Embracing AI as Your Creative Partner with T. Renee Smith

The fear of AI taking over jobs has dominated headlines, but what if we're missing the opportunity to harness this technology as a powerful ally? In this enlightening conversation, T. Renee Smith reveals how artificial intelligence became her unexpected partner in navigating the challenges of raising a neurodiverse child and eventually led to her book, "She Leads with AI."

Whether you're an instructional designer, educator, entrepreneur, or simply curious about integrating AI into your life with confidence and purpose, this episode delivers practical strategies wrapped in genuine warmth and wisdom. Press play to discover how to make technology work for you while staying true to your values, passion, and purpose.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Meet T Renee Smith
• 9:41 From Fear to Embracing AI
• 18:56 AI for Inclusive Learning Design
• 25:34 Work-Life Harmony, Not Balance
• 38:49 Passion in Instructional Design
• 45:03 Following Your Path with Purpose

Transcript

Jackie Pelegrin: 0:01

Hello and welcome to the Designing with Love podcast. I am your host, Jackie Pelegrin, where my goal is to bring you information, tips, and tricks as an instructional designer. Hello instructional designers and educators, welcome to episode 76 of the Designing with Love podcast. I'm thrilled to have T Renee Smith, an author, instructional designer, and the founder and CEO of iSuccess Consulting, with me today. Welcome, T. Renee.

T. Renee Smith: 0:31

Hello Jackie. Thank you for having me. I'm excited.

Jackie Pelegrin: 0:40

Yes, me too. I'm so glad we got connected. It's an honor to have you on the podcast because you've done so many wonderful things, so I'm excited to dig in and get to know you a little bit more and have my audience get to know you as well.

T. Renee Smith: 0:46

So it's great, yes, well, let's do it?

Jackie Pelegrin: 0:48

Yes. So to start, can you share a little bit about your journey and what inspired you to launch your consulting firm and write your book? She Leads With AI.

T. Renee Smith: 0:57

So actually I say that I came out the womb being an entrepreneur because my parents tell me that I always like to tell everybody what to do, and so my journey started off when I was interning, when I was in college, and I realized that I was walking in AT&T and Coca-Cola at the time and trying to tell them what they wanted to do, what I wanted them to do, and so I knew at that time that I really was not a good employee, and so that started my journey, and so I started my first time that I really was not a good employee, and so that started my journey, and so I started my first company when I was 19.

T. Renee Smith: 1:28

And I really just love problem solving and love figuring out how things work, and so that was really the start of the consulting business. And then, as far as the book, jackie and I know that we're going to get into it it's called she Leads with AI, and you know how most of the time you don't even start to write a book. You really just start researching and deep diving for yourself, and then a book comes out, and so for with me, my son is neurodiverse and so I was sitting in an IEP meeting one time and I was frustrated, I was confused, I didn't know what they were talking about and I said I need to go and get help. And so my help came in the form of AI, and I started actually just inputting information, and that is where my love for AI began, and then that's really where the book came from and as your need for what you were looking for for your son, that evolved into what became the book.

Jackie Pelegrin: 2:26

I love that, and so you're able to help other women through this project that you started, and it's become a journey for you. I love that.

T. Renee Smith: 2:34

It is. And what's so funny is, when I first started hearing about AI, I think I had a little fear, like everybody else did. They're like AI is going to take your jobs and people are going to be married to robots, that you know just all of these crazy headlines and so I said, well, let me just pull back the layers a little bit, because I'm a the glass is half full kind of person. So I'm like, well, let me find the positive in it. And so when I started deep diving, I realized like you could use AI in every area of your life as a wife, as a mom, in your marriage and so I said I have to share this with other women.

Jackie Pelegrin: 3:10

Wow I love that that's great. I've been able to utilize AI myself. That makes me think of this podcast. It started as me doing all the heavy lifting, all the work and all the research and I'm like, oh, I'm spending a lot of time. I don't think I can do this podcast anymore, with working full time and teaching on top of it. So I was actually thinking of giving it up and just abandoning the podcast. And then, when AI started.

T. Renee Smith: 3:36

No, jackie, not abandoning the podcast.

Jackie Pelegrin: 3:38

I know, don't abandon it Right, especially when it has such a unique name. Someone said yesterday to me where did the name come from? So I was like but there was this fire that was lit inside me, kind of like with you where you're like let's see what I can do with this technology and see how I can utilize it. And I kept working with it and seeing how can I integrate it into what I'm doing, to my teaching and to my daily work, and we use it at work every day. And then all of a sudden, I thought, wow, I have all this great content.

Jackie Pelegrin: 4:05

And then an idea popped up from the Buzzsprout who's the provider of my podcast? They host my podcast and they had ways to monetize your podcast and one of it was to write a book. And I thought, wow, this is great. I already have most of the content, it's just I just need to put it in book form, right. So now two you know, two weeks later I have. Well, it happened over the course. It started in August, but I've just kind of refined it and worked with AI, but in no time I have 20 chapters of a book ready to go, pretty much you know. So I love it.

T. Renee Smith: 4:39

And so let me ask you this question, because a lot of people this is what I get they're like well, I don't want to use AI because I feel like I'm cheating, and I have my answer for that. But, jackie, what is your answer? Did you feel like you were using AI, that you were cheating and writing the book, or did you feel like it was like your assistant, your writing assistant or your editor? How'd you feel?

