AI, Entrepreneurship, and the Advantage of Being Human

Well, we just had the pleasure of having Karen Camu on who's one of my favorite people. She is a Your founder and pro human AI brand and relationship architect Mandy founder of the AI Summit Worldwide and AI Summit Latinos. She's a recognized voice in strategy, leadership, and transformation in the age of artificial intelligence. Karen has helped grow multiple brands, products, and services by combining innovative strategy with the power of meaningful relationships. Her work focuses on helping leaders and businesses adapt, evolve, and thrive in an increasingly AI driven world without losing that human element. She's also the author of Beyond the White Coat and Hume AI Thinking is Still Human, exploring human potential technology. With that said, here's Karen. Welcome to the Power Up Your Life podcast brought to you by GoBundance Women. I'm Kelly Resendez.

And I'm Mandy McAllister.

And we have somebody super special to me, somebody I've traveled the world with and just Your. Karen Camu, how are you today?

I'm excited to be here with you two. Yeah. So thank you for having me. Or, like, you're gonna be more like my, like, Gen Z's and the heart emojis.

I love it. I love it. Well, tell us a little bit about your journey and what you're doing today.

I'm not gonna lie. I put claud all my information on Chagibati, and I said, give me the best of the best of the story that I have to share on Power Up Your Life Mandy because, you know, it's it's interesting when you have to summarize all your Life. And it was a great, exercise for me to do. So I wanna start by inviting everyone to do that, to actually work on your founder story and your story because that's something that I start I realized I started working when I was 15. So I'm 37 now. So that means I'm almost, like, twenty years in business. I was like, excuse me. That's why. That's why. And my first job was, you don't know this, Kelly or Mandy, but I was an assistant of a plastic surgeon at fifth when I was 15. So I started learning because I always look a little bit older than my age, but that led me to really be excited about what a solopreneur looks like because a doctor is a solopreneur. Mandy then I went to a restaurant to work, and I started getting all these different jobs. And my dad was like, why are you working in all these jobs? You don't need to. And I was like, because they're paying me to learn. Are you kidding me? They're paying me to learn all of their business. So my first, business was when I was, around nineteen twenty, and I opened English schools. I'm a self taught in different languages. So I wanted to understand how people acquire languages and how it actually stays in the brain. That's that was the most important thing for me. So I'm I've been always very inquisitive. I love understanding the why behind things. So that led me to open my first, school, English school, starting working with teachers, understanding teaching from a different perspective. And we had our first Life Your or the first day of our school, we opened with a 100 students and mainly teenagers. Because I loved it because I was such a rebel. I was such a rebel when I was a teenager. My like, I started doing tattoos and purseings. I was the one doing purseings in the bathroom Mandy the restroom. So I was, like, really rebel. So when I grew up, I was, like, I wanna help all these teenagers. They're so lost. They feel so lost. Right? So I wanna hear about you girls. How is your teenage years? Like, because that shapes a lot of who we are today.

Oh my god. I would have been right there with you minus the tattoos and piercings, but I definitely pushed the limits on everything and started working very young too. You know, my mom is a immigrant from Mexico, so there was no if, ands, or buts. Got my first job at 13. What about you, Mandy?

I grew up on a farm. So you, you work from the day that you can walk basically, but I Life ten miles from my school. So, and I was the youngest kid in my class, so I didn't have a driver's license until the middle of my junior year of high school. So there was no trouble to get into when you were riding your bike 10 miles or a horse. I literally rode my horse to my high school boyfriend's house. That that's how rural we were.

