If you are a Caribbean-American professional who wants to use AI at work, start with Use AI at Work Without Leaking Client Data, a free 7-minute lesson on what never goes into ChatGPT. Then work through eight more short lessons, picked for the jobs our community actually does in the US: patient and client email, office admin, bookkeeping, job applications and running a small business. Every lesson is free and runs in a practice copy of the real tool, so nothing touches your work accounts.
What does Dave say in his welcome?
Here is what Dave says in his voice message:
Hi, I'm Dave. Whether you came up from Kingston, Port of Spain, Georgetown or Bridgetown, or you were born right here, the question at work is the same now: can you use AI? These lessons are free, about ten minutes each, and you practice in a copy of the real tool, so you can't break anything. Start with lesson one on keeping data safe, then prompts and email. Let's go.
Who are these lessons for?
They are for Jamaican, Trinidadian and Tobagonian, Guyanese, Barbadian, Haitian, Bahamian, Vincentian, Grenadian and other Caribbean-born professionals in the US, and for their children who grew up here. Think of the nurse or clinic administrator answering patient messages, the bookkeeper closing the month, the civil servant or school office manager drowning in email, and the owner running a shop, a salon or a tax practice from Flatbush, Miramar or Hartford.
Most Caribbean Americans work in English every day, so the lessons are in plain US business English. If your first language is Haitian Kreyòl or French, you are welcome too: the steps are short, each one is checked as you go, and you can repeat any step until it makes sense.
You don't need any AI experience. If you can write an email, you can do these lessons.
Which lessons should you take, and in what order?
Take them in this order. The first two set the habits; the rest each save you time on a real task. All nine take about 76 minutes in total.
- Keep client and patient data out of AI. Use AI at Work Without Leaking Client Data shows you how to strip names, account numbers and health details before you ask ChatGPT anything. In a clinic, a bank or a government office, that habit matters more than any prompt.
- Ask clearly. Prompt Writing 101 teaches the four parts of a request that gets a usable answer: Role, Context, Task and Format. You save it as a template and reuse it.
- Apply for the next job. ChatGPT: Write a Cover Letter for a US Job turns a posting and your resume into a one-page letter, then makes ChatGPT prove every claim. Useful if your experience back home is not getting the credit it deserves.
- Read the fine print. ChatGPT: Explain a US Workplace Policy in Plain English turns "at will", PTO accrual and carryover rules into short sentences with your own dates, then lists what to ask HR.
- Answer email without overpromising. Reply Faster takes a long, unhappy email thread and gives you a calm, clear reply, with a check that every promise in it is one you can keep.
- Turn meetings into action. Summarize a Meeting Transcript with ChatGPT gives you decisions, an action list with owners and dates, and a follow-up email in one pass.
- See who your best customers are. Excel for the web: top customers builds a PivotTable that turns a list of orders into one total per customer. For a small business owner, that is the first report worth having.
- Use AI inside Gmail. Gemini in Gmail summarizes a long thread and drafts the reply right in your inbox. Many small offices and church ministries already run on Google Workspace.
- Catch made-up facts. Catch Made-up Facts Before They Reach Customers shows you how to spot an answer ChatGPT invented and fix it before it goes out under your name.
How can your church, alumni group or association use this?
The lessons work on a phone, so they fit how our community already organizes: church ministries, old-school alumni associations, island associations and the family WhatsApp group. A simple plan:
- Pick one lesson a week, in the order above.
- Everyone does it on their own time; it takes ten minutes.
- At the next meeting or in the group chat, each person shares one way they used it at work.
- In nine weeks, the whole group has finished the path.
Running a job-readiness program, a small-business workshop or a computer class? Use the cover letter and policy lessons as homework, and the Excel lesson for your entrepreneurs.
How do you share this page?
Send people this link: learn.ynteractive.com/content/start/caribbean-americans
If you lead a community organization, a chamber or a training program, add this page to your resources list. In return we will build one free lesson for your members, on a task they actually do. Reach Robert through the Stepthrough about page.
Key takeaways
- All nine lessons are free and need no account.
- Start with data safety, then prompts, then the task you do most.
- Each lesson takes 5 to 15 minutes and works on a phone.
- The lessons are in plain US business English; Kreyòl and French speakers are welcome.
- One lesson a week works well for a group.
Frequently asked questions
- Are these lessons really free?
Yes. Every lesson on this page is free, and the practice copy needs no account. To use the real tools at work you need your own ChatGPT, Gmail or Excel account; ChatGPT's free plan covers most of these lessons.
- Do I need to sign up?
No. Open a lesson, press start and follow the steps. Nothing you do in the practice copy touches your real accounts.
- I am not "good with computers." Will I keep up?
Yes. Each lesson shows one step at a time, checks that you did it, and has a "Do it for me" button if you get stuck. You can replay any step.
- Do the lessons work on a phone?
Yes. Every lesson opens on a phone, tablet or computer. The Excel lesson is easier on a bigger screen.
- Can our church or association use these lessons?
Yes, at no cost. Share the link to this page, take one lesson a week together, and tell us if you want a lesson built for your members.