Early Reader! Gabby Bajorek on Wiley Book: Fun, Relatable, Actionable

"Real, relevant, and relatable. Your AI Roadmap gives a kick a** approach to personal finances & career planning in the era of AI. "
Gabby Bajorek, Testimonial for "Your AI Roadmap" Book

 🔥 In this bonus episode, Dr. Joan Palmiter Bajorek and Gabby Bajorek (Joan's cousin!) discuss "Your AI Roadmap: Actions to Expand Your Career, Money, and Joy" since Gabby was an early reader who gave feedback on the manuscript!

Gabby Bajorek is a Commercial Innovation Associate at The Coca-Cola Company (BODYARMOR SPORTS NUTRITION), and a Masters Student at Columbia University.

📖 Buy the Book! YourAIRoadmap.com

Quotes
"Finally, there's something relevant and relatable available."
"The transparency you gave to your readers was surprising."
"It's super fascinating to see how AI is developing."

Gabby shares her insights on the resources provided in the book and emphasizes the significance of taking actionable steps towards financial independence and future-proofing income streams.

📖 Gabby found the book relatable and relevant to her career.  
💬 The transparency in discussing financial journeys was appreciated.  
🤖 AI is both a tool and a source of concern in the job market.  
🏙️ Networking in New York City is accessible and beneficial.  
💵 Comfort levels in discussing money vary among friends.  
💡 Future-proofing income involves exploring multiple income streams.  
📚 The book offers actionable resources for readers.  
🧐 Reflection questions in the book prompt deeper thinking.  
💼 The pay discrepancies highlighted in the book are eye-opening.  
📈 The conversation emphasizes the importance of financial literacy for all. 

Joan and Gabby talk about the impact of Joan's book on Gabby's perspective regarding career resilience, financial literacy, and the evolving landscape of AI. They explore the importance of networking, the comfort level in discussing money, and the relatability of the book's content. 

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction and Background
• 3:14 First Impressions of the Book
• 5:59 The Role of AI in Careers
• 8:24 Networking and Career Development
• 10:34 Discussing Money with Friends and Family
• 12:53 Entrepreneurship and Income Streams
• 15:38 Relatability and Resources in the Book
• 17:34 Takeaways and Action Items
• 20:10 Final Thoughts and Recommendations

