don't know, we do know some things, Erica, a lot more than most, right?

So you have to just go deep in the area that you are most passionate about and have the most conviction around, and stay on top of your game. It's like anything else. If you wanna be a good lawyer, keep going. You need to learn. So I don't think it's any different. You just have to have the conviction to do it.

Erica Rooney: Yeah. I think a conviction to do it, but also the true understanding that this is going to be a general purpose technology that is infused in every aspect of our lives going forward, right? Nobody walks in and exclaims, “Look at how I'm using electricity today.” We all just use it. We're not lighting our kerosene lamps, right? We are all driving cars or taking motorized vehicles. We are not jumping on our horse and buggy. So we have to just kinda get with the times as well.

Seema Alexander: You do. And it's really interesting because I've been preaching about this stuff for four years, right? And as I got exposed, everybody got exposed, and people looked at me like I was crazy, all the things. But recently I've just seen some massive breakthroughs in people. And this is just two little anecdotes, because you gotta plant the seeds.

I have a great friend of mine named JR. He runs a community called Business Leaders Network, and we're gonna be working on a project called AI CEO School together. Yesterday he was showing me. He goes, “Look, Seema, I created this platform using AI to help connect the right networks, the right people.” But the level of depth, he was able to show me the product that he created, Erica, and he's vibe coding it in the beginning, but it works, and it works really well. But less than six months ago, he's like, “Seema, I don't even know ChatGPT.” And it was me coaxing, like, “Get your butt into this stuff.” And he was part of a couple masterminds, right? That added more technical capability to him, right?

And my cousin, who's a massive international development person, now she's in Jordan working in hospitality because that whole sector got diminished. It is what it is. But everything about AI she hated, because she hated social media. Her kids are not on social media. She tried to prolong it all because she saw the implications, which I can appreciate, right? But now she's like, “Seema, you're right. Look what's happening.” This is the great business rewiring. I was like, it just takes people some moments and time, and then they start to get it. And then you can't stop, almost.

Erica Rooney: That's that aha. That's that phew. Okay, you teased my next question perfectly, but your framework is called the Business Rewiring Model, and that's where you diagnose, rewire, and scale. So walk me through what that looks like, because I think a lot of people hear AI strategy and they're thinking PowerPoint, but what is the real work?

Seema Alexander: Yeah, look, I call it the great business rewiring because we were part of the Industrial Revolution. We understand that, right? The digital revolution, I think we're still part of in a lot of legacy systems and things, right? But that took tens of years. Now we're in a world where everything's happening every minute, every moment.

And so I go back to one: rethink, reimagine, rewire is the framework. Rethink is building real fluency, right? I like to make it into more layman terms, but it's like Lego pieces, right? What is machine learning? What is... you have to learn the vernacular in a business way, just so it starts to gel a little bit. Why is data so important?

And the reimagine in this is, you have to understand what the future of business could look like. And I have a framework that I talk about, which is every business is gonna have a layer of intelligence, like every business. And we go deep in what that means, but some of that's coming from third-party vendors that are like, “Hey, we built this.” But proprietary intelligence will... AI will not be a word. You don't say, “Hey, you're an internet-based company” anymore. That's the way you distribute, right? Layer of intelligence is gonna be part of it.

Second, your proprietary unique data is gonna become the new moat, meaning it's gonna be the most valuable thing, because AI takes in a lot of data and inferences. And if you think about ChatGPT and all these models, they've taken billions of references from everything. Now, all these small language models, which businesses can actually create, or they already have data, can create personalization and precision within your own company first. Now you have the data, you know your customer. How do we get much more precise with Erica if she's buying a black T-shirt versus Charlie who's buying our blue T-shirt, because we know more about him? That's how deep and personal everything is gonna get. But at the end of the day, data's also gonna be a big revenue stream, and it's a really interesting moment.

And then humans are gonna be in the loop until they're not. I think humans are gonna be in the loop for a while, but there's a lot of change management effort, and this is a change of what those roles are going to look like. And I know you and I can go super deep in that.

And then the last part of this is, brand is gonna matter more than anything, because the world of SEO today, how you search companies and things online, is going to this generative engine optimization, right? This GEO world. But at the end of the day, agents are gonna market to agents. So the more social proof you have online, the better it's gonna be for them to find you.

