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AI That Curates Gifts Based on People & Relationships, Not Products
AI That Curates Gifts Based on People & Relationships, Not Products
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- [00:00]
A
On today's episode of Lead with AI, I'm joined by Rose Aaron Darcik, the founder and CEO of Gift Ease. Rose is transforming the way we think about gift giving by blending technology with human connection. With her platform, she's making thoughtful, meaningful and perfectly timed gifts, effortlessly proving that AI can enhance one of the most personal acts we share. And that's giving. We'll dive into her journey, the inspiration behind Gift Ease and what it means to bring generosity into the digital age.
- [00:39]
B
Let's get into it. Welcome to lead with AI. I'm Dr. Tamara Nall. In each episode, we will take you behind the scenes with visionary leaders shaping the future of AI across public and private sectors. Join us as we explore groundbreaking projects and innovations that are transforming industries and making a real impact on people's lives. Let's dive in.
- [01:12]
A
Hi everyone and welcome back to lead with AI. I'm your host, Dr. Tamara Nall and I am so excited to have Rose Aaron Darzek with us today. She is the founder and CEO of Gift Ease. How are you, Rose?
- [01:27]
C
I'm great, I'm great. I'm so excited to be here and share the gifty story.
- [01:31]
A
Exactly. I'm excited too. When I heard about the company and the AI powered product, I was like, oh my gosh, I got to get her on here. And I know I reached out to you, so thanks for responding.
- [01:41]
C
Thank you. Thank you.
- [01:43]
A
Awesome. So I always like to start with you as the founder. Who are you at your core? How did you think about Gift Ease and just tell us, you know, take us on that journey and tell us about your story.
- [01:59]
C
Yeah, well, at my core I am a problem solver. I have spent my career in consulting and then industry leadership roles, driving change, strategic transformations, leading and delivering multimillion dollar portfolios to drive business results for companies. And that includes things like with technology at the heart, revenue generating products, front and back office solutions, all kinds of strategic and enterprise level change. And so at my heart, I'm definitely a problem solver. All the while though, in my throughout my career, as I became a working mom, things got really challenging. Balancing work and personal and honestly the one thing that I struggled to keep up with was gift giving. Among the laundry list of all the to do's and things that we have to to do and the longest time, it's been over a dozen years, I thought, you know Rose, you're not really showing up for your people. I joke and say I'm thoughtful. I think about it, it's not remembering, it's the figuring out what to gift and getting it there.
- [03:25]
B
Right.
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C
So for the longest time, I've had this idea that, rose, you're not showing up for your people. You're letting your friends, family, loved ones down. You gotta do better. I know. You gotta do better. And so I just had this idea that I need a personal assistant. Forgive. Help me. And one day I'm going to build an app and then flash forward. My last role was actually the head of transformation for the largest distributor in the promotional products industry. That's corporate gifting.
- [03:57]
A
Oh.
- [03:58]
C
I left that role and I said, you know what? What do I really want to do now? And this call to my mission really came forward and I said, rose, if you're not going to build it now and you need to build it, when are you going to do it? So that's really what sparked it. It was my own personal challenge. And then, you know, my thinking through, like, what am I going to do next in my career? What am I going to do next in my life? And I thought the more people I talk to, the more I realize it's not just me. It's. It's. It's so many of us who struggle with this. So that's really where gifties came from. Yeah. Yeah. And here I am.
- [04:38]
A
That is so amazing because I can tell you, and it's not that I don't appreciate gifts, it's just that, like, how much can I put in my home? You know, if people knew me, they would know, oh, well, I like an experience. I like to do that versus just something that I. Another vase or, you know, some flowers or whatever. I don't really like roses. And so the. The fact that I could hear the passion in you, you were like, I don't want to let my people down. And it's like, okay, it could just be your neighbor, but you're considering that person to be your tribe, your family member. So I could really hear that passion. And there are definitely a lot more happy individuals because of gift ease. I can already tell that.
- [05:22]
C
Yeah. Yeah. Well, our whole premise is, you know, that it's not about things. It's about thought. It's about the intention. It's not about the cost of a gift. You know, you can give the most expensive something, but the reality is that when you give something with intention, when you give something that says, I see you. Yes, you know, or I remember that you said this, you know, those are the best gifts. Those are the gifts. And so that's. Those are the kinds of moments and human connection that we Want to create with gifties.
