I'm Head of Community & PR at Kickstart AI. Together with my team, we're responsible for all community-related activities. That includes overseeing our community on Slack, the events we organise, as well as partnerships with other communities.
I also work closely with my colleague Anoek on PR-related activities, including interviews with press, as well as Kickstart AI representation at external events.
My journey into AI was quite unconventional. I knew from a young age that I wanted to be an event manager. And because of that, I studied Leisure Management.
After my studies, I worked for an events agency for six years. I organised events for big tech companies like Instagram and ServiceNow.
When COVID hit and cancelled events, I decided to change my career completely — and became a pastry chef. And I went to work for one of the most prestigious pastry chefs in the Netherlands.
But after two years, I found myself missing events. So when the opportunity at Kickstart AI arose, I jumped at the chance. I first started as Senior Event Manager, before moving into my current role.
I'd always worked for tech companies, though not specifically in AI. But what really attracted me to Kickstart AI was the mission to accelerate AI adoption and make a societal impact in the Netherlands. Even though I don't have a technical background, I was excited by the potential of helping create meaningful change with AI.
One of the projects I'm most proud of is TechDays. These are events for the data science and engineering teams of our partner companies — Ahold Delhaize, ING, KLM and NS.
What makes these events special is the highly technical focus of our talks. We've had speakers from companies like Spotify, Booking and ASML sharing the nuts and bolts of how they’re using AI.
And it’s amazing to see the connections being made between different people and teams. We set up TechDays to be a "safe space" that allows participants to talk about their internal AI projects openly and to share knowledge with their peers.
Last year, we also opened our doors to external data scientists and engineers, and invited other corporate teams to join.
By making meaningful connections and fostering an open environment, we're setting an example for other companies in the Netherlands to be more transparent about their work with AI. This helps everyone learn from each other and accelerates AI adoption in the country.
Our carefully curated AI community consists of data scientists, engineers, and high-profile individuals from across the Dutch AI ecosystem. You can apply for the community here.
What drives me is making those connections. Connecting people, online or offline, can help in small ways that can have a big impact. In my role, I have the opportunity to facilitate these connections and see the impact they create. I love that.
We recently launched a community workspace on Slack. We use it to facilitate connections, allow people to share what they're working on, and match people for virtual coffees. We encourage our own team, especially their engineers, to share their work with the community. This sets an example and allows them to get feedback from the broader AI community.
We're also working on a podcast about monthly AI news, developing a community platform with resources and working on new online events.
To me the ultimate goal of community is co-creation. My goal is to reach a stage where community members are working together on projects that make a real societal impact – projects that would not have been possible without the connections made through our community.
I love the diversity of backgrounds amongst my colleagues. We have a fairly big engineering team, who I say are "smarty pants" (in a good way), because they just know so much about so many topics.
I like listening to the many varied conversations. I learn a lot from my colleagues. And it's not just AI, technical or work-related topics; with 11 to 14 nationalities in our team, I'm constantly learning about different cultures too.
Like many people, I use ChatGPT. I mostly use it as a brainstorming partner — I pitch ideas and use it to refine my thoughts.
I also use it to get my meetings summarised (when I'm allowed to record them). This allows me to be fully present during meetings without worrying about taking notes.
For visuals, I sometimes use Midjourney to create images that help me communicate concepts to partners or vendors.
Just do it! I don't have a technical background at all. But AI is such a rapidly evolving field, and I believe there's room for people with diverse skills and backgrounds.
Also, don't let fear of AI hold you back. Working at Kickstart AI has shown me how down-to-earth and approachable AI engineers are. They can quickly dispelled any misconceptions or fears I had about AI.
💡 Want to learn more about Kickstart AI and our mission to accelerate AI adoption in the Netherlands? Check out our website, apply to join our community and connect with Paulette on LinkedIn.