So there's the rethink, there's the reimagine, which then all of a sudden they start to go, “Wait, we have a layer of data. How do we start speaking to our data? What would that do if we could actually be predictive on this stuff? What would that do if, instead of it just being dashboards, it's real time?” How do you actually get there is also part of the question, because everybody has unstructured and structured data that can be a mess, right? But there are tools that are coming out. There's ways of building for that, right? Obviously, for now.

And then rewire is actually doing the work, right? So the first two sections are so important because you need the fluency, then you can design what the future state looks like. And what I always say in the second part is, it's a yes-and moment. So you've gotta think about your productivity and efficiency. Let's enable this and do this and get the co-work and get everybody on the same page. But we also need to look at what the future of this company or this industry is looking like.

We have massive talks with global architecture firms that are like, “Okay, now we know we can do a lot of this stuff online. What does that look like? What does that mean for us who've been in business forty, fifty, sixty years, and we actually have all this data? How can we make the outcomes to our customers better?” Decisions on, now customers know you're using AI. Okay, so does that mean it's cheaper for me? If you're using AI, shouldn't it be cheaper for me? And then it's interesting because there's also costs associated with scaling these products and solutions that may be custom. So all of these questions are coming at once.

The other part that we talk a lot about is workforce, right? The way that new people are coming in, using tools that are compressing ten to fifteen years of experience, right? What does that next model look like where that critical thinking and understanding of that industry is still there? And I actually think this is an interesting moment in time.

I'll just share this one quick story. We had an intern from the University of Rome for just two weeks. It was a two-week stint, right? And I was like, “Okay, what are we gonna give him that's gonna be worth his time and worth ours?” We're working on this product for the conference, actually. And I was like, “Let's teach him vibe coding. Let's show him what we're doing,” and that's basically, you can build products with natural language. But we showed him that, and we asked him to write a white paper on tokenomics and independent private schools.

These are two really big things that would take somebody a lot of time and a lot of expertise. We were able to train him, give him context, give him transcripts, give him tools that are AI tools. He had 70% of it done, and done well, by the time he was done in two weeks. And it was just mind-blowing to me. When you have the right training, the right context, the right coaching, obviously, and understanding that these tools can hallucinate. This can happen, right? We were all very savvy, obviously, knowing that. But the output was insane in two weeks.

And I think the world needs to understand we're in the messy middle, but now things are starting to happen. We have to own it and then be able to scale from it.

Erica Rooney: I tell people all the time, what a time to be alive, what a time to start a business, what a time to grow a business. The opportunity is just insane. And when I think about all of the people that are not necessarily in our bubble and interacting with it, I do see a lot of that fear still, just of the unknown. And I think if they just jump through that educational piece first, they'll start to understand it and not be quite as fearful.

But one of the questions that I had for you, and I've been tracking this and watching the changes, is obviously the bias that exists inside of AI, because it's been trained on decades of historical data, and we know that power has always been concentrated. But when I look at it this way, I see it as it could go two ways, right? It could either level the playing field for women and other minorities, because it could help remove the bias, create new entry points, and reward output versus internal politics and things like that. But I also see that it could set a lot of people back. What is your perspective?

Seema Alexander: Look, every model, to your point... There was an exercise. I had a futurist, Peter Swain, on my podcast, The AI CEO Podcast. And it was interesting because he's like, “Seema, I put in something ridiculous in ChatGPT.” He was like, “I'm holding five live chickens on my back, and I'm gonna go to Times Square, and I'm going to do something...” He said something silly and crazy. And ChatGPT was like, “Oh, great idea. Here's your five strategies to do this crazy thing with live chickens in Times Square,” and blah, blah, blah. But Claude, which is a French-based large language model, as we know, was like, “That is a stupid idea.”

And it was funny because he's like, “I test the models all the time on crazy stuff because they're already inherently biased, and you have to understand that.” And that was literally a year ago he was on my podcast. But the point is, from the start, right? These models are not only trained on data that is already potentially biased because of where they're getting it and how it's framed, but the human beings are biased.

