Clover: Conversations with Women in Leadership on Visibility, Authority & Owning the Room

How to Make People Care About Your Idea - with Andrea Bridges-Smith

Erin Geiger - Muscle Creative Season 5 Episode 138

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0:00 | 38:33

In this episode of Clover, I sit down with Andrea Bridges-Smith, founder of San Fenix, to talk about career pivots, finding confidence in front of an audience, and why a compelling story can make all the difference when you are trying to get people invested in an idea.

Andrea’s path has taken her from more than a decade in tech marketing to video production, political satire, and now presentation coaching for founders and executives. Along the way, she discovered that one of her greatest strengths was helping people get comfortable on camera and on stage. Today, she works with founders to clarify their stories, strengthen their pitch decks, and communicate their ideas in ways people will actually understand and remember.

We also get into the flood of AI-generated content. We talk about using AI to eliminate repetitive work without handing over the creative process, why lived experience matters more than ever, and how companies can compete for attention by being willing to entertain, experiment, and sound like actual human beings.

In this episode, we talk about:

  • Why a founder’s personal story can make a pitch far more memorable than credentials and numbers alone
  •  How to use AI to eliminate repetitive work without outsourcing your creativity or voice 
  •  Why creating more content is not the answer—and what makes people actually stop and pay attention 
  •  What separates founders who get people excited about their ideas from those with a good product but a forgettable pitch 
  •  Why even confident, accomplished people can freeze on camera or on stage—and how Andrea helps them find the version of themselves that can command the room

Notable quotes:

“If you’re going to put out one post on LinkedIn a month that is a barn burner versus a garbage one every day, I will take that one post every single time.”

“That lived experience of ‘why are you doing this?’ is what really makes a story unique, and it’s something that AI simply can’t give you.”

“The fear needs to go sit over there so that the excitement can come out.”

“You think that you are competing with other companies in your space. Not true. You are competing with Netflix. You are competing with MrBeast. You are competing with a book on someone’s shelf.”

“Please, God, consider having fun with your content and do less of it and do it better.”


Connect with Andrea Bridges-Smith on LinkedIn and learn more about her work with San Fenix.