And, Maddie, you have to know this, but the way that Kelly and I actually connected is because her mom is actually from my city where I live in, where I'm at right now. And we saw each other in in Las Vegas. And I was like, I was attracted to Kelly. And I was like, I love her energy. And it's crazy when you start thinking about how every single part of your life shapes you to who you are today. And I think that's really something everyone listening and watching, they need to understand every single stage of your life. I love watching now my life as a Netflix, and I wanna invite everyone to watch their Life as a Netflix documentary and series because this is your series. And then you decide what's gonna happen in the next season. Who's the cast? Who are you gonna let out from your business, from your personal life? So I love doing that. But yeah. So going back to the professional journey, then when I opened a lot of schools in Mexico Mexico was pretty dangerous. I was in Guadalajara. So it's a big city. I was I was part of this very small community here in Sonora, Mexico. It's a very it's kinda like if Tennessee and Texas had a baby. Right? Okay? So think about it. So it's just that kind of mix of, like, cowboys, but also small town. You know? We all want to know each other. And when I went to the big city, I wasn't careful enough. I mean, imagine you going to LA or going to, you know, New Your. You don't have the same skills of looking around, understanding danger, like, all those different things. So, unfortunately, I had to go through someone since we started, building a lot of momentum and success. I I had the a moment where people thought we had a lot of money, so they tried to kidnap my son. So that moment for me was I'm out. I don't want Mandy. And I wanna tell everyone that it's listening, that sometimes we don't realize that that is trauma with money. Because after that, I was like, I don't wanna make Mandy, or I don't want anyone to know that I have money. I don't want anything to do with money because money is dangerous. Right? So my brand just collected that way, and I wasn't aware of that until years later than one of my, in Up, my psychologist told me, Karen, the moment you change your car, you and you accept you are deserving, and it's not dangerous to change your car and to buy yourself x y z and to Life comfortably, then you're healed because you haven't. Even if you say you have, you haven't. So going back, I I went on corporate culture. I had the opportunity to work with 1,200 people, helping them as a corporate culture manager. Mandy then I opened my my, first company, which is Social Close. It's a marketing agency. But as you girls know, we don't stop. We have dreams. We have goals. And now I own four different companies, and I'm really excited because I've learned to love my team and appreciate my team. So in a nutshell, I'm a serial entrepreneur that loves life. And when someone at a conference asked me who are you, I'm like, I'm a nobody because I'm a nobody. Like, really, we have to understand we're nobody on this earth. We're gonna lead. So I live this life business and that I'm just nobody. I'm just someone living this earth for a period of Life, and I'm just enjoying life. And in the middle, I'm so lucky and so blessed. That's the reality.

I love that. Now I Kelly you what is it about that. Yeah. It's a mindset. Right? It's a mindset. Yeah. I love it. So having four companies, I think a lot of our listeners and Kelly and I, fall into this category as well as being multi passionate. And I you know, a thing over the past year that I've realized about myself is the way that I've set up these different silos of companies under my umbrella. Like, I'm losing my damn mind sometimes, Karen. Talk to me and maybe any other entrepreneur out there who is met multi passionate. How do you get things to connect? How do you run all these various businesses without losing your damn mind?