So I think this is where responsible AI plays a massive role, right? I think if you're building any solutions or any products or anything in this space or advocating for it, you have to have that layer in it. And that means you're testing the models for bias. You're looking at traceability of where this information is coming from.

Going back to your point, Erica, this is the best time to build. It's like there's so many problems. Solve one of them and help people because, I can't tell you where it's all going, but I can tell you this is something that you have to monitor for or else you're gonna perpetuate the problem.

And I think it goes back to, call it women, right? We see things differently. We've learned a lot of lessons. I know a lot of women actually who are on this responsible AI side of things, and this is one of their number one priorities, and they help get companies to understand: how do we prevent some of this? How do we mitigate some of it, right? I think some of it will eventually be automated, but humans have to be in the loop right here, in my opinion.

Erica Rooney: Absolutely. All right, Seema, you have over two decades of experience in this business area, and then you took a hard left turn into AI, as we all know. What did your network say about it? Were people super supportive? Were they skeptical? What did they think? Did they see it as a risky move?

Seema Alexander: No, because I was one of the first ones talking about it, right? And it was really interesting because I also had a massive platform, DC Startup and Tech Week, so I brought all the AI content. I call it collecting Lego people and Lego pieces. So top experts that I knew, to start to have this conversation in a much deeper way. And that's where AI BusinessCon is gonna be born from, right? I don't have all the answers, but I'm a very good dot connector, and I have this insight.

And again, I go back to the sense of responsibility. So anything I put out has context and value. I'm trying not to put out fluff, right? So some people are like, “Man, your posts are so long.” I'm like, “Okay. The people who need to read it are reading it.” In any personal brand thing, it doesn't matter who you are or where you are, if you have conviction and you continue and consistently do something for one year, you will be known for it.

And I remember when I first walked into certain things at DC Startup and Tech Week, they were like, “See, this AI agents woman. She's talking about agents before anybody's talking about agents.” And now, the people who know me, they're like, “Man, you've been talking about this for years.” And that was the point. And part of that goes back to conviction, passion. I'm not doing it just to do it. I was doing it intentionally, right?

But also, the twist here is I'm talking about it as a business-first executive, a business-first leader. And that's what I was saying about Allison. She's AI and believability. I'm AI and business, or actually I'm business and AI, right? Because that's what I know best. I know operating models, I know people, I know resources. I know growth, I know marketing. And I've worked in multiple industries in the space, so I'm actually uniquely positioned, right?

The other thing I would say, Erica, that helped shift it for me was, because I was part of the emerging tech community, I also got asked to screen for Techstars accelerators and the different sort of accelerators that we have here. So I was getting exposed to AI native companies way before most people even knew what that means, right?

The first principles of business that everybody talks about, yes, it has to be outcome focused, you have to solve problems. There are some key things that will always be tried and true. But the way business is running now, the autonomous nature of operational workflows, the way things are going to continue to just be leaner and meaner, that's real.

And so me tracking companies like Cursor that just got sold to Elon for 60 billion after three or four years of, what, 150 people? That's insane, right? Through Harvey AI, who took over the paralegal space for lawyers, and it's at a $6 billion valuation, to EliseAI that's taken over the property management operations space. They're at a $2 billion valuation too. I can keep going, because these guys understood it, right? Scribe, right? For medical, just the note-taking. And it's almost sometimes crazy. You're like, “That's duh.” This stuff can be fixed, but you have to go in, you have to go deep. You need that SME type stuff.

So I hear your question, that I made a pivot. I did. But it's almost bringing all of me together right now. And the last thing I will tell you is, I have the personal part of this, right? Because my parents used to run the first Indian vegetarian restaurant in DC. It grew to multiple locations. My dad had a travel agency. Mid-'90s, everything went close to bankruptcy and closed, right?

And I only started to connect the dots a few years ago. I was like, “Holy sh*t, that was the rise of the internet.” They were operators. They were so myopically focused. My mom was one of the hardest working people I've ever met in my life, and we were known. Muhammad Ali came to our restaurant. It was just a known thing. But if you weren't paying attention to when technology crosses the chasm, and you weren't getting into Google or websites or social eventually, and your competitors were, guess what?