- [05:52]
A
That is amazing. That's amazing. So share an example with us where people experience gift ease for the first time. And it was like jaw dropping for them. They were like, whoa, wow. I can see a difference. Or this really meant something. Brought them to tears.
- [06:08]
C
Literally. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we are just so you know, we are in private beta testing right now.
- [06:14]
A
Okay.
- [06:16]
C
Our public launch is in November. It's coming.
- [06:19]
A
Okay. Got it.
- [06:20]
C
That being said, there's two things that I think about. One is in one of our early prototypes that I had a mom go in as my first external user and go and just put in some information about her son. And she was. I asked her for feedback. I said, do not sugarcoat it. Do not like, tell me what was your experience? And she was like rose, it was the most like she put in some like her. Her son like what her son likes and then some of the activities and things that he does. And she goes, it was the simplest thing but. But the most like, why didn't I think of this? It actually just a character soccer ball. That was my first user and her first experience. And she said, I was kicking myself saying why didn't I think of this? Only so simple. But what we've got the load of all the different things that we're managing and trying to remember different things. Even the most simplistic can be a wow. And she said, I couldn't believe it. I told my husband and we went out and got. Got the ball for him and it was something that was super practical, simple. But she hadn't thought of it. They had not thought of it.
- [07:33]
A
Wow.
- [07:35]
C
That. That I find connects with people is when like my dad and your dad. Okay. Yet generic gift guides will tell us. What do they tell us we should get our dads? They say we should get them whiskey. Yeah. A wallet, a tie, camping equipment. That's not my dad.
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A
Right.
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C
And it's probably not your dad.
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A
Wow.
- [08:03]
C
So gifties when you think about it, my dad like what makes my dad my dad so capturing his preferences, what he likes to do. He loves to watch sports. He doesn't play sports. Yeah, loves to. He's. He's a numbers guy. So he really loves like anything to do, like kind of puzzle type things or you know, numbers on the fly. He loves that kind of stuff. He loves to do puzzles. But he only does them with me.
- [08:29]
A
Movies.
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C
But usually he's not watching movies on his own. He's watching sports. He watches that with me. So capturing the essence of my dad. What his preferences Are my relationship with my dad and then the extra piece of what about me as a gifter? What do I value? What are my preferences? How do I want to show up for my people? Your point, Tamara? You may only want to gift experiences for people. You may want to support female founders or small businesses. You may not want to shop big box. So it's that combination of three things that when I share that story and people experience that, it's really personal. And to be able to thoughtful ideas. The power of that, even though it's simple, the power of it makes people go, wow, right? That really makes a difference.
- [09:26]
A
Right. And I'm laughing over here because you are absolutely right. I do not like shopping. I could do online shopping, but it's very strategic. I know where I'm going and I know what I'm looking for if I don't know where to get it. But to go to like a brick and mortar or to go shopping, or when I go with my friends and they want to go shopping, A18 Wheeler might as well hit me. Like, that's how tired my body gets. Like I'm walking behind them like this. I'm sitting down with all the people in the little massage chairs. So yeah, so I love that. I love the fact that it's not only about the receiver, but about the giver as well.
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C
Yes, it is absolutely 1000% awesome.
- [10:09]
A
So talk to us about how it works. I mean, you're in MVP that will release here soon and that's November 2025, folks. So depending on when you're listening to it, and I'll talk about that a little bit later too. But how does it work? I as a user will go in and what's the magic? What happens?
- [10:25]
C
Yeah, so we absolutely leverage AI and our own databases and technology to capture the essence of what makes your people your people. I call them your gift circle.
- [10:40]
A
Okay.
