Joe Cecala, Founder and CEO of Dream Exchange: Part 1

Welcome to the Women in Tech Series from the Global Tech Leaders Podcast. Today we are speaking to Gwen Tormey Chief Operating Officer at Corestream. As COO, Gwen Tormey owns Corestream's strategic roadmap and annual planning and runs the Business Analytics & Data, Operational Excellence, Marketing, and Retail Discounts teams. She has significant experience in business and product operations, strategy, finance, and M&A. Gwen holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a BS in Management Science & Engineering, with distinction, from Stanford. We kick off by asking Gwen to share with us her career journey and what has led her to where she is today. She was born and raised in New York. Started in Management Science & Engineering. Private Equity. Health Technology. Industrial Chemicals. Back to Business School. Physical Therapy. Funding. The move to Tampa. Early growth stage. Getting connected. Corestream is a voluntary benefits technology platform catering to large enterprise-size clients. From 5 people to 130. We ask Gwen what the COO role means to her and why she loves it. CEO in waiting. Mentor. What the company needs. Multi-dimensional thing. Very organised and detailed. The broad view of the organisation. Then we ask Gwen about the framework and what actionable insights could help someone listening. It's not perfect on day one. Building year after year. Get people used to measure. North star goal. Smart Sheet. Metric drivers. Leadership meets monthly. Weekly team meetings. Next, we ask Gwen why is Corestream so exciting. Invest in team and culture. Most of the team is remote. Ensuring people are happy and fulfilled. Career development and feedback. Mission-driven. We ask Gwen what culture means to her. Empathy and humility. Culture Council. Culture Interview. Town Hall Meetings. An employee of the month. Lastly, we ask Gwen if she has any accountable tools or hacks to share. Followupthen.com Block out thinking time. Mural. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gloabl-tech-leaders/message

Welcome to the Women in Tech Series from the Global Tech Leaders Podcast. Today we are speaking to Isabelle Andrieu Founder & CEO of Pi School and co-founder of Translated.com. An interesting translation platform that has been around for 20+ years with 1000+ people. For the first time ever employing some salespeople. We kick off by asking Isabelle to share her career journey and what has led her to where she is now. Raised in France, first of three kids. Met her Italian husband in college. Help people communicate better. Starting a new adventure. We ask Isabelle how she made a difference culturally. Companies need people. Team members. Responsibility to help people grow. We ask Isabelle to share some of those growth stories. Improve and evolve. Change with the company. Trust. Understanding and fundamentals. Then we ask Isabelle what was one of the things that used to happen back in the day that would identify when you were onto something special. Resilience. Also an investor. Breakthrough. Business Development. Luxury places to work to attract talent. Six villas in Rome. Plants from all over the world. Sports during lunch. Healthy snacks. Weekly massages. Next, we ask Isabelle what kind of traits would a person need to have to be a part of Translated.com. Kind people. Changing the status quo. Hungry to learn and make an impact. Train resilience. Result driven. Switching “I” to “we”. We ask Isabelle what it means to be a leader. Seeing others grow. From intern to senior leader. Impact. Women are doubted. Burn out. People pleaser. Selfish. Next, we ask Isabelle what she feels is her superpower. Empathy. Getting things done. Then we ask Isabelle if she has any productivity hacks or tools she can’t live without. Calendar. Yearly vision. Asana. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gloabl-tech-leaders/message

Welcome to the Women in Tech Series from the Global Tech Leaders Podcast. Today we are speaking to Kristi Faltorusso Chief Customer Officer at Client Success. She is an award-winning Customer Success Executive with experience in building, scaling, and transforming Customer Success organizations at hyper-growth B2B SaaS companies. Over the past decade, she has helped many companies redefine Customer Success resulting in increased retention, long-term revenue growth, and customer advocacy. We kick off by asking Kristi to share her career journey and what has led her to where she is today. Wanted to be an attorney. Public Relations. Connecting with people and stories. Digital Advertising. SEO. Taught at Long Island University. First to teach SEO in the country. Customer Success. We ask Kristi what is Customer Success and why is it so important. The function of helping your customers be successful in that partnership. Popping up in a ton of industries. Complexity. Customer Succes Management System. Scale and drive efficiency. Then we ask Kristi does a rockstar person look like in the Customer Success world. Empathy. Change Management. Different software changes how they do it. Communication. Grit and tenacity. Mindset. Next, we ask Kristi how they measure impact. Early stages of onboarding. Different experiences and journeys. Clear expectations. Don't jump into onboarding. Partnership kick-off discussion. A lot of confirming. Variant models. Then we ask Kristi are woman better Venture Capitalists. Risk-averse. Bigger risks. We ask Kristi what holds women back and where she feels we are winning with women in business and tech. Family. It all starts at home. Balance and boundaries. Better operating models. We ask Kristi how would she design a world that works for women when they need time off to have kids. If they are good hires, hire them. Compensation, women don't negotiate. Women holding women back. Lastly, we ask Kristi if she has productivity hacks to share. Post it. Clear goals. Make your bed.  --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gloabl-tech-leaders/message

