How a Former White House Press Leader Bridges Policy and Innovation

In this episode of How I AI, I sit down with Yemisi Egbewole, a powerful and globally recognized voice in policy, governance, and political communications who brings nearly a decade of experience at the heart of the U.S. federal government.

As former Chief of Staff to the White House Press Office and Advisor to the White House Press Secretary under the Biden Administration, Yemisi helped shape the country’s most high-stakes narratives leading media engagement for the President, managing press operations, and coordinating international briefings during moments that defined our national conversation.

Now, through her firm Podium Strategies, Yemisi is using AI not as a buzzword but as a tool for access, efficiency, and empowerment. We explore how she integrates AI into her daily workflow, from rapid research and message testing to commentary prep for outlets like BBC, FOX News, and MSNBC and what she’s learned about using technology to democratize opportunity while preserving truth and transparency.

🔥 Topics We Cover:
• How AI is changing the landscape of political communications
• What it’s really like to brief the President and manage national press cycles
• Why AI access has become a new equity issue in policy and governance
• How tools like ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude support real-time analysis and speech prep
• The responsibility of leaders to use AI ethically and inclusively

Tools Mentioned:
ChatGPT, Anthropic Claude, Perplexity

Connect with Yemisi:
Instagram: yemyamz
LinkedIn, YouTube & TikTok: Yemisi Egbewole

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LinkedIn: Brooke Gramer

More About the Podcast:

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"How I AI" is a concept and podcast series created and produced by Brooke Gramer of EmpowerFlow Strategies LLC. All rights reserved.

Transcript

Yemisi: 0:00

One big thing that AI is going to have to come to terms with, with Washington is data centers. And as more data centers start to build, you're going to get more pushback from the environmental working groups, from local municipalities that are wondering where's the upside for us to have this in the backyard of our communities? And so it's understanding how to talk to these local communities, the municipalities, the leaders. I was on a panel with a former mayor of St. Louis, Missouri, who was talking about her experience dealing with data centers wanting to be built because you cannot stop them right at this point AI is outpacing everything. And so we're past the point of trying to hamper on the expansion of data centers. We are at the point where they are going to be built, so how do we build them in a way that's environmentally friendly and then also an economic benefit to the community around them.

Brooke: 0:54

​Welcome to How I AI the podcast featuring real people, real stories, and real AI in action. I'm Brooke Gramer, your host and guide on this journey into the real world impact of artificial intelligence. For over 15 years, I've worked in creative marketing events and business strategy, wearing all the hats. I know the struggle of trying to scale and manage all things without burning out, but here's the game changer, AI. This isn't just a podcast. How I AI is a community, a space where curious minds like you come together, share ideas, and I'll also bring you exclusive discounts, and insider resources, because AI isn't just a trend, it's a shift, and the sooner we embrace it, the more freedom, creativity, and opportunities will unlock. Have you just started exploring AI and feel a bit overwhelmed? Don't worry, I've got you. Jump on a quick start audit call with me so you can walk away with a clear and personalized plan to move forward with more confidence and ease. Join my community of AI adopters like yourself. Plus, grab my free resources, including the AI Get Started Guide. Or try my How I AI companion GPT. It pulls insights from my guest interviews along with global reports, so you can stay ahead of the curve. Follow the link in the description below to get started. My guest today is Yemisi She's been in the rooms where the toughest calls about technology and democracy get made. She spent years inside Congress and the White House guiding, how we talk about policy at the very top. In this conversation, we don't shy away from the hard questions, what guardrails should exist, how communities really feel about data centers, what cybersecurity risks can't be ignored, And how lawmakers are trying to keep up while AI is moving at lightning speed. If you want the inside view on how Washington is shaping the future of AI and what it means for your business and everyday life, then you'll want to listen to this one all the way through. Let's dive into it. Today I have a very special guest. Her name is Yemisi Egbewole. I'm so excited to have her here today. She's a global voice in policy and political communications with nearly a decade at the heart of US government shaping messages from Congress to the White House. Welcome. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having me. Yes. So I love to open the floor for you to share all about yourself and how you ended up at the intersection of AI now.

