Surf Melendez | NFL Creative Pro

So many people want to find a path into the well compensated tech sector, but are discouraged by how hard it is to get a foot in the door. Emily Corbin is a great example of how someone with no tech background found a way to work at a company she admired and build a reputation that paved the way to move into a career she loves. Emily shares her story on the latest edition of WorkDad.

Derek Pharr had a choice to make. He was in a comfortable corporate job making a good living with a young family, but he was feeling stifled and unfulfilled. He could take the safe route and stick with his job, but risk his mental wellbeing, or he could make the leap to an unproven startup with massive financial risk that might turn into the job of his dreams. Derek shared his story with us, why he has never looked, and what lessons he learned in the latest episode of the WorkDad podcast.

Laurel Reitman has worked at multiple huge tech companies, and found success at each one. She has been at Microsoft, Adobe, Docusign, and had opportunities to work at almost every other one you can imagine. She's a hot commodity. Yet, she has also been laid off three times, and made decisions to prioritize her family over her career. She has been out of work for a year and is now deciding how to spend her professional time and talent. It is a question many Gen X tech stars are contemplating. Laurel was kind of enough to share her story with us on the latest episode of the WorkDad podcast.

Greg Nance has run across America, run marathons across seven continents in seven days, and nearly lost his Gates Foundation scholarship to Cambridge due to a serious drug and alcohol problem. He lived in China, founded a successful startup, and lost it all when the Chinese government booted them out of the country. He considered working as an intelligence officer, a fighter pilot, and started multiple non-profits that have helped young people across the country. When so many millennials are steering clear of elected government positions, Nance recently became the youngest state congressman in Washington state. All this, before the age of 35.

Surf Melendez has shaped the creative expression of three NFL franchises in Miami, Tennessee, and now, Arizona. He has done work on stadium design, event planning, photography, social, and overall branding. He's even done scent marketing (yes, that's a thing). We had a great time talking about working life in the NFL behind the scenes.

John Loiacono had a decorated 36-year career in tech where he managed to work his way up to the top as a CEO and successful Founder. Along the way, he made decisions to prioritize his family that allowed him to coach teams and attend events, even if that meant turning down opportunities, including a life-changing one from Steve Jobs. It was great to hear him reflect on a sterling career and what he is doing now in retirement.

Aish Hinton started as a program manager at her father's company at the age of 22. The job would take her around the world leading experiential learning trips for executives for companies like Mercedes-Benz. She grew into other roles and is now in sales, still working at a company where her dad is the CEO. We explore the dynamics of working in close quarters with family, and the implications it has on earning the respect everyone wants in their career.

Veronica Belmont had a meteoric rise in tech media as a host of a variety of shows and podcasts. She has over 1M followers on X (1.4M, to be exact). That kind of reach is what nearly every kid dreams of as a destination. Belmont, though, stepped away from the spotlight to pursue a career making tech products instead of reporting on them. She started at the bottom, and worked her way up. Oh, and she got married, had a kid, and moved to Canada along the way. Hear how it all started, why she made the decisions she made, and what comes next in the very first episode of the WorkDad podcast.