Where
Creativity & Technology
meet Human
Connection.
AV engineer. Experience designer. Former choreographer and dancer. Desperately creative and mostly fueled by ADHD. 14 years in the industry, still figuring it out, still excited about it.
The AV Industry needs
More Options.
I spent years watching brilliant technicians piece together knowledge from YouTube rabbit holes and forum threads. New technicians who couldn’t afford certification courses. IT professionals who had AV dropped on their plate. Veterans with no budget for training but refusing to be left behind. There needed to be a better way, and it didn’t exist. So I built it.
From AV Installation Essentials to AV-over-IP to Project Management, every path maps to AVIXA CTS® duty areas. No more guessing what to study next.
Answers grounded in your training docs and the live web. No hallucinations passing as gospel. Bring your own API key. No vendor lock-in.
AI identifies your three weakest CTS® duty areas from your actual practice data. Study what moves the needle. Skip what you already know.
Broadcast studio, large venue audio, AV-over-IP, podcast studio. Practice real-world scenarios without the career risk of getting it wrong on a live job.
CTS® is a registered trademark of AVIXA. AVHD Learning Lab is not affiliated with or endorsed by AVIXA.
I Build to Learn.
I’m Cathy Richards-Ingram, AV engineer, experience designer, former choreographer and dancer, desperately creative and mostly fueled by ADHD. AVHD is my personal brand, professional hub, and creative outlet: a space to showcase my experimentations in AI, audio visual projects, design, and more.
I’ve been in corporate AV for 14 years, after years freelancing in dance and theater, with graphic design on the side to keep the dream alive. When my employer went AI-first and I got rage-baited by ads telling me people over 40 were being left behind, I made it my business to dive in. AI gave me back the part of my brain that wants to make things, dream up possibilities, and go from idea to execution fast.
I’m also a mom to an amazing little girl who continuously reminds me that the only thing that matters is laughter and play. I’m still figuring out how to balance all of it. But I get to keep making things, and that matters.
Dancer. Choreographer. Stage performer. Graphic designer. The same spatial thinking that built performances now wires conference rooms. The storytelling instinct never left. It just found a new medium.
My late diagnosis was almost my downfall. Now it’s my superpower. My brain doesn’t do linear. It does webs. I hyperfocus to solve problems and approach everything from a creative angle. AI became the tool that takes that raw, spinning input and turns it into something real.
Tools should connect us, not alienate us based on what we can afford. I’ve had to be creative about what I can access. I want to build things that share that ability with others and keep myself from being left behind in the process.
“That’s because you’re an engineer.” My daughter, right before falling asleep next to me while I was still building the Lab. That one stays with me.
My husband: People throw around the word creator. But you really are. You are at your best when you are creating things.
I am deeply passionate about creating equitable, immersive, and well-designed virtual, hybrid, and in-person experiences that empower communication in the workplace. I love what I get to do for work. I’m inventive, curious, driven by passion and purpose. I’m calm when others panic. I struggle with regular things like time and small talk. I hyperfocus to solve problems and always approach anything I do from a creative angle.
ADHD is my superpower. My late diagnosis was almost my downfall. So I have to relearn how to balance married life, parenting, work, creative projects, friends, family, and existence. In talking to other professionals it’s become clear: to stay relevant you need a personal brand and be able to show your work. So I’m leaning on AVHD (Audio Visual Hypercreative Distortion) to showcase my creative endeavors, support my family doing what I love, and voraciously learn so I’m not left behind. My dream is to use technology to tell stories, build community, and create meaningful impact.
Cathy Richards-Ingram
Some principles that matter to me.
Not a mission statement. The things that show up in every project.
The fundamentals were earned, not generated. Signal flow, acoustics, system physics. These don’t expire. AI helps me build faster. It doesn’t replace what’s already true.
The best AV work is invisible. When the meeting starts and everything just works, that’s craft. That’s what I aim for when I support meetings and what I teach in the Lab.
I use AI where it eliminates busywork and accelerates ideas. I don’t use it where it creates noise or replaces real judgment. The difference matters.
Tools should connect us and not alienate us based on what we can afford. I’ve had to be creative in how I work and what I can access. I want to create things that share that ability with others.
11:47 PM on a Tuesday.
That’s when most of AVHD gets built. The house is quiet. Isabel’s asleep. The laptop glows. And whatever idea has been rattling around all day finally gets space to breathe.
It’s 11:47 PM on a Tuesday, and I’m curled up in bed with my laptop glowing in the dark. My family’s asleep. Then Isabel wanders in, climbs into bed, and asks: “Mama, why do you have your computer in bed?”
I built this because I wanted more options. And because I want to show my daughter that she can do anything she dreams up and works hard to attain.
Read the full story →
Learn.
Create.
Connect.
Three product lines. One through-line: making AV more accessible, more professional, and more human.
AI-native AV learning platform for technicians, integrators, and CTS® candidates. 9 structured paths, 980+ questions, 10 simulations, and an AI tutor that actually cites its sources.
Hybrid event templates, digital signage packs, AV social kits, designed for professionals who run the room and build the brand around it.
Notify meVirtual coworking for AV professionals to think, build, and problem-solve alongside people who understand the work.
In developmentThought to
execution.
Apps, tools, and experiments made by stepping outside the lane I was trained for. Some are live. Some are still in the notebook stage.
AI-powered AV learning and CTS® prep. 9 learning paths, 980+ practice questions, 10 simulations, and an AI tutor that cites its sources. It started as flashcards for my phone.
lab.avhd.me →A companion app for ADHD brains in meetings, built on the Zoom platform. It works inside Zoom meetings and as a standalone web app. Currently in beta on my own Zoom account.
Try the beta →A calm, ad-free, algorithm-free civic engagement platform. Six sections with one job each: Facts, Action, Kindness, Information, Release, and Events. No backend and no database, by design.
becausewe.love →Read with Me and Count with Me: kindergarten phonics and math companions for parents. Built for my daughter’s nightly routine, then shared with other families.
elementary.avhd.me →A running app with an AI coach named G.L.I.T.C.H.: dry, sarcastic, and modeled on my own reluctant inner voice while I exercise. Built in Claude Code from a Stitch concept.
In developmentA build-in-public series about how I use AI in my own projects, starting with the Ambition Prompt Book: sixteen prompts sorted by how you feel right now.
avhd.me/go-deeper →Seven years running AV for a global software company, from replacing legacy codecs and projectors to a Zoom Room fleet that reports on its own health. Along the way: room standards used across offices on three continents, hybrid events and town halls produced for audiences across time zones, and a site expert program so every office gets the same level of support. The most recent chapter is automation: a dashboard that monitors rooms and devices on its own, AI agents that raise alerts and route incoming work, and a custom Zoom Marketplace app that ties it together.
Read the case study · 2019 to now →CTS® is a registered trademark of AVIXA. AVHD Learning Lab is not affiliated with or endorsed by AVIXA.
From the field.
AVHD Lab: My Why
It’s 11:47 PM on a Tuesday, and I’m curled up in bed with my laptop glowing in the dark. My family’s asleep. I’m building something I wish existed years ago.
A Way of Flying
Permission to be more ambitious, with AI and with myself. The article I couldn’t finish reading, until I let the computer read it to me.
More writing →
AV, AI, hybrid work, and whatever’s keeping me up at 11:47 PM.
Start where
you are.
AVHD Lab is free. No credit card. No commitment. Structured AV learning that actually respects your time and your career.
CTS® is a registered trademark of AVIXA. AVHD Learning Lab is not affiliated with or endorsed by AVIXA.