Welcome to the Women in Tech Series from the Global Tech Leaders Podcast. Today we are speaking to Shanthi Rajaram President & CEO at Amazech Solutions. Technologist, leader, and problem solver with over 20 years of experience in areas of Business Management developing and driving strategic initiatives, technology adoption, software products, selling and implementing IT solutions, recruitment, etc. Highly energetic and driven in identifying opportunities and providing suitable solutions with a roadmap using cost-effective models with the right mix of global professionals. Demonstrates trust, accountability, thought leadership, and a customer-centric approach in all areas of work. We kick off by asking Shanthi to share with us her career journey and what has led her to where she is today. Technology came easy. Civil Engineer. Always been fascinated with solving problems. Developer. Small fish in a big company. Built for a small company ecosystem. We asked Shanthi what would be her advice for parents to steward kids to explore developing tech and software. Technology isn't going anywhere. All careers have the technology. Data science. Get comfortable with it. It comes intuitively to younger people to figure out technology. Don't curb curiosity. Collaboration between parents to share different skills. Then we ask Shanthi, a big advocate for women in tech, to share some of the initiatives she is involved in. Women in business & women in technology. DFW Alliance of Technology and Women (DFW*ATW) GirlsInSTEM Ignite. What to expect in business. Next, we ask Shanthi how you teach resilience. Bounce back. Effectiveness. Think before doing. Navigate and balance growth. Then we ask Shanthi to share the story of Amazech. Companies and websites. Started as a services company. Showcase capabilities. Marketing solutions and marketing services. Embrace what helps you. Security Apps. Lastly, we ask Shanthi what tips and tracks she has for productivity. Phone. Laptop. Excel. Microsoft Teams. Calendar. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gloabl-tech-leaders/message

Welcome to the Women in Tech Series from the Global Tech Leaders Podcast. Today we are speaking to Sarah Klegman Chief Happiness Officer & Head of Brand at Proper. A former comedy producer and creative marketing executive with over 15 years of experience leading creative content strategies, Sarah has spent the last four years shaping Proper’s distinctive customer-facing brand experience and spirited company culture. We kick off by asking Sarah to share her career journey and what has led her to where she is today. Right after college became a talent manager and producer. The comedy world is a blast. Office Manager at a start-up. Social Media. Baking blog. Podcast: What's wrong with you? From 6 to 250. Having fun while working. Then we ask Sarah how she encourages others to learn from her journey. Protect yourself. Continuously check-in. Outcomes over appearances. Sacrifices. Authenticity and pride. Prioritizing your own health. Use your voice and don't strive for perfection. Next, we ask Sarah if should people be who they are at home, and at work as well. As much as possible. Time and a place. Make space for people to be themselves. Proper People. Diversity. Showing up as your full self. Thoughtfulness. Just launched the Calm App. Psychological safety in the workspace. Then we ask Sarah, how they find people who fit into their culture and company. Documenting and brainstorming qualities. Hiring Manager. Values Fit Interview. Theoretical Assignment with a panel. Next, we ask Sarah to share more about Proper. Provides tech-enabled accounting and bookkeeping services for the property world. Property accounting. Fully scalable. Standardise processes. Internal technology. Automating. Level of security. We ask Sarah to share about their adoption journey. Series B. Improving customer and people experience. How to use scale culture. We ask Sarah what a rockstar looks like in her world. Impact and value. See ways of making things better. Curiosity. Takes feedback well. Lastly, we ask Sarah if she has any productivity hacks or a tool she can't live without. Water and intentions. Jira. Time blocking. Focus. Meeting agendas. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gloabl-tech-leaders/message