- [10:41]
C
There's relational gifting and then there's transactional gifting. Sure. You can transactionally gift. With gifties, you can find ideas for people that you might not know that much about or care about the powers in the relational it in understanding that person. So we have call it more like a wizard or kind of a set of questions to capture some information about the people that you care about and that you want a gift for. And in the same way we capture your preferences. So there's a little bit of effort up front. In order to generate meaningful ideas though, we need to have some sense of what makes them them, what makes you. And then once we have that Information, we curate and generate ideas that you can then pin. If you like it, you can pin it. And so think of like a pin board, a gift board for your people. So gift circle. You could pin those ideas or you can dismiss them and say, this isn't, I don't, I don't really like this. This isn't for them. You can give us additional context to let us know, hey, you know, maybe, oh, I forgot that I have a cool core memory with that person that we used to go to school together and we love. Our favorite sports team is such and such. So you can give us more context and then we curate those ideas using AI and the power of data as well as your feedback. You can pin ideas to your people so that way you're not left scrambling at the last minute trying to figure out what to gift when it comes time.
- [12:14]
A
Right.
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C
So we recognize, you know, the events and the importance of the events in life as well as, you know, from a recipient perspective, the, you know, who you're giving to and what it is they might like. And we help you to curate these ideas on this, you know, so that you're never left scrambling at the last minute. Now this first version, like I said, it's not product love what led. What makes us different is we're people first. We're about relationships and understanding that, about people versus, you know, coming at you with products and saying here's stuff. Don't you think you have somebody who might like this?
- [12:49]
A
No.
- [12:49]
C
We want to capture the essence and then give you ideas based on the people side of things.
- [12:54]
A
Right, right. Oh, that's amazing. I love that and I love the fact that, okay, you're saying you put some information in, we give you some options through, you know, kind of the pin pinning options, but it might not be exactly right, but then you just go and you enter more information and then the model trains it to be more customized and than to get to the better gift solution.
- [13:17]
C
We're helping you to. Yes. Curate ideas that are going to hit the mark for your people. And, and, and the idea is it's not a one time thing. You know, people ask me what's the difference if I, I could just go to chat. GPT, yes, you can. Are crafted for an experience around gift giving for people. We are not a one time solution. Yeah, you can come and get gift ideas from us. You can go to ChatGPT. However, once you put that information in with us, you can make point updates over time. Like if I'm, you know, if I have a conversation with my dad and he says his laptop is acting up. I gifties lets you add a gift note. You can add a gift note that says, hey, I still have the core essence. I'm remembering. I have the history of what you've gifted him in the past.
- [14:06]
A
Yeah, right.
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C
Gift him. So it's intended not as a one time thing. It's an experience that over time it's going to continue to help you get better and be more thoughtful and show up for your people.
- [14:17]
A
Yeah, and I really love that too because at some point, particularly if you're like, with my husband, we've been together for, you know, over 15 years. At some point it's like, okay, well what do I get him now? Or my friend is like, okay, she has everything, like, what can I, how can I be thoughtful but still, still surprise her with something? So I do like that. It's kind of like this lifetime gift journey that you're going on.
- [14:41]
C
Yes, yes. I mean, and that's the whole thing is reducing the stress associated with gifting. And again, it's not just that one time, it's overtime. But we're helping you to plan and be more proactive. And then when the time comes, you can just pull the trigger and you're good to go. It's not, you know, scrambling and trying to figure out, oh my gosh, maybe I just get a last minute gift card or, or at overnight Amazon, which is not right.
- [15:03]
A
Right. Okay, great. Now how do you think about, or how have you been thinking about ethics with this? We're talking about data, we're talking about people putting in their preferences and training, all of that to give the best recommendations. Gift recommendations. How are y' all thinking about ethics?
- [15:21]
C
Yeah, ethics is, you know, for me, I really think about, we are leveraging technology to enhance. That's the human connection. You know, it's really about that. It's not about replacing, it's not about removing, like decision making or my own ability to, you know, have my free will and choice. It's about enhancing and helping us all to just, you know, live a little lighter each day without having to remember all the things and figure it out. So, you know, I really think of it from that lens that it's not intended to take over anything. It's just intended to help us show up more thoughtfully and intentionally.
- [16:01]
A
Got it. Okay, great. Now let's talk about your big, bold prediction. I used to ask, oh, well, 20, 35 years from now, but my goodness, with AI, the big bold future could be tomorrow. So with every timeline you have in mind. Tell us about what's your big, bold prediction for 50s or just AI in general? What are you thinking?
- [16:24]
C
Well, specific to gifties, I truly believe gifties will be a household name. I see gifties being integrated into our daily lives. Just like, you know, just like Siri is today.
