I didn’t notice the shift while it was happening.

It only became clear when I looked back at how I worked a year ago compared to now.

The tools changed, but more than that, the nature of what I spend my time on changed, in a way that’s hard to reverse once you see it.

What my work used to look like

A year ago, a large part of my week was operational.

Cleaning data, writing SQL and Python, producing ad-hoc analyses, building dashboards that stakeholders would inevitably come back to and ask me to update.

A lot of repetition, much of it necessary to make sure the final output actually fit their use case.

That layer has started to shift. For me, the change wasn’t from “using AI as a helper” to “using AI more”, it was from using AI as a tool to building agentic skills, MCP servers, LLM applications, as part of my job.

What I actually use, and for what

The fundamentals of my role haven’t changed, but the shape of it has. I’ve gone from a builder of dashboards to a curator of domain context and a builder of AI systems.

• Codex and Claude Code for generating code, refactoring, and code review. Most of the time it’s faster than writing it myself. Sometimes it’s not, I’ll come back to that. 👀

• Claude / ChatGPT for first-pass analyses. I feed in a previous analysis and ask it to draft a new one for a similar problem. I still rewrite most of it, but starting from a draft is much easier than starting from a blank page.

• Agent and skill building for the parts of my work that repeat. Here I’m not the writer of the analysis, I’m the conductor, making sure the AI’s logic aligns with business goals.

The shift I didn’t expect

The bigger change wasn’t speed. It was scope.

A few weeks ago, a UX researcher reached out asking me to help understand a product behavior pattern. The analysis involved building a logistic regression to understand what drives users to return (for a product I don’t own).

A year ago, that kind of cross-functional ask would have required real setup: scoping the work, routing it to a data scientist to do the analysis, even for a proof of concept.

Now, stepping into an adjacent problem is much easier, because execution isn’t the limiting factor anymore. Judgement is.

Our team is also building an LLM-powered internal tool right now, even though none of us are full-stack web developers. The gap between “what I know” and “what I can build” has narrowed, not because we suddenly became experts, but because the execution layer is no longer where the time goes.

And this isn’t unique to data roles. I see engineers building tools outside their main stack, designers prototyping with code, PMs running their own analyses.

The shape of what someone can do at work is changing across the entire workforce.

Where my time actually goes now

Less coding. More everything else.

More time talking to PMs and stakeholders to understand what they need to move faster.

More time on the deep analyses where the pattern looks fine on the surface and only gets interesting when you push on the assumption underneath.

More time deciding what’s even worth building in the first place.

AI is fast at implementation, but it’s not yet reliable at knowing what’s meaningful to pursue. It tends to over-engineer when the context isn’t constrained, so part of my job is now framing the problem tightly enough that the output stays grounded. Strong references in, useful output out.

What I won’t outsource

Even with all this, there are parts of my work I still do myself.

I talk to PMs and stakeholders directly to understand what they actually need before any code gets written. I sanity-check data across sources manually, that’s the kind of work where being wrong is expensive and AI shortcuts haven’t earned my trust yet.

I design the experiments and write the recommendation at the end of an analysis, because AI lacks the domain knowledge to decide which metrics are worth tracking and which trade-offs are worth accepting.

There are also moments where writing the code myself is just faster than waiting for AI to generate and review it. I’ve stopped forcing it.

The point isn’t to use AI for everything, it’s to use it where it actually helps. For small code updates and edits, I let it handle the work. For framing, judgment, and decisions, that part stays mine.

💭 Final Thoughts

When writing code becomes easy, deciding what to build becomes the real bottleneck.

A year ago, you could still get by as a primarily execution-focused data scientist, someone who writes the SQL and python codes, builds the dashboard, answers the request. I don’t think that’s enough anymore.

The value is shifting toward understanding the business, the KPIs, the system behind the product. Toward being the person who uses AI as an execution layer, rather than being the execution layer.

I’ve stopped thinking about it as replacement and started thinking about it as positioning.

That’s the part of the year that actually changed me.

Xoxo,

Kessie 🧚

The idea was simple, to build a tool for my clients, friends, and honestly, the anxious part of me could message at 11:30pm when the spiral starts.

“Will I be replaced by AI?”

What I didn’t expect was this 👀:

Building it taught me why most vibe-coded AI apps feel impressive as prototypes but rarely survive as production systems.

Because the hardest part isn’t generating code.

It’s designing a system you can actually trust, measure, and improve.

First, What Is RAG?

RAG stands for Retrieval Augmented Generation.

Instead of relying purely on what an AI model already knows, you first retrieve relevant content from a knowledge base, then generate an answer grounded in that content.

Think of it like an open-book exam. The model doesn’t guess from memory, it looks things up first.

You see RAG in internal company knowledge bots, customer support chat, “Ask this document” features, and personal AI tools like what I built.

The goal is to reduce hallucination by anchoring responses in real data.

The workflow is pretty straightforward:

1. Chunk your documents into smaller pieces

2. Convert those chunks into vectors (embeddings)

3. Store them in a database

4. Retrieve relevant chunks when a question is asked

5. Feed those chunks to the LLM with the user query

6. Get accurate, grounded responses instead of hallucinations

Simple pipeline.

But design is where things get complicated.

The Two Ways to Build RAG

Classic RAG always retrieves before answering. Simple and predictable, but it pulls context even when it’s unnecessary, which adds irrelevant context, noise and latency.

Agentic RAG let the model decides whether retrieval is needed at all. More flexible, and potential better user experience, but it could introduce inconsistency, and is harder to evaluate.

I built the agentic version.

And that flexibility without clear boundaries became a design problem that I ran into.

When the System Behaves Inconsistently

I tested the RAG chatbot with: “How do I use AI to make money?”

It responded:

“While the context does not provide specific strategies for making money with AI…”, then it gave a loosely related answer anyway.

Technically, this was correct. But not helpful either.

Then I asked:

“What is north star metrics?”

It answered confidently, even though that phrase doesn’t appear anywhere in my documents.

But when I asked:

“Who is the president of the United States in 2026?”

It refused entirely.

Same system. Three questions. Three completely different behaviors. So what was actually going on?

• The “make money” question had no good match in my knowledge base, but the system attempted an answer anyway rather than stopping.

• The president question sat clearly outside my domain, so it declined.

• “North star metrics,” on the other hand, overlaps with the business and growth language I write about, close enough that retrieval found something adjacent, and the model filled in the rest from general knowledge.

Each of these behaviors points to the same root cause:

I had built the pipeline, but I hadn’t defined the rules.

Here Is How I Improve It

Before touching chunk size or prompt tweaks, I had to define system boundaries.

1. Grounding policy

   Should the system only answer if the exact information exists in the knowledge base?
   Or can it answer anything thematically related?
   Or should retrieval be optional context?
   

   Not choosing means the model defaults to something in between inconsistently.
   

2. Domain scope

   What is explicitly in scope?
   What should always trigger refusal?
   

   “North star metrics” slipped through because the model inferred my domain from semantic similarity rather than a clear definition.
   

   If you don’t define this, the model approximations will go wrong and increase confusion.
   

3. Refusal rules and confidence thresholds

   When retrieval finds something only loosely related, is that enough?
   

   If you don’t set a threshold, the system will answer whenever it finds anything vaguely relevant.
   

   Once these decisions are explicit, the system becomes predictable.

   And predictability is what separates a vide-coded prototype from something you’d put in production.

To know whether the system is actually behaving according to those rules, you need metrics.

How to Actually Evaluate What You’ve Built

Once I saw the inconsistency, I know I need to improve it beyond intuition and started measuring.

RAG evaluation has two layers.

• Retrieval evaluation
  This checks whether the content is being pulled correctly before generating a single word. Three metrics matter here:

  • Precision at k: of the top results retrieved, how many were actually relevant?

  • Recall at k: did the system retrieve the right content at all?

  • Mean reciprocal rank: how early did the correct content appear?

  
  Think of it as grading the search engine, not the answer.
  

• End-to-end evaluation
  This looks at the final response quality. In practice, this means manually reviewing a sample of outputs.

  • It’s recommended to review at least 20 to 100 responses in production systems, and categorizing failures: retrieval failures, tone mismatches, generic answers, repetitive phrasing.

  • When I did this, I noticed many of my responses ended with “You’ve got this.”

    Apparently I write that a lot lol.

    
    The model learned it and repeated it everywhere which is something I want it to stop.
    
    

  Once you categorize failures, we have a system for improvement and it becomes measurable iteration.

💭 Final Thoughts

Building the chatbot took a weekend.

Understanding how it should behave took much longer.

That gap is why most AI prototypes stay prototypes.

It’s easy to generate a demo, but without defined boundaries, metrics, and iteration, it is not ready for production. ⚙️

The AI skill that matters most isn’t just prompting a product.

It’s knowing why your system does what it does, catching it when it drifts, and being able to make it measurably better with intention.

Anyone can ship version one.

The practitioners who stand out are the ones who can prove why version five is better than version two.

Xoxo,

Kessie

I hope you had an amazing holiday season (I definitely did 🥳).

I feel like I blinked, and suddenly it’s almost the end of January 2026.

Coming back from vacation, I felt recharged… and at the same time, slightly out of rhythm, trying to find my way back into a productive routine.

January is a strange month.

Some people start the year strong, full of momentum, and then struggle to follow through a few weeks in.

Others may already feel behind, guilty, or off track — like I did.

I’m finally back in my productive rhythm. 🥁

Here’s what helped me reset my productivity after the break, and might help you follow through too 😉.

1. Start with a vision

When I put together my vision board, I asked myself these questions:

• Why do these goals matter to me?

• What kind of person do I become if I stay exactly the same?

• And… who do I become if I actually change?

There’s a framework I keep coming back to called the regret minimization formula.

Imagine yourself at 80 years old, looking back at your life, and ask: Which decision would I regret least?

That was the same question that led Jeff to leave his stable, high-paying job. From the outside, there was no reason to leave.

But as he watched the internet grow, one question kept coming back: What if I never tried?

He knew that regret would last longer than the risk.

So he took the leap, and started what would later become Amazon.

Not all bold choices lead to massive success.

But this formula often gives you the clarity you need to move forward.

