From AT&T to All In: Angie Smith on Coaching, Books, a TEDx Talk, and Learning AI from Scratch

Hey there, I'm Flora, and this is another episode of The Human Side of AI. My guest today spent 25 years at AT&T. She built a career in enterprise sales, supported some of the biggest state agencies in Texas, and then found herself at a crossroads she did not see coming. Instead of looking for the next corporate role, Angie Smith went all in on everything she had been quietly building on the side— a life coaching practice, through the Unbreakable Life Framework, a podcast called The Books That Shaped Me, where leaders talk about the books that changed their path, and a TEDx talk coming in January '27 on the power of imagination. Right now she's in the middle of Jamout— Jamout.ai's— I should know that— Zero to Claude sprint, and man, it's going great for everyone. She's really learning AI from the ground up though. Angie works with professional women who are navigating transition, the kind of transitions that you ask to figure out who you are when the title and the paycheck and the structures are gone. She's warm, she's honest, and she has a lot to say about what it means to start over with intention. This is The Human Side of AI. I'm Flora, and this is Angie Smith. Hello, Angie. How you doing today?

I'm doing fabulous. It's a Friday. I'll take it. How are you?

Great.

Yeah, happy to be here.

And it is a Friday. It does feel like it's one of those Fridays that are like kind of taking a while to finish though, if I'm not going to, you know, fanbeam.

That's all right.

That's all right.

It's a Friday. So if there's going to be a day that's taking its time, Friday's a good one to do that.

Okay, fine. Okay. So before we pushed record, we already covered that we're both Austin natives. So yeah. So tell us a little bit, you know, what's your life look like in Austin these days?

Well, you know, my life is quite an adventure. I'm about 4 weeks into owning my own business. It was quietly kind of being spun up on the side because I spent the past 25 years in tech, 24 of that being at AT&T as an account manager. And then the past 15 months I was in IT staffing. And then unfortunately, I was not able to make quota in that IT staffing job. So I was let go. That's a hard job. Which—

was—

it was harder. It was way hard. I really thought after 24 years at AT&T that I could do anything, but it just didn't happen for me. But you know what? I believe that everything happens for a reason. And so in that kind of parallel life, I was getting my certification to be a life coach through Unbreakable, which is a Faith Forward program. I've got an interest to do public speaking. I did some theater back in the old days. I've got a TED Talk coming up in January of '27. And—

I know.

It's exciting. And then I'm going to be doing a podcast that I just launched this week myself called The Books That Shaped Me, which is an opportunity for leaders to come on and share not only about the books that shaped them, but their life journey that got them to be who they are today. So I'm all in. So see where we can go from here.

I love this. Wow. OK, so you spent 24 years at AT&T, and then you launch your business. Angie Smith Summit Consulting, right? Tell us a little bit about that.

Yeah, so I mean, I can, if you don't mind, I'll just kind of unpack each of those words. So my name Angie means angel or messenger. So I believe that I love words. I love communicating. I love connecting with each other through words. So that's kind of the heartbeat there. Smith means forged through the fire. Or it can mean wordsmith. So both of those really fit because I went through, I came from a broken home early on in those childhood days. I made it through a marriage of 18 years and we ended up in divorce because of some dysfunction there across the board. I was a single mom for a while. I am remarried now. I've got 2 bonus daughters, a son-in-law, and a grandbaby on the way. But forged through the fire fits for me. Yeah, the summit word. I really feel strongly about the word summit because I believe when we first enter this world, we're kind of at foundational level of a mountain ascent. And when we learn, you know, what our giftings are, our skill sets, who we are, we start navigating the world and, you know, try to, you know, figure out how to get paid for doing the thing that we can do. And then when the curveballs of life come, you can either be better or you can be bitter. And I believe if you choose better and you learn that lesson, you continue to ascend on that invitation of the design for your life. And so that's kind of the virtual, you know, the visual image that goes with the summit. And then the last word consulting is it again, like I mentioned earlier, kind of communing together and talking. There's a scripture in the Old Testament that says, come, let us reason together. So that's a heartbeat of those three avenues that I'm doing in my business, just talking and communicating and trying to come alongside people, tell their story, um, get us to hope and healing.

I love that. So who is your ideal customer then?

