From Glow Zone to AI Builder
I’m Elias Bartu — a videographer and content creator in Las Vegas. I started as a teenager in a bright pink shirt. This is the short version of how that happened.
February 2023: the pink shirt
I joined Dennis Yu’s AI Apprentice program in February 2023. The kickoff photo says it all — a crew of teenagers in glowing pink shirts, learning to use AI tools to help local businesses get customers.
That first month I recorded practice videos against my bedroom wall. They were rough. I kept making them anyway — that’s most of the secret.
The classroom was everywhere
Our classrooms were diners, the back seats of cars on the way to client meetings, and picnic tables above mountain valleys. I ran my first Facebook and Google ad campaigns from a laptop in the passenger seat.
One of my favorite memories is hiking Red Rock Canyon with a camera and recording a two-minute reflection at the summit about what running real campaigns had given me: confidence and purpose. That video became a story of its own.
Filming with Dennis
Dennis Yu has filmed with me a dozen-plus times across Las Vegas — the Neon Museum, the Strip, the Welcome sign, Red Rock Canyon. Most of the time I’m behind the camera: whiteboard videos for the Marketing Mechanic series, WHY videos, testimonial shoots.
Some of it is the two of us on camera together, talking about the AI Apprentice program — now called AI Builder at Local Service Spotlight.
MEAT-ings, not meetings
Ask anyone on our team: the real business happens over shared plates. Brazilian churrascaria, hibachi after a long shoot day, sushi between edits. I wrote about why in MEAT-ings: The Secret to Success for Young AI Agency Owners.
You can’t fake empathy with ChatGPT. You can’t hide behind a keyboard when you’re sitting across from someone sharing a steak.— from the MEAT-ings post
Now: AI Builder
The AI Apprentice program grew up and so did I. Today it’s called AI Builder, part of the Local Service Spotlight family, and I mentor younger builders coming up the same path I walked.
I still film. I still hike with a camera. And I still believe the best marketing is a true story, told well, on location.