- [16:39]
A
Right.
- [16:40]
C
You know, I may wake up and say I have, you know, I have reminders or alerts that indicate that it's somebody's special day today and, and in the future, you know, I have already got my curated list of ideas for my mom's birthday. So gifty says, hey Rose, we're a week out. You already have three ideas ready to go. Which one do you want to gift? And I'll make it happen. And then I tell gifties go and gifties goes. I go about my day. I'm not worried about it. Gifties has got it taken care of. I get into my car, I'm going to work. I, I have an interaction with my dad and he says, hey Rose, you know, did you know your brother is entering? My brother loves jiu jitsu. He's like, did brother's entering another jiu jitsu tournament. And by the way, his kids are, you know, having their eighth grade graduation coming up. So I get off the phone with my dad and I say, hey, gifties, add a gift note for my brother. Jiu jitsu tournament coming up and eighth grade graduation for, for my nephew. Giftes takes care of that, moves on about the day. You know, I truly envision an integrated world where gifties is a part of kind of the fabric of our daily life. And it's seamlessly integrated and we're relying on it, you know, to help us move through our gifting cycles. You know, we all gift throughout the year. I don't know, anywhere from up to 20, 20 different occasions. We have anywhere from 10 to 20 occasions depending on where you are in your stage of life. That's not number of presents, that's just occasions. And so I truly see that we're integrated into the fabric of the day to day, like a great personal assistant in helping us to achieve what we need to.
- [18:23]
A
Wow. Now you had mentioned, okay, you're, you're going about your day and you're working with giftes and you're pinning these stories now when your MVP comes out. And is it just the pin stories, if you will, or pin notes or will it also order the gift for you or is that kind of a future phase for, for the gift people first?
- [18:45]
C
Okay, so product and enabling product Purchase right now for MVP is not where I'm focused. I want to solve problem for people, which is reducing gift stress and then also being proactive about what we're gifting. Because figure that I found in my research. Two figures. One, 88% of moms say they are the ones who are carrying the load, the mental load of all the things, the responsibilities, the scheduling, the school activities and the gift giving. I want to solve that problem and help reduce that stress with proactive, you know, gift recommendations and gift boards. The second is that $10 billion in unwanted gifts in the holiday season. We're approaching the holiday season right now. We are less than a hundred days out. I want to make sure that I can help people curate and gift thoughtfully, even if that means not connecting them with product right now. Help to generate ideas and get people's arms around their gifting circle, if you will, and help reduce that gift waste. Because unwanted gifts translates to a lot of different things, including stuff that ends up in the return cycle and landfills. And I want to reduce that.
- [20:05]
A
And you said 10 billion.
- [20:08]
C
$10 billion in unwanted gifts that people receive over the holidays. Thoughtful can help to reduce that? Absolutely.
- [20:19]
A
Wow. I mean, I know I do get. Get those, but I'm sure there are many of me out there. Wow.
- [20:26]
C
I need to buy something. I need to buy something. And then it's not really hitting the mark with that person. So they end up returning it, re gifting it, or goodness sakes, putting it in the closet. And then how many times do you find something that somebody gave you and you're like, oh, my gosh.
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A
Right, Right.
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C
Oopsie.
- [20:42]
A
Wow. Tim Bangus. My goodness. So let me ask you, if someone I know, the MVP is coming out in November, but if somebody wanted to try it or as soon as it's available, try it and get to know it because we have very curious listeners. How might they do that?
- [20:59]
C
They can go to our website. We're at the Gift Ease. All one word. The Gift Ease. E A S E for gifting with ease. Go to the website and we have a wait list. Sign up for the wait list. You'll get updates about launch and what's coming and. And then you can sign up and sign in.
- [21:16]
A
Awesome. I love that. I'm going to definitely do that. I'm going to definitely do that. Now, all of my guests are what I call geniuses. So my previous guest has a question for you, Rose, and would love to hear your thoughts on it. So the question is, with AI as we know it today, are we destined to remain dependent on platforms like OpenAI? Or will the future shift toward more personal, individualized and customized AIs?
