How I Used Claude Cowork to Clear My Inbox and Manage My Team — While Taking a Pilates Class
A real morning in the life of a VP who lets AI handle the busywork
I'm Monet Sommers, a VP of Client Services at a creative agency. I manage a team of six salespeople, and last week I came back from a week off to 150 emails and a full calendar. Instead of canceling my morning workout, I let Claude Cowork handle it.
Here's exactly what happened — and I recorded the whole thing on TikTok.
@monetsommers Took a Pilates class and came back to #claude doing the most. My favorite new assistant. 1) Cleaned out my inbox using the Gmail connector. 2) Reviewed my sales team’s CRM activity and Slacked each of them. #chatgpt #claude #aiprompts ♬ original sound - monetsommers
Step 1: Inbox Zero in 20 Minutes
First, I asked Claude Cowork to connect to my Gmail and sort through all 150 unread emails. I gave it a simple prompt: tell me what can be deleted, what needs an immediate response, and what should be archived — then move everything to the right folders.
Using the Gmail connector, Claude knocked this out in about 20 minutes. By the time I finished my warm-up, my inbox was organized and I had a clear priority list waiting for me.
Step 2: A Full Team Activity Audit via Our CRM
Next, I asked Claude to check in on my team. I'd been out for a week and had no idea where deals stood. I told Claude to use its CRM connector to pull up each rep's activity, check the status of their deals, and flag anything that needed attention — stale follow-ups, missing updates, CRM hygiene issues, all of it.
Instead of me spending an hour clicking through dashboards, Claude gave me a clear summary of where each of my six reps stood.
Step 3: Personalized Slack Messages in My Tone
Here's the part that really surprised my team. I asked Claude to take everything it found in the CRM audit and draft individual Slack messages to each rep — written in my voice. Friendly, encouraging, but specific: asking for updates on flagged deals, nudging them to clean up anything that needed fixing, and letting them know I was back and available.
Claude sent those messages before 7:45 AM. By the time I sat down at my computer after Pilates, my team had already responded. They had no idea it was AI-assisted — it just sounded like me getting an early start.
Why This Matters for Managers
I'm sharing this because I think a lot of managers and ICs don't realize how practical AI tools have become. This isn't a hypothetical use case or a demo. This is my actual Tuesday morning. Claude Cowork let me take care of my health and still show up for my team like I'd been at my desk since 6 AM.
If you manage people, run a sales team, or just have an inbox that makes you anxious after time off — this kind of workflow is worth exploring.
Want more AI productivity tips from a working manager?
Follow me on TikTok at @monetsommers where I share real workflows, not theory. I'll keep posting Claude Cowork tips and AI strategies for people who manage teams and do the work themselves.