You know AI matters. Now find out what it should actually do inside your business.
Plain-English AI consulting for owners and leaders of established businesses. We find the bottlenecks, then my team builds the fix around the tools you already own or we can create the ones you need built, so that AI use is effective and profitable for your company.
Book a Discovery Assessment See the proofDawn Gagye · AI Consultant & Fractional CMO
Not ready for an assessment? Start with a training or a talk for your team.
You're not behind on AI but there sure is a lot of noise about using it.
A couple of years ago, most business leaders were afraid to get in the AI ocean. Now nearly everyone is in the water - most are splashing around somewhat aimlessly but some are actually drowning in AI. A ChatGPT subscription here. A team member quietly experimenting there. A folder of notes from a lunch-and-learn that nobody has opened since. Countless AI pilots being deployed and failing 95% of the time.
You've probably seen it inside your own company. AI comes up in leadership meetings. It shows up in your competitors' marketing. Budgets are starting to have a line item for it. And you still can't get a clear answer to the only question that matters: what should AI actually do inside my specific business?
That gap costs you twice. Every week, your team spends hours on heavy, repeatable work that a well-built AI process could carry. And in the background, the risk runs the other way: tools bought and abandoned, client information pasted where it shouldn't go, generic output wearing your company's name.
Business first. Tools second. Everything in plain English.
The most common struggle I hear from business owners and leaders is "I don't know where to start" with AI. So we don't start with technology. We start with where your time actually goes and gets stuck.
Find your 8-hour process.
Every business has one: the task that eats the most hours and repeats the most often. Discovery starts there. I ask, I listen, and I map where the time really goes before anyone says the word "tool."
Take stock of what you already own.
Before we build anything, we inventory the systems and workflows already in your business. What works, stays. What you don't understand or need translated gets clarity and sometimes training.
Build it, then show it can do the real work.
We build with you to solve your actual bottleneck, not a demo of someone else's. And if there's training needed our team will help you and your teams with that too.
Hand your team the keys.
The goal is capability, not dependency. You leave with working processes, guardrails for what AI can and cannot touch, training that actual get traction, and a roadmap your team can run effectively with help from us if you need it.
Most people meet me in a room first.
Before anyone books a discovery assessment, they usually watch AI training happen live: a lunch-and-learn, a chamber talk, a workshop. That's on purpose. Practical training is the fastest way to see what AI can actually do for a business like yours.
Speaking & keynotes
I speak to chambers, networking groups, and business audiences about putting AI to work practically and responsibly. No jargon or confusing steps. I demonstrate a step by step process of HOW to use AI, so your audience leaves having seen it done, not just heard about it.
Team training & workshops
Hands-on training brought into your company and built around your workflows, not generic examples. Your team leaves with use cases they can run the next morning, shared standards for responsible use, an live (in person or virtual) office hours follow up session, and then have the actual confidence to keep going on their own.
The Athena Society
A curated members-only community where women business owners in Greater Birmingham learn to put AI to work in their companies. Practical sessions, real business problems, and a room built for real questions, with ongoing support between meetings.
Training is where most of my clients start. When your team is ready to go deeper, the discovery assessment picks up right where the training leaves off.
Bring a Training or Talk to Your PeopleWhen the skeptic becomes the proof.
The hardest person to convince isn't the one who has never tried AI. It's the senior executive who is certain it can't fit the way he works.
The Chairman of a Chicago multi-entity consulting firm oversees 16 companies, more than 2,165 employees, and annual revenue exceeding $1.2 billion, traveling over 250 days a year. Every prospect engagement cost him 8 to 10 hours (sometimes 12!): an intensive client meeting covering P&L, balance sheet, succession, M&A, and tax strategy, followed by hours of note reconstruction, financial modeling, and writing the recommendation document prospects needed to make a hiring decision.
By his own description, he was not a technology person. He had serious doubts that any AI tool could fit the way he worked.
