The Geek Within

Today's guest is Ash Birk. He is an Operations Coordinator at Kulture and a freelance UX/UI designer.   You can engage Ash here: https://www.polywork.com/ash_birk https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-birk-65725a116/  The Geek Within can be found on several podcast platforms - https://www.polywork.com/posts/W0IZQ1lu  List of past episodes: https://tgwlink.net/episodes

Today's guest is Krithika Chandramouli. She is a Software Engineer at Meta and speaker at the upcoming Women Who Code - Connect Empower 2023 conference.   You can engage Krithika here: https://www.polywork.com/krithika_chandra https://www.linkedin.com/in/ckrithika/   More information on Connect Empower 2023: https://www.womenwhocode.com/connect-cfp https://hopin.com/events/connect-2023/r...

Today's guest is Jeff Gallimore. He is the Chief Technology and Innovation Officer, and Co-founder, at Excella.  He is also a writer and speaker within the DevOps community, where is also an organizer for DevOpsDays DC and a co-founder of DC Tech Community Champions.   You can engage Jeff here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jgallimore/ https://twitter.com/jgallimore https://itsanicelife.co...

Today's guest is Alexandria Leary. She is a Cloud Security Consultant at ScaleSec. Alexandria has been busy and recently completed her Professional Cloud Security Engineer certification for Google Cloud, the Certified Information Systems Security Professional, better known as the CISSP, and her AWS Certified Solutions Architect for AWS.   You can engage Alexandria here: https://www.linkedin.c...

Today's guest is Martin Anderson-Clutz. He is a Senior Solutions Engineer at Acqueia and is a Triple Certified Drupal Expert for Drupal 7, 8, and 9 among a variety of other certifications and a member of the Drupal community for 17 years.   You can engage Martin here: https://www.polywork.com/mandclu https://www.linkedin.com/in/mandclu/  The Geek Within can be found on several podcast pl...

Today's guest is Teresa Holfeld. She is the CEO and Founder of the Hamburg Coding School, which provides courses on software development. Teresa is also the Co-Founder of Small and Modern, a software development company focused on web, mobile, and back-end development, along with machine learning and data science.    You can engage Teresa here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/teresa-holfeld-...

Today's guests are Brian Anderson-Needham, owner and operator of Weapon Brand and Combat Athlete Performance Academy, and Jamie Anderson, CEO and co-owner of Weapon Brand.   You can engage Brian here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-anderson-needham-68a82922b/ http://www.combatathletepa.com/   You can engage Jamie here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jammwow/ https://www.polywork.com/jami...

Today's guest is Erin Fitzgibbons. She is a Deputy Program Manager for USCIS at Octo Consulting Group. Erin is also the President-elect of the Emerging Leaders for AFCEA Bethesda and the Communications Chair of the Emerging Technology Community of Interest at ACT-IAC. Finally, she is also the gAp Chair and her class liaison. Erin and I interact frequently within the ACT-IAC community.   YouTu...

Today's guest is Matthew Kaulfers, he is an iOS Engineer at Willlowtree Apps, which is a digital strategy, design, development, and growth company focused on mobile technologies.   You can engage Matthew here: https://www.polywork.com/matthew_kaulfers https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewkaulfers/   The Geek Within can be found on several podcast platforms - https://www.polywork.com/posts/...

Today's guest is Shaun Gold. He is described as a lifelong entrepreneur, which is easy to see from all of the ventures he is involved in, including founder of YouTopian Journey and Gold's Code, an entrepreneur in residence at Baltic Sandbox, and a startup mentor at Founder Institute. He is also involved with Open VC, where you can read all of his articles on how to get started in your tech busines...

Today's guest is Anirudh Varma. He is the Associate Director of Engineering at SpotDraft, a company that focuses on streamlining the contract lifecycle and automation platform.    You can engage Anirudh here: https://www.polywork.com/anirudhvarma12 https://www.linkedin.com/in/anirudh-varma/   List of past episodes: https://tgwlink.net/episodes YouTube version: https://youtu.be/d5INK...