Yemisi: 3:42

So I moved to DC back in 2017, right at the change of Obama to Trump into the White House, and I had come off of kind of campaigning in grad school and moved down to dc, went into the US Senate to work for Senator Mark Warner. Big telecom guy, really big in the tech regulation space, and I worked for him as a tech and telecom staffer. We did a lot of stuff on the early alarm sounding of disinformation, algorithm risks, big tech oversight. Then I moved over to Senator Amy Klobuchar, who sat on senate commerce, which had oversight on. All of the things that I'd been working on with Warner. She was one of the big early pushes when it came to technology election, like election integrity accountability with platforms. We did hearings where we had, you know, Jack at the time, who was running Twitter when it was named Twitter at the time. Come forward, we did hearings with like Mark Zuckerberg. Important to note all of that happening in the space of 2017, right to 2019. Very pre pandemic. Pre COVID. You never really used. The words AI regulation, right? It was like focusing on accountability. What can tech do? And so in the background of all of this, AI is growing, building and creating its own kind of niche within like this big thing we call tech. And now it's so interesting to sit here working in government today where AI is at the forefront and you wouldn't have a hearing with anybody in the tech space without first bringing up ai. And so my foray into AI was like kind of. In the background of what was building by just like the focus on big tech.

Brooke: 5:22

That's incredible that you were able to experience the come up of everything and be at the heart of it. Um, so bring us to where you are now. How has that experience parlayed to how you show up and the tech space within dc which I can imagine be a very exciting time right now? The White House just released its AI policy and it's having its moment.

Yemisi: 5:45

I, it's so interesting now because AI really is the hot IT girl in Washington and it's funny'cause the people who really get to have the conversations about AI are a lot of folks who have been in Washington since the seventies and eighties. And so now a lot of what I do. Is catching them up to like, what is AI kind of, um, dismantling some of the myths that I think a lot of people can feel about ai. Mm-hmm. But also highlighting a lot of the uh, political. The political tools that AI can use to help educate or, um, disin inform folks when it comes to politics. I mean, there are like memes of different things that go around that are AI generated, but then even like more deep in the weeds of it, of how do we help a lot of these companies that start up AI on entrepreneurs, startups, how do we invest in them? Angel funding grants. So. That's a lot of what the space is. It's a lot of the old standard bearers that exist in Washington. Your idea of a member of Congress right, is not young. It's quite old. And having all of these new folks come in, like Dario, who ran Anthropic that's growing his, um, his DC arm of it in Anthropic just a week and a half, two weeks ago, held a really great kind of expo about this is who we are, this is what we do. Um, Nvidia that's grown. Their, their staff and ha has hosted like salon dinners and happy hours OpenAI, which as. Just blown up in the city and it's constantly like sponsoring and hosting things. So it's also connecting those dots of, now we've got a lot of San Francisco that is paying attention to DC Obviously this current president is really ingrained with those who are tech leaders really having them at the table. And so there is this hyper focus, but it's making sure that the people. The members of Congress, the people in the administration that decide a lot of like how AI shapes and funnels and how they get to work overseas and national security concerns are actually knowledgeable on the issue.

Brooke: 7:42

What an empowering role to be in right now, because I know the role of ethics and governance and information bias is so important within ai. And as I speak to my peers, a lot of them are saying we're about 10 years behind where we should be, um, with AI policy and the things that are happening right now on the internet. And you touched a little bit about. Big tech and oversight, um, misinformation. So I would love to dive deeper on this and, and hear how you really go in and, and shape and form AI policy. Even speaking to lawyers that are in the AI space and advising on this they're like, we have no idea what the next two, three years is gonna look like when all of this starts to come to light. Kind of a, a loaded topic. But if you could speak more to what's happening, how the laws are shaping how you're seeing this play out in real time.

