Frances Méndez on her green rotary phone, looking at the camera

Living digital,staying human✶

I’m Frances Méndez — cofounder at Camino5. I write about AI, visibility, and how work is changing in real time — published as I learn it.

[ read thoughts ] [ about me ]

photo: sheena lad · váve photo

My whole thing is living in both worlds — balancing the digital and the analog.✶

Two decades at the intersection of brand, digital strategy, and the consumer journey taught me that tools change and people don’t. By day I run Camino5 — the agency named after the five members of my family.

So I build with AI — and I keep the film camera loaded and the rotary phone plugged in. My whole thing is living in both worlds: balancing the digital and the analog.

by the numbers(01)

8,964

women asked about AI — not ten

20+

years in brand & strategy

5

caminos — the family behind the name

0

algorithms deciding what you read here

pick your next move(02)

/01 Read the Thoughts What I’m learning about AI and visibility, published as I learn it. Tools, research, honest takes. [ explore → ] /02 Bring in Camino5 Brand, digital strategy, and the consumer journey — the agency side of my work, for companies who want to be found. [ explore → ] /03 Free guides + tools Prompts, workflows, and experiments from my desk to yours — free to steal. The first guide is live, with a workshop on the way. [ explore → ] /04 Build Your Second Brain The setup I actually run — how to give AI enough context about your work that it stops guessing. Forty-five minutes, free. [ explore → ] /05 Get the emails No feed, no algorithm — an email when I publish something worth your time. [ subscribe → ]

latest thoughts(03)

/01 Reese asked 10 women about AI. I asked 8,964. apr 20 → /02 Only 1 out of 10 women feel confident using AI. Let’s fix that. apr 16 → /03 Do you actually want to be found? apr 14 →

[ all thoughts → ]