Becoming You (after Winning Wednesday)

What happens when life forces you to choose between your dream career and family? Charlie Barker was living his best life in sports broadcasting until his sister’s cancer diagnosis changed everything. He walked away from his Florida dream job to care for her – and the very next day got a call that launched his sales career. Here’s how he turned fear into his biggest motivator and...

What happens when a pandemic-born networking idea becomes your life’s work? I’m Katrina Fuhrman (The ConnectorQueen), and after 60 episodes of Winning Wednesday, I’m launching something completely new. Here’s why I’m transitioning from random networking conversations to deep-dive stories about transformation, and how the journey of “becoming you” never rea...

Sixty episodes. One year and change of showing up every Wednesday with something worth saying. And for the finale of Winning Wednesday’s first chapter, the universe sent exactly the right guest. Elise Neel, VP of New Business Incubation at Verizon, professional tap dancer turned 5G frontier explorer, WAVE co-lead, mother of three, wife, and self-described lover of music and movement, closes...

What happens when a high-performing sales leader who’s been running nonstop finally gets forced to slow down — and discovers she’s been suffering without even knowing it? Tina Gravel, channel sales executive, published author, public speaker, and women’s leadership champion, brings one of the most refreshingly honest conversations in the Winning Wednesday catalog. From her chapte...

What does it look like to spend 32 years at one company — starting with MCI before it became Verizon — and still show up every day like you have something left to prove? Shelly Ashwill-Powers, senior Verizon leader, WAVE champion, and the woman known for her Woohoo energy, brings a masterclass in longevity, leadership, and paying it forward. From Bill McGowan breaking up the Bell monopoly to Hans...

What does it look like when a gay Salvadoran immigrant raises a two-year-old son, writes a children’s book about a rainbow bee, volunteers as a Trevor Project suicide prevention counselor, and gets promoted to lead employee engagement — all in the same month? It looks like Ricardo Gattas-Moras. A 14-year Verizon veteran, proud husband, and quietly extraordinary human, Ricardo joins Winning W...

What happens when a songwriter, non-binary creator, and self-described verified fool decides to just stop caring what people think — and builds a career out of it? Libby Larkin, New York-based songwriter and TikTok personality, brings one of the most refreshingly unfiltered conversations in the Winning Wednesday catalog. From writing briefs for major labels to going viral over a breakup EP, from u...

What does it look like to be Black, a woman, a lesbian, and a mom — all at once, every single day, with no days off for any of it? Irene DeRouen, Verizon V-Teamer, ERG advocate, dog mom, snowboarder, and self-described open book, brings one of the most grounded and generous conversations about Pride, intersectionality, and authentic leadership in the Winning Wednesday catalog. From explaining the...

What happens when one of the most prominent voices in evangelical Christianity transitions — and discovers that the cis-straight world is sometimes kinder than the LGBTQ+ community itself? Dr. Paula Stone Williams, pastor, pastoral counselor, TEDx speaker with 4.1 million views, Simon & Schuster author, and international speaker on gender equity, brings one of the most intellectually expansive...

Winning Wednesday: Pride at Verizon Today’s Guest: Chad Parker New York/New Jersey PRISM Chapter Leader Representing our LGBTQ+ Community at VZ In this episode, you’ll hear about being yourself at work & finding ways to advocate for your colleagues. seeing representation in org charts working 10x as hard to prove your worth coming out as a result of covid I would love to hear from...

What happens when you’re a professional opera singer turned Verizon leader who survives multiple strokes — and comes back to work only to realize the attitudes you once held about illness were the same ones now being directed at you? Krista Hinman, disability advocate, ERG leader, yoga teacher, painter, photographer, and self-described perpetual learner, brings one of the most honest and qui...

What do you do when your grandfather survived the Holocaust, escaped a concentration camp, was shot eight times, and still found love on a train after the war ended? You tell the story — because stories heal. Yogi Roth, broadcaster, filmmaker, author, TEDx speaker, and former football coach, has built an entire career around seeking and uncovering humanity through sport. His mother — a refugee who...

