PRESCRIBED BURN

Dear Loves,

I haven't posted since I’ve been developing my new AI-Powered Crowdfunding Platfrom/Marketplace, stress-eating, and working on the Podcast. Here’s a preview of the things to come.

I‘ll probably will do a crowdfunding campaign soon and will open it to non-equity investors and will do another campaign for equity investors. Trying to brainstorm rewards that truly include people and build a community — something that goes deeper than t-shirts and merch. Stay tuned.

Also I realize the last ten posts from me have been all about AI and it’s not surprising that I’m now building an AI-powered platform. AI is an expansion of consciousness at the end of the day. Which is why I started my Dream Nation Love Podcast in the first place, to amplify positive frequencies on planet Earth.

Everything is taking longer these days since I’m working on a few projects simultaneously since women have a harder time raising funds. The irony of a woman raising $2m for a platform that helps other people (and women and under-considered groups) raise money is not lost on me. Yet here I am. $2m is really not that much money in the startup world and frankly the effort would be the same to raise $50m.

For the Gen X crowd reading this, I feel like Sy Sperling, the President of Hair Club For Men. All these years later it’s still an amazing tag line and quite possibly was one of the first memes.

That said, as Gen X, we have seen it all. We have also done it all. We have experience. We are the adults in the room. We are wise from experience and have lived through multiple “once-in-a-lifetime” economic downturns. When world events turn our world upside down, we are frankly so traumatized that we are unfazed by whatever fresh hell appears. To us, fresh hell is starting to feel like a routine.

Gen X are also not afraid of cringe or uncomfortable feelings. I’m not even afraid of posting a pixelated meme (Sy Sperling that means you) that only a few people will recognize. It’s a liberating feeling to feel free. It’s liberating to create a post that comes from the heart and doesn’t exist to feed an algorithm. I digress.

As I build a new AI-Platform to improve the lives of people, I’ve been thinking a lot about the world burning. Both literally and metaphorically. The fact that AI computing requires water is also not lost on me. Que Alanis Morissette’s Ironic.

In the US there are Red Flag Warnings (fire danger) all over the place due to dry conditions. A few months ago, I watched news of North and South Carolina going up in flames followed by evacuations for South Korea as fires ravage 1,300 Buddhist temples. All the while, thinking about my displaced friends and family in LA who lost their homes to the fires in the Palisades, Malibu, and Altadena. Even the Hamptons weren't safe last month and had massive fire depts battling the wild fires.

I text friends with uplifting messages but overall feel helpless. A kind word here and there as the world burns. People are displaced and I read the news at night by the light of my iPhone Pro. The glowing portal to the new world that we are all a part of.

We are sharing stories by the voyeristic virtual camp fire we call the Internet is paralyzing. I’m trying to be optimistic and all I can do is add a bit of kindness to the world and inspire others to do the same. Share connections and resources. Use AI to amplify the effort.

I’m at a loss for words. Feeling numb, the little embers inside of me are being put out by the sheer volume of wtf events unfolding every day. I know that this feeling numb must only be a temporary existence. I can’t let the inertia consume me. My thoughts start lingering on a Prescribed Burn that I witnessed recently. The concept of burning land to regenerate and to lay ground for something new. The idea of fighting fire with fire shouldn’t make sense but it does.

I tried being like water, but the time has come to be the fire. To reignite the embers inside and let them out in a controlled burn. Apply the concept to work, to relationships, to parenting. To every aspect of my life. Light it up. Burn it down to the ground in order to have everything grow back stronger. Clear the land. Prepare for harvests. Prevent the real fire from advancing.

You have to be brave enough to light that match. Teach others how to use the same tools to create a controlled burn. They will be able to ignite a controlled fire in their own life and spread the knowledge. Communities only thrive when people connect. We are at a point where we are loosing our humanity. AI is starting to be more human day-by-day. The answer is in creating real communities, not just aesthetic ones. Likes and follows don’t make communities. Communities happen in messages and in the comments. They happen at events and through introductions. Technology is great but only if it helps us truly connect. Not to hide behind screens and be voyeurs. We have everything to gain by holding onto our humanity. The sharing, the coming together, the LOVE for one another the world over.

As the world burns we must burn brighter so others see our flame and get inspired. The fire must warm and not consume everything in its path. There is a way. I believe in the good in people. Things will get better. But only when we make the decision to light the first match. To take the first step to building your dream. To take the first step to meet a person. We have a chance to gain everything or be consumed by it all.

Love,

Yulia