2. Start with action, not emotion

Most goals die at the thinking stage.

“I want to create content… but what will people think?” 🫣

And then another year passes, with nothing changing.

Motivation is unreliable.

What works is boring daily habits, clear systems that carry you forward even on low-energy days.

If you sit there debating whether you should go to the gym, you’ll probably stay home.

But if you just put on your shoes and leave, the rest takes care of itself.

Action creates emotion. Not the other way around.

That’s why I act first, before my brain negotiates me out of it.

3. Don’t just seek inspiration. Be the inspirer.

We don’t truly learn until we can teach.

That realization is what pushed me to start creating content in the first place.

Not because I felt ready.

But because explaining ideas forced clarity, and showing up publicly forced accountability.

Teaching strengthened my thinking.

Sharing lessons forced growth.

And showing up made me braver than waiting ever did.

Sometimes the fastest way forward is becoming the person you once needed.

💭 Final Thoughts

That’s all you need to ACTUALLY follow through on your New Year goals.

Not a reinvention, just a decision to move, and make 2026 the year you finally bet on yourself. 🌱

Xoxo,

Kessie 🧚

I chose my major.

I chose my career path.

I chose to keep learning new skills.

So in my mind, I was already in control… right?

I assumed choosing = owning.

Turns out, it doesn’t.

And it took 1 years of my career to finally understand,

I wasn’t owning my career.

I was… waiting.

I waited for opportunities to present themselves.

I waited for leaders to see my potential and promote me.

I waited to be known for something — instead of deciding what I wanted to be known for and doing the work to be seen.

Little did I know, I was outsourcing my career growth to everyone except myself.

What owning your career actually looks like

When you are a product owner of your career, you don’t just complete tasks.

You don’t just follow the roadmap.

You don’t wait for the opportunities, you create them.

Julia Fedorin wanted to work at Shopify. They didn’t have a marketing internship open.

So she created a video campaign.

No application. Just initiative and show her good work.

Within 24 hours, she got the offer.

Not just because she was lucky, but because she created an opportunity when there wasn’t any.

When you operate like a product owner, your work becomes meaningful.

When you operate only as an executor, your work becomes draining. 🫤

📈 How to own your career?

Here’s what’s working for me: start seeing yourself as a product.

Our work sells our value every day.

And when we don’t market ourselves?

No one is responsible for doing it for us.

Start thinking strategically about everything you do:

• What are we building?

• Why does it matter?

• How does my work fit into what the business strategy?

• Where are the gaps I can help improve?

• What would I build to solve the problem?

• How can I test, iterate, and fail fast?

• build v1 → v2 → v3

This applies at work.

This applies to personal projects.

This applies to your brand.

Because owners don’t wait to be picked, they know their value and they pick themselves. 💡

They decide what they want to be known for, what skills matter, and what direction they want to grow.

They track their progress, set clear KPI, and keep improving.

No one can’t improve what doesn’t exist, so they ship even when it’s imperfect.

Instead of waiting for permission to innovate, they create opportunities where none existed.

🧠 Why so many of us wait

Most of us don’t wait because we’re lazy.

We wait because we overthink. 🤯

We’ve spent years being rewarded for following the rules.

So without realizing it, we keep waiting:

• “I’ll lead when someone gives me a leadership project.”

• “I’ll speak when someone invites me.”

• “I’ll grow when someone assigns me the right task.”

But the people who grow fastest don’t wait.

They self-assign.

At a book launch I went to this week, one of the authors joked:

“This book only exists because we didn’t know how hard it would be.
If we knew, we would’ve never started.” — Mengying Li

Overthinking kills more dreams than failure ever will. 🥊

You may want to start posting on LinkedIn… but worry what colleagues will think.

You may want to try speaking… but wait for someone to say you’re ready.

You may want new skills… but wait for the “right project.”

I get it... the hardest part of owning your career is often emotional (filled with imposter syndrome, fear of conflict, etc).

But the moment you stop waiting is the moment your career actually begins.

💭 Final Thoughts

Owning your career isn’t about having every step figured out.

It’s not about confidence, the perfect plan, or waiting to feel “ready.”

It starts with one simple shift:

Stop waiting for someone to choose you, and choose yourself.

Xoxo,

Kessie 🧚‍♀️

🤝 P.S. If something here resonated, and you’d like support navigating your career with more clarity and confidence, I’m always here to help.
Book a strategic session to crush your biggest roadblock. I’ll map a personalized plan, share practical frameworks that work, and support you without overwhelm. 🫶🏻
Join 50+ coachees.

Share Elevate Squad 🌟

This was posted by Zara Zhang and reached over 3.2M views.

A UC Berkeley professor even replied saying they’re working on it, but the real skill students need today is the ability to learn quickly and adapt.

When even the elites are trying hard to keep up with the pace of AI, what does that say about the rest of us?

To me, it’s a reminder of the world we’re now living in:

In the AI era, your degree matters far less than your ability to learn, unlearn, and adapt.

And there’s a name for this ability.

It is called agency.

High-agency people navigate change differently.

When they don’t know something, they don’t panic, they get curious.

They believe things are figure-out-able.

They look for solutions, resources, people, and possibilities.

Some people call this an ‘owner mindset’ or an ‘entrepreneur mindset.’

Low-agency people do the opposite.

They wait for instructions.

They may have great ideas but talk themselves out of acting on them.

They assume someone else knows more, so they wait for others to solve the problem first.

Psychology actually explains where low agency comes from. Studies show it’s often shaped by past experiences:

• Repeated failures → “my efforts don’t matter”

• Negative authority figures → “others know better than me”

• Punishing environments → “it’s safer not to try”

So.. low agency isn’t a personality flaw.

It’s a learned pattern, which can be unlearned!

Why Agency Matters:

Agency is what separates people who move forward from people who stay stuck.

It’s the difference between “I can figure this out” and “Someone else probably knows better.”

Stephen Covey talks about this in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People that real growth starts from the inside-out. Your character, beliefs, and sense of responsibility shape everything else you do.

When you build agency, you shift from reacting to your environment ➡️ shaping it.

You stop waiting for permission.

You stop assuming you’re behind.

And you start trusting that you can learn what you don’t yet know.

In a world that changes this fast, the people who take initiative are the ones who stay future-proof.

How to develop high Agency?

Here are some simple, evidence-based shifts that can help you increase your agency in daily life:

1. Notice where you feel low agency.
   
   Start by paying attention to the situations where you pull back.
   
   Is it learning AI? Speaking up? Starting something new?
   Then ask yourself: “What story am I telling myself here?”
   And how would you rewrite it in a way that’s more true today?
   

2. Practice “psychological flexibility.”
   
   ACT(Acceptance & Commitment Therapy), developed by psychologist Steven C. Hayes defined psychological flexibility as “the ability to be present, open up, and do what matters.”
   
   You don’t need confidence to take action — you need flexibility.
   Instead of waiting until you “feel ready,” try: “I can move forward even if I feel unsure.”
   This one shift increases initiative more than motivation ever will.
   

3. Make the next step tiny and visible.
   
   High agency is built on micro-wins.
   
   This year I developed a habit of reading daily! 🎉
   I didn’t start with an hour — I started with 10 minutes every morning.
   Easy. Doable. 😎
   
   But it changed how I felt in the morning because it gave me an early win.
   It made me feel like I already “achieved” something before 8 AM.
   

4. Reduce friction, not effort.
   
   People don’t avoid action because it’s hard, they avoid it because there’s friction.
   
   One thing that helped me is I placed the book right where I would see it the moment I woke up.
   It became the first thing I touched, instead of grabbing my phone and scrolling.
   

5. Do one small “courage task” each week.
   
   A courage task is something you’ve been avoiding.
   For example,

   • reaching out to a stranger

   • trying a new AI tool

   • posting an idea online (wherever feels intimidating)

   • asking a “stupid” question

   • sharing your unpopular opinion in a meeting

   
   These tiny acts of courage add up.
   And each one help refine your identity:

   “I’m someone who feel the fear and do it anyway.”
   

🎁BONUS: What other skills worth building?

People always ask Jeff Bezos “What’s going to change in the next 10 years?”

But he says the more important question is:

“What’s NOT going to change in the next 10 years?”

At Amazon, customers will always want lower prices, faster delivery, and a great selection.

So he built the entire business around those things that won’t change.

📝 And the same applies to your career.

Even in an AI-driven future, these human skill sets will always matter:

• Discover and solve new problems

• Communicating clearly and influencing others

• Advocate for yourself, and create meaningful impact

• Build relationships that create opportunities

🌱So here’s your reflection for the week:

What skills have you already built through work, life, setbacks, or side projects that will still matter 10 years from now?

I’d love to hear what comes up for you.

You’ve got this!

Xoxo,

Kessie 🧚‍♀️

🤝 P.S. If something here resonated, and you’d like support building your agency or navigating your career with more clarity and confidence, I’m always here to help.
Book a focused session to crush your biggest roadblock. I’ll map a personalized plan, share practical frameworks that work, and support you without overwhelm. 🫶🏻
Join 50+ coachees.

Share Elevate Squad 🌟

You’ve probably heard about ChatGPT Atlas, the new AI browser making headlines.

You may be wondering why everyone’s talking about “AI browsers”—but you’re not quite sure how to use one in a way that actually supports your growth and workflow.

If you haven’t heard of an AI browser, let me break it down for you.

What Is OpenAI’s Atlas and How Does It Work?

An AI browser is essentially a browser you interact with it conversationally: summarizing articles, highlighting key parts, asking natural-language questions — all without the usual copy-paste shuffle.

As the BBC puts it:

“It’s all built around a chatbot you’re meant to talk to to surf the web.”

Both ChatGPT and Atlas can help you save time on research or manual Googling.

So.. why use Atlas?

For example, if you paste a link into ChatGPT today, it may respond that it can’t access that site.

That’s because large language models are like the “brain” 🧠. They can reason, but they can’t see or act on the web.

An AI browser changes that! 💁🏻‍♀️ It gives the model the ability to view what’s on a page, understand the context, and even take small actions like filling out forms, making reservations, or shopping. 😛

How to Use OpenAI’s Atlas to Boost Productivity

Have you ever lost track of where you saw an article, so you leave dozens of tabs open “just in case” you’ll need it later?