Yemisi: 8:43

Yeah, I mean, and, and to cosign a lot of what your colleagues are saying. We don't know what happened in two years. I mean, if you had said to somebody two years ago, like, who is Jensen Huang? Had you been a niche person in the industry, you'd go, well, yeah. Semiconductors. And you'd be able to have that conversation. Now people are looking around and they're going, yeah, who is Judson Huang and how is he always with the president? How does, what is this company Nvidia? And so I think in the next two years we might be saying, who is somebody else at this exact same time? Mm-hmm. Um, one thing I always point out are, the ways that these almost subsidiary grow, right? You look at a scale AI that has been like kind of. Sucked up a by Meta and they've started a partnership and now we have scale AI having a huge presence in dc. But a huge thing that everybody's always going to have to talk about is how AI and how these tech companies relate to our national security and how they help domestic manufacturing production here. So when. People in government talk about ai. They wanna talk about upskilling labor, right? Because these people represent states and districts where employment and labor workforce is key. That's how they get reelected. It's the biggest complaint when they go back to their district and they have a town hall. I don't have a job, I don't have insurance. Like, um mm-hmm. So how do we employ folks here? Well, when we worked in Biden administration, you had the Chips and Science Act, which like really worked to boost semiconductor. Production in the United States so that we remained in competition with Taiwan. In order to do that though, you also have to put restrictions on how much, uh, American companies can engage with China overseas, and so. What oftentimes entrepreneurs and business owners in that work in the AI tech space face in the United States is that they cannot accelerate at a rapid growth because we almost hamper them a bit to keep them here, to maintain the jobs so that they get the tax breaks so that they can grow. But we really also are looking at this kind of ai intellectual race with China and thinking about ways that. We don't want them to use the skill, the skillset that we have here. I mean, China produces, I think over 300. They have over 300,000 engineers to our, that cracks it like around a little bit over a hundred thousand. I mean, they, they outweigh us in kind of like the mental skill and also the labor force when you look at the population of China. And so that'll always be the back and forth with, um, with. Not wanting China to capitalize on what we have growing here, but also trying to maintain, keeping up with the race that China is.'cause they outpace everyone 10 to one all the time when it comes to technology.

Brooke: 11:18

I have been very loosely following along everything that's happening with open AI and you know, the decisions being made to build more data centers. And I can see both cases of people being like, oh, we're, you know, this isn't eco-friendly and good for the environments, and where are we headed? Also at the same time is remaining competitive against mm-hmm. Countries. Uh, and being that, you know, leader when it comes to AI adoption and not hindering and being left behind and, and ultimately add to unfair advantage compared to other people in the workforce, which is now global at this point. Mm-hmm. We are working globally. Um. So I'm curious what your thoughts on that. How do you kind of ride both sides of, of that and, your thoughts when it comes to building more data centers and all of the decisions being made at the White House right now.

Yemisi: 12:11

One big thing that AI is going to have to come to terms with, with Washington is data centers. I mean, I participated in the Congressional Black Caucus Week and they hold a huge conference. Have like all of these members within the Congressional Black Caucus speak and have lobbyists and business leaders. All these people convene. I. I was on a panel and one of the big topics is ai digital technology in the energy sector and data centers. And as more data centers start to build, you're going to get more pushback from the environmental working groups, from local municipalities that are wondering where's the upside for us to have this in the backyard of our communities? And so it's understanding how to talk to these local communities, the municipalities, the leaders. I was on a panel with a former mayor of St. Louis, Missouri, who was talking about her experience dealing with data centers wanting to be built because you cannot stop them right at this point. Ai, AI is outpacing, is outpacing everything. And so we're past the point of trying to hamper on the expansion of data centers. We are at the point where they are going to be built, so how do we build them in a way that's environmentally friendly and then also an economic benefit to the community around them. So that, I think data centers is gonna be one of those huge, like one of the largest conversations.