Jackie Pelegrin: 4:58

Yes, I did. I felt like it was the latter. It was my writing assistant, something that could come alongside me, kind of like my digital yeah, my editor too. Because what I did was the other day I was looking at the chapters and how I had them segmented out. Because what it is is it's based on one of my most popular podcast episodes, which is the top 10 ID models and theories, and, as you know, the models are only as great as if you can use them. Learning them is wonderful, but putting them into practice is another thing altogether. So that's where the idea for the book came from. But then it expanded and I was like, oh, you know what I need to include this model or this theory, and so it just expanded.

Jackie Pelegrin: 5:39

But then I, as I was looking at my chapters again, I was like, you know, I wonder if I could rearrange them, because I wanted to go from simple to complex and make it to be in order and make sense, and so I took all my chapters from my proposal, stuck it into AI and I said, hey, can you give me some suggestions on if these chapters are in a good order? If there's anything I should switch around, and any way I can make improvements to make it more digestible for my readers. And so it said, yeah, why don't you chunk it and put it into parts? And so he goes 20 chapters is a lot. I'm like, yeah, that's, that's true, it is a lot.

Jackie Pelegrin: 6:17

So it gave me ideas on how to create parts and then put chapters into those parts. And then I it helped me rearrange them, and once I did that, I was like, oh my gosh, this is even better. I love it. So, yeah, that's a good example of how AI can really take what you have and make it even better for your learners or for your readers. So it's great.

T. Renee Smith: 6:37

Yeah, I love it, and the reason why I asked you that is because it's so important as instructional designers or teachers or coaches. Because it really is, ai leverages what you give it, the information that you give it. So, jackie, because you gave it great content and great information, it was able to take it and rearrange it and make it even better. So a lot of people like I feel like I'm cheating and so I say now when you get in a car and you use the technology of driving a car, is that cheating? Because you could walk and you could ride a horse, so you have to just look at it. Or when you use a oven or a stove, do you feel like you're cheating? No, you use the technology and it enhances what you have or what you give it. So I think that that's just really important for instructional designers because it enhances. Like you put in great stuff and then it gives you back even greater stuff. Like you put in stuff that's not good. You're going to get back stuff that's not good.

Jackie Pelegrin: 7:34

All right, oh, so true. Wow, I love that. That's great. And so that's where your book kind of goes into that right Of how we can have that and so, kind of building on that idea, your book shows how AI can help leaders save time and energy while staying authentic. I think that's so important, that authenticity. We don't want to lose that. So for women like ourselves sometimes, where we can feel overwhelmed by technology, what's the first step you suggest to use AI with confidence?

T. Renee Smith: 8:00

So the very first thing that I say is you have to shift your mindset, because a lot of people they have like a love, not love I don't say hate like a love, it's your secret weapon and it really can assist you in being able to delegate tasks that you don't have to do. So even like you said, jackie, like taking some of that heavy lifting with a podcast, the research and the podcast notes or whatever it is that you're doing, and it allows you to be able to hone your craft and focus in on your craft. So I think the very first thing is a mindset shift to understand that it is a tool that can really be able to use to help you in every area of your life. So that's number one. And then, after you have the mindset shift, number two is really developing a strategy, because if you go online and you research AI tools, it is going to be overwhelming, and so what I tell people is choose one thing like start off simple so that you won't get overwhelmed and quit, overwhelmed and quit. What is one thing that you could use the most support in your life with right now, and whatever that is, then let's figure out how AI can help you do it.

T. Renee Smith: 9:24

So for me, in the example that I was saying earlier, like how it really drove me, or what really drove me into AI was I was really needing support with my neurodiverse son and figuring out how to teach him.

T. Renee Smith: 9:37

So, like my instructional designer brain, you know, kicked in like how can I really help the teachers develop curriculum that he was able to assess? So that was my biggest need at the time and I learned how to use AI for it. Like for some people, it may be marriage. They may be like oh my gosh, I cannot communicate with this man, okay. And so one of your biggest things, then would be let's understand how we can use AI as a marriage coach to really help you to be able to communicate differently, identify what some of the challenges are or, if somebody's having a health issue or a health crisis, using AI as a health coach. So, number one, do your mindset shift and understanding that AI is a tool to help you You're not cheating. And then number two is developing a strategy of just one thing that you can use AI for.

Jackie Pelegrin: 10:26

Wow, that's great. So you can utilize it not only as an assistant, but as a coach and a mentor, a digital mentor, and, like you said, it doesn't replace our expertise and our human touch at all.

T. Renee Smith: 10:39

It doesn't, because what a lot of people don't understand is that you really have to program AI and you really have to develop a relationship with it. So the more that you tell it about yourself, the more that you train it on whatever issue that you're having. I remember when my mother was sick during the pandemic, the doctors, they were giving me information that I had absolutely no idea what it meant, but I went in and I trained AI on what her diagnosis was and what was going on, and it actually served as a health coach to me, so I would know what kind of questions to ask. So you can use it. If you're looking to build generational wealth, it could be a financial advisor, right. So you can really use it in any area.

T. Renee Smith: 11:19

Like I was talking to my girlfriend earlier this week, her son plays basketball. She recorded him playing basketball and she uploaded the video to AI and she said I need you to serve as a sports trainer and I need you to tell me the fundamentals that my son needs to work on and give him a workout plan. And it did that so you really can use it in every area of your life did that so you really can use it in every area of your life.