Atlas can remember what you’ve read, recall context, and help you pick up right where you left off.

So now you can do all your research in one place:

• Find relevant sources faster: ask the browser to “find articles on [your topic]” and click through the ones that matter

• Summarize key insights: get concise take-aways from long reads or videos.

• Use it as your thought-partner: question, connect, and clarify your own thinking as you learn

Let’s say you are doing a competitor analysis. You can ask ChatGPT Atlas to find 3 competitive products and generate a comparison report.

That said, there are still limitations — it can’t yet browse complex e-commerce sites, filter by price, or check out automatically.

Agent mode has its own limitation. It doesn’t yet fully understand why you need something, only that you asked for it.

⚠️ What You Might Be Losing

1. Your Right to Choose

The AI browser race is about who becomes the default decision-maker between you and the internet.

Whichever company wins (just as Chrome once did) will shape what you see, what you believe, and what you buy.

When AI recommends something, is it really the best for you, or the one most profitable for them?

👀 What to do instead:

Let AI assist your decision-making, not replace it. The moment you let it decide for you, you lose your right to choose.

2. Your Data Privacy

AI systems become more capable as they learn from our everyday use.

Cybersecurity researchers found that attackers can secretly plant instructions inside the AI’s memory, turning it from helpful assistance into silent data leak.

Atlas also blocked only 5.8% of phishing attempts, compared to ~50% by Chrome or Edge.

👀 What to do instead:

• Avoid storing personal or work-sensitive data in your chats

• Use AI browsers for research or writing — not for banking or private accounts

• Review and clear your AI’s stored memory regularly

• Pause and think before you click, type, or connect if anything seems off
  

3. Your Chance to Truly Learn

AI makes it easy to rely on summaries instead of thinking for ourselves.

But learning comes from effort.

Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.
— Benjamin Franklin

In one educational psychology study, students who wrote a short summary of what they learned scored 34% higher than those who only read a teacher’s summary — and 86% higher than those who simply reviewed slides.

So yes, summaries are helpful.

But real understanding happens when you produce something of your own, when you wrestle with ideas enough to make them stick.

👀 What to do instead:

Use summaries as a starting point: capture the big picture, then bring your own questions as you read.

This will help you engage more deeply, connect ideas, and turn information into insight.

Because in the end, the goal isn’t to read more and forget. It’s to learn with intention, not drown in information overload.

💭 Final Thoughts

This week, I’ve been thinking about why so many smart professionals feel stuck when it comes to AI.

It’s not lack of knowledge — it’s lack of clarity.

You don’t need to master every AI tools. You need a clear strategy that helps you own your strengths, and use AI to reach your goals faster.

You’ve got this! 💪🏼

Subscribe now

Xoxo,
Kessie 🧚

“In a few years, there will be the first zero-human billion-dollar company.”

You probably have heard about this statement, alongside with headlines about AI layoffs and new tools like Sora or AI agents that promise to “replace humans.”

Even MrBeast, one of the most successful creators on the planet, shared his concern about AI replacing content creators. 🥲

So, what should we do?

How can we even keep up?

What’s even worth doing anymore?

That quiet anxiety about the future?

Maybe you are keeping up with AI trends, but the more you scroll through how everyone else is “moving fast with AI,” the more anxious you feel.

😧 Why we fear the future

Psychologists call this catastrophic thinking — when uncertainty feels too big to predict, our minds fill it with fear.

When we hear statements like “AI will replace 80% of jobs”, our brains jump straight to the worst-case scenario.

Studies in cognitive behavioral therapy and neuroscience show that one of the most effective ways to reduce fear is by replacing avoidance with exposure and understanding.

In other words — you have to face your fear.

The more you experiment with AI tools, the faster your anxiety decreases, because your brain replaces imagination-based fear with evidence-based understanding.

Once you actually try AI, not just read headlines, you start to understand both its capabilities and its limits.

And suddenly, it is not as scary anymore.

You start to realize it still requires human in the loop, AI is your car that helps you reach your destination faster, instead of letting fear take the driver’s seat.

So, how can we move past the fear of AI Replacing us?

1/ First, know how AI really work

You don’t need to be an AI engineer.

But you do want to understand the foundation, so you can use AI intentionally.

Even if your role isn’t technical, understanding how AI works helps you see what’s hype, what’s real, and how we can do our work more efficiently.

Let’s break it down simply 👇

🧠 LLM — the “brain” of AI

• LLM (Large Language Model) powers tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, and Perplexity.

• Think of it as the brain that processes and generates text. It’s not truly “thinking.” It’s predicting the next most likely word based on patterns in data.

• That’s why if you give the same prompt to ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Grok, you’ll get different answers.

• Each model is trained differently — with its own data, tone, and strengths.

  • ChatGPT tends to be structured and articulate.

  • Claude is often more human-like and reflective.

  • Gemini leans toward Google-style information recall.

👀 MCP — the eyes and hands of AI

• Before MCP, every tool (like Notion, PayPal, Figma, Gmail, etc) had its own language — its own API format, authentication, and data structure.

• If you wanted AI to access them, you had to hand-code API call for each one separately. It was slow, and one small change in its API could break the entire system!

• With MCP, instead of teaching your AI separate dialects across tools, your AI just talks to MCP layer, which translates those requests that helps AI see, understand, and interact with your world.

🧩 RAG — giving AI a memory

• RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) lets AI access your own data instead of relying only on what the model was trained on.

• Think of RAG as the memory system for your AI.

• It can retrieve facts from your notes, emails, or documents — then generate answers based on that.

• For example:

  • A company might connect AI to their internal wiki to answer employee questions.

  • You might connect your past newsletters or journals so your AI remembers your values and your stories.

🤖 Agent — your assistant that takes action

• An Agent is when AI moves beyond conversation — it doesn’t just respond, it takes action.

• For example:

  • It could check your calendar and automatically reschedule a meeting when conflicts appear.

  • It could research daily industry news, pull insights from RAG to mimic your own data or writing style, and generate a LinkedIn post on your behalf.

• 👉 Limitation: Agents can still make mistakes. Without constraints or oversight, they can perform the wrong action or misread instructions, which creates trust issues. When humans can’t see how an Agent makes its decisions, we need to build validation rules and approval steps — what’s often called keeping a human in the loop.

🌍AGI — the dream of true human-like intelligence

• AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) is the vision of AI that can reason, learn, and adapt — one that can handle “complex intellectual tasks at a high level.”

• It’s what people imagine when they say, “AI will replace humans.”

• But here’s the truth: we’re not there yet. Sam Altman originally predicted we might reach AGI in 2025, but in his recent interview, he admitted we’re still far away. He described AGI as a continuous path, not a sudden revolution — as AI systems quietly become more capable over time.

2/ Know what AI can’t do

Current AI systems are still narrow — they excel at specific tasks but fail at flexible, intuitive thinking.

They can’t reason through ambiguity, make ethical judgments, or truly understand emotion and context the way humans do.

That’s why talking to AI might feel helpful, but it’s never the same as speaking to a coach, mentor, or friend who truly gets you.

In the workplace, AI agents will soon take on more tasks, boosting productivity, and transforming how we work — but not replacing the human spark that drives creativity, judgment, and problem solving.

As AI gets faster, we are already seeing AI work slop. Work that looks perfect on the surface but feels off once you look closer.

It wastes time because others must fix, verify, or clean it up — and over time, it erodes trust and credibility.

When you truly understand what AI can (and can’t) do, you will move past the fear of being replaced, and start thinking “how can I use AI to amplify what only I can do?”

Because while AI can remix, only you can live, feel, and connect. 🧬

And that’s exactly what the world still needs — and always will.

💭 Final Thought

Fear comes from confusion.

Confidence comes from clarity.

And clarity starts when you stop fearing AI, and start understanding it.

With AI’s help, we can invent, create, and evolve faster than ever before.

But AI will never replace the one thing that makes humans magnetic — our charisma, curiosity, and authenticity.

So instead of waiting for the day AI takes our jobs, let’s grow intentionally!

Because the future doesn’t belong only to the technical.

It belongs to the curious, adaptable human.

The ones who keep learning, connecting, and creating meaning.

The ones who shape the future of work. 🙌🏼

Xoxo,

Kessie 🧚‍♀️

My jaw dropped.

I was like, WOW how did you let that happen?

She told me she kept putting it off, waiting for the “right time” to go through them.

But of course, the longer she overthought how much time it would take, the more she procrastinated… until the number got so huge she didn’t even know where to start anymore.

And honestly, I know exactly how we ambitious overthinkers let this happen.

I’ve subscribed to multiple AI newsletters to keep up with trends. And guess what?

Because of the delivery time, they usually land during busy work hours or out having fun. I see the notification and think, I’ll read it later. But later never comes soon enough.

So what do I do differently now to catch up on unread emails without stress?

I use AI to batch-read my inbox in just a few minutes. Here are 2 ways you can try it too!

1. ChatGPT Pro (Agent Mode)

Pros:

• Super simple to set up once connected to your inbox

• Excellent at removing sponsor ads and highlighting only the key points

• Summaries are clear, structured, and easy to skim

Cons:

• Requires a paid ChatGPT Pro subscription

• Needs some initial setup in settings to connect with your email, but it takes only 1 min

✳️ Try this Prompt:

Summarize my most recent unread Primary inbox emails (up to 10), focusing on newsletters or news updates. For each email, extract all major topics covered (not just the headline), then return the result in a clean Notion note format.

Details & Format:
Include fields:
- Title: email subject line
- Date (PT): local Pacific Time of the email
- Sender: sender name + address
- Topics Covered: bullet list of all distinct stories or sections in the newsletter
- Why it matters: one short line per topic about its significance (business, AI, product growth, market shift, etc.)
- Gmail link: direct link to the email

2. Lutra.ai (Free Option)

Pros:

• Free plan gives you 15 summaries per day + 200 credits per month

• No ChatGPT Pro subscription required

• Great way to experiment if you’re just getting started with AI

Cons:

• May need a bit more prompt tweaking to get results as polished as ChatGPT

• Free tier can feel limiting if you have a very full inbox

👉 Little disclaimer: I’m not sponsored by either of these tools. I’m just sharing what I personally found helpful.

