From Stage to SkillPath: Taylor Ventura’s Journey in Training and AI

Taylor Ventura might train her learners on how to make use of Artificial Intelligence, but there’s nothing artificial about her love of being in front of an audience.

“My journey starts when I was very little,” she says. “I loved to be on stage. I did theater. Was an actor in plays, sang in choir, did dance recitals. My mom nurtured that skill I had to be in front of people to perform. Then I started to pick up public speaking and I loved that.”

That led to a teaching career (though she prefers the word “coach” in her training work for SkillPath) – and that, in turn, led to Taylor taking her talents to YouTube around the time the COVID-19 pandemic began.

“’Winning Feathers’ was a startup YouTube Series that I was a host of,” she says. “It’s an institution that teaches public speaking, and I’d taught kids for many years before that – English and other subjects.

“I hosted 50, 60 episodes of the series, and I learned a lot through that. We were doing something using social media for kids, that was also in my wheelhouse.”

When Winning Feathers sold, Taylor – looking for a new opportunity – transitioned to working with adults. But she has kept that coaching mentality. “There’s a lot of positive encouragement in coaching,” she says. “I think that makes a lot of difference. Coaching is all about being positive, encouraging the other person to ask questions.”

In turn, Taylor is also enthusiastic about picking up knowledge from those she coaches.

“I always tell my group that I’m there to learn as well,” she says. “That’s what’s so great about live SkillPath events: They’re all sharing ideas. They’ll give me links, books, places I can go to do this or that. I’m constantly learning from their walks of life.”

Taylor began by teaching business writing skills – and then AI changed that game.

“As ChatGPT became more popular in 2022, I thought, ‘My job is obsolete. It’s over,’” she says. “But I started working with it, and it’s incredible. If it can help me, it can help anyone.” Sometimes, she says, she has to coach people not to be afraid of AI. “All people need to realize is that there’s nothing to fear and it’s a tool to help them,” she says. “This is a tool you can use for good. Look at the abundance this could bring --knowledge, connections, time. It can completely change the way you do things.”

Not that she considers herself an expert in the subject, though; like her learners, Taylor is constantly exploring AI’s possibilities.

“All I have is what I’ve been working with,” she says. “I do a lot of reading about the subject. I just take in a lot of information. If there’s a new tool, I’ll get that tool and learn how to use it. That makes it more realistic for me: ‘I learned to use this. You can use this too.” And when she’s not learning or passing on her knowledge?

“I live in Bali, halfway across the world,” she says. “I am totally a beach girl. I’m going to learn how to surf this year. I love to dance. I like to cook. I love just taking a nice nature walk, because it’s so beautiful here.”

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