I lost my mind in 2024. Let's start there. And I feel like the moment you understand Your icky guy, which you guys know about the icky guy, your your reasoning, your behind. I mean, working with all these people in corporate culture Mandy helping them to accomplish their dreams, we all have a lot of dreams. But there are some of them, they don't connect. Same thing happens with business. You have to make decisions. So we feel like we can do it all, but the reality is you can do it all if it's all connected. So in my companies, I have a digital marketing company that has been running for six years on marketing operations that we learn what we're good at and what we're not really good at. And you have to accept what you're not really good at, you and your team. You have to make sure that that company has, taught me that team is everything. I'm as good as my team, period. Like, if my if my team isn't shining and it's great and it's an a player and they wanna keep learning, because, I mean, we're in the marketing space. This is a very competitive space on top of AI. So we're not just competing with other companies and other talent. We're competing with AI. So we have to have this mindset of keep learning. Like, we know nothing. We have to wake up and say we know nothing. We have to learn. So and and keep learning every day. So my one of the, my company is social clothes. The other one, something I learned is a lot of my clients are personal brands. So the way that you treat a personal brand is not just marketing operations. Like, really understanding the future of that brand, it's it's a it's a lot about clarity and strategy. It's not a lot about execution. It's more about taking the time to plan and strategize. So if you see, they're connected. Now I all of the personal brands, they need books and audiobooks. So I'm someone that when I was working with we launched over 250 books so far. And I was feeling really bad that the authors will be like, have you read my book, Karen? Do you even care? And I'm like, I tried, but I don't remember. And that's the truth of I can't remember what I read, but I can remember everything that I listen. So I said, you know what? I'm gonna do it for myself. So I started taking all the people that didn't have audiobooks and going through, a process with AI and listening to the books. And I said, well, I'm doing it now. Why don't I start audiobook launch a studio Mandy I find a way to help, you know, authors? Because sometimes they don't have the time. They don't need they it's it used to be very expensive with with a studio and everything. Now we even clone voices Life that's the author's option. But then I can continue. Right? And then, that do you know, Kelly and Mandy, you guys have this amazing event that it's also coming soon, and you have go GoBundance. Mandy I've been going to all these events that I've connected with a lot of people, and, my family owns a property in Your next to Puerto Vallarta. It's called, Costa Alegre now, Carrelez. It's a it's a it's it's very famous now. And I started being connected, thanks to them, to people, and I became a, I call it, people architect. Right? So I like to connect, and and all of those things connect. All of those things flow perfectly for me. That I don't need to make an effort. And I feel like when everything is effortless, seamless because they're all connected, things pop. You know? Just they it's just like a domino. I don't have to push them and force them. But I think the difficult part for anyone that it's in business that it's they are they haven't found the links. So when I told you that, I studied, university and opened schools Your me, neuroplasticity Mandy neural links and brain was everything for me because I wanted to understand how I acquire a language, and I remember. This is my second language. I've never lived in The States. I never I've never lived for more than two weeks in a foreign, you know, place that is not Mexico. And I spoke I I learned French with music, so I really wanted to understand. And I if we connect that to business, it's the same thing. It's consistency, but finding the right links. If you don't have the links on how one helps the other, how one, it's a system, right, just like our brain. So if they're not connected, then they're going they're not going to match, and that's where the friction happens. That's where frustration happens, and that's where it's like water. It doesn't flow. Those are rocks that are not letting water flow. So I don't feel I've it took me tears. It took me learning, and it took me also taking responsibility that I was the problem because I'm the leader. So I have this responsibility to say, I don't know Mandy ask my team Mandy say to my team, I'm in the middle of divorce, and I'm not okay. And I need you being vulnerable, and I need Your. And I can't. I don't wanna wake up and be honest. Right? And you can't imagine how my team said, Karen, we got you. We're here for you. We're gonna need if you if we need you, we're gonna call Your, but you've been there for me. Now we're gonna be here for you. And that hasn't changed. And that has been really good because, again, the company is as good as your team. And I don't know if you guys or anyone listening has felt like I have to push everything by myself. If I don't do it, nothing happens. This is a mindset of someone that thinks it's better than the rest of the people, and that's a huge lie. Yeah. Because believe me, there's people that it's even better than I am. And right now, I just step into my talents. They step into theirs, but we discover them, and we all do what's best, and what makes us feel really happy. And I also invited my team to please leave this company if you don't love it. That's another thing. I asked them. I said, it's like any relationship. I don't want you to be here for I mean, I even said, if you don't wanna be here, tell me, and I'll find you another job, a better paid one if you want to. Like, I don't want you here if you don't love our company. Because the only thing that you're doing is hurting our company. Because our company feels the pain of not feeling loved Mandy being obsessed by it Mandy being, like, so excited about the future. And we can all feel it. So those are the things that I I've done, and I don't feel like I'm driving myself crazy. But I had to accept, like, in any relationship. I love this person, but this person doesn't love the company. Yeah. And by the actions, I can tell this person doesn't love the company, and it's painful. And I love this person, but if it has to go, I'm gonna let it go. And I'm gonna see this person shine somebody somewhere else. It doesn't have to be here. The Power Up Your Life podcast is powered by GoFundMe and Swimming. I could tell you stuff about it,

Your is powered by GoBundance Women. I could tell you stuff about it or you could hear from some of our members. Here you go. GoBundance has connected me with an amazing group of entrepreneurial women

that I can learn from and support and grow together.

GoBundance gave me a boardroom of sisters who refused to let me settle. You know, within the first two months of me being a member, I enrolled someone to help them with their high ticket sales. I got double back my investment within the first, you know, sixty days of being a member. So it was it's incredible. You guys are just amazing, and there's always somebody to look up to in in, in GoBundance, so I love being a member.

