Tech in the Right Direction

Networking, Learning and Growing in the Tech Industry

Join Jennifer Didier and Elise Carmichael and they track their roads to success in the tech industry.  They will share about networking, the importance of learning, and growing inside the industry itself.
More About Elise Carmichael:
As Lakeside’s Chief Technology Officer, Elise is responsible for building and delivering the next generation of Digital Employee Experience solutions. She has over 20 years of experience working with enterprise organizations on high-tech, big data, and machine learning-based products. Before joining Lakeside, Elise held senior technology and product leadership roles at Functionize, Tricentis, QASymphony, and Mobiquity throughout the last ten years.
Elise founded a nonprofit in Florida to encourage more women and minorities to enter and stay employed in high-technology fields. She studied Computer Science and Music at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 
The best way to Reach Elise,  is to find her on LinkedIn and engage her about things that are not sales related.  :)

Technology in the Trucking Industry

Jennifer Didier speaks with Rachel Meranus about how the products we all love get from one place to the next.  She shares about the industry itself and how women have been making an impact. 
More about Rachel Meranus:
Rachel Meranus, CRMO, Transfix
Rachel Meranus is the Chief Revenue and Marketing Officer of Transfix. Rachel has spent the last two decades leading marketing and communications across a variety of venture-backed B2B SaaS companies in the CommsTech, MarTech, and AdTech sectors. Rachel’s expertise lies in building high-performance marketing teams; establishing go-to-market strategies, processes, and infrastructure to create long-term scalable growth; developing cross-departmental alignment to drive opportunity and accountability across sales, customer success, product, and marketing; understanding the market and the customer through primary research; building differentiated, empathetic, and trusted brands; and managing multi-million dollar marketing budgets. 
 
She has built and led marketing teams most recently as CMO at Botify, an enterprise SEO technology company, CMO at Olapic (now Olapic by Social Native), a leader in visual marketing technology, CMO at MediaMath, a leader in AdTech, and SVP at PR Newswire/Cision. Rachel is a native New Yorker hailing from the Upper West Side who now lives in Montclair, NJ with her husband, two children, and a 15 lb cockapoo. When she is not marketing high-growth brands or acting as an Uber driver for her two teenagers, Rachel can be found swinging kettlebells or doing yoga.

How We Can Invest in Women to Shape a Better Future

This week's guest is Momei Qu, the Senior Vice President of PSP Growth - the growth equity arm of PSP Partners. They focus on leveraging their multi-faceted experience and expertise across vital economic segments, including business & technology services, housing, and industrials. Their approach is centered on investing in innovative high-growth software and tech-enabled services companies that drive efficiency and disrupt the status quo.
Today we talk about how Momei's passion for technology started and how her tech career grew into a senior-level position with PSP. We also discuss the importance of investing in women and how that investment can pay dividends down the line.
Thank you for listening; we hope Momei's story helps inspire others to seek or grow their tech career.

Get to know Jasmin Guthmann

Jennifer Didier and Jasmin Guthmann talk about how building a team of networks to support working together.  This network can help you source solutions in marketing that can provide encouragement and opportunity.
Jasmin Guthmann bio:
 Jasmin Guthmann is a marketing trailblazer on a mission to translate complex technology into compelling stories and amplify Contentstack’s reputation as the leading Content Experience Platform (CXP) platform. She currently serves as the Head of Corporate Communications at Contentstack. With more than 10 years of experience, Jasmin and her team elevate the business and help usher in a new era of content management. 
She currently serves as the Vice President and Executive Board Member of the MACH Alliance, empowering brands to adopt best-of-breed enterprise technology ecosystems that provide never-before-seen business benefits. She is a fierce advocate of Women in MACH, constantly pushing the envelope on DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) in the tech industry. Additionally, she is the host of a new Contentstack thought leadership podcast, People Changing Enterprises, where she interviews people who have transformed big businesses from the inside to share their secrets for success. Before Contenstack, Jasmin held multiple executive positions at Valtech and served as a marketing leader at BlackRock. 

Talking Technical Certifications

Join the conversation as Jennifer Didier and Radhika Narayana discuss the opportunity of technical certifications.
Bio for Radhika Narayana:
Radhika Narayana is Director of Cloud and Managed Services for enterprise solutions provider, Calian ITand Cyber Solutions, where she is responsible for the Managed Services Network Operations Center forcollaboration, network, datacenter and cloud services. She brings over 20 years of experience inenterprise solution design, installation and complex global infrastructures support, and she is highlycertified with Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) Collaboration – 15670 (Emeritus) and ITILCertifications.Customer success and customer satisfaction drive Narayana. During her career, she has designed,planned, and executed several large Unified Communications and Contact Center deployments,migrations, and upgrades on new and existing telephony environments. Prior to joining Calian IT &Cyber Solutions, Narayana served as a Senior NOC Manager for General Datatech where she workedacross various managed services groups to standardize customer facing change management processes.Narayan holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics and Communications from Bangalore University.

Developing Your Skills to Stand Out from the Field

This week's guest is Evelyn Sheahan, Director of Business Programs for Azure Cloud and AI at Microsoft. She has a background in technology, business management, and marketing. Evelyn has a wide range of corporate and field experience and has worked in sales-enablement programs developed to drive multi-million-dollar sales with increased efficiencies.
Today we talk about Evelyn's beginnings and how it eventually grew into a role at Microsoft. We also talk about the challenge’s women face within tech and how important it is to develop your skills to stand out. We also talk about how important it is to find a mentor who can guide you in the right direction.
Thank you for listening; we hope Evelyn's story helps inspire others to grow their tech career.

MENtors that Make a Difference Premiere Episode Featuring Vince Menzione

Today's guest on MENtors that Make a Difference is Vince Menzione, an award-winning business leader who has delivered and advanced four successful business transformations by embracing disruptive technology and building successful partnerships to transform organizations. 
Today we talk about Vince's career journey and how it can be summed up into four business transformations that have culminated into the start of his very own podcast. We also talk about the changes happening in tech with regard to women's influence in the industry and how male allies can help support their female counterparts.
Vince also hosts the successful Ultimate Guide to Partnering Podcast, where he spotlights leadership and partnership principles to help technology organizations thrive and survive during this age of rapid transformation. 
You can listen to and learn more about the Ultimate Guide to Partnering Podcast here: https://ultimateguidetopartnering.com/
Thank you for listening; we hope Vince's story helps inspire others to seek or grow their tech career. Follow him on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/vincemenzione/

A Woman’s Journey: 30 Years Through Tech.

This week we get a different view of technology from 30-year tech vet and Vice President of Sales, Sharan Hildebrand. Sharan fell in love with tech her Junior year of college when she took a coding class and saw the amazing output that could come from writing code. She shares her experiences over three decades of working with technology and dives into the tech job roles that are often overlooked. She also shares what it’s like to be a woman in tech, how to gain and maintain confidence, and the challenges she’s overcome.