How do you use AI in your business without losing your voice?
Use AI to organize and rework your ideas, but never to start them. Copywriter and marketing strategist Samantha Calderón starts every piece with her own words — a story, a list of what makes her business hers, a pen and a notebook — then lets AI help shape it, and then rewrites it so it sounds like her again. AI is built to do things the fastest way, not the best way, so the judgment, the voice, and the final say have to stay with you.
By Marina Tolentino | October 27, 2026
Let's be real. You've got AI open in one tab, your inbox in another, Canva in a third, and about fifty more running in your head.
AI has made a lot of work faster. It's also made it really easy to sound exactly like everyone else.
On this week's episode of the Work Like A Mother podcast, I sat down with Samantha Calderón, a copywriter and marketing strategist who almost lost her business to AI — and came out of it with a better business. If you're building something on your own and wondering where you fit now that everyone has a chatbot, this one's for you.
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The Client Who Left for AI (and Came Back)
Samantha started out right after college finding freelance gigs on Craigslist. Website pages, SEO descriptions, ads, Facebook posts — she said yes to everything, built a portfolio, and worked her way into writing for marketing agencies across the U.S.
She had a steady set of clients she loved. Then AI exploded.
One of her agency clients came to her and said they had to end the relationship. They assumed AI would be faster and cheaper. And technically? It was.
But the quality tanked. Two or three months later, that same client came back and asked to work with her again.
That moment changed how Samantha runs her business. She realized if it happened with one client, it could happen with more, so she made sure she wasn't "just a word machine." She became the consultant, the coach, and the strategist — the parts of the work AI isn't great at.
Here's what I loved about that story: she didn't panic and she didn't pretend AI wasn't happening. She got clear on what only she could bring.
Samantha's Rules for Using AI
Samantha isn't anti-AI. She uses it and encourages her clients to use it. But she reminded me of something every one of us needs to hear:
The job of AI is to do something the fastest and easiest way possible — and that's not always the best way.
So she has a few non-negotiables:
- Let it organize and rework. AI is great at taking your messy notes and putting them in order
- Never let it start from scratch. The idea starts with you, goes to AI to develop, then comes back to you
- Never copy and paste. She reworks everything it produces so it sounds like her client and still meets their goals
- Remember who's accountable. AI doesn't answer to anyone. You do. Hand in work you're proud to have your name on
That last one hit me. As business owners, people are paying us because they trust us. That makes it even more our responsibility to fact-check, to make sure what we put out is actually ours, and to catch it when AI gets it wrong.
And girl, AI gets it wrong. It's also way too nice. It'll make you sound like the best person who ever lived. (Not true.) Samantha laughed that when you tell it it's wrong, it just says, "You're right." Sis, that's not a collaborator. That's a yes-man.
If this conversation is making you rethink how you show up online, you'll want to keep listening. Every week on Work Like A Mother, we talk about building meaningful work without losing what matters most — at home, in faith, and in business. Follow the podcast here.
Find Your Voice With a Pen Before You Open AI
So how do you get AI to sound like you? According to Samantha, you don't start with AI at all.
Start with a pen and a notebook.
- Write down every word that describes you and your business. Are you funny? Kind? Bold? Compassionate?
- Write down the phrases you say all the time
- Write down why you do what you do
That "why" matters more than you think. Samantha told me about a wellness coach she worked with who loved her work but dreaded marketing. When Samantha asked her why she became a wellness coach, the passion showed up in her eyes — and that was the marketing. That's the video on her homepage. That's her first post.
In Samantha's words, marketing is "simply expressing who you are and what you do and the why behind what you do." It doesn't have to be viral or trendy. It goes back to you.
Once it's on paper, then bring it to AI and ask it to help you organize it into brand guidelines. Now it has something real to work with.
If you're the one-woman show in your business, this is your reminder: most entrepreneurs aren't marketers. I had to become one in real estate because getting my name out there is most of my job. When you start that LLC, marketing is part of what you're signing up for. But it can feel a lot more like you and a lot less like a burden.
Start Every Post With a Story
Samantha's favorite way to make content unmistakably hers? Every Substack post she writes starts with a story — a client, how she got started, an event she went to last week. A story AI couldn't write, because it came from her life.
It doesn't have to be perfectly written. People recognize real.
This is exactly how I'm writing my book, too. Every chapter starts with a story, then a point, then a framework. AI can't do that part for me — and I don't want it to.
You Don't Have to Be Everywhere
Here's the permission slip you didn't know you needed: pick two platforms.
Samantha is a marketer, and she's not on Facebook. She's not on TikTok. She doesn't blog on her website. She writes on Substack instead because she loves it.
Her advice for solo business owners is to choose two platforms and do them well, based on what you actually enjoy creating:
- Like to write? Substack and LinkedIn
- Like to take photos? Instagram
- Like short videos? TikTok and Instagram
- Serve other businesses? LinkedIn
Because you want your marketing to be fun — not a burden following you around.
Put Marketing in a Box
The other thing that wears us out? Marketing taking up a corner of our brain all day long. Samantha's fix is time blocking. Pick a set block each week for marketing — take the photos, jot the ideas, do the tasks — then close it and get back to the work you actually want to be doing.
She and a friend took it a step further with a content day. They went to a co-working space, took turns photographing and filming each other, interviewed each other at the end, and walked away with a whole month of content in one day. A few outfit changes, a friend, and done.
She also catches every random idea in Google Keep — typed notes, voice notes, checklists, and reminders — so the ideas have somewhere to go besides her head.
If you're not ready for a content day, you might love this approach to networking when you hate networking, or my take on nurturing your email list without the fuss. And if those fifty open tabs are following you home, this conversation about being present is a good next listen.
The World Needs You, Not More AI
Samantha said something toward the end that I can't stop thinking about. She works with so many women — moms whose kids are growing, who finally have time for their passion project — who think they're too late. Too old. Behind.
Her answer: you're not alone, and you're definitely not behind.
Find your people. Join a group, serve on a nonprofit board, get involved at church. Samantha serves on the board of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Diaper Bank, and it's grown her skills, her network, and her sense of community.
And whatever you're building, build it as you. Like Samantha said, don't let the world get flooded with AI slop. We need you — the real, authentically-you version.
If you've been sitting on a passion project, this is your sign. Start with a story only you can tell.
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About Marina Tolentino
Marina Tolentino is a REALTOR®, author, and the host of the Work Like A Mother podcast, where she helps Christian working moms feel confident about their next move — at home, in faith, and in business. Listen and subscribe at marinatolentino.com/podcast.
