Your Brain Isn’t Broken - The Systems Are
How neurodivergent women are rewriting the rules of entrepreneurship with AI
What if that voice in your head telling you to “just focus better” or “get your act together” isn’t actually helping you build an empire—it’s keeping you small?
My conversation with Sandy Bean, a neurodivergent entrepreneur who helps ADHD and “neurospicy” minds build businesses that actually work for how their brains are wired, revealed something powerful: “It’s not our brains that are broken. It’s the systems that are broken.”
This changes everything.
The Hidden Truth About Who’s Really Building Businesses
Nobody talks about this in those productivity-obsessed LinkedIn posts:
29-35% of entrepreneurs have ADHD.
Not “might have” or “show signs of”—actually have it. That’s according to recent data from the Entrepreneur Center, and it doesn’t even count the rest of us operating with beautifully chaotic, trauma-adapted, or gifted brains.
Neurodivergent traits often become entrepreneurial strengths and survival mechanisms for women, according to Dr. Hayley Kelly. We’re not accidentally ending up in business; we’re gravitating toward it because traditional systems have failed us so spectacularly that we had to create our own.
Women with non-neurotypical brains are choosing entrepreneurship as a channel for autonomy and creative expression after experiences of exclusion or burnout in traditional workplaces.
Translation? If you’ve ever felt like you don’t fit the mold, you’re in excellent company. The mold was never designed for us anyway.
What If AI Could Be Your Executive Function Assistant?
Sandy shared this analogy: AI tools are like “a prosthetic leg for somebody with ADHD” when it comes to process-oriented tasks.
Think about it. If you struggle with:
Prioritization (everything feels urgent, nothing feels clear)
Time blindness (thinking something will take 15 minutes when it actually takes 90)
Task initiation (staring at your to-do list like it’s written in hieroglyphics)
...you’re not broken. You just need better tools.
Sandy uses AI to break down overwhelming projects into “granular steps that will take me no more than five minutes.” She finds the task that feels “yuckiest” and asks AI how to automate or simplify it. Once she smooths through that bump, the rest flows.
One of her clients with dyslexia finally found her “secret decoder ring” through using AI. She dumps all her brilliant, circular thoughts into ChatGPT, asks it to organize and spell-check, then reads it back to her. Suddenly, she can articulate her genius without the cycle of self-doubt.
AI amplifies what’s already there… your brilliance, your creativity, your unique way of solving problems.
The Permission You’ve Been Waiting For
When you stop fighting your brain and start designing around it, everything shifts:
You get to witness your own brilliance without judgment. You realize that needing support isn’t weakness (a lesson I’m still trying to learn). You discover that your “chaotic” brain isn’t the problem; it’s been trying to function in systems designed for someone else entirely.
Sandy talks about the hierarchy of needs: when you start to feel safe and regulated, you have more access to your higher-level thinking skills and creativity. When you’re not constantly managing overwhelm, you can actually build the empire you’ve been dreaming about.
The women who embrace AI strategically discover something unexpected: they get to be more fully themselves. They reclaim their time, their creativity, and their confidence. They build businesses that celebrate how their minds actually work instead of apologizing for it.
What This Means for You
If you’ve been waiting for permission to stop masking in your business, consider this it. If you’ve been wondering whether AI is “just another shiny object,” it’s not—when used strategically, it’s a capacity-building tool that can change everything.
The systems that made you feel broken were never designed for minds like ours. But we’re not trying to fit into those systems anymore. We’re building new ones.
The future belongs to the women brave enough to design businesses around their actual brains, not the ones they think they should have.
Key Takeaways:
• Start with capacity building: Use AI to organize your weekly tasks into time blocks that make sense for your brain
• Break down the “yucky” tasks: Identify what you’re avoiding and ask AI to make it easier or more granular
• Try these tools: Claude for creative feedback, ChatGPT for analytical tasks, Goblin.tools for breaking projects into tiny steps
• Remember: You’re not trying to fix yourself—you’re finding tools that work WITH your brilliance
• First step: Brain dump everything you do in a typical week and ask AI to organize it into realistic time blocks
The revolution is about finally having the tools to be fully, unapologetically yourself and building an empire from there.
Connect with Erika:
Erika’s AI Consultancy: AiQueens.com
Erika’s Branding & Web Agency: mileenddigital.com
Connect with Sandy Bean:
Website: sandybean.com
Instagram: @think_bean
What would shift if you gave yourself permission to stop fighting your brain and start designing around it? Hit reply and let me know!