Brooke: 13:36

I, I think that tracks for me as well. Um, bringing it back to more of a personal space. At what point did you start to lean into this, maybe with your personal strategy, uh, preparing for presentations or talks? How do you use it on a personal level?

Yemisi: 13:54

Yeah, it is. So when I left, I worked in the Biden White House all four years. And, um, working in government AI is, is just a no-no, it's blocked. You can't use any of the, it's like ChatGPT, all of that stuff is blocked on government computers. You cannot download them on government work phones. I think now people are starting to loosen a bit, and I know like at certain agencies you can use it, but it was just, we didn't access it, we didn't touch it, we didn't. It wasn't for government workers. Now, when I left, I decided to open my own political consulting firm. And what I realized was very quickly was that AI was going to be my best friend. I am a type, a highly organized person. I feel as though I always keep my ducks in a row. I didn't know what keeping ducks in a row was until I really started to delve into ai, um, into the organizational components of it. Um. Into the tracking systems that it can do for you. It tracks in a way that it is your own Microsoft Excel document in a sense. And so as I started picking up clients as I was like, I've got meetings here. Um, what are the best ways to engage with folks? A, I mean, AI has been one of those things that has really kind of settled my life in a way. I think it's the best tool for someone who wants to, how do you start a business? Well, like I learned how to make an LLC. Through ai, step by step. I said, this is the business I want. This is like the kind of person I am. And it helped me put it all together. Even coming up with the name of it, I'm, you know, I founded this company, Podium Strategies, and that came through having a conversation with AI about. Who I am, what I've worked on, and we settled on, I was the chief of staff to the White House press office. And so I spent most of my time in the White House press briefing room. And one of the things we always did was you get the press secretary up to the podium and you get the president up to the podium. And so that was just at the nexus of like a lot of the work that I had done. And so, you know, AI says to me, why don't you just call it Podium Strategies? And I went. That is really smart and obvious. So obvious. In fact, I would've never thought about it because I'm such a, in the weeds kind of person. And that's one of the misconceptions I think people have about AI is that it'll give you answers and it'll do things in a way that's like so high level. And I, and I go, no, sometimes the beauty of AI is that it tells you the simple things that are right in front of you that you don't see.'cause you are the one doing the deep dives. So,

Brooke: 16:20

yeah, I love that share because I relate so much to it as I've leaned more into consulting and, and launching my podcast. I, I had never done video production before. Um, and I also formed an LLC just last year and had chat GPT walk me through the whole process as well. So thank you for sharing that. What else do you feel like you're leaning into with ai? Are you playing around with creating tools or products? I know that product creating product is really big right now. People are using tools like Bolt. I'm sure for someone like you can have a very unique use case for wanting to create your own product. Have you like leaned into that at all?

Yemisi: 17:04

Well, so a lot of what I do in my consulting is um, I do a lot of like media training and engagement, and I also go on network television and I work as a political commentator. I've gone on M-S-N-B-C, Fox News, BBC, news Nation. And what AI really helps me do is it helps me create a program. And I actually did like a beta version of this with Anthropic at their expo. Like I, we kind of created this like website and they gave me the link to it and everything. It was so cool, um, where I will type in different things that are things that I'm tracking that are top of mind in the news, right? And I would say make me flashcards of questions that I could be asked as a commentator who really, who has to answer this and know this stuff and remain on top of it. So they helped me create this whole program where. I can put in what is top of mind and so it actually really helps me. Figure out what are the questions I'm gonna be asked on this? How, how should I already be thinking about these issues and situations? It gives you 50 different viewpoints into one topic, and that was, that's absolutely incredible. And no, no human I think could create something like that. That's really something that can only exist in, in like the AI landscape.

