ESEI Welcomes SheAI Co-founder Maja Završnik for Exclusive AI Marketing Masterclass
Bridging Academics and Industry Excellence
ESEI International Business School recently hosted an inspiring guest lecture featuring Maja Završnik, CMO and Co-founder of SheAI, as part of the Emerging Technologies in Marketing module. The session, organised by Professor Kate Busby, provided students in the Master’s in Digital Marketing programme with invaluable insights into the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence in marketing.
The guest lecture came at a critical time for the marketing industry, as professionals across the globe work to integrate AI tools into their strategies whilst maintaining the authenticity and emotional connection that audiences expect. For ESEI’s Master’s students, this session delivered both practical skills and strategic wisdom from an expert working at the cutting edge of this transformation.
About the Speaker: Maja Završnik
Maja Završnik brings a wealth of experience as both a seasoned marketing professional and successful entrepreneur. As the CMO and Co-founder of SheAI, she has positioned herself at the forefront of the AI revolution, helping businesses and individuals harness the power of emerging technologies to drive growth and innovation.
Through her work at SheAI, Maja has guided countless professionals in navigating the rapidly changing world of artificial intelligence, offering practical advice on which tools genuinely deliver value and how to implement them effectively within existing marketing workflows.
Her visit to ESEI offered Master’s students the opportunity to learn directly from someone actively shaping the future of AI-driven marketing strategies. Beyond technical expertise, students also benefited from Maja’s entrepreneurial insights, gaining a deeper understanding of what it takes to build a successful business in the competitive technology sector.
Sharing the Entrepreneurial Journey
Before exploring the technical aspects of AI marketing tools, Maja shared her personal journey as a working professional and entrepreneur. She spoke openly about the challenges and rewards of building a business in the technology space, providing students with a realistic perspective on entrepreneurship.
Her story resonated strongly with the international Master’s students at ESEI, many of whom aspire to launch their own ventures after completing their studies. Maja highlighted the importance of continuous learning, adaptability, and maintaining curiosity about emerging technologies, qualities that have been central to her own success.
This entrepreneurial context provided the perfect foundation for the practical workshop that followed, demonstrating how the tools and strategies she introduced had been tested and refined through real-world experience.
Key Takeaways from the Session
How to Get Your Business Cited on ChatGPT
One of the most compelling segments of the masterclass focused on a cutting-edge topic: optimising your business for AI citation. Maja walked students through practical strategies for ensuring their brands and content appear in AI-generated responses, a crucial skill as conversational AI becomes increasingly central to how consumers discover information.
As platforms like ChatGPT continue to grow in popularity, appearing in AI-generated answers has become a powerful form of visibility for brands. Maja explained the key factors that influence whether a business gets cited, including content quality, online authority, and consistency across digital platforms.
Essential AI and Automation Tools for Marketers
Maja introduced the Master’s in Digital Marketing students to a powerful toolkit of AI and automation platforms, including:
- Napkin – for visual content creation and idea mapping
- Figma – for collaborative design and prototyping
- Claude – for AI-powered content generation and analysis
- Keywords Surfer – for real-time keyword research
- Google Keyword Planner – for strategic SEO planning
- Neuron Writer – for AI-assisted content optimisation
Students received hands-on demonstrations of how these tools can streamline workflows, enhance creativity, and improve marketing outcomes. The session provided practical guidance on integrating these platforms into daily marketing tasks, from content creation and SEO research to design collaboration and data analysis.
The Human Touch: Why AI Cannot Replace Human Creativity
Whilst Maja enthusiastically endorsed the power of AI tools and their potential to transform marketing workflows, she was equally clear about their limitations. Throughout the session, she emphasised that the human touch remains essential for marketing success.
AI can automate repetitive tasks, generate content at scale, and analyse data with remarkable speed. However, Maja insisted that these tools should be viewed as assistants rather than replacements. The creativity, emotional intelligence, and strategic thinking that humans bring to marketing cannot be replicated by algorithms.
She encouraged students to use AI to handle time-consuming tasks, freeing up their energy for the work that truly requires a human perspective: crafting compelling brand stories, building genuine relationships with audiences, and making nuanced strategic decisions. According to Maja, the most successful marketers of the future will be those who master both AI tools and the uniquely human skills that technology cannot replicate.
This balanced perspective resonated deeply with students, many of whom had questions about the future of their careers in an increasingly automated world. Maja’s message was reassuring: AI is a tool to be embraced, not feared, but human creativity and judgement will always be at the heart of great marketing.
The Value of Real-World Learning at ESEI
This guest lecture exemplifies ESEI International Business School’s commitment to providing Master’s students with practical, industry-relevant education. By connecting learners in the Master’s in Digital Marketing programme with professionals like Maja Završnik, the school ensures its curriculum remains at the cutting edge of technological advancement. Sessions like this one give students the chance to engage directly with industry leaders, ask questions, and gain insights that extend far beyond textbooks and traditional lectures.
For Master’s students at ESEI, these experiences are invaluable. They bridge the gap between academic theory and professional practice, ensuring graduates are prepared to make an immediate impact in their careers.
Looking Ahead: AI Skills for Future Marketers
As artificial intelligence continues to transform the marketing industry, sessions like this prepare ESEI’s Master’s students to enter the workforce with confidence and competence. Understanding AI tools is no longer optional for marketers; it is essential.
However, as Maja Završnik so effectively demonstrated, technical proficiency alone is not enough. The marketers who will thrive in the years ahead are those who combine AI expertise with creativity, critical thinking, and a deep understanding of human behaviour. ESEI’s Master’s in Digital Marketing programme is designed to develop precisely this combination of skills.
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