Founders Coffee: Penny Byron Lobchuk- AI Without the Eyeroll

The Speaker 

Penny Byron Lobchuk is the founder of Cheeky Chimp Marketing, a Manitoba-based marketing company built on a simple belief: understand the business before you market the business.

Her background extends well beyond marketing, with experience across operations, HR, business systems, technology, quality management and business administration. That broader perspective shapes how she approaches growth, communication and problem-solving.

Penny is known for making complex business and marketing topics practical, relatable and easy to understand. Whether she is talking about strategy, technology, customer experience or the realities of running a business, her approach is grounded in experience, common sense and a genuine curiosity about how businesses work.

The Talk

AI has become one of those topics that seems to divide the room. Some people are all in. Others are exhausted by it. And somewhere in the middle are business owners and professionals quietly wondering how to use it well without losing their judgement, credibility or voice.

AI Without the Eye Roll is a practical, human conversation about using artificial intelligence as a tool — not a substitute for thinking.

Rather than focusing on the latest apps, prompts or predictions, Penny Byron Lobchuk explores the difference between being AI-assisted and AI-dependent. She looks at where AI can genuinely make work easier, where human experience still matters most, and why we may need to be a little less judgemental about the people choosing to use it.

Through relatable business examples, attendees will explore questions such as: When does AI make us better at what we do? When does convenience become over-reliance? How do we protect authenticity and accuracy? And why does good judgement still matter more than a perfectly polished answer?

Attendees will leave with a practical way to think about AI in their own work — one that embraces the opportunity without handing over the responsibility.

Because the goal isn’t to prove you can do everything without AI.

It’s to use the tool and keep the brain.