How I learned to let AI be my creative partner
Editor’s Note: Tara Nicole is a lifestyle creator and entrepreneur based in Kenya. This festive season, Google invited Tara to use Gemini to bring a creative holiday idea to life as part of the #CreateTheSeason campaign. Here, she shares her experience using Gemini as a creative partner.
My work is about making magic happen. People see the curated outfit, the beautiful cocktail menu, or the perfectly styled event. What they don’t see is all the planning behind the scenes. As a creator and founder of a mobile bar business, my job is a mix of creativity and logistics: sourcing décor, designing layouts, coordinating with vendors, and styling looks. Every detail helps bring an idea to life.
So when Google invited me to use Gemini for the #CreateTheSeason campaign, I was curious but also a little skeptical. I’ve always trusted my gut in my creative process. Could an AI really support something so personal? The truth is, I was already using Gemini for brainstorming and finding inspiration, so this felt less like a major shift and more like a natural next step.
From an idea to a shareable moodboard
I wanted to capture the feeling of the holiday season — the warmth, confidence, and celebration — without styling full outfits. I started by opening Gemini to create festive moodboards. I typed a simple prompt describing the aesthetic I had in mind: “Create hyper-stylized festive images in cozy luxury, holiday glam, and safari chic that are bold, warm, and inspiring.” Within seconds, Gemini generated stunning visuals with lighting, texture, and a mood that looked like they came from a professional studio.
The best part was sharing the exact prompts with my audience so they could create their own versions. Instead of inspiration feeling distant, it became something we could explore together. A single prompt sparked a shared creative moment.
Making concepts real, from start to finish
Next, I used Gemini’s video generation capabilities to visualize my holiday mobile bar setups. Events need to feel effortless, but achieving that takes a lot of precision. I prompted Gemini to “Create a festive mobile bar setup with warm golden tones, string lights, citrus accents, and a soft celebratory feel.” Seeing a full visual concept before sourcing a single prop completely changed how I plan. It helped clients understand the mood, reduced my own planning anxiety, and made sure we were all on the same page from the start.
Before, much of my vision lived in my head — clear to me, but sometimes hard to communicate. Now, Gemini acts like a creative director, helping me generate polished concepts complete with styling notes and mood direction right from the beginning.
And I wasn’t the only one. Watching other creators in the campaign reminded me that creativity is personal. Adam used Gemini for in-depth research to plan a multi-stop holiday adventure. Sharon and Eli used it to turn AI-inspired moodboards into camera-ready outfits. We all used the same tools but got completely different results. AI didn’t replace our creativity; it expanded it.
If you’re trying Gemini, my biggest piece of advice is to give it intention. Don’t just describe what you want — describe how it should feel. This season changed the way I create. It didn’t replace my intuition, but it did support it. When the planning becomes lighter, there’s more room for the magic.
