AI is no longer a buzzword, it is part of how work actually gets done. Whether it is drafting emails, analyzing data, or speeding up daily tasks, the tools are evolving faster than most of us can keep up with. So the real question is not whether you should learn to use AI, but how to do it in a way that genuinely helps your career instead of adding to the overwhelm.
This is one of the most common challenges our mentees bring to their mentors right now. Some are worried they are falling behind colleagues who seem to already have it figured out. Others have started using AI tools but feel like they are guessing their way through it, unsure if they are even doing it right. And a growing number are asking a quieter, harder question: if AI can write the email, build the deck, or summarize the report, what part of my job is actually still mine?
That last question is exactly where a mentor matters most.
Our mentors come from marketing, design, HR, IT, product, finance, and beyond, and many of them are already using AI tools daily in their own work. Instead of generic tips, they help you figure out what is genuinely relevant to your specific job, and what is just noise.
A lot of our mentees do not just want to know how a tool works, they want to feel capable using it, and confident talking about it. Your mentor helps you close that gap, whether that means walking through a tool together or helping you reframe how you talk about AI skills in a performance review or interview.
Courses can teach you what a tool does in theory. A mentor who is using AI in your industry right now can show you what actually works in practice, because they have already tested it themselves.
Beyond 1:1 sessions, being part of the Femme Palette community means you are surrounded by other women navigating the exact same shift, sharing what is working for them and what is not.
Here is the part worth saying clearly: AI can give you a script, a summary, a starting point. It cannot tell you, with real conviction, that you are ready for that promotion because it has watched you grow into it. It cannot notice the pattern you keep repeating in meetings. It cannot sit with you in the moment you are doubting yourself and tell you the truth you actually need to hear. That kind of guidance only comes from someone who genuinely knows you, and that is something no tool, however advanced, is replacing anytime soon.
The women in our community who feel most confident about AI are not the ones who took the most courses. They are the ones who had someone in their corner helping them apply it to their actual job, and helping them remember that their judgment, experience, and instincts are still the thing that makes them valuable.
If you have been feeling behind on AI and unsure where to even start, this is exactly what mentoring is for.