Jackie Pelegrin: 11:47

That's so great, yeah, and I love how you brought up how we need to work with the AI and build that relationship, because that's something I've been doing too, with the podcast and the book, and so now ChatGPT even with the free version, it does a really good job. I mean, you have limits per day, but it's really great because it's actually learned my style of writing.

Jackie Pelegrin: 12:05

And it's learned what my podcast is about and who my audience is, and so it's really great. So I use it for my scripts to help myself, you know, build my questions to have good lead in. So everything flows and, and I ask it to kind of take my initial questions and then build upon that or my, my solo episodes, and I'm like, yeah, here's some ideas, but can you help me kind of refine them? And it does a great job of kind of bringing out some things that I wouldn't have thought of. So it's great.

T. Renee Smith: 12:32

I love it. It is, and I'm gonna tell you two little tricks. Number one is with the AI tool that you're using. It could be chat, gpt, quad, complexity. Whatever tool you're using, you actually can go in in the settings and you can program and give it information about yourself, your business, your podcast or whatever. So it saves it in memory and then, when you're actually doing chats, you can save the different chats in memory.

T. Renee Smith: 12:58

But one of the biggest things that AI does is it teaches you how to teach it. So you could actually just put a prompt in there and say, hey, I am new to AI or I need to train you on my voice, my style, my instructional design method. What questions do you need for me to answer in order for you to understand my voice? And so what it'll do is it'll give you a list of questions, you answer those questions and then you'll tell it okay, now summarize back and tell me what my voice is, what my target audience is, et cetera, and it'll do that. And if you need to make any changes or corrections, then you can make those changes and corrections. But you can literally use AI to train you on how to train it. It's an amazing thing.

T. Renee Smith: 13:47

So you don't have to know how to do it. You can just sit down and ask whatever question that you need, and then it'll coach you through how to train it. So that's amazing.

Jackie Pelegrin: 13:57

Right, because it's never. You put in a prompt once and you get the result and that's it and you walk away. It's always refining and working with it. Yeah, that's important. I love that idea of putting those questions in what do you need me to answer for you? To help you get to know my voice and what my business is and my target audience. I love that. I should have done that at the beginning.

T. Renee Smith: 14:21

You can use it for anything. You can say hey, I'm looking to write a book about blah blah, blah, blah blah. What questions do you need to ask me in order to do the research? Give me an outline and it does the work for you.

Jackie Pelegrin: 14:34

Wow, that's great, because I was even thinking with my book I could even, down the road, do supplemental resources and do workbooks and things like that, and I had thought about it. But then, as I was working with AI and refining all my chapters and stuff and it actually I even asked. I was like, okay, so now I want to go to publishers and I'm not sure which publishers would be good for my type of book and what are some things you can suggest. And so it's a well, you should have a proposal and write a proposal. I'm like, oh great, that's wonderful. What are the things that I should include in my proposal? And it even gave me suggestions on publishers that would be a good fit for my book.

Jackie Pelegrin: 15:10

So I was like, wow, because I could self-publish and that would be good. But then I thought, do I have time for all the marketing? I don't know, maybe, maybe not, but who knows? I mean, maybe I could go with a hybrid publisher and do that. So it's interesting, it's adventure, because I've never done this before. So, having that digital assistant kind of guide me along the way, I'm like, oh, okay, it doesn't feel as intimidating. Now I think I can do it. So it just goes to show that if you're not intimidated by it but you take it as an opportunity to learn and grow, then you can really much pretty much do anything right. Tna yes.

T. Renee Smith: 15:48

Jackie, all you have to do is show up and put your hands on the computer, and actually you don't even have to do that because most I mean all the AIs have voice enabled so you can just talk to it, and so people don't understand how simple it is. I'll be driving, jackie, and I'll get to wherever my destination is, and I have an idea and I will talk into AI and I will say this is the client that I'm working with, this is the kind of proposal that I need, this is what they need drafted for me, and so I'll go into my meeting and do something and AI is doing the work while I am in a meeting.

Jackie Pelegrin: 16:23

And AI is doing the work while I am in a meeting Wow, that's great, yeah. And do you utilize it with your employees on your teams as well? Like in your business? Do you allow them to be able to utilize these models and figure out how they can be more efficient?

T. Renee Smith: 16:38

right Like, work smarter, not harder as we like to say, yes, yes, yes. So we actually have an AI first policy. As we like to say, jackie, yes, yes, yes, so we actually have an AI first policy. And what that simply means is we want to figure out how to utilize AI to simplify our processes, our workflows, et cetera, and so we've done trainings with our team on the different AI, and then we've had AI to come up with standard operating procedures for all of the different tasks that we're doing up with standard operating procedures for, like, all of the different tasks that we're doing.

T. Renee Smith: 17:10

So we encourage it, and we encourage it for fun things, for personal things, as well as for work things, and a lot of times we'll develop trainings. And so let's just say, we're on a topic with your listeners that want to learn how to use AI in instructional design. We teach our staff how to go into AI and say, hey, I really need to learn how to use AI for instructional design. We teach our staff how to go into AI and say, hey, I really need to learn how to use AI for instructional designing. I need for you to create me a step-by-step training on all the different things that I need to learn, and so AI would actually come up with a training personalized for you and what you need, and so it is an amazing thing.

