Teach the Geek: Public Speaking and Communication Skills for Technical Professionals

Dr. Norman Fortenberry is the executive director of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). You don’t just come out of school and become an executive director, though (unless you found an organization, then I supposed you can do whatever you want). He held a number of positions before his current. He’s gotten a number of degrees, too (he must really like school). We talked about his...

Luis Duque is a bridge engineer and host of the Engineering our Future podcast. He immigrated to the US to go to engineering school, and liked living there so much, he stayed. We chatted about his transition to the US, his work as an engineer, and his journey in public speaking, particularly as a non-native English speaker. __ TEACH THE GEEK teachthegeek.com anchor.fm/teachthegeek youtube.teachthe...

Karim Harbott is the co-founder of the Agile Center, a consultancy that offers agile coaching and leadership coaching. Before starting the consultancy, he worked for years as a scrum master and an agile coach. I’m really interested to find out what Agile is, what scrum is, and the ways in which public speaking helps in his work. To learn more about Karim, visit https://www.karimharbott.com/ __ TEA...

Anne Meixner: career coach for engineers Anne Meixner is an engineer who worked in the semiconductor industry for years before embarking on a different life, founding her company, The Engineers’ Daughter. She now consults on semiconductor testing and contributes to engineers' career development. She’s keen on passing along her experience to the next generation of engineers, doing so via presentati...

Dagna Bieda: Career coach to engineers Dagna Bieda is a software engineer and a coach to software engineers. Her original background is in control engineering and robotics, so I was keen to find out how she ended up in software engineering. She started her coaching business, the Mindful Dev, to help software engineers reach their goals, such as getting promoted, landing a new job, getting a salary...

Nellie Medow is the co-founder of enolve and also the company’s director of outreach and operations. Enolve is a platform where people can post problems and connect them to solutions, allowing for collaborative problem solving. She’s also a teacher turned student, studying organizational psychology. We talked about her transition from teacher to student and co-founder of a tech company, the source...

Amy Kurr - Engineer, PhD student & professional skills coach Amy Kurr was a design engineer, but went back to school to get her PhD in Macromolecular Science & Engineering. She’s also a professional skills coach and a reviewer for the Journal of Sports Engineering and Technology. If there’s anything else left to do, Amy’s probably thinking of doing that, too. We chatted about all of Amy’s...

Dr. Nicole Tschierske - Punk rock DJ to change management For years, Dr. Nicole Tschierske worked in consumer goods innovation and product research. In addition to now working in change management, she works with STEM Experts and R&D teams to navigate corporate work life. Once upon a time, she was also once a DJ (I wonder if she had to carry all the crates of records). We spoke about this life...

Dr. Mary Kinsella: Engineering Her Career - public speaking for engineers Dr. Mary Kinsella is the founder of Her Engineering Career, working with female engineers so they can command greater influence and impact. She worked for years as an engineer before striking out on her own. She’s also host of the Her Engineering Career Podcast. I’m always keen on talking to engineers who start their own bus...

Victor Antonio: An engineer in sales? How!? Victor Antonio founded the Sellinger Group, providing sales training and keynote speaking. He has worked in sales for years. Would you believe that he started out as an engineer? Engineering to Sales. Quite the switch. He’s also the author of several sales-related books, and he’s a podcaster, host of the Sales Influence - Why People Buy! Podcast. We chat...

Erin Thorp is a leadership development coach, professional speaker, and author of the book Inside Out Empathy. She wasn’t always these things, though. She worked in the construction and energy industries for years, but eventually left it all behind and started her own consultancy. We chatted about her start in engineering, the motivation to write her book, and the ways in which empathy matters in...

Terra Winston, what's a System Engineer doing talking about leadership? Terra Winston is a leadership consultant and executive coach. I must admit I don’t know many engineers who have this type of job, but I do now. We talked about about her motivation for studying Systems Engineering, her journey to leadership, and the way that public speaking has shaped her career.  There's a cutoff at the...

Jill Tietjen - Electrical Engineering Making an Impact Jill Tietjen is an  electrical engineer who worked for decades in the electric  utility industry, even serving as an expert witness before public utility  commissions and other government  agencies. She now heads Technically Speaking, consulting with utility companies, serving on boards, and speaking on a variety of topics,...