So I've got, I'm just, I have a passion for women. I mean, obviously I'll help anybody who's interested, but just being the oldest sibling with sisters, I've got a daughter, I've got bonus daughters. And in the AT&T tech world, I just kept counting, you know, the ratio of women to men and it was 1 to 5. And I just have this huge fascination about how we each show up differently in the workplace and how women so often are like, apologizing before they're even weighing in on a meeting, or they're hunched over taking all these notes. Whereas the men, I have, in my experience, they're more confident, they're more boisterous. Maybe they're not as granular in the details, but why are the women apologizing for taking up space? So that's a passion that I've got and trying to, I've got a lot of conversations with male allies that help also see that. So that's kind of a passion that I've got. So the woman who is out there doing the thing, Maybe she's got so many plates spinning and just finding an opportunity to take that breath, sit with ourselves, give ourselves permission, prioritize what matters so we can be our best selves personally and professionally.

I love that you said that and I wanna, I wanna share a quick anecdote. So I work closely with, with a colleague of mine and he's the 6'7", you know, Navy expat. He just kind of like steals the room when he walks in, you know, like very— he could be a Ken doll, right? And I was waiting on something from him. And, you know, in my— in my— I'll, you know, I'll claim— I'll claim it. It was a little passive-aggressive, but basically I was going to be returning something on our behalf, right? And it was delayed because I was responding, waiting on his response, right? And so I asked him, I said, well, I don't I really want to apologize to this client, mainly because I was telling him like I didn't want to apologize for his delay. I said, you know, how do you recommend I, I follow up in this, this message? And his response was, um, to say— and I've seen this on social and stuff, it was just so cool to get it real person— he said, um, say thank you for your patience and here's, you know, XYZ. And I just was like, man, that is only a lesson that a man would teach me, right? Because a woman would be like, I'm so sorry about the delay, and Yeah. And I really didn't want to apologize because it wasn't my tray.

Exactly. I mean, it's so innate in us to apologize, even like— and this is kind of simple, but like when we bump into somebody at the grocery store, I'm just an advocate for like, excuse me, instead of I'm sorry. Because for me, I have so many layers of don't apologize for taking up space in this world. You're allowed to have a place to sit, food to eat. You're allowed to have good rest. We don't have to, you know, I heard it said one time that the highest compliment a woman could get is to be selfless. And then it's like, really, really? To not have a self, that's the highest compliment? No, I want to be a person who's recharged, refreshed, you know, checked in with myself. I know my values, and I'm here to be the best for you, my daughters, my, my work, you know, the vision, the mission that I'm on. No, I love that.

So you shared a little bit about your background, and I'm just curious, you know, what really made you take this leap from going to employee to business owner?

Well, you know, they call it a leap of faith, but for me it was a little bit of a shove. I mean, I was truly let go. I was not making my number. I had a feeling, you know, that it was coming because how long can a small to medium business, you know, keep a salesperson who's not making their number? And I mean, just not to make excuses, but the market is really, really tough right now. And the field that I was in is very saturated with a lot of IT staffing. and I really thought my skills were gonna transfer from 24 years at AT&T. It just didn't. And so yeah, it was a bit of a show, but I'm here and I'm all in and I'm trying to learn about AI and be a solopreneur and do this thing.

I love it. I love it. So, so, you know, I, I really wanna dig into this, right? For so many reasons. So, so, so give me just, you know, I love that you went into the, the, the, the, the background behind the name itself. I love that you say that, you know, you're really focusing on, on women. But, but who, you know, who listening to this knows, you know, what do they need to know that they need to work with you? Right. And I'm not saying that right, but what is it like? Are they, are they a small business owner? Are they in STEM? Like, talk to me about who that your client is. And then furthermore, what are you guys working on together?

