Julia Unravels AI

Julia Soffa is a creative tech marketer and internal communications strategist with over 14 years of experience. She focuses on optimizing productivity, creating alignment, and enhancing employee experiences through enablement. With a background at Guru Technologies and Adobe Systems, Julia now serves as a consultant and Foundational Advisor at Women Defining AI .

Julia is committed to advancing responsible AI and technology for all people. Based in Philadelphia, Julia is an amateur surfer and guitar player, an avid reader, concertgoer, and traveler. I met Julia through the Women Defining AI community and am so thrilled to bring her experience to my network!

About Julia

Name: Julia Soffa

Pronouns: She/Her

Occupation: Internal Communications & Digital Wellbeing Consultant

Industry: Tech (SaaS)

Location: Philadelphia, PA (after a decade in the Bay Area) 

AI Tools:

• Adobe Firefly, Canva, ChatGPT, Claude, Guru (enterprise), Jasper AI (enterprise)

How would you rate your AI knowledge?

6.3 - I approach AI from a tech-obsessed yet nontechnical perspective. The biggest unlock for me has been learning AI through experimentation!

What sparked your interest in AI?

I began my career in programmatic digital advertising the year Facebook (Meta) opened its advertising API to “better target” ads to specific audiences. The pivotal role of AI in the success of online retail and its influence on digital habits and human behavior fascinated me. This led me to research the impact of a commerce-driven Internet model on mental health. It became evident that integrating generative AI responsibly will have lasting effects.

What are you most excited about when it comes to AI?

The “Promise of Technology” is that it will make humans so efficient, we’ll have more time for leisure and creativity.  I am passionate about building the necessary guardrails and care mechanisms to bring this promise closer to reality. AI has the potential to democratize knowledge and learning!

Julia's 24 hours with AI

MORNING:

Tool: AI mentor

Use Case: Workload Management Assistant/Productivity Partner

Prompt: Use the below task and priority list to time block and schedule my day, building in time for exercise, lunch, as well as 20 mins of screen-free time.  

Outcome: Develop a flexible and personalized schedule that promotes focus time and efficiency.

Pro tip: Train the agent to better personalize your schedule by sharing your preferences. For example: I need one hour for lunch, set a 40-minute timer so I can take a screen break after a block of deep work, I prefer to exercise in the AM or early afternoon.

AFTERNOON:

Tool: Adobe Firefly (free version)

Use Case: Visual creative that conveys a specific emotion (text to image)

Prompt: Create an image of a group of women at an AI conference 

Outcome: A bespoke, one-of-a-kind image that can tell a story 

Pro tip: Be patient and experiment. In my experience, text-to-image generation is imperfect(regardless of tool). Images may reflect human biases and may not generate exactly what your prompt specified the first time. 

EVENING:

Tool: ChatGPT (paid)

• Help me Fix It, Ms. Fix it. (I built this in Women Defining AI’s Module 2)
• Planty 

Use Case: Home DIY resource guide 

Prompt: 

1. Upload a photo of what you need help with (for example a hole in the wall, a wilting plant).
2. Ask the assistant something like: Based on my amateur drywalling skills, what is the most efficient, easiest, and cost-effective way to fix this hole? Give me a step-by-step process, taking into account xyz (weather, your height, the tools you already have). 

Outcome: Mental load reduction, agency, and wonder! I’ve felt empowered to tackle projects on my own where in the past I may have phoned (FaceTimed) a friend or hired someone.

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I'm Amanda Halle, author of Unraveling AI. You can call me Amanda, Mands, or AJ (my middle name is Jane). I've been in and around the HR/people space my entire career and started my solopreneur journey 3 years ago. I focus on fractional people support, advisory in HR and AI, and project-based work primarily in the L&D niche from my years in leadership consulting and change management.