Welcome to the Women in Tech Series from the Global Tech Leaders Podcast. Today we are speaking to Jen Spencer CEO at SmartBug Media, HubSpot Partner of The Year. SmartBug Media is a globally award-winning intelligent inbound marketing agency that helps businesses grow revenue by generating leads, engaging accounts and building brand loyalty through inbound marketing, sales enablement, revenue operations, web development, digital strategy, marketing automation, and public relations. We kick off by asking Jen to share her career journey and what has led her to where she is today. “I wanted to be in charge.” Volunteering time. Teacher. Public Relations and Digital Marketing. Tech start-up. Joined as VP of Sales. We then ask Jen what drew her to sales and what makes a rockstar salesperson. Marketing ROI. Buying persona. Extension of marketing. Next, we ask Jen what is she seeing out there with marketing budgets. Pressure. Not a lot of room for experimentation. Technology stacks. The promise that some technology makes. Doing more for less. Audiences are changing. Mapping the journey. Then we ask Jen how they gain new clients at SmartBug Media. “We drink our own champagne.” Intelligent inbound marketing. “We wanna be our own best case study.” 5M to 500M Klaviyo Partner. HubSpot. Salesforce. We ask Jen about being a leading woman in tech and what is her perspective on diversity. Girls in Tech. Volunteers. Woman led. Infinity Groups. Lady Bugs. Woman in Leadership. Then we ask Jen how intentional they are in their process of hiring. How and where. Who you have now is who you are attracting. Removing barriers. Global team. Lastly, we ask Jen what tools or productivity hacks can't she live without. Executive Assistant. Organised email system. Calendar with colour coding. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gloabl-tech-leaders/message

Welcome to the Women in Tech Series from the Global Tech Leaders Podcast. Today we are speaking to Chelsey Krisay Chief of Staff at Trainual and rewriting the rule book for your organisation's playbook. She is very much a people person with an operational background. Prior to helping launch Trainual in 2018, Chelsey was the first employee at Organize Chaos, an operations consulting firm also founded by Chris Ronzio, CEO of Trainual. In her five+ years at Trainual, she has helped the team grow from 1-90 employees (and growing), exceed 10M in ARR and earn top rankings on notable workplace awards like Inc Best Workplaces. We kick off by asking Chelsey to share her career journey and what has led her to where she is today. Grew up in a small town. Majored in business, communication and psychology. Digital advertising to events. Organised Chaos. Standard Operating Procedures. A little bit of everything. We ask Chelsey, how do you sell that the company is new and we want you to build it with us. Outbound. People were excited. Then we ask Chelsey do they use their own solution at Trainual. Today yes. In 2018 no. Process super solidified before documenting it. Everything is documented. Company retreat. iOS & Android. Next, we ask Chelsey who would they target at Trainual. Target persona businesses with 5 to 500 employees. People-powered businesses. Repeatable processes are set in stone. Recruitment process. Videos from leadership. Broken down into roles. Implementation Specialist. Chrome extension. Then we ask Chelsey about her being in different areas of Trainual. Broad skill set. Customer Success. Trailblazer. We ask Chelsey what trends she has seen in the small businesses they work with. Still need to document processes. Especially with onboarding. Tracking. A read report with date and time stamp. Integrated with Panda.doc. We ask Chelsey what leadership look like to her. Transparency. Leadership and financials shared. Company-wide meetings. Q & A No mysteries. A lot of autonomy. Celebrate failures. Empowering. Accessible. We ask Chelsey what she is experiencing around culture. DEI training. Diversity Week. Lastly, we ask Chelsey, what her productivity hack is. Clockwise. Asana. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gloabl-tech-leaders/message

Welcome to the Women in Tech Series from the Global Tech Leaders Podcast. Today we are speaking to Wendy Harris Head of EMEA at Gong. Prior to this, Wendy led European sales at CarGurus for over three years and before that, she was the Head of EMEA enterprise sales at Dropbox. She also spent over a decade working in financial services as a trader for Goldman Sachs. Wendy brings a wealth of technology sales management experience to the role. This year, Wendy will be hiring in Dublin across a variety of go-to-market roles including sales and customer success. We kick off by asking Wendy to share her career journey and what has led her to where she is today. The path less travelled. Getting into tech. Joined as the first employee for Europe at Gong. We ask Wendy how daunting it was to enter the tech world. Your ramp will be longer. Cut in the title and cut in compensation. Real intent. Do it to the best of your ability. We ask Wendy what her thoughts are on the importance of industry experience for a leadership role. Established companies. Robust training. Impact. Then we ask Wendy how that journey fine-tuned her process of finding talent. Open to hiring people from different industries. Finance. Get out if you're miserable. Next, we ask Wendy where she feels her sense of accountability comes from. Upbringing. Experience in sports. Competitive. Hero or victim of your story. We ask Wendy how should we coach grit and tenacity. Self-awareness. The world owes you nothing. Then we ask Wendy what they do at Gong and how she copes with accents in EMEA. A revenue intelligence platform. Once you see it, you can't un-see it. Next, we asked Wendy what she would say to people who ask about the human element of this technology. Democritises information. Makes sales reps stronger. Insanely good technology. We ask Wendy about global expansion. Hard to get off the ground. Strategic priorities. Local pull for the market. Hire a local person. Then we ask Wendy what challenges has she faced in the tech world with it being made dominated. Used to being the only woman in the room. If you are the first woman in any room, it's your responsibility to keep the door open for other women. Identify as “me”. We ask Wendy how we translate culture. Roar laughing. Take holidays. Leaders set the tone. We ask Wendy what is the outlook of the company for the future. Benelux, Nordics, Germany and France. Gong Assist. 110 by the end of the year. Lastly, we ask Wendy if she has a tool she cants live without that helps her stay organised and accountable. Block out the calendar before 10 am. Trello. Hyper-organised. Filing cabinets in her head. If you say you’re going to do something, do it. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gloabl-tech-leaders/message