- [21:49]
C
Tamara, you might. You might have a guess as to how I might answer that question based on gifties. I truly believe that movement towards personalization is in our cards is because you know what? We're all different. Just as we just talked about with gifting, who we're gifting for who we are, we're all different. And the ways that AI and in particular personal assistance can support us. It has to be personalized because it's not one size fits all. We are not one size fits all as a humanity, as people. And so the ability to work, flow, flexibly, and have AI really help us in the ways that we need most is truly the direction I believe we're headed. I AI and the way that I live my daily life. Just think of it from that perspective. The way I live my daily life, where I focus my efforts and energies, who I am and how I am different from you and others. You're right. So we need technology and AI to support us in those truly personalized ways.
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A
Awesome. Okay. Customize. It is.
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C
Yes, it is. Customize.
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A
So our next section is called Bonus Rapid Fire. So I'm going to quickly ask you a question and you give me the first response that comes to your mind. Are you ready? Okay. Ready.
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C
I'm ready. I'm ready.
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A
All right, good. Most overrated tech trend.
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C
Vibe coding.
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A
Okay, I hear that literally like three times a day. Get it?
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C
Really? Do you?
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B
I do, I do.
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A
I really, really do. In terms of just the people I speak to, et cetera, I do notice that guests are like. Well, I don't really want to say this, but I'm just going to say it. 5 coding. So, yep, most under hyped AI breakthrough.
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C
I think voice assistance.
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A
Okay.
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C
Using voice. Yeah, I know.
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A
I love it. And when it doesn't work or I can't use it, I do get a little frustrated.
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C
So I know.
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A
What's one book everyone should read?
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C
Well, the first one that comes to mind related to technology and future is thank you for being late. It's a little bit of an oldie by now, but it's Thomas Friedman. And the thing that comes to mind is, you know, he talks about acceleration in rate and pace of change and that really, I mean, it's exponentially increasing. So that whole concept is one that I think is super, super relevant each and every day.
- [24:24]
A
Got it. Okay, perfect. Now, I did kind of ask this before, but it was in the context related to gifties. Now my question is, what is your biggest and boldest AI prediction away from gifties? Like, what's the world going to look like? What's bold? Surprise us. What do you think?
- [24:42]
C
I going back to this whole personal assistant, I truly believe that we are all going to be living our daily lives with, you know, our own personal assistants at our hands gifties and our own overall personal assistant that, you know, voice enabled and it's going to be helping us throughout our day. I truly believe that that's something that is not in the far, too far off future for all of us.
- [25:08]
A
Got it.
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C
Yep.
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A
I love it. And how helpful will that be?
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C
Oh my gosh, yes.
- [25:14]
A
We need it.
- [25:15]
C
We need it.
- [25:16]
A
Absolutely. Well, Rose, I so enjoy this conversation and learning about gifties and I'm definitely going to use it because I definitely am a victim of getting all kinds of stuff that I don't want and I don't want people to think I'm not appreciative. It's just, you know, it's just not aligned with my love language. So if I feel it, I'm sure all of our listeners and all of our guests feel it as well. So thank you for what you're doing in this sometimes, you know, not so talked about industry or area in our lives and really having a passion about making it easier for us. And that $10 billion was a big, big shocker for me. So thank you for teaching us something we didn't know. Thank you so much.
- [26:00]
C
Thank you for having me. Thank you for having me. And you know, we're all on a learning journey in life and you know, I love making new connections and learning, growing with others and this being a part of it. So thank you so much. I love what you're doing.
- [26:12]
A
Absolutely. Absolutely. Now, if people want to connect with you, let us know how and just give us the website again so we can check it out. But how do we connect with you?
- [26:22]
C
You can connect with me on LinkedIn. First and last name Rose. There's only one Rose. Aaron Darcik. A R E N D A R C Z Y K. Our website is the gifties all1word.com and then on Instagram you can follow us and our handle is the underscore gifties all one word.
- [26:45]
A
So.
- [26:45]
C
Yes.
- [26:46]
A
Awesome. Thank you so much. Well, everyone, I know you enjoyed this conversation just as much as I did. And until next time, Lee with AI.
- [26:55]
C
Take care.
- [26:56]
A
Bye bye.
- [26:58]
B
Thanks for tuning in to Lee with AI. I'll see you next time as we continue exploring the cutting edge innovations shaping AI across the public, public and private sectors. Until then, keep leading with AI.