Episode 50 of Winning Wednesday lands right where it should — in a conversation about mental health, with someone who has dedicated her career to helping people work through theirs. Jill Jonas, licensed social worker and private practice therapist, joins longtime friend Katrina for Mental Health Awareness Month to reframe what mental health actually means — because it’s not just about illnes...

What if the biggest mistake the most driven people make is forcing it? Sven Erlandson, counselor to C-suite executives and author of multiple books including his first — the original book on the spiritual but not religious movement — has spent 30 years helping people who have either lost their mojo find it again, or who have reached the pinnacle of success and realized it still feels empty. A TikT...

What if the reason your outreach isn’t converting isn’t your message — it’s your medium? Ashok MJ, Sales Manager at Hippo Video, makes a compelling case for why video is the most powerful tool available to sales and marketing professionals right now — and why most people still aren’t using it. In a world drowning in text, bombarded by emails, and suffering from Zoom fatigue...

What does it look like to graduate college right into a pandemic — and still land on your feet? Elana Little, a Management Information Systems graduate who entered the workforce during COVID-19, brings a refreshingly grounded Gen Z perspective on networking, intentional relationship building, and why virtual life actually opened more doors than it closed. In a conversation full of practical wisdom...

What does Women’s History Month look like when it’s a family affair — with a dad in Amsterdam, two daughters ages 7 and 11, and a mom behind the camera? This episode is one of the most heartwarming in the Winning Wednesday catalog. Mithun Hariharan, PMP and Verizon Benelux leader, joins with daughters Isha and Varsha to share their family’s contribution to NEGU — the children&#82...

What does it feel like to be the only woman in a tech department — and how do you go from feeling like you shouldn’t be there to becoming someone who actively creates space for others? Jacqueline Poncedeleon, tech startup business analyst and daughter of a Colombian immigrant, brings a warm and grounded perspective on Women’s History Month, the evolution of female leadership in tech, a...

What if the most powerful team-building and self-discovery tool in your office isn’t a workshop, a whiteboard, or a personality assessment — it’s a box of LEGOs? Yvonne Wen, design thinking facilitator and LEGO Serious Play certified practitioner, brings one of the most unique and genuinely fun conversations in the Winning Wednesday catalog. Starting with six bricks and a simple challe...

What happens when you’re sitting in your dream job — Chief Human Resources Officer — and you’re still not happy? For Aleta Maxwell, the answer led to one of the most meaningful pivots of her career. A published author, leadership coach, and former HR executive, Aleta discovered that the parts of her role she truly loved were the one-on-ones, the coaching conversations, and the soft ski...

What if the conflict you’re having with a colleague isn’t personal — it’s just personality? Joe Arrigo, Myers-Briggs enthusiast and INTJ-in-recovery from going-it-alone, breaks down how understanding your cognitive function stack can transform the way you lead, collaborate, and relate to virtually everyone in your life. Add an ENTJ host to the mix and you’ve got two high-ac...

What does it take to walk across a street in a thunderstorm, dodge lightning bolts, and show up to a symposium where you don’t yet know who you are — only that you need to be there? That’s exactly what Jae Washburn did. In one of the most courageous and tender conversations in the Winning Wednesday catalog, Jae shares her journey of discovering gender identity, learning what pronouns e...

What if the entrepreneurship narrative that’s been fed to your generation is actually doing more harm than good? Jake Bjorseth — young entrepreneur, brand strategist, and self-proclaimed cheapskate driving a 2004 Nissan Xterra — is here to rewrite it. In this refreshingly honest conversation, Jake challenges the glorification of hustle culture, the influencer economy, and the idea that being...

What’s your excuse for not networking? Tom Broxham drowned at age three, had near-drowning experiences at eight and thirteen, another one just last year — and he still gets back in the water every time. When he started using that story to help job seekers overcome the fear of networking, something clicked: it’s hard to say you can’t talk to a stranger when the person in front of...

What does it take to build a strategic alliance when you’re not working with one partner — but twenty? Subhashish Acharya has spent decades navigating exactly that world, from Oracle to PTC, and now as the founder of Project Starfish — a social startup that creates jobs exclusively for blind professionals. In this conversation, Sub breaks down why strategic alliances in the age of Industry 4...