✳️ Try this Prompt:

Summarize my most recent unread emails (up to 10). For each email, give me an overview of the key messages and explain why it matters. Return the result in an HTML page format.

Note: Why 10? If you’ve got hundreds of unread messages, batching in smaller groups makes it easier to process without overwhelm.

⚠️ And if you’re planning to use this at work, double-check that it aligns with your company’s policy.

The point is—you don’t need hours to “catch up.”

With either of these, you can power through 10 emails in 5 minutes, quickly spot common themes across newsletters.

If there’s a specific topic you want to learn more about, you can always go back to the original email.

Batch reading helps you skim past the noise, narrow down your focus, and spend your energy on the things that actually matter to you.

💭 Final Thoughts

When we procrastinate, it’s rarely about the task itself. It usually points to something deeper.

It’s an emotion-regulation challenge. We avoid tasks not because they’re hard, but because starting them feels emotionally uncomfortable. 

A recent study on academic procrastination shows a strong link between low self-efficacy and emotional regulation difficulties—when you don’t believe you can do something, you delay it.

So one way to beat procrastination? No more negative self talk!

💡With just 115 days left in this year, let’s challenge ourselves:

• What’s the one big goal you actually want to reach by year-end?

• What would shift if you stopped procrastinating?

• And what might shift if you keep putting it off?

You got this!

Xoxo,
Kessie

🍵 Here’s my tip jar

Every bit of support means so much — just knowing you’re here with me keeps Elevate Squad going 🫶🏻

Share

Your overthinking brain immediately goes into overdrive:
"I knew I wasn't smart enough."
"I should have answered that question differently."

Stop. Take a breath.

Here's what I learned from speaking with Sarika Goel, a resilient coach with 20 years of global HR experience: Most of the time, rejection has nothing to do with your worth.

Let’s hear more about the real HR secrets that no one talks about behind the scene.

Secret #1: Your LinkedIn Profile and Online Presence is Your Silent Interview

While you're perfecting your resume for the hundredth time, here's what's actually happening behind the scenes:

"Almost all recruiters and many hiring managers would review candidates online presence to look for their ideal candidates.”

Candidates who post valuable content on LinkedIn stand out – not just to HR, but to hiring managers too. Your authentic voice matters more than polished perfection.

Yes, posting can feel “cringe.” But here’s the truth: who defines cringe? What costs you more — a moment of discomfort, or never being seen at all?

👉 We can all start small. For example, reposting other’s helpful contents. Add your own thoughtful comment. One step at a time.

Secret #2: HR are Drowning in Pressure

When you don’t hear back, or your application can’t move forward, your brain might assumes the worst: “they ghosted me again.”

But that silence may have nothing to do with you. HR generalists are juggling recruitment alongside performance reviews, policies, onboarding, etc. Things slip.

I once landed a job because I proactively followed up. The hiring manager wanted to move forward — HR had just been swamped and forgot to reach out. Most people would assume this was a silent rejection and never reach out again. But I'm glad I did, and it made all the difference.

👉 Don’t assume the worst, and rejection is not equal to your worth.

Secret #3: Rejection doesn’t have to be the end

Most people disappear after rejection. Overthinkers spiral into self-doubt. But here's what actually separates those who break through:

"Building relationship with hiring manager, and the recruiters is very powerful... connecting with those hiring manager over a period of time can actually change things for you. You never know when they have, again, hiring needs and even before the job is posted, they may contact you."

👉 Instead of asking only "What went wrong?" ask "How can I add value to your organization in the future?"

Secret #4: Know your worth before others do

One truth that came up in our conversation: no one will believe in you until you believe in yourself first.

Sarika shared how she broke into HR not because the role was open, but because she kept showing up, helping, and proving her value. The company created an opportunity for her — because she had already created it for herself.

I had the same experience early in my career. People told me: “Come back when you have more experience.” Instead, I built a portfolio by volunteering and building my own projects. By the time interviews came, I wasn’t “just a new grad.” I was someone who had already done the work.

👉 Don’t wait for permission. Create opportunities for yourself, however small.

While so much about hiring happens behind the scenes can feel random and out of your control, your growth doesn’t have to be!!

You get to choose how you grow and what you want to be known for every single day.

That’s what we explored in my firechat with Sarika — practical ways ambitious overthinkers can take ownership of their growth.

1/ Build Your Confidence Muscle
Confidence isn’t built overnight — it comes in small steps. Sarika shared how creating process goals (like sending three applications a day) and celebrating those actions helps build momentum and self-belief.

For example, I keep a “well-done list”. As an overthinker, I used to fixate on what I didn’t do well. Writing down even the smallest wins remind me I am making progress, even when things feel tough. That simple practice has kept me moving forward.

2/ Learn to “Sell Yourself”
Selling yourself doesn’t mean bragging. It means being clear on your strengths, sharing them authentically, and framing failures as lessons learned instead of hiring them.

I used to feel shy about speaking up about my achievements, but over time I realized it’s not about boasting — it’s about helping others see the impact I can bring.

3/ Recognize Burnout vs. Plateau
Thinking of leaving your job? Pause first. Burnout and plateau feel similar, but they’re different. As Sarika put it, if you’re not feeling energized, learning, or making an impact, it’s time to reflect before jumping.

Sometimes we assume the grass is greener on the other side, which may not be the truth, and you may still face the same problem even when you are in a different company. Reflection helps you uncover the clarity that’s really missing.

4/ Work with a coach
We both shared how coaching creates transformation through clarity and confidence. A coach helps break down overwhelming goals into small, doable steps so you can actually move forward. For me, coaching shifted how I showed up at work — from staying quiet in meetings to speaking up early, influencing decisions, and building stronger partnerships.

If you feel stuck, that’s usually the signal it’s time to talk to someone. Having a coach can help you find clarity faster, and accelerate your growth.

5/ Thriving in the Age of AI
“Resilience isn’t about competing with technology. It’s about reconnecting with your strengths and taking small steps. Every little progress is still progress.”
Like many, I’ve had fears about AI replacing jobs. What changed was realizing: if AI replaces me, it replaces everyone. Instead of resisting, we should start asking how we could partner with AI to do our job better.

Start small: experiment with AI in one area of your work. Let it take care of the repetitive tasks so you can focus on strategy, relationships, and the skills that set you apart.

💭 Final Thought

Rejection is not the end of the story. More often than not, it’s about timing, priorities, or randomness behind the scenes.

What matters is how you respond: with resilience, self-trust, and the courage to keep creating opportunities for yourself.

One thing I took away from John C. Maxwell’s The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth is this:

“Growth doesn’t happen automatically. It requires a conscious effort and plan. Individuals must be proactive in their personal development.”

Just like building any machine learning models, growth requires training over time — small steps, experiment, and refining with each iteration. When rejection shows up, we know it’s not proof we’re not good enough, it’s simply part of the process.

Xoxo,

Kessie

Share

About Sarika Goel

Sarika Goel is a resilience coach with over 20 years of experience in global HR across India, Singapore, China, and Australia. She has hired and developed talent for multinational organizations, bringing a wealth of behind-the-scenes insight into how recruiters and hiring managers make decisions.

After navigating her own career transitions and personal challenges, Sarika now coaches immigrants and entrepreneurs to build resilience, clarity, and confidence in their professional journeys.

✨ Connect with Sarika

• LinkedIn

• Email

For weeks, I had been wanting to build my first AI agent. Something that would my daily research, and help me save time from information overload.

I watched 12 different AI agent tutorials. TWELVE. Some explained what AI agents do, some showed cool demos of their creations. And yes, I felt clearer and more confident after understanding the concepts.

But I still hadn't built a single agent. 🙈

I fell into the tutorial trap, consumed hours of AI content, nodded along to explanations, but got stuck when it was time to actually BUILD something.

Here's what I learned when I FINALLY stopped watching and started doing...🥳

1/ Watching Is NOT Learning (And Why That's Your Real Problem)

When I felt overwhelmed, I convinced myself that watching tutorials WAS progress. "I'm learning!" I told myself as I bookmarked yet another "Build Your First Agent" video.

But real learning? That only happened when I finally opened n8n and started clicking buttons.

I remember feeling very confused about what "API calls" meant as a new grad not coming from a CS background. It sounded so technical and intimidating.

Turns out, it's literally copy and paste. It's like getting a key card for your hotel room - you just swipe it where it needs to go.

That's it. No coding required.

🌟 Pro tip: stop letting fancy words be your excuse to procrastinate. The moment I built my first agent, my brain shifted from "This is too complicated for me" to "Oh wait, it's actually not that hard."

That confidence shift? That's what changes everything in your career.

2/ Tutorials Break (And That's Actually Expected)

Yesterday, I was following a tutorial from 2 months ago.

Guess what? A feature the creator used didn't exist anymore. The interface had changed.

If you are a beginner reading any technical blog post, you might start to panic, but actually this happens ALL THE TIME.

What worked before might look completely different today. Instead of being frustrated and stopped, try to ask yourself, "What are they actually trying to accomplish here?"

Then use AI as your troubleshooting partner. I'll describe what the tutorial was trying to do and what I'm actually seeing, and let AI provide the new solution for me.

🌟 Pro tip: Focus on understanding the GOAL of each step, not just copying the exact clicks.

3/ Done Is Better Than Perfect (And Why Your First Agent Sucks)

Here's what I wish someone had told me earlier: Your first agent is supposed to be terrible.

I spent HOURS trying to build something as polished as the experts' demos. Meanwhile, those "experts" probably spent months refining their agents, testing edge cases, handling errors.

Here's what my first successful agent does: it sends me an email every morning with practical ML/AI projects for work and trending AI news on topics I care about.

It's not perfect yet (hence why it's in trash lol)!

I’m still learning how to make it better, but now I know I CAN DO IT!

🌟 Pro tip: Embrace the "good enough" philosophy. Your first agent needs to work, not impress anyone. The goal is to prove to yourself that you CAN build things, not to win any awards.

The confidence boost from seeing that first automated email in your inbox is worth more than any perfect tutorial you'll never complete.