Or travel. Think about it. Kayak, Expedia. Look, you could be in a 25-year analog business, and then something makes somebody's life easier, cheaper, faster. Guess what happens? That's called consumer behavior. That's called consumer behavior.

So my point is, all of my stories started to come together, and I'm like, “I can speak to this like nobody else can,” because it's uniquely me. It's uniquely about the experiences and the conviction, the storytelling I can do that no one else can do. And once you start owning that, I don't care what anybody says. I know I can add value and offer a lot of things in this space, and I will, and I'll continue to do so.

Erica Rooney: I love that, and it makes me think of this whole concept, a story my speaker friend Ryan Leake described once, and it's just about the breadcrumbs, right? From the outside, it might look like this big massive pivot, like you went from business to AI. And I think a lot of people look at me that way, that I went from women to AI, and I'm like, “No, girl. I am at the intersection of women, leadership, and AI,” and that's what uniquely positions me, and you're doing that with business.

And I just think it's so fascinating for other people to hear those stories too, because it's like, hey, take a moment wherever you are in your journey and look back at your breadcrumbs. And now, after hearing this whole conversation about what AI is, the importance of how it's changing business, how it's gonna rock your world whether you're ready for it or not, start to think about where you might want to place those breadcrumbs.

But I'm gonna do last question, best question, and that is: if you could go back to the pre-AI Seema, right? It's not even in her world yet. What piece of advice would you give her today, knowing about all the breadcrumbs?

Seema Alexander: Oh my God. Go deep, go fast, go quick. Go deep, go fast, go quick, right? Go get all the certifications. Just do it, because the more you know, the more impact, the more profit, the more community, all of it, right? Don't be afraid to talk. This stuff is moving so fast. It really is. And I think in an organic way, that happened anyway. But now that I know, go deep, go fast, go quick. That's the advice I think I would give myself.

Erica Rooney: Yes, I think that's great. That's perfect. And then of course, if people want to attend the conference, they're gonna hit that website, so I'm gonna have you drop that. But also, go check out her podcast, The AI CEO Podcast. You're gonna hear so many gems and tidbits that are gonna get your brain thinking. And Seema, tell me more about where they can find out about the conference, and where else can they find you?

Seema Alexander: Yeah. So the conference is AI BusinessCon, March 2nd and 3rd, in the DC metro area. They can go to businesscon.ai, businesscon.ai. My company is Disruptive AI. You can go to getdisruptive.ai. That's our website. And if you're really looking to go deep and build and gain fluency, or Venture, right? So that's ours.

And then, seemaalexander.com. That's my speaking, all of it, right? Because I'm massively trying to get the word out. So I do a lot of keynotes with industry. You won't see me at CES, you won't see me at South By. You're gonna see me with business people. And I think that is the most important differentiator for what we're trying to build: we wanna be with industry, right? Because so much is changing, so much is disrupting. This is one of the most massive opportunities of your lifetime. If any of that is interesting to you, please do follow me, especially on LinkedIn, because that's really where I put a lot of...

Erica Rooney: Yes, she's got great content on there. All right, girl, thank you so much for joining us on the Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floors podcast. And y'all, get curious about this stuff. Get your hands dirty. I'm not talking about just go play with it and mess around with a free version. Get yourself educated, because Seema said it earlier, that baseline, that AI fluency. Just like CEOs can speak to P&L and EBITDA and all of that, you've got to be able to speak to prompt engineering and AI fluency. So get out there and do the dang thing. Thank you, Seema.

Seema Alexander: Thank you, Erica. Such a pleasure to be on your podcast.

Erica Rooney: If this episode resonated with you, don't let it stop here. Send it to a woman you care about, a colleague, a friend, someone who's been on your mind while you were listening. These conversations are meant to be shared, and you never know what one small shift can unlock for someone else. And if you haven't already, make sure that you're following the podcast. Leave a rating and write a quick review. It helps more women find this space, and it keeps these conversations going.

If you're ready to go deeper, come a little closer. Send me a DM. I'll invite you to sit in on a live HER Collective session as my personal guest. No pressure, no strings attached, but you get to experience it, feel the room, and see what happens when women start moving together. Until next time, y'all, keep going. Keep choosing differently, and let's smash the ceilings and close the gaps.