That's why you owe it to yourself to check out goabundancewomen.com.

Yeah. So powerful.

That's how Mandy.

Yeah. I love that. Well, I wanna talk to the woman that might be where you were in 2024 where you said you kinda lost it. Right? So you were running businesses, but you also had some things that were going on in your life. And, obviously, resiliency is something we cultivate. Right? And so for the person that doesn't wanna get out of bed, that doesn't want to take that first step because something devastating's happened, whether it's the loss of somebody, a divorce, whatever it might be, like, what would you tell them as a business owner besides, you know, engaging your team Mandy that vulnerability?

Look. I would love for us to share something vulnerable because I feel like you guys also have amazing stories that we that I can learn from and people listening. So the dream, it's very important that you clarify your dream and what your business is. So I was following my cofounder's dream, which it was he was coming from a company with 1,200 employees, and he wanted to grow this company to 200, 300 employees. But I didn't even know I didn't like that. And and I love small teams. That's what I'm good at. So in 2024, I made the decision. I had two kids that were waiting for me at home. I was traveling a lot, and I made a decision of taking one week in Paris by myself. Take my notebook, put my phone away, and write down what I wanted my next year to look like. So I took one week in my birthday. That was my my gift for myself in my birthday. It was going to Paris, walk in the streets, think, think, think, think, think. Because we bill we are we are lost in this idea that everything is action. Not it's not true. It's not not everything is action. A lot is channeling, thinking, really understanding what I'm doing. It it's driving me to the right place Mandy praying for the right people to come to my life. Mhmm. Because sometimes we're not aware that the people in our lives have served a purpose to got us here, but it's Power, in all the senses. Right? Sometimes it's, someone at work, a co a found a co founder that I had, a relationship, marriage, fifteen years married, but also my friends. My friends were not at the level. That's why good GoBundance is so important. Because sometimes the people around you, they they don't understand it, and they you think you're crazy. You're the wrong one. You're the one that doesn't fit. But, no, you're the one that is breaking a generation. You're the one that is doing something different. So that's what I did. I cried, and I said, Karen, you have to learn how to let go of these people Mandy be honest with yourself. If not, if you don't make any changes right now, anyone can do it. Anyone can actually take it. If you don't have the means to actually go to Paris. Right? Because that was something I wanted to do. But if you just go to a coffee shop and block five hours, nothing is gonna happen. I promise you. Like, that's a crazy thing. We believe that the Earth is gonna disappear, and our business is gonna are going to flaw because we're not there. It's not true. They're not. I promise Your. Five hours away for you to think, for you to breathe, stay away, and and and spend some Life. It's super helpful. And that saved not my life, but also what I said about the prayer. You came to my life, Kelly, as well, and you were super helpful because you told me, oh, girl, you'll be fine. A lot of women came to my life and said, you'll be fine. I've been there, but I've in my family, Mandy my family is really Christian. So divorce was not I I'm the first person who actually got divorced in my family Mandy the whole generation that I've met. That was a huge burden. So seeing people that they were saying, like, this is normal. This is another normal. And sometimes that's also happened in business Your all the when when listening. Sometimes you think something is not normal or it's not obvious because you haven't been in the right spaces where you can see yeah. That's that happens, and that happens more often than you think. So, yeah, Time take time away from everything. Because when you are into so much pressure, it's hard to make decisions. You're reacting, not really acting. And you're not aware of that sometimes until you take a step back. Yeah. So now I wanna hear your stories. I wanna hear this Women that broke Your, and then you feel like you couldn't anymore. I wanna hear it.

It's it's kind of in the same vein of what you talked about. And it it's it's also like what Jamie Kern Lima said in her book worthy, that Your not crazy. You're just first. That when you're trying to go do something big, you might just not have anybody in your life that's done that thing yet. And and for me, when I was I was in medical device sales for the bulk of my career, making 2, sometimes $300,000 a Your, a very nice living, and I was a brand new single mom in 2021. And my best friends were telling me, you are being selfish. What are you thinking? This is irresponsible. Your thinking you're gonna leave this job. You have a child to provide for now, but how lucky was I to have people like Kelly and other members of GoBundance that told me what the other side of that story could look Life. People who had scaled $78.09 figure businesses that were telling me about how much money they left on the table staying at a w two. So, you know, you gotta love your people that got you where you're at, and I continue to love them to this day, but I also surround myself with people that look like my future. Kelly, what's something for you?