4/ Learn From People Who've Already Done the Work

I discovered that people had already shared their agent templates.

Some tutorial just made it seem more difficult than it needed to be.

Then I found a few pre-built agents that were close to what I wanted, but not exactly what I had I in mind.

But seeing how other people structured their agents gave me ideas.

I started tweaking, combining elements from different templates, adding my own touches.

That's when I became genuinely motivated to build my own from scratch - because I finally understood what my own could look like.

Pro tip: Don't reinvent the wheel. Study how others built theirs, then make your own.

💭 Final Thoughts

When your vision is 100% crystal clear, you wouldn't let comparison or overwhelm stall your progress — you'd already be moving.

Most people stay stuck in “research mode,” thinking they are learning when they are actually delaying progress.

If you’ve been spinning in the same loop — consuming, comparing, and feeling lost on where to start — you don’t have to stay there.

The fastest way to learn anything is to take action, even if you fail. ✨

Start where you are, with what you have.

P.S. If you’d like to use the simple agent template I built to get started, just hit reply — I’m happy to share.🫶🏻

Xoxo,

Kessie

Share

Every week or two, I share actionable career tips, mindset shifts to quiet self-doubt, and practical AI strategies to help you grow with clarity and confidence, own your uniqueness, and thrive in a fast-changing world. 💌

🙈 AI is moving fast. And a lot of people I know (yes, even the engineers) are feeling behind.

The fear isn’t just about “Will AI replace my job?”

It’s about not being needed anymore, and quietly wondering:

“Am I already too late to start?”

Every day there’s a new buzzword, another tool, a shiny use case.

Some people seem to just get it. 🥲

And the rest of us? We’re overwhelmed. We don’t even know where to start.

A 2025 Gallup study found that the number of U.S. employees using AI even just a few times a year nearly doubled — from 21% to 40% in 2 years, while only 19% use it frequently (a few times per week or more).

So here’s the good news, you don’t need to be top 1% tech genius.

You just need to be one of the people actually applying AI to your work and life to stay competitive.

Many people mistakenly think that taking a course is the only way to get started with AI.

But how many actually finish them? And more importantly — how many apply what they learn? 🫣

Or worst, they tell themselves

“AI isn’t for people like me.” ☹️

💡Here’s a trick: stop thinking AI is the mysterious advantage, start seeing it just the internet.

We are in the era of transformation, and AI is here to reshape how we live and work.

Getting ahead in AI doesn’t mean going back to school or signing up for every certification.

It means learning just enough to choose the right tools for your goals — and making them part of how you work.

So if you’ve ever thought: “I’m too busy to learn AI” — this is for you.

👉 Here’s how I actually catch up — and how you can too:

1/ Don’t try to learn everything — just look up one thing now

If you hear a term like “RAG pipeline” or “agents” or “embeddings,” don’t overthink it.

Google it. Ask ChatGPT. Skim one article.

That’s it.

The key isn’t learning everything.

It’s building a habit of curiosity in the moment.

When we feel overwhelmed, we procrastinate.

And that’s where people get stuck — in avoidance mode.

No pressure. No “perfect time.” Just 5 minutes of exploration.

2/ Actively look for use cases that solve your real problems

You don’t need a 30-hour roadmap to start using AI.

You just need 3 minutes and a willingness to experiment.

🙋🏻‍♀️ Here’s what to do:

1. Notice what drains you (summarizing meetings, content planning, setting up calendar etc)

2. Search “AI tool for [that task]”

3. Try it on your own today, not someday

When you are actively testing, learning, and reflecting, you feel more in control.

That’s exactly how you build the confidence and clarity to grow in this new era.

3/ Focus on growing the skills that AI can’t do (yet)

One of my takeaways from Operator’s Handbook’s article is:

If you let AI handle everything, your strategy quickly becomes playbook-same.

Great teams don’t automate their strategy — they use AI to support their insights.

That means your competitive edge isn’t just using AI — it’s in knowing yourself and growing the strengths that AI cant replace.

Here are a few of those areas:

• Your context — the nuance, team dynamics, and “unspoken stuff” you navigate at work

• Your voice — how you connect, influence, sell yourself, and build trust

• Your judgment — your ability to make decisions on what actually matters

So no, AI won’t make you irrelevant.

But ignoring your growth? It will.

Personal growth doesn’t just happen on its own. And once you’re done with your formal education, you must take complete ownership of the growth process, because nobody else will do it for you. — The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth

Growth doesn’t just happen. It requires deliberate planning and action to move forward in a meaningful way.

Without a clear, intentional growth strategy, it’s easy to feel like you’re trying everything — except what actually moves the needle.

✨ If you’re not sure what your edge is, or which strengths to lean into — I’m here to help you find clarity and grow with intention.

4/ Stay informed

A lot of people who talk about AI regularly — whether in content or at work — aren’t necessarily reading every research paper.

So… how do they stay ahead of the trend?

They build systems that make it easier to keep up:

• They use tools like notebook LLMs or AI agents to summarize key points to help them explore faster

• They follow newsletters, podcasts, and trusted curators who break things down. I’ve been following the rundown AI, Superhuman AI, TLDR AI, Import AI.

• They stay just informed enough to connect the dots and speak confidently about what matters

🥰 If you have a favorite AI newsletter or podcast, reply and share! I’m always on the lookout for bite-sized learning too.

💭 Final Thoughts

You don’t need to become an AI wizard, but if you care about your career, influence, and future, you should be using tools to sharpen your impact and grow intentionally.

Even just one habit like this puts you among professionals who may feel behind, but keep on moving. 🌱

I’m excited to kick off my new series, “Thriving with AI”, where I share practical ways to stay ahead in the AI era without overwhelm. From my perspective as both a data scientist and career coach, I’ll show you how to catch up fast, apply what matters, and grow the skills AI can’t replace.

Xoxo,
Kessie 🧚‍♀️

Share

“If you do not conquer self, you will be conquered by self.”

― Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich

Sometimes, the voice that stops you from achieving your goals isn’t from the outside — it’s the one in your head.

When I was asked to run my very first experiment at work, I was exited and ... terrified.

I was scared that what I learned in school wasn’t good enough for the real world. What if my analysis was wrong? What if my design didn’t “prove” anything? What if they realize I was not smart enough?

But the experiment ended up making a real impact on the business.

That experience taught me something I still carry today:

Our thoughts are not facts — most of the time, they’re just fear.

Even Rosé from BLACKPINK said she was nervous and lacked confidence at the beginning of their world tour — she had to struggle her way through to find that confidence. And now? She’s absolutely killing it on every stage!! 🤩

Don’t let your mental hypotheses stop you from reaching your potential in a way you never thought you could ever make it.

When those negative thoughts come up, do you ever stop and ask:

“Is this thought a fact, or just a fear I’ve believed for too long?”

🧐 Let’s say you proposed an idea and faced rejection.

Your brain says:

“Ugh… I knew my ideas weren’t good enough.”

🤐 Then you mentally shut up. You stop taking up space.

You let opportunities slip by because you allowed self-doubt to take up that space.

🤨 But what if…

their reaction wasn’t proof your idea wasn’t good —

but just a reflection of their bandwidth, timing, or priorities?

🦸‍♀️ If you start challenging those assumptions, you will live much more freely and confidently. (trust me, because I’ve been there too)

Your brain will always offer you stories.

But you get to choose what becomes your truth.

Confidence isn’t “no fear.” It’s hearing the fear — and keep going anyway.

That’s how you conquer self. That’s how self-trust is built.

🤩 So what do you follow, if not fear?

Your vision.

Your future self — the version of you who already made it, already stood up, already tried.

Here’s the viral day in my future life prompt you should try.

Write a vivid, immersive description of a day in the life of my future self _ years from now. Describe everything from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep. Include details about where I live (e.g. city, type of home, what I do for work (eg. job, business, or creative projects), how I feel emotionally, what my morning and evening routines look like, what I eat, what I wear, how I spend my time, who I'm surrounded by, and what I see around me. Write it like a journal entry or narration, in the _ person perspective (first/second), and make it inspiring, grounded, and motivating, as if this is a typical, fulfilled dal in the life I've always dreamed of living.

When we get clear on who we are becoming, the path forward becomes easier.

It gives us a compass that doesn’t depend on others opinions.

People won’t always believe in your vision — not because it’s wrong, but because they can’t see it yet.

They assume you can’t do it because they can’t.

Until you do.

Until you prove them wrong, and it was never about them.

💭 Final Thoughts

• Don’t believe every thought that pops into your head.

• Especially the ones that say you’re not good enough.

• Those aren’t truths. They’re just distractions.

Instead…

✨ Believe in your future self.

✨ Act before you feel 100% ready.

✨ And when you fall, fall confidently. Just like when you first learned to walk — no shame, just try again.

Xoxo,
Kessie 🧚‍♀️

Share

If you’re shy, quiet, or introverted — you might think personal branding isn’t for you.

That it’s something extroverts do.

I get it, it’s hard when being in the spotlight isn’t our first instinct.

But guess what..

You’re already a brand.

Personal brand doesn’t just live online.

It’s what people say about you when you’re not in the room.

Sometimes, it’s as simple as the question:

“How would your manager or coworkers describe you?”

If you’ve never thought about it, chances are… you’d freeze. 😳

And when it comes to selling your services or interviewing for a role,

“How would your clients describe you?”

It can feel hard to answer — because deep down, you might not fully believe why someone should choose you…🥲

So the question isn’t “Should I build a personal brand?”

It’s: “What is my brand — and how should I tell that story?”

1/ Don’t Let Shyness Stop You From Trying

One of the best advices I’ve heard is:

“Working for yourself is more prominent than any company you’ll ever work for.”

You never know what the future holds.

But what you do know is this: your experience, your skills, your perspective — those are yours.

No one can take that away.

That’s why knowing your personal brand matters.

You’re more than your current job title.

Even if you left your job tomorrow, what you’ve built within yourself stays with you.

You don’t have to overthink it.

Your brand shows up in how you carry yourself, how you speak, how you follow through — and how consistently you do it.

🟡 Reflection prompt:

What are 3 words you want others to use when describing you?

Now — do your actions reflect that version of you?

