By Tucson Business Magazine Staff | May 8, 2025
The tacos were great. The music set the right mood. But the moment Julia McCoy picked up the microphone, something shifted. The conversations stopped. The phones went down. And more than 80 business owners standing shoulder to shoulder inside Tocaya Modern Mexican at Scottsdale Fashion Square gave her their complete and undivided attention. Nobody wanted to miss a word.
That was the energy inside the inaugural event for AI AZ — a newly formed Facebook community that has already grown to over 500 members online — held on the evening of May 8th from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. The event was by reservation only, and it filled up fast. What unfolded that night wasn’t a seminar or a pitch fest. It was a spark.
The Woman Who Cloned Herself — and Built an Empire Doing It
Standing room only — over 80 Arizona business owners filled Tocaya Modern Mexican at Scottsdale Fashion Square for the inaugural AI AZ Claude & Cloning 101 Bootcamp Night on May 8, 2026.
Julia McCoy isn’t a name you forget. Widely regarded as one of the most gifted content creators of her generation, McCoy has taken a full-throttle leap into the world of artificial intelligence — and the results are staggering. Her AI clone has accumulated over 2 million views on YouTube. Her channel has surpassed 250,000 subscribers. She’s generating more than $15,000 per month in ad revenue. And she’s fielding two to five new sponsorship inquiries every single day.
All while enjoying her life. Spending time with family. Slowing down to take in the world around her.
That’s the message McCoy brought to Scottsdale, and it hit hard. Her company, First Movers, is at the forefront of AI integrations, systems, and what she calls “clones” — AI-powered versions of a person or brand that can work, create, and engage audiences around the clock. McCoy’s philosophy is direct: “We don’t believe in autonomous, zero-human AI.” For McCoy, technology should amplify the human — not replace them. “AI that delights your audience is AI done right,” she told the crowd. The room agreed.
At one point, she turned the room into a conversation. “Who agrees that AI won’t replace anyone — it’ll make us unstoppable?” The response was immediate. Then she leaned in with the line that may have lingered longest after everyone drove home: “This is the point I believe with all my heart.” She wasn’t selling. She was testifying. And the room felt every word of it.
Who agrees that AI won’t replace anyone — it’ll make us unstoppable? ~ Julia McCoy
McCoy’s charm filled Tocaya that night. She was radiant — genuinely full of life, laughing, smiling, and brimming with enthusiasm for the possibilities she was laying out. The audience wasn’t just learning. They were inspired by watching someone who has already walked the road they’re being asked to consider.
Matt Leitz and the Business of Building Clones
This was Julia’s night. But she didn’t take the stage alone. Near the close of her presentation, she brought out Matt Leitz — founder of BotBuilders and the man whose client roster reads like a who’s who of the entrepreneurial world. Robert Kiyosaki. Grant Cardone. Names that carry weight in any business room, let alone one packed with Arizona entrepreneurs hungry for an edge.
Leitz joined McCoy to discuss their partnership — and the announcement was one of the most compelling of the evening. His team at BotBuilders is now helping McCoy’s clients build AI clones of themselves through a fully done-for-you package, produced right here in the metro Phoenix area at Leitz’s own studio. You don’t have to figure it out alone. You show up, and they build it with you.
Leitz closed the evening with a commitment that raised more than a few eyebrows in the best possible way: AI AZ intends to host one event every month going forward. The community is growing. The conversation is just beginning.
You Can’t Go Far Alone — A Lesson from Tony Hsieh
Joseph Kenney, founder of 316 Strategy Group and Bullseye AI, with Julia McCoy at the inaugural AI AZ Bootcamp Night — May 8, 2026, Tocaya Modern Mexican, Scottsdale.
The event drew attendees from well beyond Arizona. A company flew in from Florida. And two members of the award-winning digital agency 316 Strategy Group made the trip as well — including founder Joseph Kenney, whose firm specializes in AI Visibility.
Kenney, who also leads Bullseye AI, carried a proverb into the room that he said was passed to him by his mentor — the late Tony Hsieh, founder of Zappos.com: “If you want to go fast, go it alone. If you want to go far, go it together.”
For Kenney, events like this one are exactly the kind of gathering that pushes business owners to demand more from themselves. People leave feeling inspired — and more importantly, feeling like they have guidance within arm’s reach. That sense of community, of shared momentum, is precisely what AI AZ was built to create.
A NeuroPerformance Scientist Sees the Opening
Not everyone in that room was a marketer or a tech entrepreneur. Jake Bollig, founder of Hyflos, walked in knowing he needed to leverage AI to build awareness for a business that most people don’t know exists yet — but should.
Bollig is a NeuroPerformance Scientist with one foundational belief: most athletes are not using their minds anywhere near their full potential. Hyflos has built patent-pending tools — measurable through brain-wave mapping (QEEG) and felt in real time — designed to help athletes access “the zone” on demand. No meditation. No deep thinking. Just clear, repeatable protocols that work fast enough to shift your game in the middle of it. It’s a breakthrough for golfers in slumps, baseball players struggling at the plate, and any driven competitor looking for a genuine edge.
Bollig left Tocay that night encouraged — not just about AI as a marketing tool, but about what the technology ahead could mean for a niche business ready to scale. Events like this one, he said, make the road forward look a lot less daunting.
Technology to Make Us More Human
The evening at Tocaya started with dinner, drinks, and music — the kind of warm, low-pressure opening that lets people breathe and connect. It broke the ice for the uninitiated, built on existing knowledge for those already dabbling in AI, and challenged every business owner in the room to ask one honest question: what could AI actually do for my business?
That question, McCoy argued, is the right one. But the goal isn’t just efficiency or automation. The deeper mission is something more personal. McCoy is trying to help business owners use technology so they can be more human — so they can step away from the grind, reclaim their time, and actually live their lives while their AI-powered systems keep working.
That’s not a pitch. That’s a proof of concept. And Julia McCoy is living it.
AI AZ is a Facebook community group with over 500 members and growing. Monthly events are planned — details to be announced. To learn more about the speakers and organizations mentioned in this article, visit:
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