Transcript

0:20

Hey folks, this is a bonus episode. I get to talk with my awesome cousin, Gabby, who is 24 and living in New York. She was an early reader of my book and I love talking with her about how the book impacted her, how she thinks about the book, and that people earlier in their careers are a target demographic for the book. I hope you enjoy listening and please buy the book at yourairoadmap .com. Okay, let's jump in. Hey Gabby. So excited to have you on. How you doing? I'm doing well. I'm so excited to talk to you. It's a special bonus episode. Could you introduce yourself to the podcast audience? yes, definitely. Hi everyone. My name is Gabby Bajorek I am a Commercial Innovation Associate at Coca -Cola and a current Masters candidate in Technology Management at Columbia University. I love that they have these degrees now. That's awesome. When people might notice that we have the same last name, Gabby, how do we know each other? We're cousins! Just a, what, 10 year age gap? But yeah, Gabby and I are cousins, which is so rad because I feel like there's some parallels to our lives and then other things that are completely different. But yeah, your dad is 10 years younger than my dad, 11? I was going say just about, Big Catholic family. I've mentioned on this podcast, like huge Catholic family. Five sisters and two brothers, my dad has. Okay. Well, let's hop into it. You were one of my early readers, gave early feedback about like, I like this, I don't like this, flesh this out. So thank you so much. They're not that many early readers, Gabby. So, I'm honored Well, you are one of our target demos So that's awesome. Can you tell the audience a little bit, what were your first impressions of the book? Like when I asked you, what did you think? So I think first impressions, for sure, we're just like, finally, like there's something relevant and relatable available. And like, as you just said, as someone who's part of like, the target demographic, like back to the relatable thing, like it's like, I haven't necessarily read something where I resonated with so much. and especially when like studying, studying this area, and then just like being a part of it, like in the everyday, whether it's like, work or just, you know, in my free time. It's definitely been awesome to see it resonate outside the book. Yeah. and do want to give a little bit background like where you live? If you mind sharing how old you are, like kind of where you are in your career. Yeah. definitely. So I live in New York City. I just turned 24. so I'm currently, like I said earlier, I'm currently a part -time master's student. And then I'm working in innovation full Yeah, well, just a little bit ambitious, know? When you live in New York, I loved hearing about from you early was like, what books you currently read? Although I asked some people your age group and they're like, I don't read books, Joan, like hard pass. But what type of books when I asked you at least, what type of books or content are you consuming? Yeah, so I do read a lot of books. I'm trying to think like, and the topics honestly range. So it's like whether it's I read a lot of like innovation and design thinking stuff. But also too, I'm super fascinated in I know one of the books I told you was just like a book on art, and like how like the financing behind that. So I definitely do read a lot of books. And I'm trying to think of like other stuff too. But it really just depends whether it's like in my free time, whether it's for class. But yeah, definitely a bunch like there's a different, a very big variety there for sure. No, you're fine. But like there were far more like business, like thinking about innovation, but not only innovation in far as like the product, but the fiscal's behind like how you actually scale a company, which I did not really think about until the last three to five, myself, three to five years, which super cool. I'm finding that through my coursework as well over the past year, you're seeing more of the fiscal innovation being tied into learning. So even with the additional books that I'm reading too, it's cool to be analyzing case studies and applying that every day as well. yeah, no, feel like, or not to diss the universities I've been at, but like working in R&D or like preparing a technical career, you didn't necessarily think about the business elements. You just like throw things over, then the sales people are like, hmm, how am going to use this or give me different numbers or I only want a bar chart. And I'm like, I need stats. And so I think in my now part of my career being like, what is the ROI for companies? they won't greenlight things, the fiscal. So this seems really obvious, but I'm telling you, coming out of a PhD, that was not the thing. When you think about kind of surprises, reading the book, or at least the topic, are there any elements that specifically surprised you? one thing that surprised me in the best way possible was the transparency that you gave, like you were giving to your readers just on what it looks like, know, like your financial journey looks like, and just like giving the readers a glimpse into like, this is real, this is me. And I don't think, one, a lot of readers do that, and two, I don't think people expect that when going into it, but it makes it. back to what said earlier, that much more relatable when reading. Yeah, well, I think I've read so many career books about how to build a career and women in tech type things. And then you end it being like, and hopefully you have a good salary. And goodbye. The end. And I give that example in my book of people who make so much money, but at end of the day, their fiscal house is not stable. And that you didn't necessarily expect. Totally, Gabby, all the trolls coming for me. I'm so, but my concept was that the people like you, I wish I'd had someone who talks so concretely to me back in the day. It really, or like that's the gift I hope to give others. When you think about resilience, opportunity and volatility in the age of AI, what have you seen? How do you experience that? know, it's 2024. Like, how do you think about AI in these markets? Yeah, definitely. I mean, I think there's definitely two sides to it, right? Like, on one hand, it's like people find it super scary, you