2/ Start Building Your Brand Now

Whether you’re doing it online or in person — every interaction builds (or breaks) your brand.

A casual chitchat. A comment in a meeting. A reply in Webex/Slack/Team.

Every time you show up, you’re showing people who you are — even if you’re not trying to.

Let’s say someone casually asks, “How are you?”

You could say:

“Ugh, I’m exhausted. The traffic was terrible. I’m so behind on everything.”

Or — you could say:

“The traffic was rough, but I used the time to listen to a podcast on creativity. I’m thinking of sharing it with the product team.”

It’s not about pretending everything is perfect.

It’s about showing up as the version of you that is genuine — and the one you want others to remember you for.

🟡 Reflection prompt:

Pick one small moment this week — a comment, a quick chat, a reply — and ask:

What kind of impression am I leaving behind?

3/ Tell and Sell Your Story

When someone asks, “Tell me about yourself,” don’t just recite your resume.

Don’t just list your strengths like bullet points.

Tell a story.

The most memorable brands don’t just show what they’ve done — they show how they think, how they solve problems, and why it matters.

Instead of:

“I improved a process by 30%.”

Try:

“My team was stuck with an outdated process. I collaborated with [XX] team to redesign it, and by [X] month, we had improved efficiency by 30% — which helped [the business impact you made, e.g. reduce turnaround time, meet product deadlines, or improve client satisfaction].”

People don’t remember numbers.

They remember how you used your skills to solve problems that they care about.

🟡 Reflection prompt:

What’s one story that shows you at your best?

What values or strengths does it show?

💭 Final Thoughts

Start simple. Start small. And just keep showing up. ✊

You don’t have to be loud to build a brand.

You just need to be intentional — and willing to show up in ways that reflect the version of you that you’re becoming.

When I started owning my voice and sharing what I stood for, things started shifting — in how people saw me, in the opportunities that came my way, and most importantly, in how I saw myself.

That was my journey.

Now, maybe it’s your turn.

If building your personal brand feels overwhelming or unclear, and you want a space to explore it with support — just reach out.

You’ve got this!!

Xoxo,
Kessie 🧚‍♀️

Share

“I’m using ChatGPT… but it kinda feels like I’m cheating.”

“I’m afraid I don’t know how to think on my own anymore.”

“If I didn’t have AI, I don’t know what I’d write.”

That’s the quiet fear I keep hearing lately.

It’s not about whether we should use AI or not.

The real problem is self-trust.

The moment you start outsourcing every idea, every sentences to AI, you start to wonder if your voice, your judgment, your creativity has value, and if any of your work is truly yours.

And the longer you rely on AI, the harder it gets to separate:

Is this still really my skill?

That feeling?

It slowly eats at confidence without you even notice it.

4 Ways to Gain Back Confidence

So you can keep trusting your capabilities — even when AI is part of the process.

1/ Audit Your Current Relationship with AI

You can’t change what you don’t see.

• Track when, how, and why you use AI each day.

• Whether you try thinking first or go straight to AI.

• Notice how you feel afterward, i.e empowered, relax, anxious, etc.

❇️ This reflection will help you gain the awareness you need to start making a change.

Because if you don’t know how you’re using AI, you’ll never know why it’s affecting your confidence.

2/ Engage with Your Thinking

The feeling of cheating comes from letting AI think for you completely.

• Before prompting, jot down your thoughts—even just imperfect bullet points.

• Try to read the articles or watch the videos on your own, before letting AI summarize and rephrase it.

• Build the habit of leading the process, not just reacting to it.

❇️ This helps you lean back on your critical thinking, and let AI to be your support tools instead of autopilot mode.

3/ Be Skeptical with AI responses

AI sounds confident—but that doesn’t mean it’s always right.

In fact, if you insist something false is true, AI might start agreeing with you.

This is because it’s designed to be helpful and polite.

Researchers call this sycophancy—when the model prioritizes agreeing with you over telling the truth. OpenAI is actively working to improve this issue, but it’s still a challenge today.

That’s why it’s so important to:

• Ask follow-up questions. Don’t just stop at the first response.

• Cross-check facts. Doing a quick side search helps you feel in control—and helps you remember what you’re learning.

• Stay in charge of the conversation instead of letting AI take over the thinking.

❇️ AI can be a powerful assistant—but only if you stay in the driver’s seat.

Knowing what questions to ask will sharpen your creativity and strategic thinking — skills that will help you thrive in the AI era.

4/ Never use the Raw Output

Whether it’s code or writing—never just copy and paste what it gives you.

Everyone else is using the same tools too.

If we all take AI’s draft without any human touch, we will all be creating the same thing, and start sounding the same.

To truly stand out, you need to bring in your own unique voice.

Just like Julie Zhuo, author of The Making of a Manager, who started her newsletter after getting feedback from her manager about how quiet she seemed in meetings. She took action to find her voice, and that practice helped her build the confidence to speak up more and share her ideas—without worrying too much about other people’s opinions.

The more you let your thoughts and stories shine through, the more self-belief you build in the process.

• Never publish raw AI output—make it yours.

• Use personal stories, and add your tone.

• The goal isn’t “faster” content. It’s authentic content that matches your brand.

❇️ Your thoughts are one of the few things AI can’t replicate.

And the more you use them, the sharper, more creative, and more confident you’ll become.

💬 Final Thought

You’re not cheating if you use AI.

Just like how in the 90s, teachers tried to stop people from using Google, but it became unpreventable, and eventually helped technology evolve faster than ever before.

The real problem isn’t the tool.

It’s how you see yourself when you use it.

Do you trust your value enough to use AI as a tool, rather than a crutch?

The professionals who thrive in the AI era won't be the ones who resist change or surrender to it.

They'll be the ones who trust their judgment, own their ideas, and lead through it.

You’ve got this, creators!!

Xoxo,
Kessie 🧚‍♀️

Share

I know—you’re probably tired of seeing yet another email about AI.

Trust me, I get it.

Here’s a screenshot of my inbox: it feels like every other subject line is screaming about AI. 🤯

My social feeds? Buzzing with people showing off the latest tools they’ve mastered.

Every day on the news is telling us how AI is evolving and changing everything.

It’s a lot.

Even though I work with AI and love using AI, I can’t deny it: AI fatigue is real.

It feels like everywhere you turn—education, newspapers, Facebook, X —there’s someone shouting,

“AI will replace your job!”
“AI will write all the books!”
“AI will take over the world!”

I can’t help but wonder: What jobs are actually safe from AI?

If you’ve ever felt this way, you’re not alone.

Sometimes, I just want to shout: “Please.. can we just chill about AI for a moment?”

What Is AI Fatigue? (And Why Does It Happen?)

AI fatigue is the mental and emotional exhaustion that comes from trying to keep up with the flood of AI tools, trends, and expectations.

It’s that persistent feeling of there’s always more I should learn but not enough time, I don’t know where to start, everyone else is ahead of me.

So, why does this happen?

• Too much information:

  • There’s an overwhelming number of tools, acronyms, and trends to sort through. You want to stay updated, but each topic takes time to master.

  • And instead of diving in, you freeze, overwhelmed by the sheer volume of it all.

• Rapid change:

  • AI evolves so quickly that it feels impossible to stay ahead.

  • When changes move faster than we can process, our brains naturally tune out — not from laziness, but to protect our mental health.

• Fear and comparison:

  • Headlines about AI taking jobs grab attention, and social media is full of people showing off their expertise with guides and AI-powered creations.

  • If you’re just starting out, it’s easy to feel like you’re already behind and might never catch up.

How I Learned to Manage AI Fatigue (Without Giving Up on Growth)

Recognizing my AI fatigue was the first step. The second? Finding practical ways to manage it effectively.

Here are few strategies that helped me break free from the overwhelm and get back on track.

1/ Focus on Alignment, Not Abundance

The first thing I did was stop trying to learn everything about AI and instead asked myself: What concepts and skills actually matter for the work I’m doing?

It’s tempting to try to absorb it all—new tools, new technologies, and endless possibilities. But you don’t need to master everything to grow or to be seen as an expert.

Think of AI like a buffet. Just because there are 50 dishes doesn’t mean you need to try them all. I chose to focus on the “dishes” (concepts and developments) that are most relevant to my field and goals, and I let the rest go.

I also recognized where I am an expert and where I’m not—and connected with people who are experts in those areas. Remember, no one can remember everything.

By narrowing my focus to what truly mattered, I free myself from the pressure of keeping up with everything. Now, I can dive deeper into what actually makes a difference for me.

2/ Schedule Your Curiosity and Set “Tech-Free Zones”

One of the biggest shifts I made was setting aside intentional time to study and play with AI—even if it’s only 5 minutes a day. The best way to learn is to try it out.

Instead of overthinking, give yourself space to catch up, explore, and experiment.

Once you get started, you’ll realize it’s not as complex as it seems.

As I shared in last week’s newsletter: everything is figureoutable. If you’re scared to try something new, take it as a sign that you’re growing. And I’m excited for you!

At the same time, I also made sure to carve out “tech-free” time — moments when I worked without any AI tools, notifications, or distractions.

This is where creativity is born.

No matter how advanced AI becomes, it will never think like a human.

❇️ During these “tech-free” hours, I focused on deep thinking, creative problem-solving, and reconnecting with my intuition. It’s like tending a garden: AI is the fertilizer—it helps things grow faster. But without nurturing the soil (your creativity and clarity), no amount of fertilizer will help.

3/ Focus on Our Unique Strengths and Let AI Enhance the Process

Instead of feeling pressured to master everything AI can do, I doubled down on my unique strengths—the skills that make me valuable and irreplaceable in my field.

For example, in the world of product design, AI might help a designer create app demos, but it doesn’t replace the strategic thinking of a product manager—someone who develops the business model and Go-to-Market strategy, thinks about how the product stands out in the market, and ensures it meets customer needs and succeeds in the market.

❇️ When we see AI as a tool rather than a threat, we can leverage AI to handle repetitive or time-consuming tasks, speed up the process. It allows us to take those time to focus on the areas where humans truly shine: connecting with people, developing strategies, and creating meaningful impact.

💭 Final Thoughts

AI is an incredible tool, but it’s just that—a tool.