So since I've got the three kind of different avenues, if you will. Right now, I'm just going to start with the podcast because I'm just super excited about the unfolding of the discussion. So that target audience is really anybody, anybody, male, female, young, old, right? Starting your journey so you can learn how other leaders have taken adversity and applied it and learned and continue to grow. And they're in a position to share with those coming up behind them. So that's the easy one. I'm just so excited again about having those conversations with leaders because what I have found thus far kind of polling the audience is their eyes start to light up and they're like, man, this is my favorite book. And I read it multiple times and it has shaped me in my early years and it continues to shape how I'm a leader. So that's exciting and fun. So obviously it's an open platform for anybody who's got some time to listen. Shifting gears to the life coaching. So for that one, it is a— right now it's a 12-week program and it is certified through Unbreakable Enterprises, which works us through 7 pillars, which start with identity, make our way through mindset or mind shift. We go through like the traumas in our life. We talk about health and community. And at the very end, we make our way to purpose to unpack how you can show up in your purpose. So anybody who's interested, we've got 3 different flavors of packages with that. But really the target that I think is going to be the most beneficial to that particular program is a successful, busy woman who's got so much going on. She feels like if one more thing lands on her plate, she's just going to break. And that's, that's kind of the origin story of Unbreakable, that if we can get our roots and get our pillars and get our foundation, then when these things come, we can handle them in stride. Wow. And then the last one, public speaking. So yeah, so with the public speaking, really, I'm excited to speak to women audiences, but also like community groups, lunch and learns, because I can distill all these messages about applying identity and again, showing up as our best selves. I'll just give a quick little story. For International Women's Day, I had an opportunity to be one of the speakers and the themes when she went off script, and for what came up for me was like, In Cinderella, she was the only one who that glass slipper was going to fit. But all those other women were trying to cram their big old foot in that slipper, and it was not designed for them. Their foot was not going to fit in that shoe. It was only for Cinderella. So for me, I mean, you can see I've got brown hair, I'm tall, I'm not that cute little blonde Cinderella singing with the birds. So for me, even though that story talked about the beauty of Cinderella, I didn't identify with Cinderella. But I apply that to me about my foot not fitting in that shoe, which is how I felt in the tech space. Like, I could do tech work for the most part because it takes communication, follow-up, follow-through, kindness, right? Being a person first. But I wasn't a tech person innately. So that's the analogy I used of trying to fit my foot in an IT shoe that wasn't designed for me.

Yeah. So then, so you bring up tech, but you and I connected in an AI community, right? So talk to me a little bit about what brought you into this school community.

Yeah, well, it really was the fact that— so even when I was still in the IT staffing job, I was just trying to figure out how was I going to be successful. And I came across Jam on LinkedIn and just some of the free content that she was sharing about leveraging AI in your business. And I just kind of started following her, kind of lurking, gleaning little tidbits that she would share. And so once I was— shoved into my new business, which is a blessing, of course. I appreciate it. I just thought, okay, I'm going to figure this AI thing out because even though I'm saying I'm not, I don't have techie in my bones, like I don't have a desire to code. I don't have a desire to understand and navigate applications and data centers, the behind the scenes working. I see the value of tech. I feel like it's like your bones. Like nobody wants to talk about your bones, but you need your bones, right? But I need the infrastructure in place so I can do what I want to do. So I use tech, I appreciate tech, I'm just not myself. Passionate about tech.

Okay, so let's stick on this for just a second. So how does AI fit into your life right now then?

Well, friend, as you may know, Jamf has launched a Zero to Claude 6-week sprint. And I mean, as the little overachiever that I am, I'm right on track. I'm getting my little checkbox. I'm doing my sprint every day. So I have spent some time this week training Claude to learn me and my voice. And to be honest, I've been having a lot of fun. Like, you gave us some prompts yesterday to have two different interviews where Claude is learning me as a person. And the second set of interview is Claude was interviewing me for my brand voice. So I just had so much fun with that and the output that it gave me as I'm trying to pursue sponsors for my podcast and potential folks that would sponsor that have aligned values. I just, I felt like it was gold and I'm in week one.

Amazing.

Amazing.

No, I have to tell you, Jam and I connected earlier today and she was like, "Hey, have you done the sprint?" And I was honest with her. I'm like, "No, I haven't." You know, I work within, I work in cloud every day, right? And I work alongside Jam and like, you know, I'm in cloud all the time. Like, what could it teach me? Oh my gosh, I'm so ignorant. Like, I was taking notes like I was in school all over again. There was so much to learn. And I'm, like I said, I mean, I just barely finished week 2. I ended up just like blocking some time off and knocking out week 1 today. But yeah, so much to learn. Yeah. I love that.

Well, I mean, 'cause you know, I keep hearing, yeah, well, and that's what she told us, I think like on day 1, she's like, we're gonna go from, I think from commanding AI to like, I think she said architecting it, right? Where it's not just like a directive, but it's like a partner. And I mean, in week 1, I'm already feeling like for it to be able to Talk back to me leveraging my tone and recapping things that I care passionately about versus the things that I find cringy. I was like, okay, I see where we're going. This is good. Oh, cool.

Yeah. And like almost excited for week 2 already, right? Yes.