know? And then on the other hand, it's like, it's something worth embracing and running with it, right? I will say, like I've seen a lot of people affected by layoffs, especially like being in New York City. And it is, I will say it is discussed, like with the people around and stuff being affected by, okay, like... Like we, like I lost my job, like because of the AI boom, right? especially seeing with like designers maybe like they're not necessarily let go, but they're learning to utilize AI as a tool to maybe speed up the process a little bit. So, and in terms of like my coursework, we're using all, like they're telling us to utilize these AI tools. They're telling us to embrace it and stuff, but it's also just there are ethical, like there are ethical issues behind it. There are a bunch of biases, like inherent biases that are in it. So it's just, I guess being in a field and learning about it as it's, as AI is developing, it's been super fascinating just to see, they grow and evolve, whether people are super scared about it or, you know, taught to embrace it. Yeah, I've had family members totally shut down like, I don't understand it. Like next topic. But for us and our careers, like adopting it, but thinking about, I've literally built bots that automate people's and then myself been in layoffs. So there's kind of like meta adventure of which jobs are resilient, are jobs resilient, which tools speed things up so fast. I'm like, holy mackerel, like that just does it. And click of a button, like Canva tools. especially being in New York and you are getting your degrees and things, How are you experiencing it? Like, yeah, careers and networking. As someone who's in New York City and I have the network of work and I have the network of school, in terms of outside networking events, it honestly is very easy to find and meet people who are interested in the same thing in different industries, wanting to leverage AI in their space. I do think though, like being in New York, it makes it easier for me But also I think with where we're at right now, AI is, it's a buzzword. So people are, a lot of people who don't necessarily know about it, maybe especially in like the people around me, like they're willing to. go to these events, host events, try new things just to get an understanding or learn a little bit more about what it is. Totally. yeah, I went to a dinner last night and I like almost didn't want to mention that I'm an AI entrepreneur. was like, I build like infrastructure things because that buzzword becomes almost meaningless in this sea of like, no, you're another AI expert. Like, but what is that nuts and bolts? Like actually. true. And I think like, like coming off of that, like a lot of people, they're like, like, they don't even necessarily know, like the full understanding So when they're like, like another AI entrepreneur, like, and they don't even necessarily know what that means. Right. So it's just super fascinating. Right. Like, wait a second. ooh. Cool. Well, I'd love to transition to a little bit thinking about money. Do you often talk to your friends and family about money? Yeah, it's funny because there are friends that I do, like very openly talk about money and then there are friends that I don't and it's just it's been brought up but they're not necessarily comfortable with it which is totally fine. so yes and no. Yeah, totally. Same here. mean, especially as I get older, there's some people who, again, back to like making money versus like having money and leveraging it and how people feel, how comfortable, I don't want to force it on people. It's a delicate topic. On a scale from zero to one, not ever at all, to 10 absolutely easily all the time, how comfortable do you feel? talking about money, whether it's finance, income streams, financial planning, What's your comfort level, you think? I'd probably say like a 7 to 8. Yeah. Yep. Yep. Having talked with you, I would agree that. do think your comfort level has changed at all after reading the Your AI Roadmap book? Yeah. I definitely say so. I think, like, I was definitely comfortable going into it. I think even more so with kinda and what we were talking about earlier, it's like bringing it up in a conversation, like with people, like first figuring out, if they're comfortable or not, but just like being okay with having open conversations about that with even more people. It's definitely something that I took away after reading the book. Totally, instead of be like, let's talk about money, I've been trying to be like, hey, this might feel uncomfortable or like we don't have to, but would you be open to talking about like, I'm a very direct person. so like, if you're not comfortable, no sweat, you know? But especially here in the Seattle area, I've been thinking about like rent versus own. Can you tell me like some more details about what comfort levels or what things you really resonated with in parts of the book? Yeah, so yeah, like you're saying with the entrepreneurial stuff, in future proofing, you know, your income, like knowing that there's so many different ways that you could be like making money or like gaining that financial security, right? Like it's not just, it doesn't have to be, your one, like your job, your one jobs, like. income stream, it can be so many other things, and on top of that you can have fun with it. It's not just like, you know, it doesn't have to be like this, like I don't want to deal with it, it's too much, it's overwhelming, like it can be something where you enjoy and then on top of that you're, you know, you're getting more money, right? Totally. Well, that's part of the reason it's called your AI roadmap actions to expand your career, money and joy. And actually Wiley told me like the word expand was used like a lot because I do think about people around me who like think about the fiscal's are like, how much money would just, it's just enough to pay my rent. And I'm like, why don't they think about expansion? Like why not think about more revenue streams? Like what could you do with an extra? I talk about my tutoring business from my graduate school times and like. an extra 40 bucks here, and then you add multiple clients, like an extra 200 bucks a month, can be dramatic, like on different budget