A(I)llow me to reintroduce myself

a letter for the new brats on the block

Well, well, well, many new rebels here, I see! So many of you have joined this bratty community recently, so I wanted to take this opportunity to reintroduce myself.

My name is Jelena, and I’m the tech brat in question. I’ve spent the last 8 years of my career building products and strategizing experiences for Fortune 500 brands. I’ve been a creative my whole life, always exploring, dabbling, and challenging the status quo. No wonder I ended up choosing UX Design as my career. My literal job is to challenge the status quo of websites, products, and experiences everyday.

I started tech brat as a way to bring forward some new conversations around AI. At the time, most AI related publications revolved around AI news and or targeted developers with more technical jargon. As designer, the lack of AI strategy related writing was frustrating, so I decided to start sharing the things I learned around AI and how it related to business, product design, and marketing, as much as I could.

Being the dabbling rebel I am, I started extending my writing to not just gathering and commenting on the source material I have read in my AI learning phase, but also my thoughts on what’s happening in tech, business, and culture, through the lens of my strategic customer and user experience mind. That’s why you will find a letter on the business of Alix Earle leaving the Unwell Network, but also a fun guide on all the GenAI platforms.

What worried me as I started being inspired to write more about everything in business and tech instead of just sharing AI links, was that I would step outside of my self imposed “niche” and therefore lose readers. What an algorithm driven world problem to have. Even the tech brat herself can have an off day.

Thing is, I have never been just one thing and never followed the rules that dictate you should “pick a lane.” That’s been my power in business and life. I never started tech brat to build a brand in a certain niche. I started it to share my point of view on topics that I find interesting, in hopes of creating a space for others with similar curiosities so they can also explore and learn with me.

So what’s tech brat?

tech brat is a publication exploring the emerging world of AI, dissecting tech and business news, and commenting on culture through the lens of experience design and strategy. In addition, tech brat will be featuring a new segment called founder brat diaries where you’ll get a first glance at my process of building something really cool.

If you’re a curious, explorative, creative, risk taking mind that seemingly likes to dabble in multiple interests but actually is just a really good big picture thinker, this is the place for you.

It’s hard being a dabbler in this world.

Curious. Willing to experiment. Creative. Risk taker.

Society really likes to think it welcomes that kind of attitude, but in reality, we’re only appreciated after results show that not following norms has brought us success. When you’re in the midst of it, people are quick to point out what they deem as your flaws or mistakes, because it’s not following the common structure they’re used to.

So, if you can’t relate and this is not your cup of tea, no worries! If you’re another fellow rebel/dabbler/explorer, and like discussing tech, business, and brand strategies, I am so excited about all the things we’re about to learn together.

Happy Monday, brats. Let’s go ruffle some feathers.