Jackie Pelegrin: 18:21

That's wonderful. I love that. So you talked a little bit earlier about your son being neurodiversive, and I've spoken with other guests that have worked with neurodiversive learners or they have a child that's neurodiversive. So, speaking of supporting others in that way, you spent over 25 years creating learning programs and now you're using AI to build curriculums for small businesses and teachers of neurodiverse students. So how is AI changing the way we design inclusive learning, do you think?

T. Renee Smith: 18:51

So I think the amazing thing about AI and learning within seconds you can actually modify and customize learning for each type of student, and so if you were looking to do this manually or by hand, do you know how long that would take you as far as lesson plans? And so one thing that we do is we develop and this is what I did with my son and this is what I do with schools and organizations that we're helping with as far as incorporating AI into an inclusive learning environment. We have profiles of the kids, and so we have what do they like? What is their learning style? What level of learning are they at? What do they really enjoy doing, so that we can develop interest-based learning? So, instead of just pushing information to them, attempting to get them to learn it, we find stuff that they're very interested in, that they will identify with. So let's just say we're doing math, and a student really loves basketball, they really love swimming, so it's just sports. When we're teaching them about word problems because sometimes you have issues with reading comprehension we develop all of our lessons and our learning around what it is that they enjoy doing, so if you're able to talk to them about what they enjoy doing how they like doing it. They are really connected and engaged with the learning.

T. Renee Smith: 20:18

And so for a teacher, if they have a class of 15 or 25 students, it's very difficult to customize it. But what we'll do is we take the learning profile one time to do it, we'll upload it to AI and then AI can develop the customized curriculum for whatever subject. It is based on the learning path, I mean their interests and what learning level they're at. And so you may have somebody that is at a, let's say, a seventh grade level, somebody that has a third grade level, somebody at a fifth grade level, all in one class. And so if you, as a teacher, are trying to individually work with each one of those levels, it may be a little different but it's difficult. But if you have curriculum customized, it makes it very easy to do.

Jackie Pelegrin: 21:04

Wow, that's great that you know. That kind of reminds me of when we create learner personas as instructional designers right, and being able to understand the learners and creating that customized learning for them and those specialized learning paths right Is what it really is doing for them, right, and meeting them where they're at and what they need so that they can thrive as students and later on in life too, because that's so important. Because we don't address it at the time of need, then they're not gonna get what they need then and they're not gonna get what they need later on and they're gonna fall behind. So and that can be such a tragedy, right, we don't want that for our kids.

T. Renee Smith: 21:45

It is, and you know, jackie, especially the gap I think has just widened, especially since you know the pandemic happened and you know kids were out of school and virtual school and it has widened. And so one of the things, too, that we've done with AI is you know that they have the different assessments, whether it's iRadial, whatever the assessment is, you can upload the assessment into AI and say this is the assessment, really help me to identify where the gaps are in the skills, like the foundational skills, and then develop me a program where we can close those gaps and we can help to get them back on grade level. So you really have a personal education assistant that is going in and figuring out how to customize the learning. But one thing that I want to say, and so it's for anybody that's writing a book or using any kind of sensitive information In AI you want to go into the security settings and you want to turn off what is selected for use my information to train the model, and so when you turn that off, then the information that you're putting in there, it stays within your AI.

T. Renee Smith: 22:59

So a lot of times people don't know. So they're putting all proprietary information into the AI system. And so what the system is doing, if that button is still on, is taking it and it's training the model.

Jackie Pelegrin: 23:12

Wow, that's important, especially when it comes to ethical considerations and all of that. Wow, that's great to know because the organization I work for we're an educational service provider and we provide services for institutions like Grand Canyon University, which is one of the largest Christian universities, so they were facing this dilemma too. They're like we don't want to violate FERPA, we don't want to violate HIPAA, any of those things. Right, we've got to make sure we're staying consistent with ethical and privacy with that. So they ended up creating a closed system model for AI, and so it's really great. And they've actually got different chatbots which are really great for the students. So they have one called Mira for the science students, they've got one called Isaac for the math students and they're coming up with one for counseling. I don't know what they're going to call it. It'll be interesting to see what they end up calling it, but they're going to have one for counseling and doctoral students. So it's really great. It's expanding and growing. I love it.

T. Renee Smith: 24:14

I love it. So that's why I just want to tell Jackie, because now, after this episode, everybody's going to be going using AI, so we just want to make sure. All right and the security setting off, so you're not looking one day and you see somebody with your information.

Jackie Pelegrin: 24:29

Right, exactly. Because then, all of a sudden, you're like wait a minute, why did somebody get in my account? They didn't have my account. Yeah, exactly Right, that is so true. Yeah, yeah. I love that perspective and being able to have that. So you also help women grow their businesses while maintaining balance, which I think is so important. So what strategy that leaders can use right away to scale without losing peace or purpose?

T. Renee Smith: 24:55

Well, the first thing I would say is understand that balance does not exist, and when I say balance does not exist, I think about it from the standpoint of you are juggling something in both of your hands. Eventually, your hand is going to get tired right, and so what I like to use is work-life harmony or work-life integration, and what that simply means is, whatever season of life that you're in, then something is going to get more attention than the other. Now you want to make sure that everything that is important to you gets attention, but let's just say that you've had a newborn and you're a new baby. That's going to get way more attention than your business or of your job. When you just had your child and you're on maternity leave, or if you're dealing with aging parents and you have to take care of them, then something else is probably going to get a little less of you. And so what I say is understand what is important to you and what your priorities are.

