Hey {{first_name}},

First things first, I missed last week's newsletter because I was in the middle of moving house. Life happened, and boxes won.

But I'm back, settled and I've got two episodes to share with you this week that I think you're really going to love.

A few weeks ago I hosted our 10th Sisterhood Social event and I still can't stop thinking about what happened in that room.

I had three incredible women on stage. Fiona Hayes, CEO of 7-Eleven Australia. Julie Watkins, Chief People Officer at UniSuper. And Erin Ashton, AI Enablement Leader at EY Oceania.

The conversation was the kind most women don't get access to until it's too late.

None of them felt ready when they got the role. They said yes anyway.

They talked honestly about whether you can have a high-flying career and a family. No sugarcoating. No highlight reel. Just the truth from women who've actually lived it.

They talked about how women get noticed during uncertainty ,and it's not always the hardest working who stand out. It's the most visible. The ones willing to own a problem before they're given permission to.

And when I asked them what's made the biggest difference in their careers, they all came back to the same thing.

Not confidence or credentials.

Their support network.

If you were in the room that night, you know how special it was. And if you weren't, this recording is the next best thing.

🎧 Listen here: Fearless & Future Ready, Career Lessons from Three of Australia's Most Influential Women in Business and AI

Now this one. I loved this conversation.

Because Angelica didn't come from a traditional tech background either. She started her career selling gym memberships in the UK. Fell into IT through a friend of her mum's. She is now the CTO of IBM Australia and New Zealand.

She said something early in the conversation that I keep coming back to:

"I might be a CTO, but I can't code, and by the way, I don't need to."

Because the skills that got her to where she is aren't technical. They're human. Design thinking. Curiosity. Problem solving. The ability to truly understand what people need.

I also loved what she said about what happens when companies get AI completely wrong, leaving their people with all the hardest, most emotionally draining work while AI handles everything simple, and what it looks like when they get it beautifully right.

The IKEA story alone is worth the listen. When they introduced an AI chatbot to handle routine enquiries, instead of displacing their workforce, they noticed people kept calling in about interior design. So they retrained their entire contact centre as interior designers.

That team is now a $1.4 billion revenue stream.

Same people. Completely reimagined.

And then Angelica shared the Food Ladder project, a social enterprise using AI to help teachers create custom lesson plans so that children who go to school hungry can be fed, learn, and actually thrive. School attendance is up. Test results are up.

This is what this technology can do when we put people first.

Angelica also said something I want every woman listening to hear:

She asks women at events to raise their hands if they're AI-cautious, then AI-curious, then AI-queens.

Hardly anyone puts their hand up for AI queens.

She said the barrier isn't access. The tools are free. The barrier is confidence.

So find a friend. Try one thing a week. Share what you're learning and encourage each other.

Because if women aren't using the technology, the large language models are only learning from the people who are, and I don't want that to happen.

And if you're not sure where to start, I've put together a list of 45 free AI courses all in one place — micro-credentials, beginner tools, platforms — so you have no reason not to begin.

Go and have a look → georgiehubbard.com/ai-courses/resources

Because if women aren't using the technology, the large language models are only learning from the people who are.

Listen to both episodes 🎧

🎧 Episode one: Fearless & Future Ready - Live Sisterhood Social Event

🎧 Episode two: The Pink-Collar AI Crisis: IBM's CTO Warns Women "Use AI Now or Get Leapfrogged"

Reply and tell me this:

What has been your biggest takeaway from either of these episodes?

Send it through. I want to know.

With confidence,

Georgie 💜