sizes. Yeah. Right, because even in like maybe, you know, at that time you don't necessarily need, you know, the extra cash, but it's always like, you know, when you look back and you're like, wow, I'm so glad I did that. I was able to, you know, either invest or do X, X, and X, like do different experiences with it. So it's always, it's always good to have. Totally, and just the confidence in myself. like I talked in the book about like struggling to buy groceries or like pay for groceries. California is expensive, okay? Like living with how many roommates and like working so many hours and not be able to fully afford a month of groceries was just wild, but being able to bring in just a little bit, well, a little bit, maybe $200 is a lot for other folks, but like that seemingly small, the calm I felt to be like, I got food, food's down, you know, like we're good, we're solid. dramatic for me. When you think about reading the book and think about AI and kind of the impact both of AI itself and like different products but like the field, like how our careers are changing, how money is changing, Another very broad question, Gabby. no, no, no, you're fine. So yeah, I feel like throughout our lifetimes, like emerging technologies are going to like, come and go like make so many drastic changes to our everyday life. But I think like, like in reading this book and having a further understanding into the field, it, you know, gives me confidence in how I'm able to handle like my finances, right in this era. Now we again, we don't know how long like this is in the last, but I think the practices from the book set you up for the future as well. Thank you. Well, I hope so. I hope so. I literally, you know, as I project out, I don't, I think it's gonna get worse, not better. Or do we think there's more jobs coming? Who knows with different economic policies, but it's hard to imagine. It's very interesting to imagine because maybe like maybe we do have a lot more jobs, but it's different jobs that we don't even know exist yet, right? like we, we just don't know. I've been looking also blue collar and trade jobs. Just to hire a plumber in Seattle, so expensive because there's so much demand and almost everyone is in tech. And so these other sectors that come out of left field can charge almost whatever they want. The demand is so high. So thinking about, as you mentioned, different job sectors being a factor. OK, Mm -hmm. What were some of your favorite aspects of the book? You mentioned a little bit about relatability or kind of actionable Yeah, I'm trying to think it would like, genuinely, it was a very good read. And I'm very honored to be one of the first couple of readers. I think, like, like you just mentioned, I relatability was the biggest thing for me. I love being able to like, really like divulge into a book and see how like this, this applies is like applicable to my everyday life. the examples back to the relatability thing, and even, I know we talked about like the resources that you offer, I think is super, super huge. it's just super helpful to like... I guess take the next step forward after reading it. And like you mentioned earlier, like you don't leave the readers with like, this is only applicable to someone that has like, know, XX net worth, et cetera. Like this does apply to everyone. Totally. I try to do a super scrappy graduate student type, like literally $30 ,000 a year type budget, and talking about $60 ,000, which apparently is roughly the average in the United States. Which is that's crazy We could talk so much about what $60 ,000 could do for you in New York, Seattle, Oklahoma, right? We had listeners around the world. So maybe 60 ,000 for them sounds really, really big. And then also being about income expansion to $250 ,000 a year. But yeah, thinking about, I try to really make it as inclusive as possible for people in different parts of their lives. You mentioned kind of resources. People may not know. What resources in the book can you share? Maybe what those look like, etc. Yes, yes. one of the resources that stood out to me the most was the reflection question. beyond, like, even like when you're like reading, it's like, okay, you're thinking about these things to yourself, but having guided resource to make you think like that much further or, you know, take you, yeah, take you that many more steps. ahead of, I guess, like the book or not ahead of the or just like ahead of what you were even thinking. They were super awesome. Now, can you remind me what one of like the questions were? Yeah. So I mean, at end of most chapters, I think not all, but most chapters, they're like questions for reflection. Like, did you ever find that one of your coworkers was paid more or less than you? How did you feel about that? they're meant to be kind of helpful guiding, or as you mentioned, like things the reader might be thinking, but being like, transparently, do you know about this? Have you experienced these things? Kind of being, being an active participant. I think this book is literally actions to expand, Like prompting the reader to think like, I could make moves, kind of. Yeah. I'm you like reflection questions. Well, and there are templates and, you know, fill it out aspects and resources that people can download. think that's what Wiley wasn't necessarily as prepared for, like as many tables as I put in this book. They're like, like almost every chapter is like, yeah, yeah, like, like actionable. Like, let's go do it. it's so great because I feel like having it like separated, like you're like having X amount of tables per chapter is so important too, because it's like, okay, I read a chapter and I'm like, I'm thinking of this, I'm like, okay, I want to do this right now. Like, I don't want to wait, you know, like, so it's nice to have that right then and there when you're like actively reading. Totally, yeah. Well, I think in high school, we were like prompted to like write in our books that we were reading. I was like, a pen? On like Fahrenheit 451? Exactly, exactly. And if people want to buy the book and then download the resources, it's yourairoadmap.com / resources. It's not up right now yet. We still got to finish final copy edits. But those like download, print it out, sketch it out, But one of the early readers