Ian Peterman is the founder and CEO of Peterman Design Firm, helping clients bring their products to market via product design & development, branding and start-up consulting. He’s also a host of the Conscious Design podcast, and author of the book, Conscious Design. We talked about the meaning of conscious design, the motivation to start his podcast, and the impetus for writing his book.&nbsp...

Kruttika Ashtekar - Product Owner & Distinguished Toastmaster Kruttika Ashtekar works as a product owner, and is also a Distinguished Toastmaster, which means that she’s a skilled public speaker. She’s the epitome of someone with a STEM background who saw the benefit of becoming adept at public speaking – the exact type of person most of us in STEM should strive to become. We chatted about wha...

Christine Vartanian -  Civil Engineering to Attorney to Stay at Home Mom to Personal Stylist Christine Vartanian is the founder of jade. for all seasons COLLECTIVE, and serves as a personal style expert. Perhaps I could use her help. Would you believe that she earned a degree in Civil Engineering and a law degree? Then she was a stay at home mom for a decade before becoming a personal stylist...

Amy Kaur - Water Resource Control Engineer & Engineering Gal Amy Kaur is a water resource control engineer and the co-founder of Engineering Gals, an organization whose goal is to build a global community of women in STEM. She’s also co-host of the Gals Chat podcast, where she interviews women in STEM. Even though I’m not a gal and not particularly chatty, I’ve listened to a few episodes. I ev...

From Figure Skating to Product Management with Holly Hester-Reilly. Holly Hester-Reilly is founder and CEO of H2R Product Science. She works with startup founders and product leaders to figure out which product growth opportunities they should pursue. She came up with a framework called the Product Science Method to do just that. We talked about her life as a product manager, her motivation for st...

Teach the Geek interviews - public speaking for engineers and scientists Ina Coveney does a number of things. Business coach. Speaker. Podcaster.  She didn’t start off that way, though. She worked in IT for years, and left that behind to start her own business. I’m interested to learn more about her days in corporate, her transition to being a business coach, and her podcast, The Global Pheno...

Teach the Geek - public speaking for engineers and scientists Dr. Lorien Pratt studied computer science in school, and got a few degrees in it. Once she left school, she has been quite busy. An expert in machine learning and decision intelligence, she is the Chief Scientist at Quantellia, a software and consulting company offering machine learning and decision intelligence software and services. S...

Jim Morris - engineer turned product discovery coach Jim Morris is the founder of Product Discovery Group, serving as a mentor and coach to product teams to assist them with idea development, user testing, user research, and developing rapid prototypes. He even developed a custom curriculum and training program to further this effort. We chatted about his start in computer science, the companies h...

What does an engineer know about storytelling? Quite a bit! After working in the energy industry for many years, Gayathri Shukla, my latest guest, took the leap and went fulltime with her business, Campfire Kinship. Campfire Kinship offers workshops on leadership, diversity & inclusion, and wellness. Gayathri is also a speaker; her topics range from storytelling to STEAM. We chatted about her...

Bobby Umar, you've had quite the career since leaving Engineering! Bobby Umar started off as an engineer in the aerospace industry, but he has done quite a bit since. Marketing, sketch comedy, personal branding. What hasn’t he done? He’s also a speaker, speaking on a number of topics, including career development and thought leadership. We talked about his transition from Engineering and the decis...

Materials engineer turned Mechanical engineer Jabril Muhammad Jabril Muhammad was a Materials engineer, but now works as a Mechanical engineer. He’s the Director of Engineering at Original Man Scientific, a consultancy that helps inventors turn their ideas into products. He’s also co-host of the STEM Files on YouTube; I had the pleasure of being a past guest. Jabril and I talked about his journey...

Lennis Perez, what is a wellness engineer? Lennis Perez worked as a process engineer, but now runs her own consultancy, Just Lennis LLC, a company that provides stress management services to corporations and associations in STEM. In her business, she serves as a wellness engineer, corporate stress management consultant, public speaker and MC, certified meditation teacher, and she’s also certified...