T. Renee Smith: 25:52

So a lot of times for women and Jackie, you tell me if this is you a lot of times we put ourselves on the back burner and we take care of everybody else, and so we are not. I don't even want to say we're at the bottom of the to-do list. Sometimes we aren't even on the to-do list, right. We're taking care of kids or husband or family or job or whoever, and so we'll end up burning out or operating in our reserves, as I like to call it. So really, what happens is we're supposed to fill ourselves up, so make sure that we're full mentally, spiritually, physically and then give to people in our overflow. But most times we don't have any overflow.

T. Renee Smith: 26:32

So the first thing that I would say is understand what your priorities are, and you really should be the number one, top priority, because you cannot give anybody what you don't have. And so some people may be like you cannot give anybody what you don't have, and so some people may be like see, renee, that is selfish. I am not putting myself. Do you know I have kids? Do you know that my business or my job needs me? But what I say is, if you burn out right, then you're not going to be good to anybody else. So the very first thing it kind of goes back to what we were talking about with AI is having a mindset shift and understanding that you have to understand your priorities and you are top priority number one, and it really is a self-full or a self-love when you take care of yourself. It's not selfish because if I take care of myself, then now I'm able to take care of yourself. It's not selfish because I take care of myself, then now I'm able to take care of other people.

Jackie Pelegrin: 27:29

Right, that's so true. One of my coworkers did a professional development years ago and the title of it was self-care is not selfish, and I love that yeah.

T. Renee Smith: 27:39

It is self-love.

Jackie Pelegrin: 27:41

Absolutely. It's like the oxygen mask on the plane. We always use that analogy. You have to put the oxygen mask on yourself before you can put it on someone else. So it's that same analogy, right.

T. Renee Smith: 27:52

But a lot of women are like here. Everybody else will get oxygen. I'm over here suffocating but it's okay. It's okay.

Jackie Pelegrin: 27:58

As long as you all have oxygen, then it's all right right, right, yeah, and then we tend to forget about our the physical wellbeing and spiritual right. And then you know, I did this for a while and I'm back at it again. I've been doing it for a while, but but it really helps. I have the Bible app on my phone and so every day I get the, the notification like go into the Bible app. And then, if I happen to forget, it'll remind me. It'll say keep your streak. And I'm like, oh yeah, I don't, but it's more important than the streak, right, it's keeping that daily. Even if it's just a piece of scripture. It's something that grounds me and it can ground women so well, because relying on that is the anchor of everything else right, and so even in the midst of a storm or trying time, we can hold on to that anchor.

T. Renee Smith: 28:47

So that's so important and people don't understand that being spiritually connected and being spiritually grounded, it is a part of self-care. So a lot of people, I think, confuse self-care and self-maintenance. So people may be like I'm going to get my hair done, I'm getting my nails done, I'm getting a massage. That really is self-maintenance. You are maintaining your physical health. When you're looking at self-care, the physical is a part of it, but that spiritual, that mindset, that creativity all of that is a part of it. So it's really like having holistic self-care.

Jackie Pelegrin: 29:20

Right, absolutely. I love that and that's probably something that you encourage it sounds like with your employees. Make sure that they're taking the time they need the to have that. That, what you don't, what you you call that not balanced, but just being able to have that.

Jackie Pelegrin: 29:38

What did you call it? Work-life harmony? I love that work-life harmony. I love that because we've been trained to cure work-life balance. But I agree, I like work-life harmony. That's great. I don't have to train myself to switch that out and start using that work-life harmony. I love that, yeah, because I think we put so much pressure on ourselves.

T. Renee Smith: 29:54

We're like, oh my gosh, you got to be excelling a hundred percent at work or your business. Then you got to be excelling a hundred percent as a wife, excelling a hundred percent as a mom. And what I say is that you it's unsustainable to have a high level of intensity and being like really successful in all of those areas. Like it is a trade-off, meaning like if you're going to be really, really dedicated and focused, you know, in your business and really growing it, if that's the season that it's in, then you may be spending a little bit, you know, less time it's in, then you may be spending a little bit less time with your family. Or you may be spending a little less time with your kids. Or if you're really, really focused on your marriage and your kids, then you may be spending a little less time with your business.

T. Renee Smith: 30:37

So for me, I had to even redesign my business because it was consuming so much of my time and I was like, wait a minute, my family is not getting as much time as they need to. So I said I need to restructure my business where it's more scalable, where I have a team, where it now frees up my time. So I think when you look at that work-life harmony, you're able to say how much of my time do I want to give to business or work, how much of my time to myself, how much of my time to my kids or to my family. So it's really taking inventory of your life and is your life? Are you living the life that you want to live or do you need to make some adjustments?

Jackie Pelegrin: 31:18

I love that. Wow, that's great, because life passes by so quickly.

Jackie Pelegrin: 31:21

And then before you know it, the kids are grown and my mom says to me all the time she's like I can't believe you're still my daughter, but I can't believe you're going to be. I'm telling my age. She's like I can't believe at the end of the year you're going to be 48. And I'm like I know I can't believe it either, but it just goes by so fast. She's like you're a full. Telling them she's like please enjoy that time, spend as much time with them as you can.