Yeah. Well, first and foremost, you know, I've had so many of these moments. I kinda call it the death of self, where it started in 2004 where it was like, I'm living a life, but it wasn't really aligned with who I was. And I I went through that iteration so many times. And the biggest thing that I really leaned into, and, Karen, you nailed it, was taking space Mandy really giving myself permission to believe in something bigger and not hold on to the the, you know, the lifeboat to what I'd always held on to before and just feeling Life, you know, most of us kinda can feel like, oh my gosh, I'm lost. And now I'm programmed that when I feel like I'm lost, I know something juicy is right on the other side of it, which is so important. So, Karen, I'm gonna switch gears just a little bit. Just with with marketing and AI, you've made a big pivot. You've always been a marketing expert, branding, thought leadership, etcetera, but you've Kelly, before most people I know, really leaned into AI. How do you see AI really changing the face of business and marketing as we move forward?

Oh my god. I have to tell you that yesterday, I was I wanna share something first. I was invited to speak at MIT for my my new book, and I said no this year because it wasn't over. Like, I was I wasn't feeling like it was done. And I feel like that's also a calling that you have when you said I need to make sure you have to follow your intuition. Right? When I finished yesterday, my book that I send the manuscript Mandy we're ready to publish, I'm so happy I added a section on one of the last chapters that talks about unemployment, that talks about statistics. Because we can believe whatever we want, but the data, it's data. And things are happening. Businesses are happening. I had the biggest blessing of launching books from AI experts and metaverse experts before everyone was talking about those things, so they became my friends. That was a big inspiration for me because I was like, what is this? Right? Like, I want to learn about this. And, I'm glad that I shared with you, the fact that I was a teacher because when you learn languages, there's something called the Women European framework of references. And there's nothing right now that tells us what level of AI you are. Right? So everyone is calling themselves AI experts, but Yeah. What is are you basic? Are you intermediate? Are you advanced? What are you? Like, what kind of advanced in what? What kind of do you even know what kind of AI the difference between generative and, you know, the different kind of AIs that exist. No. Sometimes you don't even you you don't even understand the theory, and you think you understand the practice. Not because you know how to use ChatGPT and Claude, and you're learning how to code, and you feel, like, excited. Be careful because in businesses, you can also get AI fatigue. So I truly believe, Mandy and Kelly Mandy Hume AI, We need it's not an option. We need AI. We're in the same erathat.com happened, where computers.com and school started doing this computer, you know, class. We're going to start we're there. We're going to start AI classes. We're going to need our teams to be open to learn, but we also have to respect that not all of us can get to the finish line, which I call transformational. And not because we don't want to. Sometimes it's capabilities. Sometimes it's needs of the company, and some other times it's because your company doesn't really need it. Right? You don't need to automate everything. You don't need to, find the expert right now. What I've seen happening, it's a lot of people want to automate things in systems they don't have. That's so sad because the only way that you can automate and be more efficient is if you already did the homework. Remember when we were talking about thinking and strategizing? You need to do that homework first. You need to know what repetitive tasks can be actually automated. Now Your me, it's unacceptable that any company right now is not being supported by any AI with, you know, brainstorming. Brainstorming, thinking, expanding ideas, research, all of that. But I do believe it's our responsibility to keep everything human, and we have kids. So it's my responsibility to make sure that also they understand the power that we have as humans and the soul that we bring to every single day of work. One of my clients, has a book that talks about something in the Bible that I found it so interesting because he was talking about that every piece of talent that we have, it's if we waited, it's in gold. So our our talents, they are God given talents, or if you believe in the universe, you have your own talents that you were born with. And those also have way more value than actually what AI can say, and those are unique. So I want all of us to understand that we bring something to the table even in the era of AI, but it's our responsibility to figure that out. So it's the moment in life and in business that we need to do way more self discovery than ever. We need to understand our talents so we can explode them. If we don't understand Mandy we have them really I'm good at this, Mandy I'm good at this, then you're not gonna be able to maximize what AI can do for you. So in any business, I can say it's not acceptable. You're not trying. And if you're afraid, that's also something on my book at the beginning. If you're a beginner zero, just like you if I ask you about Chinese or Italian or you're gonna be afraid. It's the same feeling. Like, I'm I don't think I'm gonna do it. I don't know how I'm gonna do it. It's just part of the process of your brain of actually accepting and getting out of fear, progressing. But also you're okay with saying, I wanna get into here on my journey of AI. I don't wanna get further because I don't like it. I don't enjoy it. Yeah. And I mean it. Right? So I don't have to know it all. Like, until here, I'm fine for now. Right? And that's also something that I feel every business. And that has been a big success, and that was yesterday, I got a few calls of people that have marketing agencies that are closing. They're closing. They're closing. They're doing so bad in business. And I think it's because they haven't discovered what they're good at. And there's I think right now, any mark anyone doing marketing, they have the biggest advantage of all times being unique. Everyone looks every every post looks the same. Everyone looks the same. Every couple looks the same. If you're someone that it's being it's unique Mandy has a message and a story and a soul, you're winning because everyone is posting the same thing. Yeah. They don't have soul. I mean, screens and phones, we can feel the energy through the phone. Life, we can feel when someone is crying. We can feel when someone's sad. We can empathize with that. But when we see posts that are empty and they're just there because someone told them the algorithm needed all post every day, I'm like, yes. Keep doing that. Because I'm winning. I love that. Winning. Yeah. So definitely

