Bamboo Strategy: AI, BoF & 1 Viral Post

What bamboo taught me about building a brand with zero spend.

Author

Veronica Zhai
May 07, 2025

The Zhai Edit | A monthly letter on rare wealth and bespoke luxury.

1 milestone, 1 lesson, and 1 event you’re invited to.

This week, ZHAI made the front page of Business of Fashion—for building brand with AI.

Sam Altman once said: “AI will power 1-person billion dollar companies.”

I used to think that only applied to tech. Turns out, it works in fashion too.

Before I had a website, a team, or spent a dollar on ads, I built ZHAI to 6 figures.

Here is the 3-step AI method I used:

  1. Make AI Your Head of Brand ($150K/year value)

    Landed press in Fortune and wrote content that hit 225K views using ChatGPT.

  2. Build a 1-Person Marketing Machine ($5K–$30K/month value)
    Competitor research in 60 seconds. 30 days of content in one sitting.

  3. Use AI for Design & Distribution ($5K+/shoot value)

    I used AI to generate campaign visuals—one got featured in Business of Fashion.

Want my favorite AI prompts?

Email [email protected] with “ZHAI” in the subject line. I’ll send them to you personally.

BoF Feature: AI-generated image of Veronica Zhai’s bespoke luxury brand

As BoF puts it: How Veronica uses AI to scale her brand.

1 LESSON: DON’T QUIT TOO SOON

I almost gave up.

After 30 days of posting on social media, my third flop in a row barely reached 700 views. But post #31? It hit 223,000.

Growth is invisible until it explodes.

When you plant bamboo, you will see no growth above ground for over five years. But below the surface, its roots are expanding like crazy. And then seemingly overnight, it can shoot up more than 80 feet.

If you want to grow on social, don’t obsess over the early data — focus on the roots.

Veronica Zhai’s LinkedIn growth during her first month of posting

1 EVENT: SPARKLE WITH STYLE — THIS SATURDAY IN NEW YORK

An exclusive evening of gems, garments, and brilliant minds—this Saturday in NYC.

I'm co-hosting Sparkle with Style, a private preview of bespoke jewelry and fashion, with Mellissa Dusenberry from All the Brilliants, a fine jewelry concierge.

Shop limited-run collections. Find the perfect Mother’s Day gift. Connect with top NYC execs, creatives, and entrepreneurs.

Spots are full — but you can still join the waitlist here.

Coming in June: showroom warming parties in NYC. Stay tuned.

AI-generated Event Visual

A Final Note

“The moment you're ready to quit is usually the moment right before the miracle happens.”

P.S. If this isn’t for you, feel free to unsubscribe anytime—no hard feelings. I promise not to spam you.

Until next time,

Veronica