Jackie Pelegrin: 31:48

Because my mom worked. She was a single mom, but then we lived with my grandparents and my uncle so that they could. They said you know, when my mom left my biological father and everything and became a single mom, my grandparents were like come move in with us, because we know you can't take care of Jackie on your own. That's just not going to work. It's not going to be sustainable to work. And then where are you going to take her for childcare, you know, and you don't want to just take her to anybody. So it worked out really well.

Jackie Pelegrin: 32:17

But at the same time she was working, you know from, she would leave the house at 5am and then my grandparents would see me off to school and then she would get home at sometimes 5 o'clock at night so she'd be doing it because of the commute and everything. So it was tough sometimes but she always made time to be at those events and my games and everything else. So that's so important. So I thank her for that, because it must have been hard sometimes to be a single mom. And so to all the single moms out there, I commend any single mom or any single parent. Really it could be a dad, it could be a family member that's taking care of the child, that's a guardian or something. So it doesn't always have to be a mom, but yeah, it's amazing for sure.

T. Renee Smith: 33:03

I commend them too. But one thing that you said, jackie, is your mom. She was committed to being at those events, so that was something that she prioritized right. And so that's why we have to understand what are our priorities and what is important, because whatever you prioritize you give attention to and, as women, unfortunately a lot of times we don't prioritize our health, like our physical health, our mental health. Unfortunately, a lot of times we don't prioritize our health, like our physical health, our mental health our spiritual health.

T. Renee Smith: 33:27

And one of the things that AI actually helped is really in helping me come up with like a plan for my physical.

T. Renee Smith: 33:34

I was like I'm in a season of my life where I'm not going to the gym, I'm not going to be working out three hours a day. So I was like I need you to give me. This is my life. So I kind of put in there what my life was. I attached my schedule to it and I said I need you to give me like a plan I call it a physical activity plan, not necessarily a workout plan and it told me like if I'm on meetings and I'm, you know, off camera to get up and do some squats, some stretches. It talked to me about, you know, walking up the stairs more when I'm at home and it said get you some little weights, right, the little weights for your arms and for your legs, and so just put those weights on when you're at home and just walking around and walking up and down the steps. So it really is again, you're designing your workout routine or your health regimen around your lifestyle, but you can only do that if you prioritize it.

Jackie Pelegrin: 34:21

Right, that's so true, I love that. That's great, I love it. So, as we wrap up, many of my listeners, as you know, they're new to instructional design or they're thinking about transitioning to the field. I have so many of my students that are in K through 12 and they want to move over to instructional design. So, with your experience and the work you do supporting women in business, what's some top advice you would give to help them kind of get started and stay inspired as they're doing the work?

T. Renee Smith: 35:13

So the first thing that I would ask, connecting to what are you passionate about with instructional design, what is it that lights you up about it? And then really be able to understand what are the different instructional design models and which one of them is the best fit for you. Because I think the best instructional designer is the one that's able to bring their personality, bring their experience, bring their passion to it, because you can tell the difference when you have something that was designed by a person that is just checking off the box and that is just doing a job, versus somebody that is really inspired by whatever the topic is, inspired by wanting to transform somebody's life through what is being taught. So I would say the first thing is really just to tap into, like, what is the passion that you have in wanting to do instructional design, because that's going to come across.

Jackie Pelegrin: 36:08

Absolutely right. Your personality shines through your work, Right, so it's great. Yeah, I love that. I was even the other day I was reading something, too, where, when I was doing some of my scripts and everything for upcoming episodes, and it said it gave advice on AI and it said make sure that you smile, even if it's audio, only because your smile comes through your voice. And I'm like that is so true and something I always tell some of the people I work with. I'm like, yeah, even if you're on the phone, and you're like, oh, I'm excited about learning about different topics.

T. Renee Smith: 36:55

I'm excited about learning how to help people learn in different ways. I'm excited to use storytelling or engage. I'm excited to figure out how can somebody be transformed from. What it is that I'm designing is totally different output that you're going to get.

Jackie Pelegrin: 37:15

Right, exactly, you're right. It shows through the work that you do and even shows in the relationships that you have with others, with stakeholders, with subject matter experts, and how you collaborate with people. So, yeah, it really shows in every aspect of it. I agree, because, as you know, a big part of what we do as instructional designers is collaborating with others and having to to do that back and forth, cause, as we know, like the SAM model is all about iteration and collaboration. It's a big part of what we do. So if we don't have those, uh, that that good mindset, like you said earlier, and that, uh that passion for it, then it, then it's not going to work well, we're going to burn out even faster, right? If we don't have that passion.

T. Renee Smith: 37:58

Yeah, exactly Burn out faster, and then people are not going to want to collaborate with you.

Jackie Pelegrin: 38:02

Right, exactly, I mean, I don't want to work with this person. Exactly, right. Yeah, I knew right away Team Renee. When I wanted to be an instructional designer, I was working at Walden University and I was working in the admissions office and I was sitting at my desk one day this is kind of neat, because then you can imagine this. So I'm sitting at my desk, I'm in my early 30s, I had gotten my MBA through University of Phoenix, and so they had just introduced the master's program in instructional design, and I got this email that hey, there's this new program. And I'm looking.

