Ali Eakin
Created the newsletter, website, visuals, and public room after getting tired of waiting for a traditional tech on-ramp.
The Origin Story
Built by one woman, pushed forward by the right group chat.
The Origin Story
Built by one woman, pushed forward by the right group chat.
Six months ago, I could not get a Women-in-Tax newsletter to send properly via email. I work in tax, not tech. I am not a developer. The ideas were there, but they kept getting stuck behind someone else's time, budget, or availability.
Then I started using AI. Since then, I have built a personal command centre, designed AI agents for research and operations, entered a Women-in-Tax hackathon with a team that built Echo, an AI product VPs now want to bring to production, made amazing friends, and created the newsletter, website, images, and brand you are looking at now.
Receipt
Five days from "I have never built a website" to a living, glitter-covered AI world.
Before this, I had never designed a website or built anything like it. I am also, historically, one of IT's most frequent flyers. My portrait is probably hanging somewhere as Customer of the Year, and when I bring IT a problem, they often have to go find their IT. At this point, it is only a matter of time before the imaginary loyalty department calls to offer me a very special valued-customer discount if I come back.
With AI, the idea stopped waiting for a traditional tech on-ramp. In under three weeks, the vision became a newsletter, website, visual system, quiz archive, games, agents, issue packs, and a public room people can actually use.
I am writing and building myself, but it did not come out of nowhere. Sara Baxter and Eugina Lim helped turn the lonely "am I crazy for wanting this?" stage into an actual room: reviewing drafts, giving feedback, cheering on the weird ideas, and helping prove through Echo that women in tax can build the future instead of waiting for someone else to translate it.
DJ has been cheering from the AI steering committee side of the house, and now he is bringing the music: weekly AI-made songs for each episode, because apparently this project needed a House DJ too.
is not asking you to become the IT department in better shoes. It is here to remind you that you are allowed to understand this stuff, and you absolutely can. Learn enough of the technical pieces to stop feeling locked out, then use that confidence to bring the really good ideas to life in your own voice.
P.S. In case it was not clear, I do not have it all figured out just yet. I have one hand in my pocket and the other writing an AI prompt. If you spot a problem, have a better idea, or know a shortcut I should try, tell me. We are all in this together, preferably with better snacks.
The Founding Group Chat
AI fluency is practical confidence, with just enough tech literacy to stop waiting for a translator.
That is the promise of : small weekly tries, a useful room, and enough confidence to stop waiting for someone else to translate your idea.
Sara Baxter
Early reviewer, feedback giver, Echo hackathon teammate, and one of the women who made the idea feel worth building out loud.
Eugina Lim
Echo was Eugina's idea. One of Amazon Tax's AI experts and an Echo hackathon teammate — the original spark that started the conversation.
DJ
AI steering committee supporter, AI song maker, and the person turning each Wednesday episode into something you can play while pretending your inbox is under control.
After Hours
The off-duty feed for lipstick, references, and group-chat useful things.
Follow for visual drops, behind-the-scenes bits, and the occasional post worth sending to the group chat. Bring questions and wins to the public threads; bring the outfit check energy here.
@laidies.ai
Go after hours