Hey there! Caught your eye with that headline, didn’t I? Go ahead, grab a coffee, and let’s dive into a story that’s been brewing for a long time…

About twenty years ago, I was up to my elbows in beakers and chemicals in the university labs, falling head over heels into chemistry. For me, chemistry was like the cool cousin of math and physics – practical, tangible, and just a smidge messy. Earlier, the internet was this wild new frontier that for me took forever to dial up (remember that funky symphony of beeps and static?), but at that time we were moving to WIFI and Windows XP Professional x64, Mozilla, Internet Explorer 7 became the hottest thing around. Suddenly, most of us now had a window into the world, and it was liberating!

Now, programming classes at the university were a different beast. Pascal (yes, you read that right) was supposed to be this cool thing, but let me tell you, watching paint dry was more exciting. So, I stuck with my test tubes, Excel and data charts, blissfully unaware of what my future held.

After a master’s degree in nuclear tech and a PhD in engineering and many, many other experiments, I was drowning in data (help!) and, there was no escaping it, it was time for a longer visit to the computer lab, but this time instead I chose a simpler programming language:

Python! And this was nothing short of a dream – like, where have you been all my life?

This wasn’t the boring programming I remembered; it was magic at my fingertips, ready to handle everything from simple data manipulations, data mining to predictive analytics and more complex ones like image and signal processing. Paradise!

Halfway through my postdoc while exploring deep process optimisation and still trying to find the answer to the famous: Where do you see yourself in 5 years? I started also asking myself: When will I start making some money?

And so I thought, let’s break from academia and dance the money dance in the industry!

But here’s the problem: At that time, I didn’t know anything about business. Take an eye-opening journey from science geek to data science chic and voila, I found my calling. Now I’m dealing with data like a pro, moving from data scientist to tech product manager and helping companies become smart with AI.

Meanwhile, on the home front, imagine the chaos of two kiddos (bless their hyper-energetic hearts), a hubby who’s wondering why I’m on this mad tech crusade, and me trying to not drop any balls. It’s like a sitcom, minus the laugh track. My kids? Picture tiny gladiators in a never-ending battle for supremacy, with me as the referee. And yet, amidst the “mommy, look!” and sibling rivalries, their hugs melt away all the craziness and fill my soul with joy.

So, why am I telling you all this? Well, between coding, board meetings, and bedtime stories, a lightbulb moment:

Why don’t I meld my tech knowledge and my life experiences with storytelling?

Well, for starters, I’m not a writer! To be very honest, after 12 years in the UK, my English could still use some improvement (my kids would definitely agree with that).

And so, doing what I recommend to my clients, I took advantage of technology to solve my problem, and Hera was born—named after the queen of Greek gods, with a dash of irony because, let’s face it, juggling a tech career and motherhood is a divine feat. Hera is my personalised ChatGPT that helps me tell my story and share some knowledge that hopefully will help you extract value from technology as well, even if you are not in this field. So here’s the first tip:

Creating Your Own GPT Sidekick: A Step-by-Step Brew

1. Identify Your Why: Begin with the end in mind. Why do you want a GPT buddy? For me, it was about overcoming language barriers and sharing my journey in tech and motherhood.
2. Gather Your Ingredients: Your experiences, your voice, your style. I poured my degrees, my tech adventures, and my parenting tales into Hera, making sure she was a reflection of my world.
3. Customise to Your Heart’s Content: Platforms like OpenAI offer the tools to tailor your GPT. I will delve into details in a next post. I tweaked Hera to understand my unique perspective as a non-native English speaker and a tech enthusiast. Want a dash of humour? A sprinkle of tech terms? You got it.
4. Taste Test: Chat with your GPT. Is it too formal? Too casual? Adjust the settings until it feels just right. Hera and I went through rounds of edits to ensure our collaboration felt genuine.
5. Launch and Learn: Share your GPT with the world. Feedback is your friend. Hera and I are constantly learning from each other, making every conversation better than the last.

Hi, I’m Hera!

Give it a try, and you’ll be amazed at what technology can do for you.