From the earliest days of online content, I've always thrived on pushing boundaries. My career began by working with some of YouTube’s first creators before monetization even existed, including The Annoying Orange (Dane Boedigheimer), Fred (Lucas Cruikshank), Megan & Liz (Megan and Liz Mace), and Freddiew (Freddie Wong). These pioneers were trailblazers in short-form video, audience growth, and multi-platform content distribution, and I had the privilege of learning from them. Their innovative approaches taught me how to leverage content not just to entertain but to build authentic communities and thriving brands.
In 2011, I took these learnings to AwesomenessTV, a fledgling media brand I helped launch alongside founders Brian Robbins and Joe Davola. Together, we pushed the envelope of what content for tweens and teens could look like. With creative freedom and mentorship from these media powerhouses, I was able to explore bold ideas, ultimately playing a key role in building and scaling the brand’s Multi-Channel Network (MCN) of creators.
However, over the years, my enthusiasm for social media began to shift. As the creator economy evolved, I became skeptical—what had started as an exciting creative space gradually felt more like a marketplace for marketing-driven content. The shift from creators to influencers felt like a loss of the raw, unfiltered authenticity that made early platforms so magical.
But when I made the decision to launch Mother of Invention, I knew I needed to rekindle my love for social media. As a former actor, building a personal brand was initially a triggering thought for me (more on that in another blog post), but it was also a necessary part of launching a new company. So, I set out to experiment with content and find my brand’s voice.
When it came to my content strategy, I asked myself three key questions:
- What type of content will I enjoy creating?
- What tools can I explore and experiment with?
- What kind of audience do I want to cultivate for Mother of Invention?
Growing up, my family owned a few iconic Anne Geddes coffee table books—those photos of babies dressed as flowers have always stuck with me. They were precious, perhaps even a little cheesy, but undeniably captivating. I decided to push the boundaries of that style of baby photography by blending it with AI image creation tools. In my experience, no mom—pregnant, new, or seasoned—can resist an adorable baby photo. It seemed like the perfect arena to experiment.
The result is the early posts of the @motherofinventionHQ Instagram handle, where my goal has been to integrate AI as much as possible in the creative process. To do this, I enrolled in a Coursera course on writing prompts for MidJourney, one of the leading AI image-generation platforms, and dove into the process of creating and refining hundreds of images. My feed is now a mix of playful, endearing, and at times, hilarious baby-themed AI-generated content, paired with quotes that evoke humor and sentiment.
This project has been incredibly fun and creatively fulfilling. I’ve drawn inspiration from pop culture, social media holidays, and everyday moments to craft images that make me laugh out loud. Here are a few of my favorites—if they make you smile, please give the account a follow, and feel free to DM me any ideas for new creations.
Lastly, I’ve realized that many people don’t fully understand how AI image creation works, so here’s a quick and simple explanation:
AI image generation tools rely on advanced algorithms to either create realistic images from scratch (using Generative Adversarial Networks, or GANs) or blend existing images into something new (via neural style transfer). Imagine two friends—Artist Alice and Critic Charlie. Alice creates an image, while Charlie critiques it, pointing out any flaws. Over time, Alice learns from Charlie’s feedback and improves until her creations are indistinguishable from real photos. This is essentially how GANs work—AI learns and evolves through feedback to generate increasingly realistic images.