We designed a custom AI workflow built for someone with no technology background. Simple inputs, guided prompts, professional output every time. A voice recorder captures the client meeting in the field; the recording and the firm's financials feed a purpose-built workflow that produces two polished, ready-to-act deliverables. The build and test phase took three short iterations. Within days, he was using it with real prospects.
And it doesn't stop with him. Now that the workflow is tested, the firm can roll it out to its 250 consultants in the field, building that additional revenue across the company.
What once took 8 hours now takes 45 minutes. The quality of the output is impressive. Within under 30 days of implementation, I saw over $5.5 million in unexpected revenue and watched my profitability climb from 12.5% to 21.3%. By every measure, Claude AI has opened new avenues for leadership, accountability, and growth.
If a senior executive managing 16 companies and a billion dollars in revenue can adopt AI in 45 minutes and see results in 30 days, the question is not whether AI can work for your business. The question is: what is your 8-hour process?
Anyone can sell an AI tool. That is exactly the problem.
Translation, not technology.
I spend my working life inside owner-led businesses as a fractional CMO, building the marketing and sales systems they run on. I know what a working system looks like and what a patched-together one costs. AI gets the same discipline: business first, tools second, and every recommendation in plain English.
You'll see what's possible before you bet on it.
Nobody buys the sample they never tasted. Instead of describing what AI could do for you, I help identify where it can fit into your real work, live. The first thing you get from me is an experience of the outcome, not a slide deck about it.
The honest answer, even when it costs me the sale.
Sometimes the right answer is that what you have is already the best fit. Sometimes it's a referral to someone else. I would rather tell you the truth and sleep well than push you into a solution that doesn't serve you. It's why most of my work comes from referrals and from rooms where people have watched me work.
Your judgment stays in the loop.
AI can recommend the move. A human makes the move. Every build comes with guardrails: what AI can touch, what it can't, and where your people's judgment stays in charge. Your voice, your data, and your clients' trust are not raw material for an experiment.
Built so it runs without me.
The endgame is a business that runs its own systems, not a consultant on permanent retainer. When a process works without one person holding it together, the business gets calmer, more capable, and more valuable at the same time.
Dawn Gagye
I'm the founder of Tracer Strategic Marketing in Birmingham, Alabama. Across my career I've built and rebuilt marketing systems inside organizations three times over, and today I serve as a fractional CMO for established, owner-led businesses.
The AI consulting practice grew directly out of that work. My clients didn't need an AI evangelist. They needed someone already trusted with their business systems to tell them what AI should do, what it shouldn't touch, and how to adopt it without creating chaos.
I also founded the Athena Society, a community where women business owners in Greater Birmingham learn to put AI to work in their companies, in a room built for real questions. Whatever room I'm in, the approach is the same: listen first, show it working, and tell the truth about what you need.
Credentials: WSI Certified AI Consultant · Fractional CMO · Founder, The Athena Society
Connect with me on LinkedIn · Invite me to speak to your group
AI Transparency Statement
At Tracer Strategic Marketing, we use AI tools, including but not limited to custom GPTs, automation platforms, and AI-powered research assistants, to help deliver more strategic, efficient, and customized results for our clients. Our use of AI is always guided by our core beliefs and values.
That means every AI-powered process we use is designed to support, not replace, human insight and connection. This is known as keeping the Human in the Loop.
We're committed to transparency, confidentiality, and intentionality in our use of emerging technology. When you work with us, you can trust that AI will be used ethically and responsibly, to elevate your specific message for a unique voice that sounds like you and your company.
Curious about how we use AI, or how you can too? We're happy to chat more.
What is your 8-hour process?
Bring me the task that eats the most hours and repeats the most often in your week. In a discovery assessment, we'll map where the time goes, what AI can carry, and what should stay human. You'll leave with a clear next step, whether or not we ever work together.
Book Your Discovery AssessmentPrefer email? Write to [email protected] and tell me about the process that eats your week. Looking for a trainer or speaker for your team or event? Same door.