Brooke: 18:21

You just reminded me of an interview I had yesterday where she was sharing about two LLMs debating each other. Um, and my immediate thought was, oh, this would be really good for debate practice. A hundred

Yemisi: 18:33

percent. And as a former high school college debater. I could not imagine what that would be like to have that resource and how, to me it's almost like how empowering is AI for a lot of young people. I mean, one thing I try to tell, uh, members, especially the ones that are a little gun shy on technology and they wanna talk about online safety and those are, look, those are real conversations to have, like protecting children, protecting families. Those are real conversations to have, but not at the expense of how you can empower individuals and communities that would not always have access to those kinds of resources. I mean, a reminder, some of the things that AI can do are things that you would've hired an expensive private tutor to do. Now, how incredible for somebody who is disadvantaged from a minority community. To just get on their computer and have access to the same things that would've been$350 an hour with a private tutor at some fancy school. Now you can, you can train up yourself at the same level. That was always only available to those who had high privilege. I mean, to me, AI levels of playing field so much. I mean, we're seeking heroes. Women starting an LLCI, I had asked people, I had asked a bunch of men around me that are consultants. I was like, how do I do this and dah, dah, dah. Because my,'cause the ai I use knows me so well. It taught me how to make an LLC in a way that I like to be spoken to in the way that I like to engage with people, um, thought through details and issues that, um, I, I would've not thought of myself. And so, uh, it's nice to have things to like kind of bounce, bounce off of to like tell ideas to, to tell like your craziest. Ideas that would maybe get you laughed out of a room and you're putting it into ai and they're going, yeah, I can logically think of a way you can access this, that you can get to this path, and that, that is incredible. That is gonna be so empowering for women. That's gonna be so empowering for young people.

Brooke: 20:29

How I AI is brought to you in partnership with the Collective AI, a space designed to accelerate your learning and AI adoption. I joined the Collective and it's completely catapulted my learning, expanded my network, and showed me what's possible with AI. Whether you're just starting out, or want done for you solutions, the Collective gives you the resources to grow your business with AI. So stay tuned to learn more at the end of this episode, or check my show notes for my exclusive invite link.. I love that you talked about this empowerment On the flip side of that,'cause you talked about access to resources and disparities. You know, there's a lot of worry out there that this will just further the divide of people that are able to leverage this technology right now and minorities that maybe don't have access or um, computer or the technology to leverage their learning. I'm curious what your thoughts are on that. Do you see it bringing it closer together or it's gonna further the divide?

Yemisi: 21:35

That's, I think we have to increase accessibility to ai. And what I oftentimes tell, you know, politicians, local leaders, is if you start to put restrictions on this, right, because you believe that certain folks can't be trusted with it, well then now you've only made it available to a subset of people. And now those people have full control over it. Get to use it to their advantage. I mean, AI is wonderful if everyone can access it. If we start to put restrictions on it because we're scared of it, well now it's the people in power who have the access to it. And as somebody who lives in works in Washington DC I don't want just the folks in Washington to have the hold on AI. I want everyone to be able to. Pursue it. I mean, I think about I read somewhere about this wonderful story about somebody who lived, like in the middle of the Midwest, had always dreamed about being a playwright, um, starting kind of their own musical used AI help to put together a show, put it in practice and performance. I mean, these are really tools that can help people achieve their dreams and, and change their lives.

Brooke: 22:41

Absolutely. I'm just so happy to hear that there are people like you at the, in, at the forefront of all of this in DC you know, bringing these in the minority Yes. And, and bringing these important topics to life and really fighting for these rights. What about looking ahead, do you think there's a greater shift coming when it comes to AI and politics or even global leadership? Like how do you see things shifting quite a bit? Mm-hmm.