Jackie Pelegrin: 38:33

I remember that day that I'm sitting at my computer looking at this program and I'm like, wow, this is really neat. Oh, foundations of learning, theories and models. And I'm and I'm reading all these courses and I'm like, wow, this is really great. I and a light bulb moment went off and it was just this realization. Like you know what? This is something I've always wanted to do. I just didn't know there was a name for it, and so it was really neat. And so I thought to myself, should I do the certificate, because they had a certificate option. Or I was like, should I do the whole masters? But as I was reading the courses and going through the them and getting towards the end I was like I love this course and I love that and I'm like getting more and more excited and I'm like you know what, I just better jump in both feet, because if I do the certificate, I'm just going to only get part of what I want and I'm not going to get the whole thing. So it was exciting to actually do that.

Jackie Pelegrin: 39:21

And then six, about halfway through the program, I got the embedded certificate and then they had an opening for an instructional designer to support admissions and I thought, wow, this is like dream come true. But then they also had a trainer position open for admissions too. And so I went to my manager and I'm like I was asking my manager like Candice, what should I do? I love training, but then I also love instructional design. I love both. And she said ask yourself one question what's one thing that you want to do day in and day out? Think about the two things she's like do you want to train people every day, get up in front of you know a training classroom and train them every day, or do you want to do the creative work, the behind the scenes, stuff, and see it come to fruition, and I'm like that's what I want to do. I want to do the creative stuff. She's like there you go, there's your answer.

T. Renee Smith: 40:07

I love that, I love that it's great. Yeah, well, what do you enjoy most about being an instructional designer?

Jackie Pelegrin: 40:14

Oh, yeah, I think what I enjoy most is the collaboration and working with people, and I would say also, a close second to that is seeing something that started from nothing and then become something and you can actually see it come to fruition and then your learners or your students actually get to use it and it makes their lives better. So being able to, to me it's like giving back, and so it's that servant leadership that's coming to fruition, coming into action. So it's great, I love it. So, yeah, it's wonderful, yeah.

Jackie Pelegrin: 40:46

How about you. What are some of the things you love about instructional design? The?

T. Renee Smith: 40:50

most those two that you had. Definitely, I love seeing something. It's nothing, it's absolutely nothing and it turns into an amazing program. I love the collaboration, but I think my favorite is the transformation that people receive whenever they have taken whatever curriculum that we develop. So I think I'm always loving to see how did this impact somebody's life, how did it make it better, how did it change for them. So I think that's my thing. Like when people have aha moments, I'm like, oh my God, that's amazing.

Jackie Pelegrin: 41:24

That's what I thought of those aha moments. Yeah, exactly, I love that. Yeah, I do that in one of my professional development sessions. Towards the end it's for one, for a one note session, and I'm actually doing some. I do a beginner one for people that are just getting started, because it's good for organization, and then I do an advanced one that gives them advanced skills, but in the beginning one I have this picture of Oprah Winfrey and she's when she used to do her show and she'd be like you get a car and you get a car, and so I have this like aha moment thing in her picture and I'm like what was your aha moment? So you're right, those are great too, because then you know that you've taken something that people have no idea about, or they just don't understand it very well, and you're able to make it digestible for them. And, yeah, it's a great, great feeling for sure, and to see that transformation. There's nothing like it.

T. Renee Smith: 42:17

Yeah, I love it. It gives me that high. So that's it kind of goes back to the question about the advice of anybody getting into instructional design. That's why, because that passion is going to keep you.

Jackie Pelegrin: 42:23

Right. Exactly, it's going to feel your desire and and just keep you going, because, I agree, after you've been doing it for 25 years, I've been doing it now for 15 years and you don't stay in something that long unless you have a passion for it and a desire to really do it and you've found your God-given talent right and you know that this is where I'm meant to be. So it's great, because sometimes you go into something and you think you know, when I first came to Grand Canyon University, I had actually lost my contract job at PetSmart and it was so devastating because I loved I love working with animals. That's something my grandfather loved working with animals and so I kind of I think I got some of that, that bug from him of loving animals, and so I was like great, petsmart is wonderful, I want to work for them. And so they had instructional designer positions open, but they I got through, I think, this two interviews, through the second one, and they said, well, we want someone with banking experience. And I thought, okay, well, I can't get to that. So I ended up actually checking with one of the different agencies that they have I don't know if they Robert Half International, I think is still around. But at that time, yeah, robert Half International, and they have their divisions within that. So they have the creative group. I don't know if you're familiar with them, but they, they have the creative group. And so I decided to go with them and I was working with someone and she said, oh yeah, great, we have, we work with PetSmart. I thought, oh, wonderful, maybe that'll help me get my foot in the door.

Jackie Pelegrin: 43:51

And then six months later they got rid of all the contract jobs and I was like, oh my gosh, what do I do? I don't have a job. And so she said why don't you try Grand Canyon University, because she had worked there before? She said just be, just keep in mind, you're doing employee training and development and then you're going to go into curriculum. It's very different. So I took, took her advice. But then when I got there I was just like did I make the right decision? I had a coworker that wasn't treating me the best. She was kind of a little snooty with me and just kind of like she didn't treat me well at all. So I thought did I make the right decision? And so I thought to myself you know what I have to let Petsmart go. I can't hold on to something that I don't have anymore. So I prayed about it and I said, okay, lord, you're just going to have to help me. You know, just get rid of that feeling of I want that. And so I did. And then everything changed from there.

T. Renee Smith: 44:46

So yeah, and you love where you are now.

