What inspired your move from marketing into innovation and AI leadership?
It felt more like an organic evolution than a move at the time. I’ve always been interested in incorporating technology into my work; I remember automating “fax blasts” to group buyers of theater tickets in the late 90s. When ChatGPT was released in November 2022, I wanted to understand how I could use it to support my marketing work at NYC Tourism, and I spent December fruitlessly searching online for guides and tips. By January 2023, I determined nobody was figuring this out fast enough, and I started experimenting with a different way to use this tool at work every day, documenting what I was learning on LinkedIn.By the end of January, I had a good working understanding of the technology and two-speaker invitations, and I was completely hooked.
What advice would you share with women pursuing careers in a male-dominated field like tech?
Don’t wait for permission! Nobody will give it to you. There is no certification that says you’re “allowed” to talk about practical applications for AI. Women are 20% less likely to use AI tools than men, according to a meta-analysis published in Harvard Business Review, in part because we might perceive AI use as taking a shortcut or cheating, in part because malesupervisors who aren’t AI users are more likely to penalize AI use by subordinates ifthe subordinate is female . . . and in part becauseweneedtoseemore rolemodelsshowinghowtoresponsiblyandethically use AI.
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How does Brand USA use AI to connect destinations with the travel industry and/or consumers?
We announced a partnership with Mindtrip at IPW; they are powering the itinerary-building experience on the website for our global marketing campaign, America the Beautiful. Brand USA’s AI strategy has three prongs: creating operational excellence internally by using AI to create departmental workflows, increasing the capacity of the U.S. tourism industry to work with AI so that we are competitive globally, and using AI to make the United States more discoverable and bookable as a destination for international travelers. The Mindtrip integration on our site allows us to explore the evolution of the role of websites in travel planning; AI Overviews in Google Search and access to chatbots like Copilot and ChatGPT are training consumers to expect interactive experiences online, not just static blocks of text. With an interactive multilingual tool embedded on every page that pre-prompts the consumer to explore America250 activations or design road trips ahead of hosting FIFA World Cup in 2026, we’re having conversations with travelers, not just feeding them what we hope they want to read.
How do you keep the “human element” alive in AI-driven marketing?
Human review and keeping the human in the loop is essential, of course. If you’re using AI for writing, I would start with corporate documents that need to fit a particular style, like annual reports. Nobody enjoys writing those! Then think about how you could use AI to increase the humane element in your group trips. If you can automate or speed up the work you hate, you’ll have more time to spend working with people to create a terrific experience for your groups. Then think about how AI can be a force multiplier for the work you already do to delight a group–do you do one itinerary per group? AI could make it easier to create custom itineraries for each member of that group.
What AI trend do you think will reshape group travel marketing in the near term?
There’s so much opportunity for small businesses and group leaders to use AI to reduce the friction in planning a group trip. I used the free version of an AI tool called Lovable to write the code for a website that allowed conference attendees to register for educational sessions. The alternative would have been a Google Form, but this was fun to use, included every feature I wanted, and none that I didn’t. AI will help us write software that solves small problems in our businesses because we no longer need to be developers to create that software.
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