Yemisi: 23:10

Well, it's fantastic that we're having all of these global conferences like Davos. I mean, even, um, UNGA. The United Nations gathering last week, there were multiple conversations about ai, about ethics, about governance, and so, mm-hmm. I think it's starting to be one of those things that no matter where you go or wherever you speak, right, ask an ideas festival. AI is gonna be a part of it. There's gonna be a panel, there's gonna be somebody heavily involved in ai. All of these. CEOs too, have such an eye on it as well and are so tuned in, even from like, even from business, like outside of a tech sector, right? Because we're starting to marry it to different things, right? Healthcare is really starting to dip in each year as we go along more and more into ai, that's something that we're gonna have to pay attention to, right? Healthcare means very intimate, personal and private, um, records and data. So. You ignore AI and its development at your own peril, because either way, this is something that exists and it's going to grow. I, I tell people, I'm like, it's like having a puppy. The puppy's gonna eat. The puppy's gonna grow. The puppy's gonna be there. Even if you put it in a room by itself, the you are gonna open the door. The puppy's gonna be a little bit bigger every single day. Now, do you wanna shape the behaviors of that puppy? Do you want to be able to take that puppy outside and it greets dogs, it's friendly with children, or do you wanna condition that puppy in a way where it's scared of others? It lashes out, it barks, it bites. It's certain things it shouldn't. I mean, we get to control now what AI looks like two years from now, 10 years from now, and in the future globally. We get to be a part of and a leader in the conversation because regardless, globally. AI is gonna happen. So do you wanna be at the table or do you wanna be looking inside the room at everybody else at the table?

Brooke: 25:02

Such key points there, and you're reminding me of a interview I saw with Sam Altman and Theo, I'm sorry, I always forget his last name, and he had such an eloquent way of really just navigating and steering the conversation into more positive light and empowering and really putting us back in the driver's seat that we're, we're the ones like creating the future. And it's up to us as leaders to really shape all the things that are coming with ai. Um, I'm curious to touch on cybersecurity and what's going on in Washington because I see what's coming and I think that there's just gonna be such an increase in spam and identity theft. And now there's voice agents, like do you see the laws changing or do you see a lot of tightening up happening with cybersecurity right now?'cause it is a bit of a, a scary space right now with agents just being able to go out and buy things and make purchasing decisions on our behalf. Yeah, there's a lot of nervousness when it comes to just thinking about banking, you name it. Um mm-hmm. I'm cur I'm curious about your take on all of this.

Yemisi: 26:19

No. Yeah. During, um, when we were in the White House, one of the things that there were like some pretty high pretty big public high level hacks that had happened, and so they, um, folks got together in the White House and talked about putting together an executive order that would be like mandatory reporting for hacks because Right. We don't know how to stop hacks unless people are actually reporting that they're happening. Mm-hmm. We talked about you know, you put the burden on big tech and on these innovators to put in like certain guardrails. Now, when we talk about guardrails, there are some folks that go lock everything down. Like guardrails to me is a nuanced conversation because there are folks on one side that say. Lock it all down. No, no backdoor keys, nothing. Um, and then there are other people that say zero guardrails. Let it let nature run its course. And so I did find that I I worked in a space in a White House that was like very much in the middle, and so we'll see how that goes. But cybersecurity huge, huge concern. A main reason why you couldn't even have any kind of AI tools on government computers, government laptops, hacking is always foreign actors are always at the top of mind, and that is cybersecurity is one of the biggest reasons for those who are against any kind of, uh, AI acceleration is always cybersecurity. And so I think ignoring. The national security risks actually puts us at more of a detriment in the conversation.

Brooke: 27:40

Absolutely. I also think it's gonna be one of the biggest jobs coming up. Yeah. My brother works in cybersecurity and you know, a lot of people are curious what kind of jobs are coming through in the next couple years. That's absolutely gonna be a big one. Um, I like to always wrap it up with, what's one key takeaway that you are hoping listeners would want to take from this conversation?