Yeah. I mean, yeah, this is our foundation. Where are we going next? So I am excited about it and I appreciate her collaborative like space that she's created and just the content is easy to access, right? When we can. And then she makes herself available available for the coffees. I know you didn't really ask that, but I'm having a fun time.

No, I love that. I love that. So, so as you're learning, you know, how to use AI and ways to apply it to your, your new business, what has surprised you most about, um, what you're learning, you know, particularly as someone who really values that like deep human connection over tech?

Well, I think the favorite thing that I've heard, even she said it a couple times and other folks, tech, like podcasts that I listen to, is they've said multiple times, like, now is the best time to be starting your own business because of the value that AI can help you just multiply your efforts and energies. And so I'm just like, well, this is my first time, but people who know are saying it's the best time. So, um, so for me, I just have so many gaps in my mind about, I already shared about, I'm not the strongest, um, from a technological perspective, nor am I the strongest from like finance and accounting perspective, like those kind of things. So to know that I can write an agent that's going to help me with—

amazing—

taxes or something, like, yay, I'm excited about that.

I love that. So, okay, I have a few more questions for you, but before we go into those, talk to me a little bit about this TED Talk. Like, that's a very big deal.

Okay, so there is an amazing woman who lives here in Round Rock. Her name is Kayla Fleur. And so she has orchestrated some just amazing things in our area. And last year she launched TEDx Round Rock Women. And so I had an opportunity to attend and be there and support the lovely talks that happened. And then this year when they had a call for folks, I threw my hat in the ring and I made it through the first round, but I didn't make it through the second round. And so I just reached out to her and, you know, just kind of, we chatted and she just said, You've seen me present before. She also hosted a storytelling experience at Penfold Theatre, which is a professional theater in Round Rock. So I had an opportunity to, you know, just have fun on that stage. And so when I didn't make the cut for TEDx Round Rock Women, um, that's happening this summer, she said that she had a place for me for the last event that she's gonna host as a producer for TEDx, and it'll be in January of '27, and it's called It's going to be TEDx The Power of Play, and it's in conjunction with LEGO. And there's going to be some adult presenters and some kid presenters on the power of play. Wow.

And tell us a little bit about what you're planning to speak on there.

So for me, I am having so much fun hanging out with my niece and nephews. They live here right down the street. And so I hang out with them. I've got a 9-year-old nephew and a set of twins, a boy and a girl who are 7. And me just being able to I see their imagination, their energy. I've started kind of like capturing some of their stories and ideas. I'm going to be writing some books too called The Adventures of Granny Smith because that's my last name. But anyway, I'm seeing this beautiful energy and imagination and I just have this sinking feeling in my heart that A, the 90-year-old is starting to look like a teenager already. And I'm like, the world is going to just dampen that imagination. So for me, I'm thinking I want to I haven't really cultivated the whole talk just yet, but the idea that I've got formulating is the power of imagination, how we can use it to keep us young and to keep us pushing the boundaries as opposed to the systemic pressures that would try to make us linear and if-then thinkers as opposed to and thinkers.

Well, and I don't want to put you on the spot, and I know this is— you still got a ways to think it out, but talk us through that a little bit. Like, if you're talking to a friend or a colleague, you know, and they're really needing that advice, like, what does that look like?

So what I— when I, when I say if-then versus and, that's like, in our world, I feel like there's a lot of black and white thinking. There's a lot of, if I'm right, then you're wrong. And yeah, what I have learned through a lot of years of therapy, and I, I even ended up in a 12-step program called Al-Anon, and it's for people from dysfunctional families and codependent people. It took me a while to learn that it's okay to say, I love you, and that's not okay. So that's really me trying to navigate life that figures out just because one thing is true, like I'm excited, it, it, I can also be another thing like, ooh, and I'm scared that, that, and that it doesn't have to be one or the other. So, um, that's showing up in relationships, whether it's in my marriage or with my kids, just finding the answer that helps us both feel heard and seen and able to navigate the messy situations in life without feeling like somebody's a winner and somebody's a loser. Beautiful.

Does that make sense?

Yeah, absolutely.