It’s not a replacement for your creativity, intuition, or humanity.

You don’t need to learn everything all at once. What truly keeps you ahead isn’t mastering every detail—it’s staying open to learning, questioning what you see, and focusing on what aligns with your goals.

When you prioritize what matters, you’ll find that the overwhelm starts to fade, and clarity takes its place.

🧘🏻‍♀️ So let’s take a deep breath, slow down, and remember:

even 5 mins a day adds up.

You are making progress, even if it doesn’t feel like it yet.

Xoxo,
Kessie 🧚‍♀️

Share

I wasn’t a data engineer.

I kept thinking:

“What if I break something?”

“I don’t know enough to do it right.”

But guess what, no one else on the team knew how to use it either.

After testing and failing, we figured it out together! 🎉

And in the process, I didn’t just learn dbt.

I learned how to move through the fear of “I’m not technical enough.” 🥲

That shift didn’t come from a job title change.

It came from deciding: I’m capable of figuring this out! 🦸‍♀️ 🦸

Subscribe now

I’ve seen it again and again:

• People who get invited to interviews… and still don’t pursue them because “my technical skills aren’t strong enough.”

• People who wait until they have just one more certification to consider themselves legit, but there’s always one more to get.

• People who have no formal training but still show up, show their work, and succeed simply because they believe in what they offer.

So what’s the real difference?

It’s not technical skill.

It’s not a shiny LinkedIn title.

It’s this:

The mindset of believing in your competence beyond where you are right now.

We often internalize our job titles as the full story of who we are.

That our current skills that come with the job titles are all we have.

That if we haven’t done it before, we’re not “qualified” to try.

But friend — everything is figureoutable.

With AI and open access to learning today, you can pick up the basics of almost anything—product thinking, marketing, communication, even coding—faster than ever.

The blocker isn’t knowledge anymore.

So, what do you do when your brain says: “You’re not technical enough”?

🌟 Here are 3 ways to break free from the invisible rope:

1/ Come up with a list of your real competencies

Forget your job title.

What are the things you do really well that people come to you for?

Think about how you solve problems, work with people, ask great questions, build systems, manage ambiguity, or learn on the fly, etc

❇️ These are your portable superpowers, and they move with you wherever you go.

2/ Think of a time you figured it out without knowing everything

Think back to a moment when you had no idea how to do something, but you found a way anyway.

It can be something outside of work—for example, I recently learned how to install a door lock!

❇️ We all have moments like that. You’re more capable than you think you are.

3/ Stop assuming everyone else has it figured out

It’s easy to think that everyone else has all the answers, especially when you’re feeling unsure of your own abilities.

That’s why you might hold back, thinking “I’m not smart enough to help.”

You tell yourself, “They must already know this,” and “My input is nothing compared to what they know.”

But the reality is that often nobody knows the solution—they're all waiting for someone to step up and help.

❇️ If the ship is drifting and someone has to steer— Why not you?

💭 Final Thoughts

So next time your brain says:

“I’m not technical enough.”

Try this:

“I’ve figured things out before. I’ll figure this out, too.”

And then take the next step.

Not because you have the title.

But because you know you can lead.

Xoxo,
Kessie 🧚‍♀️

Share

Here’s something they don’t tell you when you start something new:

The failure rate is supposed to be high in the beginning.

In survival analysis — a method often used in engineering and business — there’s even a name for this:

The bathtub curve.

🔹 High failure rate at the beginning (infant mortality)

🔹 Low and steady in the middle

🔹 Another rise near the end

This is why, in the startup and product world, there’s a concept: “If we’re going to fail, fail fast.”

And it’s not just for machines or products — it applies to our careers too.

Here are three things you need to know about failure.

1. The beginning is supposed to be bumpy

When you launch something new — a product, a project, a new version of yourself — it’s meant to break a little.

Remember when Apple launched the iPhone 6, and it literally bent in people’s pockets? 😳

It was a total PR nightmare. #Bendgate trended everywhere.

But guess what?

They fixed it, learned from it, and sold millions anyway.

Because early failure doesn’t mean it’s doomed.

It means you’re collecting the feedback you need to grow.

So if you are in your early-career and feel lost…

If you're building a new business and nothing works…

🙂‍↕️ That’s the curve working exactly as expected.

2. Fear of judgment ≠ actual failure

This week at WWDC 2025, Apple launched a bunch of new beta features.

Some people loved the new design.

Some people hated it.

But Apple still wins — because they launched.

They got attention, they’ll collect feedback, and they’ll refine from there.

They know not everyone will like it.

And they do it anyway.

Most of us don’t fear failure itself — we fear what people will think if we fail.

So we stay quiet. We wait until it’s “good enough.” We hide our ideas, our offers, our voices.

But here’s your reminder:

You can’t fail or grow if you don’t release.

You can’t get better if no one knows you’re here.

You don’t need everyone to love you — just the right ones to find you.

Let people see the beta version of you. Even if it’s messy. Even if it’s not ready for applause.

Start now. Adjust fast. Learn forward.

3. Failure evolves too

At the beginning, failure is loud and obvious. Many people who haven’t succeeded yet are usually the ones who give up too early.

At the early stage, the job rejection, the awkward sales call, the post that gets 20 views, etc — all of them trigger our self-doubt, as if failure won’t stop and we can never get there.

But if you keep going, something shifts.

You start to learn.

You find your rhythm.

Rejections and failure don’t break your self-belief as easily anymore.

That’s the stability curve — and it’s real.

You will get better at bouncing back. And the failures will feel less personal, less defining.

But here’s something people don’t talk about enough:

Failure doesn’t disappear. It just changes form.

Sometimes, it shows up later as:

• Burnout from doing the same thing too long

• A quiet sense that you’re no longer growing

That’s a signal: it’s time to evolve again.

So wherever you are, failure isn’t the enemy. It’s part of the process.

Keep building. Keep listening. Keep adjusting.

You’re not lost, you’re just growing through a new phase of the curve.

Final thought

I hope this week’s post helps you build a better understanding and relationship with failure. Wherever you are right now, keep going, even if it’s not perfect.

You should bet on yourself — because you’re capable of more than you realize.

Just like Apple’s new feature Workout Buddy, having a coach can make a difference in your journey. You don’t have to navigate failure alone. A coach helps you stay accountable, build unshakable confidence, find your success strategy, adjust quickly, and keep moving forward.

And if you are ready to bet on yourself for your next “beta release,”

I’d love to be your guide and support you through it. 😉

Xoxo,
Kessie 🧚‍♀️

• "I'm not technical enough."

• "I'm not leadership material."

• "I'm not the kind of person who speaks up in meetings."

• "I'm not smart enough for this room."

• "I'm not ready for that opportunity."

• “I’m a good student.”

• “I’m an introvert.”

• “I’m a problem solver.“

Some labels can motivate us—like “I’m responsible” or “I’m resilient.” These often grow from a mix of external validation and internal self-awareness.

But the harmful ones?

They’re stories we’ve told ourselves so many times that we’ve forgotten they’re just stories.

And the worst part?

We believe them — as if they are immutable facts rather than changeable thoughts.

When we label ourselves, we fall into what psychologists call a "confirmation bias loop."

Our brains start collecting evidence to prove the label right:

➡️ If you ever labeled yourself as "not a leader"? You'll shrink back and miss your moment to shine.

➡️ If you think you're "not a problem solver"? You'll remember every question you couldn't answer and forget the problems you solved elegantly.

➡️ If you believe you're "not smart enough"? You'll link all your successes to luck and every mistake to incompetence.

These labels don’t just describe us. They define our choices—and slowly shape how we show up.

Over time, they become both excuse and safety cushion—keeping us from unleashing our full potential.

🫢 How my invisible self label was ruining my career

For years, my label was this:

“I’m not smart enough to be here.”

I never said it out loud—but it showed up everywhere behind the scenes:

• I second-guessed myself constantly.

• I avoided speaking up unless I was 100% sure I was right.

• I held back from sharing my thoughts when I was surrounded by more senior and experienced people.

It wasn’t about how others saw me.

It was about how I saw myself.

This feeling came up not because of others’ judgement, but because of the relationship I had with myself.

👀 Imagine these two people at the same conference:

🙋🏻‍♀️ Person A meets with experts and thinks,

“This is so cool—I want to learn how to do that too. I could be like them one day.”

She’s excited about what the future might bring.

🙍🏻‍♀️ Person B feels bad about herself and thinks,

“I don’t belong here. I’ll never be like them.”

She spends the entire time cataloging her deficiencies, comparing herself to others’ expertise. She walks out doubting her capabilities.

The difference wasn't their competence level.

The difference was the label they were wearing.

A confident person doesn’t mean you know it all, but that they have strong self-believe that even if they are inexperienced yet, they can figure things out.

So… What’s your invisible name tag?

🥹 What quiet label is shaping how you show up?

What belief might be holding you back, without you even realizing?

And more importantly— are you ready to change it?

Step 1: Identify your most persistent limiting label

The one that shows up in meetings, at networking events, during interview and job applications etc.

Step 2: Trace its origin

When did you first start wearing this label? What experience convinced you it was true?

Example: That label of "not technical enough" might come from one coding interview that didn't go well five years ago. Or "I'm not leadership material" might stem from a time when you tried to lead a project and it didn't go smoothly.

Step 3: Look for contradictory evidence

What successes have you dismissed? What growth have you ignored because it didn't fit your limiting story?

Example: You say you're "not technical enough" but ignore the fact that you've successfully automated three manual processes at work, learned Python in your spare time, and consistently solve complex problems using technology.

Step 4: Reframe it as an new something positive

Instead of "I am not..." try "I'm learning to..."

❌ Instead of: "I don't belong here"
✅ Ask: "What can I learn from being here?"

❌ Instead of: "Everyone else is smarter than me"
✅ Ask: "What different perspective can I bring to this conversation?"

❌ Instead of: "I'm not qualified for this"
✅ Ask: "What would I need to learn to feel more confident in this space?"

The shift from judgment to curiosity changes everything.

Step 5: Actively Seek Contradictory Evidence

Always look for moments to prove the label isn't true.

Keep a "label-crushing" journal where you record evidence of your capability and growth.