Jackie Pelegrin: 44:49

Exactly so it was. It was God's and God's plan all along.

T. Renee Smith: 44:57

God, and what's so funny is sometimes we will, like you said, you had to let it go. We'll be holding on to stuff and God is attempting to redirect us. He is attempting to give us what it is that we want, but we're holding on too tight and will not let go. That could be relationships, jobs, anything. So sometimes we have to just open our hand and trust God and just walk. Just walk in faith.

Jackie Pelegrin: 45:17

Right, absolutely Right, because if we hold on too tight then we choke, whatever it is. Yeah, that's so true, absolutely Wonderful, great. Well, is there any other advice or any other tips you want to give to my listeners today?

T. Renee Smith: 45:31

Well, the one thing that I want to just tell everybody is that follow your passion right, but also really just bring your whole self to whatever it is that you're doing. So a lot of times we may find so those that are looking to get into instructional design it may be a path for you, right. So sometimes you may figure out the things that we don't like to do or really don't want to do, before we figure out the things that we really do want to do. So just understand that instructional design it is a journey and it's so many different aspects of it, and so be patient with yourself, but also be open to explore, see what you like, see what you don't like, and then really let's just embrace AI through the entire journey, because you could even be like, hey, I'm looking into instructional design, I think I'm very interested in it.

T. Renee Smith: 46:20

Kind of tell me the pros, the cons, tell me the different aspects of it. These are my interests, and so use AI even as like a coach, a career coach for you and helping you to figure out where you want to start in the field. So, jackie, just like the person asked you, which one do you like better, which one do you like more. Use it as a career coach to kind of help you. And if you don't know where to start, what do we do? Ask AI hey, I'm interested in instructional design. I need to know more about it If it's a good fit for me. What questions do you need to ask me to help and serve as a career coach?

Jackie Pelegrin: 46:55

I love that Right Because instructional design it services every industry. You know, whether it's K through 12, higher ed, corporate, nonprofit, military.

T. Renee Smith: 47:05

It's amazing so government, all of it Right.

Jackie Pelegrin: 47:09

So if you have, if someone's in K through 12 education and they're thinking I want to be an instructional designer, but which path should I go? Should I stay in K through 12? And they can utilize AI to see where their interests are, where their passions are, and then it can kind of help you, like you said, coach them along and be a career coach for them. Wow, I love that. That's great. Why not utilize the technology toward advantage?

T. Renee Smith: 47:32

Why not? And my last thing is remember to put yourself on the to-do list. You are your priority. Self-care is not selfish Right, and we're going for work-life.

Jackie Pelegrin: 47:45

Harmony, jackie, work-life harmony, Because if we don't take care of ourselves, then no one else will do it right. So we have to do it. I love it.

T. Renee Smith: 47:53

And the last thing is we teach people how to treat us based on how we treat ourselves.

Jackie Pelegrin: 47:58

Absolutely Right, because if we show ourselves love, then we can love someone else and they can love us in return. Yeah, that's it's. It's a reciprocal type of act and it's that's the best act of kindness that we can do Right. The best act of kindness that we can do right Is to care for ourselves, because then it shows that we can care for others too and love them. Yeah, Love them with intention and purpose right.

T. Renee Smith: 48:19

I love that. Love them with intention and purpose.

Jackie Pelegrin: 48:22

Oh, I love it. You know that just came out. It just, it must've just been waiting to come out.

T. Renee Smith: 48:28

I think somebody needed to hear it. So whoever needed to hear it, y'all message Jackie and say that this was for me.

Jackie Pelegrin: 48:34

You're right. Well, you inspired me to put it out there, so I love it.

T. Renee Smith: 48:39

Wonderful.

Jackie Pelegrin: 48:40

Yeah, Thank you so much, Team Renee, for sharing your insights today. Your experiences, your tips and your expertise are going to inspire my listeners for years to come. I know it.

T. Renee Smith: 48:49

I appreciate it. Aw, thank you for having me. Thank you for sharing my platform. Sharing your platform with me.

Jackie Pelegrin: 48:54

And yeah, we can definitely share, and I'd love to have you back on the show too, because once someone comes on the show then they realize, oh, we could talk about this. So we can have another episode and we can dig more into instructional design and neurodivergent learners. I would love that because I think that is an area that needs to be. There needs to be more awareness about that, and maybe even universal design for learning. I did an episode on that too, so we could dig more into that, yeah, so.

T. Renee Smith: 49:22

I can talk, I can talk, so we have plenty of episodes.

Jackie Pelegrin: 49:26

Me too. Yeah, that's, that's one thing my mom said has always told me she's like you're not shy when it comes to talking and I'm like I know I can talk to somebody on an elevator, I can talk to somebody in the car, it doesn't matter. And I have to learn to like okay, shush, jackie, my mom's driving, I don't want her getting in an accident. So, yeah, I mean, yeah, I'm the same way.

T. Renee Smith: 49:49

So Kendrick's spirit's over here. Jackie, we both like to talk, I know I love it Great.

Jackie Pelegrin: 49:56

Well, thank you once again and I look forward to having you back on the show. Thank you, thank you Appreciate it. Thank you for taking some time to listen to this podcast episode today. Your support means the world to me. If you'd like to help keep the podcast going, you can share it with a friend or colleague, leave a heartfelt review or offer a monetary contribution. Every act of support, big or small, makes a difference and I'm truly thankful for you.