Talia McCarthy, Founder of Proactive AI Partners

I spent 16 years helping large companies implement change.Now I bring that experience to business owners preparing for what's next.

Where I come from

I paid my own way through college. I have never worked only one job.

That is how I ended up at UCLA with a double major in Economics and Sociology, then an MBA from the University of San Diego, and now a doctorate in progress. Nobody handed me a map. I learned to build one.

16 years inside corporate America

For 16 years my job was to walk into large, complicated organizations and make new systems work. Not just install the software. Get real people to use it, trust it, and get results from it.

My projects ranged from 16 hour engagements to $15 million portfolios. For the last 5 of those years the work was AI, leading implementations for Fortune 500 companies at Ernst & Young.

That career gave me something most people selling AI do not have: I have seen what failure looks like up close. It is almost never the tool. It is the plan, the data, the process, and the people. Knowing where projects break is how I scope yours so it does not.

Why I left

Big companies have entire teams, budgets, and consulting firms dedicated to getting AI right. The business owner down the street has none of that. They have a business to run, a team that depends on them, and a flood of AI tools all promising to fix everything.

At some point I had an epiphany. I would rather spend my career helping small business owners in my community, than helping large corporations get a little larger.

So in August 2026 I quit. Cold turkey, after 16 years. Not because corporate failed me. It made me who I am professionally. I left because I wanted to take everything it taught me and put it to work for the people who need it most and can least afford to get it wrong.

What leaving means to me

Leaving a 16 year career meant trading certainty for purpose.

What I got in return is work I can see. When a local owner gets hours back in their week, stops being the bottleneck in their own company, or finally sees a path to growing or one day selling the business they built, that impact stays in the community I call home.

I know what it means when someone with real expertise shows up for a business that does not have a large consulting team behind it. That is what I am here to be for the businesses throughout Southern California.

Why small and midsize businesses

Many owners tell me they feel lost. AI is confusing, everyone is selling something, and nobody is explaining it in plain language.

Small and midsize businesses do not need more tools. They need what the big companies get: an honest assessment, a clear plan, and someone who has done this before building it alongside them. Sometimes the honest assessment is that you do not need me yet. When that is true, I will tell you.

This is also the focus of my doctoral research at Capella University, where I study AI readiness and maturity in small and midsize firms. You get both sides: what the research says and what actually works in the real world.

My goal is to see at least 100 founders implement AI in their businesses by 2027.

Why women

I believe women are behind on AI adoption, and I believe they are being underserved by the people teaching and selling it.

I have spent years in rooms where AI decisions get made. I want more women in those rooms, and I want women business owners walking into this era with confidence instead of catching up to it later. AI can give time back, open doors, and multiply what one determined person can build. I know something about being one determined person.

So I teach it in plain language, I answer the questions people are afraid to ask, and I make sure women founders know there is a seat for them here.