If your label is "I'm not good with networking," write down every time you catch up with a colleague, have a great conversation or small talks.

If it's "I'm not strategic," note every time you think ahead, plan effectively, or see the big picture.

💭 Final Thoughts

If you don’t have a good relationship with yourself, no matter how many achievements you have in life, you will always feel incompetent and small wherever you go.

Next time you walk into a room and feel that self-label getting triggered, remember: The only thing keeping you small is the size of the label you've chosen to wear.

You got this!!

Kessie 🧚‍♀️

P.S. If this resonated with you, share it with someone who needs to hear it.
We're all carrying labels that no longer serve us—let’s drop them together! 😎

Elevate Squad 🌟 is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a subscriber.

You’re swamped with requests.

You’re staying late.

You’re helping with “just one more thing”… again.

But none of this seems to move the needle for your promotion or recognition.

You’re more than a task rabbit — and some of these things? They’re not even in your scope.

You take them on because you’re kind, you don’t want to disappoint others, and maybe… because you’re afraid of creating conflict.

But deep down, you know this isn’t sustainable. And it’s not helping your career either.

“I’m Tired of Doing Everything… And Still Not Being Seen”

That’s exactly what one of my clients, L, was dealing with. She told me:

“I’m tired of being the go-to person for tasks that aren’t even in my scope. I stay late to help others, but when I sit down to write my performance review, none of it feels worth mentioning. How do I stop these requests without being rude?”

This isn’t a time management problem — it’s a career confidence challenge.

A lot of high-achieving professionals struggle not because they lack the skills, but because they’ve been taught to play it safe, be helpful, and not “ruffle feathers.”

But real confidence in your career means boldly rejecting what doesn’t serve your goals, and laser focusing on what does. It’s not about doing more — it’s about doing what matters.

👀 Why People-Pleasing Isn’t Helping Your Career

We all want to be seen as easy to collaborate with — especially if we’re trying to earn our place at the table.

But people-pleasing is costing you more than just your time.

It’s distracting you from the high-impact work that gets you noticed, builds your personal brand, and fast-tracks your growth.

As a coach, I want to call this out — and help you stay focused on the work that truly moves the needle, instead of picking up scattered tasks that don’t reflect your zone of genius.

Think about it:

• When you say yes to everything, you dilute your value.

• When you avoid conflict, people assume you’re okay with being the “do-it-all” person.

• When you’re always firefighting, you don’t have time to build strategy or influence — the very things that lead to promotion.

🆘 How to Set Boundaries Without Guilt and Drama

Saying “no” is an art.

Too harsh, and you risk damaging the relationship.

Too soft, and you might end up doing it anyway — even after trying to set a boundary.

This is where many smart professionals get stuck: they know they need to push back, but they haven’t been taught how to do it in a way that’s clear, respectful, and still preserves trust.

So how do you say no without guilt — and without losing trust?

Here are 4 practical approaches I’ve learned — from communication classes, coaching conversations, and navigating these situations myself.

They’ve helped me and my clients say no with confidence, clarity, and respect:

1️⃣ Know Your Priorities First

Before you say no, get clear on what your priorities are.

What tasks and projects align with your goals? What builds your brand? What will actually move the needle in your career?

Once you know this, it’s easier to let go of guilt and say no to distractions.

2️⃣ Be Direct and Respectful

Instead of letting fear dictate your response, try being clear and respectful. For example, you can say:

“I’d love to help, but I’m currently focused on [priority project]. Please create a ticket for this, and I’ll prioritize it in the next sprint. If it’s urgent, please share the reason and its business impact, and we can evaluate it together.”

It’s honest, it’s direct, and it doesn’t make you a villain. In fact, it builds respect and makes your time feel valuable — because it is.

3️⃣ Handle Conflict with Confidence and Compassion

When someone tries to guilt-trips you into taking on a task outside of your responsibility, it’s crucial to protect your time and set clear boundaries.

Here’s how to respond with clarity and care:

1. Acknowledge their perspective — without absorbing the guilt.

   It’s okay to show empathy, but don’t take on the emotional load:

   “I can see this task feels urgent, and I understand you’re under a lot of pressure.”
   

2. Reaffirm your priorities and your team’s scope.

   Remind them what you’re committed to and why you can’t take this on:

   “This falls outside my team’s scope, and I’m currently focused on high-priority deliverables. Taking this on would delay those commitments.”
   

3. Offer support — without taking ownership.

   Redirect to the right team or person, and clarify your boundaries:

   “I recommend escalating this to [appropriate person/team], since they’re best positioned to take it forward. I’m happy to share context, but I won’t be able to own the task.”
   

4. Stay firm if they push back with “but you’re the only one who knows how.”

   Don’t let your helpfulness become a trap:

   “I understand I have context, but this is still within [Team X]’s responsibilities. I can point them to past work or provide input — but I won’t be the one executing.”
   

5. Escalate if needed.

   If the conversation isn’t leading to resolution:

   “I’d love to be helpful — but taking this on would delay my top priorities. Let’s escalate this to ensure it’s addressed by the right owner.”

Even if it’s “just a small task,” remind yourself:

This isn’t about one task — it’s about protecting your time, energy, and future.

4️⃣ Use Cross-Cultural Communication Techniques

If you’re worried that setting boundaries might damage the relationship, try public recognition as a bridge afterward.

Even after you’ve said no, you can still build goodwill by recognizing the other person’s effort or intention in a visible way — like in a team chat room or during a meeting:

“This project had a lot of moving parts, and [Name] really stepped up to get alignment across teams and keep things moving — huge shoutout for that!”

You’ve protected your boundary and kept the relationship strong.

💭 Final Thoughts

You are more than a task rabbit, so stop doing things outside your role just to be nice.

When you always say yes, you signal to others that it’s ok to give you random ask and expect fast turnarounds — while training yourself to put your own growth last. 🥺

If you’re someone who often feels like you’re never good enough unless you over-deliver…

If you’ve been shrinking back, avoiding conflict, and doing extra work just to be liked…

I hope this week’s newsletter helps you reflect and take control of your career growth without burning out or selling yourself short.

You deserve to be seen, respected, and recognized — not just for how helpful you are, but for how valuable you truly are. 🫶🏻

Xoxo,
Kessie 🧚‍♀️

It was just a couple months after finishing my master’s program, and I was excited, motivated, and—honestly—proud.

Until I wasn’t.

When the program kicked off, I saw the list of students. A group of PhDs from top-tier schools. People who had done way more research than I ever had.

People I thought… should be teaching me.

A little voice inside me wondered, “Who am I to help them? I’m not an expert.”

But as I started working with them, something shifted.

I realized I actually had things they didn’t—experience with applied tools, real-world projects, industry interviews, and storytelling with data.

They were brilliant in the fields they were in, and so was I. And that’s exactly why they were there: to learn the part I had already gone through.

It was around that same time I started writing technical blog posts, where I’ve developed an online presence with more than 100K+ views and made my first income from writing.

I did it not because I felt like an expert—but because I wanted to document what I was learning, share my process, and create notes for my future self.

I didn’t expect many people would read them. But they did.

Some even reached out saying those posts helped them land and pass interviews, and that they now understand a concept better. ☺️

👯 That taught me something I’ll never forget:

You don’t need to have everything figured out to help others.

Everyone has something they can teach others about.

It’s easy to think “I’m not an expert, so I have nothing valuable to say.”

This belief often keeps us silent at work, waiting for other “experts” to share their knowledge or contribute.

In fact, in many situations, no one knows the right answers, and your unique perspective is often what people need most!!

Every stage of your growth offers something valuable—both for you and those around you. Don’t underestimate any small things you know. (i.e Just this week, I introduced Notion Mail with a colleague to help them organize their personal emails, and they were blown away by how much it improved their workflow! Not everyone knows what you know, and they’ll thank you for teaching them something new.)

So many of us stay quiet—not because we have nothing to offer, but because we think we are not “qualified enough” to speak.

This belief is exactly what’s keeping you invisible at work and stopping you from building your personal brand.

Here are why you don’t need “expert status” to be helpful — and how to flip it.

1/ People connect more with someone who’s just a few steps ahead

You’re probably a few steps ahead of someone who feels lost in something you’ve figured out.

Whether it’s managing a tough job, finding confidence, learning a new skill, or navigating rejection — people often find it more helpful and relatable to hear from someone who just figured it out recently, rather than someone who’s 10 years in and barely remembers what it was like to start.

❇️ Flip it: Instead of downplaying what you’ve learned, share what you wish you knew back then as if you’re talking to a past version of you— because someone out there is in that exact place right now.

2/ You were chosen for a reason—your perspective matters

You’re not in that role, meeting, or room by accident. Whether you’re an intern or a new hire, someone invited you in because they see value in you.

Companies and individuals choose you because you bring a unique mix of curiosity, life experience, and instinct that no one else does.

❇️ Flip it: Instead of waiting for more years or certifications to “deserve” to speak up, remember: you’re already someone others want to hear from. Start seeing yourself that way too.

3/ No one knows everything—not even the experts

The more you know, the more aware you become of what you don’t know. That’s growth.

In fact, research shows that people who know very little often overestimate their abilities (a bias known as the Dunning-Kruger effect), while those who’ve actually learned more tend to doubt themselves.

❇️ Flip it: Self-doubt doesn’t mean you’re unqualified—it means you’re self-aware. Don’t aim to be the smartest in the room. Aim to be a helpful person who shares what you know and help someone move forward.

4/ Your imperfect sharing gives others permission to do the same

When you show up honestly—without pretending to be perfect—you create room for others to speak up. That’s leadership. 💪🏼

Your small act of sharing what you know (even if it feels basic) might be the nudge someone else needs to ask a question, try something new, or believe in themselves.

❇️ Flip it: Stop waiting for a title to lead, to see yourself as an expert. You already have something worth sharing—because everyone has something to teach.

💭 Final Thoughts

You don’t need “expert status” to lead, inspire, or create value.

You just need to stop shrinking yourself.

So write the blog and LinkedIn post.

Start the conversation. Tell your story.

Because someone out there is Googling exactly what you just figured out.

Xoxo,

Kessie 🧚‍♀️

Share