Laid Off After 24 Years. Here's What She Built. | The AI Sisterhood Podcast | Ep. 1 Ft. Deb Haas

Meet Deb Haas ( @JoyPromptClub ) — officially titled "Head of Human-AI Shenanigans" and the woman on a mission to teach women 40+ to make AI their most powerful career tool. 25+ years in corporate HR. Trained 500+ professionals across 3 continents. Then built something entirely her own. Oh — and she sings opera. 🎭 Deb joins me live for Episode 1 of The AI Sisterhood Podcast. We're talking about AI for mid-career women, what it really means to rebuild your career on your own terms, and why the most powerful AI users aren't always the ones you'd expect. Reach out to Deb via LinkedIn -   / debhaasai   Subscribe to her Newsletter (Mostly Human) - https://mostlyhuman.beehiiv.com/ 0:00 Welcome to the AI Sisterhood Podcast 🎙️ 1:18 The 22% problem — why this podcast exists 2:30 Meet Deb Haas: Head of Human AI Shenanigans 3:30 Laid off after 24 years: the Accenture story 7:20 "It's not a tech tool. It's a language tool." 9:20 How she turned 20,000 layoffs into a community 12:50 The hinky meter: why midlife women crush it at AI 14:15 Joy Prompt Club — why joy beats productivity 23:05 She rebuilt her landing page in 30 mins with Claude Code 25:10 The boss mindset: stop being polite to your AI 29:30 ADHD diagnosis at 55 — the revelation that changed everything 34:25 What she wishes she knew before starting a business 37:55 Follow your energy, not your passion 42:20 How AI transformed the way she reads and writes 50:15 The hardest part of entrepreneurship: managing your emotions 57:35 It's not about tools or money — it's all mindset 67:25 From opera singer to AI educator: the full origin story 78:50 Deb's 5 mindsets for life and business 89:50 "Every decision I ever made was out of fear" 93:05 The darkest moment — and what came after 94:05 Outro: you heard how she built it. Now go build yours ✨ ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ The AI Sisterhood Podcast is the show where women building the future of AI share how they actually do it. Hear how they built it. Then go build yours. Every week, host Arthi Rajendran sits down with a woman who is in the arena — shipping ML models, founding AI companies, and doing the hard technical work that rarely gets talked about publicly. No hype. No theory. Just real builders having honest conversations about real systems. We go deep on: → How they actually built what they built → The technical decisions behind real AI systems → Career journeys into AI — the unpolished, honest version → What it takes to build as a woman in a male-dominated space → Where AI is going, from the people actively shaping it Because the AI conversation online is overwhelmingly male, but the women building in this space are extraordinary. This podcast exists to make them visible and to give every listener the fuel to go build something of their own. New episode every Saturday. 🎙️ WANT TO BE A GUEST? Are you a woman building real AI systems? We want to hear your story. Fill out our guest interest form → https://forms.gle/NMRrmjgkz3GSHGiK7 🤝 SPONSOR THE AI SISTERHOOD PODCAST Reach a community of women AI builders, developers, founders, and professionals actively building with AI. To explore partnership opportunities, reach out at → arthirajendran@thearthiaicollective.com 🔔 Subscribe + hit the bell so you never miss a Saturday drop 💬 Leave a comment — Arthi reads every single one & responds 📤 Share this episode with a woman in AI who deserves to be seen 📍 Get in touch: 🌐 Website → https://thearthiaicollective.com/ 📸 Instagram →   / thearthiaicollective   💼 LinkedIn →   / arthirajendran   The AI Sisterhood Podcast is part of @thearthiaicollective — a product and community ecosystem dedicated to making AI accessible, buildable, and human.