Yeah. We could chat all day, but we we can't. But I love it. You have been such an amazing guest, so much wisdom Mandy and both personally and professionally. So what really stood out for me the most was that you know that it that's vulnerability. Mandy, you know, having a team that is aligned with your vision is super important Mandy just taking that space for yourself was so impactful as well. Mandy, what about you?

Oh, I had two there was a thousand things I wrote down, but I got two favorites, Karen. One, your willingness to always be the beginner. That curiosity leads every damn thing that you do. I think that's why you've found so such tremendous success in everything that you've ever attempted is because of that insatiable curiosity that you bring to everything. I admire it so much. And just kinda more tactically, this idea that you can't automate what you don't understand. I see so many people trying to automate the thing that they've never wanted to do, and now it's just automated. Well, if you don't know what the crap you're doing, what steps to take, how are you gonna automate the thing that was a real gem? You have served us so greatly, Karen. We love to serve our guests in a way that you've served us. What's what's an introduction Your, a resource that would change the ballgame for you Mandy what you do?

The reason why I started the first company, it's because I saw a lot of authors being lied about their out their outcomes. Most of the time when someone is launching a book, they feel like their book is the best book of the world, and it's fine. I believe mine is I don't blame them. We all think. Right? But the reality is there's so much about launching something. There's so much about building a company. And today I'm going to write on LinkedIn about trust. So Life someone is questioning whether, they are doing a good job with their company, their marketing, they want an advice, they can reach out to me. And I'll be happy to exchange ideas because I feel people are my favorite sources of information. They have the information that I can find on Google. So when I compare, x personal brand, x company, that gives me data for me to make smarter decisions and educated decisions. So every conversation is important for me. So Life it. How do they find you? They can go to LinkedIn and go to Karen Camus Your,

yeah, they can find me there on LinkedIn. That's fine. Awesome. We love it. Well, thank you so much for dropping so much wisdom today Mandy for anybody listening. You know, it sounds like next steps for you and your business is is to to really dig into your talents and not be afraid of AI. Really figure out how to leverage it as well Mandy definitely go find, Karen on LinkedIn and and check out her business. So if this episode landed for you, make sure that you leave some comments, share it with a friend, and we will see you on the next episode of Power Up Your Life. Thanks again, Karen.

Have fun. Have more fun.

Bye. Thanks for joining us today on the Power Up Your Life podcast. If you got value from today's episode, make sure that you like and subscribe and send this episode to someone who needs to hear some wins like this. If you need to power up your business, head over to Power Up Your Life Now where you can see all of the resources that our team has to power up your business. We'll see you on the next episode.