Yemisi: 28:08

I wanna talk about jobs manufacturing and the fear that AI will erase those. Hmm. We are moving forward with technology and advancement regardless if grandpa keeps his job in the factory, those jobs are just eventually going to phase out. And there's really nothing that we all can do about that because we are so used to receiving products at a certain rate and at a certain time. Um, some of the biggest companies in our country, like Amazon produce things at such a rate that 10 men on a line are just not gonna keep up with the supply and demand nature that we now exist in. Because of that, it is imperative and it's almost disrespectful, I say, when people refuse to think about AI training and certification. I don't think you have to go to college in order to operate AI in order to work at a company that that uses ai. I think certification is gonna be one of the biggest booms and factors in helping maintain the labor workforce and push back against the idea that AI will erase jobs for Americans. No, it will not. If you work in tandem with it and educate people as they come up and go along. Why are there not AI certification training courses in high schools in the same way that they used to do? Um, what was it? The shop classes where they would teach you how to fix a car that is in that same way, that is what we should be doing for young high schoolers, people who wanna go into trade, you should be working on certification because manufacturing jobs, the landscape is going to change and it's our job. If we care about people, if we care about your community, care about the citizens in the United States, it's your job to adapt to how things are changing.'cause you can't stop it.

Brooke: 29:53

I love that you talked about the job industry and the workforce and where everything's heading. You also just touched a little bit on education, so I think we can't leave without talking about that hot ticket as well. Mm-hmm. Um. Certifications, upskilling, our education system is gonna shift so much. Absolutely. A lot of people are just wondering what it is that we can even teach that you can't answer quickly. Within ChatGPT, what's the point in learning half the things we're learning now? What's your take on education and how that's going to shift in the coming years?

Yemisi: 30:30

Yeah. Well, I always tell people, um, look, AI doesn't replace your teacher. There are still human things like emotion discernment that you are only gonna understand as, as a human being with emotional value. Right. AI isn't something that's here to teach you sympathy, uh, here to teach you compassion. Those are human traits. Uh, almost like right animalists, animalistic in nature that we are all just going to have to teach each other, right? A lioness does not teach itself through ai. There's still, there are still things that we are just gonna have to depend on because we're like nurture in nature. So let's not be scared of AI because we think that AI is trying to educate our children. No, no, no. You still have to teach other people how to be good people. AI cannot do that. AI can teach you how to be. Smart and let's create good and smart people. I think it's just that simple.

Brooke: 31:29

Very simple take. I agree as well. You shared a little bit about upskilling and learning through certifications, which also reminded me about the course industry. I personally feel like we're gonna be shifting so much more into the course industry, and you're gonna see the rise of the entrepreneur, the solopreneur, where we're gonna be learning from each other. You mentioned about learning from each other. I agree. I think that we're gonna learn from real world experience in a. And a faster rate and faster pace. Mm-hmm. With the help of tools and technology and ai. But I also think it's really important to have that one-to-one connection and, and people learning those soft skills, those interpersonal emotional intelligence. There's this group called Alpha School. I'm gonna try to attend one of their orientations that they're having. They're expanding to Miami in the coming weeks,'cause I'm dying to talk to their teachers. They've started in Texas and they really integrate AI into their learnings and they have such a unique way of approaching education and because of that, they see people really excel faster and they're about teaching them real life skills. Um, how to run and manage an Airbnb is one of them. Like, think about. Mm-hmm. How incredible that would be to have had that passive income right away and learn that in college.

Yemisi: 32:56

Wow. I think that's incredible and especially like, look, the price tag of college is astronomical now. I can't even imagine, like thinking about having kids multiple wins and helping them pay their way through college is crazy to think about the debt that they're saddled with. So I. I think that we are living in a time where people, right, you have a podcast, I mean, 15 years ago you only got your news through like five channels, and we can name'em all right? And now there are people who are leaving the news that exist on Substack, on YouTube. There are people who are making a living off of TikTok. TikTok did 9 billion annually just in the US on e-commerce. Their entire shops that exist on TikTok, small businesses booming because of that platform. People don't have to go to the five standard things anymore. And because of that, I also think people don't have to utilize universities anymore. If you wanna be an entrepreneur, you don't have to do four years of college, two years of an MBA, going into a Deloitte, a McKinsey, or something space like that. I know people who are making beyond their means living who? Aren't your traditional kind of college graduates because they are utilizing the new environment and the space that we live in. And I, I mean, I think that's fantastic. The alpha, I mean, the alpha courses sound amazing. Passive income from Airbnb. Yes. Why are we not teaching people about all of this? And in this day and age, as prices continue increasing, you're gonna need multiple streams said. Income, so why not learn?