was like, I'll keep this on my shelf because not all of them are applicable today, but down the road they might be. And so thinking about, like there's goals about like, what does money actually unlock for you? And what is the real dollar sign for that dog, for that wedding, the wedding of your dreams, So very actionable. Again, kind of redundant, I suppose. Biggest takeaways for yourself or action items Yeah, these takeaways are action items. Yeah, think like, like we've kind of talked about the fact that you're able to tailor your situation to to the book, no matter, you know, no matter where you come from, no matter what you're doing, like you like, anyone can do this, like, and you like really actually can do it, not say you're doing it, you know, so it's having these resources, utilizing these resources and like, setting yourself up for successes. probably the greatest takeaway that you can get Thank you. Yeah, I really hope that people of varying backgrounds read this book. As early readers, I had one octogenarian who's a multimillionaire and he read it and like how you experience the book, Yes. But we all come from different backgrounds thinking about it and not trying to make assumptions. I also think, and remind me this was you or not you, but there's a table of breakdown of pay discrepancy based on your gender or race. It's just very blunt. It's from US Census data. How did you think about that table? it is so fascinating because like just seeing it right on there, like you just don't like, I didn't even realize, you know, like how, like how like crazy it was. Like it's, it's real, but it's also like, it needs to be talked about and it needs to be seen. So having that there. like it super powerful. Thank you. Yeah, I mean, just doing the research on it, I got to say how sad and angry I was like, wow. People are being paid 40 % less than other people, literally for no good reason. Like no good reason. Instead of like 40 cents on the dollar, I I normalized it to $100 ,000, which I think are more practical dollar signs that people are more used to. I think it was really heartbreaking to after that part to write the debt sections about like student debt, credit card debt, like car debt. I was like, if you were paid equitably. Like all that debt is almost wiped out within a year. Like it's just, dang, it's not fair, it's not right. Well, Gabby, if you were telling a friend or recommending this book to someone or not and being like, you're not ready for this book. No, but you know what, you have a testimonial about this book already, but like if you were talking to one of your friends and be like, my gosh, this book, what might you say to your friend? yeah definitely. And I honestly have, like I've talked to people like like in my classes and stuff about it. What would I say or what have I said I guess like this book is like if you're looking to find additional ways to future -proof your income, expand like your net worth, this is definitely something that you should look into. It's not, it's really not as scary as it might look. But there are so many ways to do so and have a bunch of fun with it. Yeah. how did you find it fun? I'm curious. I think though, I think like being able to be creative with like your income streams, like whether it's, it's not like there's so many different, like, you know, there's so many different ways to go about doing that. But I think when you're able to personalize it and create it for yourself and what you want, I think that there's, there's fun to that. Hmm. It's like not one path, like lots of options. I think in the final version, but I think it's 57 ideas of income streams. Or like people are like, how would I even start? And I was like, go to the section. Some are easier than others. Yeah, but like there's a whole table Like if you want to go to Fiverr, if you want to go to Craigslist, like I think you're potentially limited by your own creativity in some ways. And I also think too that some people feel stuck, like in, you know, what they're currently doing. And so being able to express, express their own, passion in other areas definitely make it like more fun and maybe lead into something more, which you never know, right? One thing that's the scaling that there's a chapter in the book, people won't know Gabby, this is dropping before the book comes out. There's really famous donut shop about 30 minutes from my house and this person is selling donuts like nobody's business. Like she sells out two hours, kind of like donut shop. And like you could think about a world where you sell a few donuts, you know, in your neighborhood to like selling donuts at scale and like how much revenue. The donuts are not cheap. She must be bringing quite a bit of revenue. Whether she's making profit, I don't know. we can scale. I think the word empire is very loaded and colonial, but how we scale ginormous opportunities and ways we can hire other people and taking it from dinky or like, a little bit of side income to I want this to be my full time. I want to build a business. I want to be an entrepreneur. Not for everybody, right? But it totally is an option. Any other like last takeaways you would want the audience to know? I think the hardest part is just getting started. Like it may seem super, super like unachievable, let's say, like, or just like finding financial freedom or, you know, dealing with that. It's super overwhelming. But it is achievable. And it's once you start, like it only gets easier. But I think with having the book, that's just like, that's just the beginning. I really hope so. And I hope that although the book is for everyone, it really is targeted at female and BIPOC readers. Be like, there are options. Well, Gabby, thank you so much for your time. It's been an honor speaking with you. And I'm so grateful you're an early reader and give me direct, constructive feedback about how to make the book even better. I'm so honored to get to share this with you and, I'm just going to get teary eyed. So thank very much for sharing with the audience. Thank you so much. and honestly, likewise, like, it's been such an exciting process to be a part of. So like, I'm so thankful for being able to give feedback and even taking the time to do this today. Thank you. make my day Yes, please. Thanks.