Welcome to the Women in Tech Series from the Global Tech Leaders Podcast. Today we are speaking to Chelsie Rae Lee co-founder and President at Caroo. She has spent her life designing and building B2B & B2B2C software platforms that solve meaningful problems while driving significant growth. Chief Product & Chief Revenue Officer Specialties, Founder of a successful pandemic pivot from zero to 1M+ users in 18 months, Customer & Market Research Expert, Product Analytics & MVP focused Product leader. We kick off the show by asking Chelsie to share her career journey and what has led her to where she is today. Math Degree. Electrical Engineer. Curious about human problems. A customer experience that drives revenue. We ask Chelsie how she went from Math to helping people. Take what you know you can do. What problems are you attracted to? You are using your skills in different ways. We ask Chelsie about mindset and why it's important. Mindful practise. Above-the-line perspective. Want to get it right not be right? Read and meditate. Develop control for the day. Then we ask Chelsie how she ended up co-founding a business. Help people do the best work of their lives. Breakroom food and snacks. Office food and beverage. Help people be seen. Open culture. Proud of resilience. Next, we ask Chelsie why she cares so much and where it comes from. And what gave her the courage to go for it? You uncover your life's purpose. You remove layers. Grew up with a Mom who cares. People should be seen and belong. The power of small gestures. I was a small kid leading other small kids. Then we ask Chelsie what makes her tick. Not a curious listener. Philosophy. The content of life. Strategic level. The tech world is for curious people. Next, we ask Chelsie what challenges women face in tech that she has seen. You have to be better than everyone else in the room. Women with conviction. Companies led by women are more profitable. Then we ask Chelsie to share more about Caroo and why is it a great place to be. Care for the whole human. Making a difference in the world. Impact. Fear and failure. Accountability. Lastly, we ask Chelsie how she stays organised and if there is a tool she can't live without. Financial performance. Successes and what could be better. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gloabl-tech-leaders/message

Welcome to the Women in Tech Series from the Global Tech Leaders Podcast. Today we are speaking to Lin Chan Chief Financial Officer at Hayden AI. She has extensive experience in international finance with start-ups and multinationals. Her industry experience includes commodities, manufacturing, and cleantech including solar, nanotechnology, software service, internet, communications, storage, semiconductor and consumer products. We kick off by asking Lin to share her career journey with us and what has led her to where she is today. Grew up in Malaysia. Always wanted to be in business, as her grandmother was very successful. Lived with Aussies. Great place to develop. Learnt confidence. Met her husband there. Going public. Tech world. Silicone Valley. Exit and plan your strategy. So many tech startups. HDMI The world of cannabis. We ask Lin what she feels is the most challenging part of her financing role. Duty to the board and shareholders. Step up with the risk of losing your job, and going over the CEO. Stressful. Buddhism. Disclosing it to the chairman. Straight shooter. Public controller. IPO Next, we ask Lin what are the stages of funding in an organisation and how they go about raising the money. Projecting growth. Revenue. Profitability. Treasury. HaaS External market data. Seed money. Series A - first round of funding. Series B - scale up operations. Trust. No one can do what Hayden is doing right now. Then we ask Lin what advice she would give other women CFOs that are in the making. Have tough skin. Don't expect to win any popularity contest. Take money to make money. In a startup everything is flexible. Available and accessible at all times. You are the producer of your own movie. Lastly, we ask Lin, about a tool she uses to stay organised that she can't live without. Spreadsheets. Powerpoint. Notebook. Phone. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gloabl-tech-leaders/message