Brooke: 34:28

Absolutely. Have you gotten into Substack or are you leaning into being the face of your brand as a consultant?

Yemisi: 34:35

I am. I am dipping my toe into Substack more and more. I've got friends that are very, the people who substack, substack hard. It is really its own world. I've dived into TikTok and YouTube, um, like playing around a lot with Instagram reels. It's been interesting. I go on Fox a lot and they're pushing a lot of, like the Fox News anchors to have like TikTok accounts and things like that because, I mean, I tell people all the time. Yeah. I sit, I sit on cable news, I go on MSNBC, Fox News. I don't even own a tv. I wouldn't even know how to watch myself. I said, I watch those slips when they clip'em and they put'em on Instagram or YouTube shorts or something like that. And I also find that's the best way of engagement because people like things bite-size and quick. Now nobody's sitting down to watch 60 minutes. You know, you sit down with your parents, you'd watch like an hour long news program. People don't do that anymore. The news moves quickly, and so you gotta adapt to it.

Brooke: 35:30

It does move very quickly. I attempted to download TikTok Studio yesterday and Live Stream, one of my podcast interviews. It kind of, uh, was too much processing for my computer. It didn't, It didn't work out. But I am leaning more into these different social spheres, clipping up. Mm-hmm. My content more. I think it's a whole nother conversation that we can have about being the face of your brand and yeah. Um, driving that, I can see why Fox would, would want its representatives to be leaning into TikTok. But thank you so much. I loved all the different directions this conversation went. I really enjoyed Yeah. Getting to talk to you and ask you kind of some hardball questions that you didn't

Yemisi: 36:15

flinch at all. No, it was fun. It was great. Um, and I I hope people take away from it. Learning not to be scared, you know, I'm over here in Washington talking to people who, who existed before even the first computer. And, you know, we're trying to get them as quickly as we can up to being supportive of people growing in this AI space. And not restricting it just from like a, this feeling of what is this? It's new. Like, let's put guardrails on it. No, let's let it grow and let's watch it. Help communities.

Brooke: 36:48

Absolutely. And if listeners wanna get in touch with you, what's the best way to connect?

Yemisi: 36:54

Yeah, it is Yemisi Egbewole on YouTube, on TikTok. It's YemYamz on Instagram. Yeah, and I post a lot about where I am, what I will be doing, and a lot of my thoughts and opinions.

Brooke: 37:08

Wonderful. I'll have to tag you on YouTube when this full video goes live. I just launched that last week. Thank you so much for your time Yemisi today. I really appreciate you.

Yemisi: 37:19

Of course. Thank you for having me.

Brooke: 37:21

Wow I hope today's episode opened your mind to what's possible with AI. Do you have a cool use case on how you're using AI and wanna share it? DM me. I'd love to hear more and feature you on my next podcast. Until next time, here's to working smarter, not harder. See you on the next episode of How I AI. This episode was made possible in partnership with the Collective AI, a community designed to help entrepreneurs, creators, and professionals seamlessly integrate AI into their workflows. One of the biggest game changers in my own AI journey was joining this space. It's where I learned, connected and truly enhanced my understanding of what's possible with ai. And the best part, they offer multiple membership levels to meet you where you are. Whether you want to DIY, your AI learning or work with a personalized AI consultant for your business, The Collective has you covered. Learn more and sign up using my exclusive link in the show notes.