So this idea that we know nothing has been really on the top of my mind these last few months, right? And Angie, you and I are— you're new to the club, and you and I are kind of new to getting to know each other. So many people on this podcast are familiar with our journey. We live in Panama and our eldest was diagnosed with leukemia not this February but last. She's been going through chemo and much like, needless to say, it's been, it's been a journey, right? Like it has been a journey and, and we're so, I mean, we're, we're billionaires in so many reasons, right? And then, and this journey has really brought that to light. Um, and I share that because like my biggest takeaway from these last 15 months is that none of us know anything. And you know, it's this idea of like, well, if this, then that, like we don't know, right? And I just, I think it's so beautiful that I'm talking to more and more people that are just so excited to be like, man, I don't know anything. Like I, I don't know, you know, if this is right. I, and just, like that level of openness and humbleness. And, um, it's just been so much fun. And you're like not the first person I've, you know, heard say something similar this week. So it's just so beautiful to hear more and more people just recognizing, like, you know, there's so much to learn in this world. We don't know it all. It's not definite.

Yeah, exactly. And I just want to say thank you for sharing with me, um, about your journey and just to affirm for you that, like, how hard, how challenging, and how beautiful that you've got. It sounds like you've got a great support system helping you navigate and you're able to say, uh, I'm gonna make it through this next moment or this next right thing for my family. And to count, like you said, you're billionaires in so many ways. The blessings of we're here together. It's hard, it's scary. I have no idea what tomorrow holds. And we're equipped with enough skillset inside of us to make it through this moment and the next.

No, but Angie, but that's, that's every day, you know? And, and I, I wanna share this with you cuz I think, you know, it'll resonate when we got like our prognosis and we were okay, 90, 90 to 95% success rate with treatment. Cool, great. We love those prognosis. And I just kept thinking like, that's basically our everyday prognosis, like with a cancer diagnosis or not, you know, like you kind of have like a 90 50% chance of living through the day, you know. And I'm not, you know, I'm not a statistics girly, but I just— this mindset of like, that's just every day. Like, we don't, you know, we don't have 100% chance every single day, you know.

So we don't.

So, so I wanna, I wanna come back to you. Um, you know, you're, you're really, from my understanding, you're really kind of digging into this, this new AI journey, and you're really exploring what you don't know, right? And I— and that's so beautiful to me. So talk to me a little bit about kind of the— your direction that you're wanting to go in with your AI learning and your AI journey, personally and professionally.

Well, I'm, I'm looking to gain experience and confidence and, you know, leverage all these promises that so many of the hype are talking about, um, because I believe that if I can and work smarter, not harder, then of course that's going to give me more time to do what I prefer to do, which is the people-to-people connection. So that's my goal. That's my wish. And of course, to share anything I learn with anybody along the way that could be a help to them and directing folks to you guys in your community because game on, guys.

Game on. Let's do it. I love it.

Get it palatable, easy to understand.

And so Where do we find your podcast?

So I am— so the video— so right now I've done one. I'll be recording a couple more this weekend and it's on the major podcast platforms. So Apple, Spotify, those. I am fighting YouTube. I'm not there yet, but I am on TikTok.

That's great.

So more to come.

Cool. Love that. And then what do we search for when we search for your podcast?

So it is called The Books That Shaped Me.

Beautiful, beautiful. All right, and where do you find, uh, where do people find out more about life coaching and working with you in that sense?

Yep, so right now, because I am still kind of, um, getting my website off the ground, LinkedIn is the best way to reach out to me. So Angie Smith, you can put in Angie Smith, and there are a lot of Angie Smiths, but, um, I'm, I've been pretty active on LinkedIn for a while, so hopefully I come up. Got a beautiful red dress when I got to be in Greece. It was favorite picture and I thought it was the best one.

I love that. You're right, I found you pretty easily earlier.

Okay, good.

And you know, you mentioned public speaking. You've got, you know, a TEDx coming up in January 2027. Where can we find that information? Will you also be posting that on your LinkedIn?

Yes. For right now, the date is the only thing that's secured for— it's actually Saturday, January 30th in 2027. But there are more details being firmed up right now as far as the location, as I understand it. So more to come, but I will for sure be posting on LinkedIn. And like I said, I'm going to be learning how to do better on TikTok and all the other socials. But right now, LinkedIn and Facebook are my primary methods of communication.

You're doing great, and there's so much to learn. So have fun doing it.

So much to learn. It's like a big ocean wave, and there's so much out there. But I feel this call and this invitation to more. So I'm ready. I'm ready to dive deep. Here I come. I love it.

I love it. Angie, thank you so much for your time today. I'm really glad that we're connected, and I look forward to following your journey.

I appreciate you taking the time to interview me and just give me an opportunity to share what's on my heart and, um, the opportunity to connect with you. Thank you so much, Flora.

Talk soon. Bye-bye.

Okay. Bye-bye.