Finished my first AI HAckathon at 55! YAY me! Here's a demo of FieldVoices

Описание: A Few Lessons from My First Hackathon

First, I have so much appreciation for the AI SKool communities for this crazy fun experience: it's all free - anyone can participate thank you ‪@sabrina_ramonov‬

I’m two weeks away from being closer to 60 than 50, and I just submitted my first hackathon project. I want to sit with that for a second.

I’ve spent over 30 years in social work and nonprofits. Years ago, my brother told me I should go into project management. He was at Cisco in San Jose at the time. I was like - yikes! no way! Those skills would have come in very handy this weekend. But that path would have killed my soul, so I’m glad I took mine.

What my path gave me was this: listening, empathy, systems thinking, and a deep understanding of what it feels like when good people are buried under impossible workloads and still have to smile and create joy for 500 kids. That is exactly what made this project real.

My lessons:
The last 10% really matters to me. I do not want “good enough.” I want the full feeling of landing the thing. Apparently, I’m going to have to practice getting over that 😅

For this project, that last 10% was the marketing piece: the demo video. I wanted to test whether Claude could actually create the whole thing: script, AI voice, read-through, and assembled video. Not just visuals. The full stack just from looking at my website and a few prompt photos - this is the result.

And curses to daylight savings, because I got proof of concept too late and ended up submitting a rushed version. Boo. I’m going to be mad about it for 27 more minutes.

I also learned this about me: I build better with support than in isolation - duh true of all life. Yes to more hacks for me, and next time I’m making sure I’m building alongside other people during the process too, even if it’s online. I isolate too much.

The bigger thing I want to say is this:

It is ASTOUNDING to witnessing women with tremendous lived experience building creatively and creating real solutions that are so soulful and helpful and pretty and fun! OMG, I am so in love with this. I know my work/purpose BFFs are in those groups and we're going to build & create together and change the world!! ok, I went into Miss America mode.

Seriously there are quadrillion dollar ideas in there!

My scorecard:
✔️Submitted on time.
✔️Stretched into something I’d never done.
✔️Tested a new workflow: AI-generated demo video, script to screen from watching my website.
✔️Bummed I didn’t finish that piece the way I wanted.
✔️Wished I’d listened to my brother about project management.
✔️Ask for help sooner.

Also asking: has anyone else tried this? Do you have a solution? Want to help me figure it out? It’s wonky, but I think I can get it there, and I’m open to ideas.

Thankful for the momentum.

My first hackabuddies: @Gabriella Kalvaitis-Flowers, @Alison Wagner, and @Jessica Denkelaar.

The site is live if your're interested in what I built: fieldvoices.netlify.app

My tech stack if you're interested (yea, cuz I talk l'dat now):
Application:
Next.js 16 + React 19
TypeScript
Tailwind CSS v4
Backend & Data:
Supabase (database)
AI:
Anthropic Claude (synthesis engine — surveys → themes → prioritized actions)
OpenAI (early ideation and script logic)
Codex
Development:
Claude Code (Opus 4.6)
Deployment:
Netlify

JoYi 🦘