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Chaleb Pommells

Basic Info​

  • Location: Bangkok, Thailand (currently traveling, considering relocation)
  • Role/Occupation: Founder/Consultant at Iron Access Consulting (Cybersecurity/IT)
  • Met: Through Civics Unplugged (Gary was his mentor)
  • Relationship Status: Has a partner who is currently in Mexico

Professional Background​

  • Founder and consultant at Iron Access Consulting
  • Specializes in cybersecurity and IT consulting
  • Completely remote work arrangement
  • Met good group of developers in Bangkok
  • Considering opening a Bangkok branch office as the software development arm of Iron Access Consulting
  • Has been doing the "travel thing" while working remotely

Personal Background​

  • Former mentee of Gary at Civics Unplugged
  • Has hearing challenges and uses captioning technology (caption phones, AI captioning apps)
  • Experiences with various captioning solutions including FCC-funded apps
  • Travels frequently between locations while maintaining remote work

Key Projects & Interests​

  • Iron Access Consulting: Building out cybersecurity and software development services
  • Bangkok Expansion: Evaluating opening a branch office in Bangkok for cost-effective development
  • AI Tools: Experimenting with Clay (for enrichment) and N8N (for workflows)
  • Educational Vision: Has been writing about and planning to potentially open a school
  • Workforce Development: Passionate about upskilling everyday workers for AI transformation

Interaction History​

2025-12-03: Phone Call - AI Journey and Business Philosophy​

  • Discussed Gary's pivot to Applied AI consulting and recent baptism
  • Chaleb shared his Bangkok location and potential business expansion plans
  • Extensive discussion about AI tools (Clay, N8N) and their documentation/onboarding challenges
  • Philosophy on democratizing access to technology knowledge
  • Concerns about AI replacing workers without proper upskilling opportunities
  • Discussed the need for professional development focused on non-engineers
  • Shared perspectives on companies using AI for cost-cutting vs. workforce enhancement
  • Gary offered to introduce Chaleb to his pastor for addressing trauma when back in US

Strategic Value & Collaboration Areas​

  • Technical Expertise: Strong background in cybersecurity and software development
  • International Perspective: Experience with remote teams and global operations
  • Educational Philosophy Alignment: Shares Gary's vision for democratizing tech education
  • AI Implementation: Practical experience with automation tools and workflows
  • Business Development: Understanding of both consulting and product development

Notes & Observations​

  • Communication Style: Thoughtful, analytical, tends toward longer explanations
  • Philosophy: Believes in "democratizing access to knowledge" and making tech accessible
  • Business Approach: Sees opportunity in "saturated" markets - "there's enough of the pie to go around for everybody"
  • View on AI: Sees it as complementary to human work, advocates for "human in the loop design"
  • Critical Perspective: Concerned about companies using AI to eliminate positions rather than enhance capabilities
  • Learning Approach: Plans to dive deeper into AI platforms as 2025 resolution

Potential Collaboration Areas​

  • AI Consulting: Could collaborate on enterprise AI implementations
  • Educational Content: Partner on creating accessible AI training for non-engineers
  • International Expansion: Leverage his Bangkok connections for global opportunities
  • Workforce Development: Joint initiatives on upskilling programs for companies
  • Technical Review: Could provide cybersecurity perspective on AI implementations

Key Quotes & Insights​

  • On saturated markets: "There's the ones in between that are like it's saturated. But there's enough of the pie to go around for everybody."
  • On AI adoption: "A lot of business owners are quickly seeing, man, you know, AI is coming whether I want it or not."
  • On education: "I love the concepts of like open universities... not everybody can necessarily attend a traditional brick and mortar institution."
  • On workforce transformation: "Companies to me should feel that they have an obligation to upscale their workforce to match the demand."
  • On technical documentation: "They are a software company that in reality shouldn't be marketing themselves to other engineers."

Background & Philosophy​

  • Strong belief in making technology accessible to non-technical people
  • Advocates for companies to invest in upskilling rather than just replacing workers
  • Sees AI as a tool for augmentation rather than replacement
  • Critical of the tech industry's poor onboarding and documentation practices
  • Believes in practical, applied learning over purely academic approaches

Future Plans​

  • Potentially opening Bangkok branch office for Iron Access Consulting
  • Deep dive into AI platforms (Clay, N8N, others) in 2025
  • Continuing development of educational institution concept
  • Focus on creating "newsroom" style agentic workflows
  • Building bridges between technical and non-technical workers

Transcripts​

Transcript IDDateSummary
2025-12-03-gary-chaleb-ai-workforce-philosophy2025-12-03AI journey and workforce transformation philosophy