ATSE Elevate Scholarship
Selected for a national scholarship by the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (2026).
About
The person behind Coastie AI
Plain-spoken AI help for Central Coast business, from someone who has spent a lifetime making complicated things make sense.
Kristina Agustin · Founder
Where this comes from
Complexity used to keep people out is a quiet kind of unfairness.
I grew up the eldest of five. From early on, I was the one who worked things out so the others didn't have to. I was the one who read the form, asked the question, and figured out how something worked before anyone else had to worry about it. I never really stopped being that person.
If a system affects me, I want to understand it. If a room is full of people speaking a language I don't yet know, I learn it. I've always believed that complexity used to keep people out is a quiet kind of unfairness, and plain language is the fix.
I studied law for that reason. Not to become a lawyer, but because I wanted to know what the people in authority knew, and how they spoke. The gap between understanding and understanding is rarely about intelligence. It is almost always about access. And plain, honest language is one of the most powerful tools anyone can hold.
AI is the latest version of the same problem. It is everywhere in conversation and nowhere concrete in practice, wrapped in jargon and hype that leaves good business owners wondering where to start. The good news is, there is a sensible place to start. That is what Coastie AI is for: taking what sounds confusing and making it something a Central Coast business can actually use, while being honest about what it actually involves.
A career built on showing up
Twenty years before AI, learning to make clarity the job.
Reading the thing until I understood it, asking the question everyone else was quietly sitting on, and turning something complicated into something people could actually use.
Before AI, I spent more than twenty years in international maritime and superyacht operations, eventually managing contracts and compliance on some of the largest vessels in the world. An undocumented assumption could be expensive. Clarity was everything.
It was a career built from showing up, learning fast, and getting it done. The skill that carried across to AI was always the same one. The habit of reading something nobody else wanted to read, then translating it.
What Coastie AI does
Practical AI, in plain English.
A clear plan, built out for you or in pieces, and kept running. Independent, local, yours to keep.
Coastie helps Central Coast businesses put AI to practical use: a clear plan (Blueprint), built out for you (Blueprint Execution) or in pieces (AEO websites, AI avatar video, AI workspace setup), and kept running with ongoing monthly AI support.
Background and credentials
The experience and training behind the work.
Stated plainly. Not a wall of logos, just what informs how we work.
Master of Artificial Intelligence
In progress at the University of New England. Graduate-level grounding in how these systems actually work.
Law degree and GDLP
Bachelor of Laws and Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice. Shapes how AI risk and governance are handled.
Award for Excellence
eBusiness Institute Australia (2025), for digital work that delivers results and builds trust.
AWS Certified AI Practitioner
Industry certification covering responsible AI, model selection and practical deployment.
UC Berkeley Executive Education
AI: Business Strategies and Applications. How AI gets adopted inside real organisations.
Recognised practitioner
Recognised expertise in AI avatar video and AI-native (AEO) web build.
Keynote speaker and judge
Regular keynote speaker and panel moderator on AI adoption, governance and readiness. Judge, Australian Marine Industry Awards (2024 to 2026).
The broader AI work lives at kristinaagustin.ai.
Where to next
Pick a starting point
Start with a Blueprint →
A short, written plan for where AI fits in your business and what to do first.
Monthly AI support →
Ongoing help to keep what we set up working, and to add the next thing when you're ready.
Get in touch →
Request the guide, or just send a plain enquiry. Friendly, in plain English.
Where on the Coast
AI help, suburb by suburb.
Coastie AI works in person across the Central Coast peninsula and the wider Gosford area, and remotely for the rest of NSW. A short note on each of the patches we know best.
AI consulting in Gosford. The commercial heart of the Coast. Most of our quoting, scheduling and AEO website work for accountants, allied health practices and trade-services businesses around Gosford, West Gosford and Point Frederick is run from a short drive away.
AI help in Terrigal. Hospitality, short-stay and boutique professional services along the Terrigal, Wamberal and Forresters Beach coastline. AI avatar video for owner-operators who would rather not be on camera every week is a common starting point here.
AI for Woy Woy and Umina business. Trades, retail and small clinics across the Woy Woy peninsula, Umina and Booker Bay. The five-trade quick-wins list (quoting, scheduling, invoice chasing, voice job notes, AEO website) is the usual first conversation.
AI services in Ettalong. Cafes, allied health and family-run shopfront businesses around Ettalong Beach and the ferry terminal. Multi-language AI avatar video for customer communications has earned its keep here more than once.
AI consulting in Wagstaffe. Home base. Wagstaffe, Pretty Beach, Hardys Bay and the broader Bouddi peninsula. In-person Blueprint sessions and follow-up work for local operators happen here most weeks.
AI help in Avoca and Copacabana. Owner-operators and creative businesses along the Avoca Beach, North Avoca and Copacabana stretch. AEO website builds for service businesses who want to be found inside ChatGPT and Perplexity answers, not just Google.
AI for Empire Bay and Bensville business. Trades, marine services and small professional practices around Empire Bay, Bensville and Davistown. AI workspace setup inside Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace is the common first job.
AI consulting in Killcare. Killcare, Killcare Heights and the southern end of the Bouddi National Park. Quiet, owner-led businesses where the right AI setup quietly returns several hours a week to the person running the show.
i About this business
Coastie AI, an AI consultancy on the Central Coast of NSW.
Coastie AI helps Central Coast small businesses put AI to work, AEO websites built to be cited by AI search, AI avatar video for marketing and onboarding, and full AI workspace setup with hands-on team training.
- Based
- PO Box 4036, Wagstaffe NSW 2257, Australia
- Service area
- Central Coast NSW, in-person within ~15 km of Wagstaffe, remote beyond.
- Founder
- Kristina Agustin, certified in AI through UC Berkeley Executive Education and a conference speaker on applied AI.
- International work
- International advisory and speaking happens under the parent brand Southern Sky AI.
Next step
See how we work.
Request the guide to see how we work, where AI fits, and where to start. No pressure.