Today's guest is Geraldine Anello, someone who had her main career in music, but during COVID transitioned into tech recruiting. She is multi-passionate about both careers.   You can engage Geraldine here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geraldineanello/ https://www.polywork.com/geraldine_anello   Some links from Geraldine Handy Women Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/48277860230557...

Today's guest is Kitty Nix, she is a Senior Manager on the DHS Account Team at Amazon Web Services. Kitty and I met during the ACT-IAC Partners Program in 2018 and our cohort continues to stay connected.   You can engage Kitty here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kittynix/   List of past episodes: https://tgwlink.net/episodes

Today's guest is Kristina Britt, she is an Innovation Specialist at GSA and has also worked at Blackstone Technology Group and 1901 Group. I met Kristina through interactions within the ACT-IAC community, especially their leadership development programs.   You can engage Kristina here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinabritt/   List of past episodes: https://tgwlink.net/episodes

Today's guest is Andy Lieber, he is a Partner at Catapult Growth Partners. He has been involved with ACT-IAC and the Professional Services Council. Andy and I met and have gotten to know each other at numerous networking events in the DC area within the GovCon space. We both share a passion for bourbon AND for wanting to help the government to be better.   You can engage Andy here: https://ww...

Today's guest is Andrew McCoy, he is an Account Executive over Federal Scientific at Zivaro. We know each other from our work with ACT-IAC, especially in the confluence of emerging technology and workforce management. You can engage Andrew here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-mccoy-6351494/ https://twitter.com/Ahoy_coy List of past episodes: https://tgwlink.net/episodes

Today's guest is Steve Winward, he is the Managing Director for Business Applications at Microsoft.  His history is in software development and consulting within the federal space. GitHub link mentioned in interview - https://github.com/microsoft/Federal-Business-Applications   You can engage Steve here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevewinward/ https://twitter.com/Steve_Winward List of...

This week's guest is Miguel Adams, he is the Chief Information Security Officer at the Millennium Challenge Corporation, retired 24 years active duty Navy, and a graduate of the ACT-IAC Partners program in 2019. I was also grateful when Miguel volunteered to be a coach for the ACT-IAC Associates program in 2021. Miguel and I worked together at MCC, which was a fantastic place to work and a great g...

This week's guest is Stephanie Geiger, she is the Executive Vice President and Co-Founder of the Government Marketing University.   I was excited when some friends in my network reached out to introduce me to Stephanie so we could all hear her story.   Link to the GAIN conference (October 18th, 2022) - https://thegainconference.com/   You can engage Stephanie here: https://www....

This week's guest is Neneh Deallo, she is the Chief Diversity Officer at USAID, the first for the organization. Neneh and I met when we both worked at the Millennium Challenge Corporation.   You can engage Nineh here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neneh-diallo-a235972/  List of past episodes: https://tgwlink.net/episodes

This is a new side series where I talk to people in my network that have passion projects, side hustles, or amazing hobbies in addition to their day job.   This week's guest is Andrew Och, he is the Director of Marketing at Planet Technologies and the President, Speaker, Documentarian, and Historian of The First Ladies Man, which is what I wanted to learn all about.   Sound effects obtai...

This is a new side series where I talk to people in my network that have passion projects, side hustles, or amazing hobbies in addition to their day job.   This week's guest is Seamus Kearns, he is an Inside Account Manager at Splunk and currently participating in the ACT-IAC Associates leadership development program, where we met. Today's conversation is on how he found himself farming. &nbs...

This week's guest is Casey Harris Custardo, she is a Senior Federal Partner Marketing Advisor at Microsoft. She also volunteers with ACT-IAC as the Programs Chair for the Health Community of Interest and with AFCEA Bethesda as a board member for the Emerging Leaders program.   Casey and I met when I went through the ACT-IAC Partners program in 2018 and she was running the program for ACT-IAC....

This week's guest is Laura Smith, she is the Director of Marketing at Ardent. Laura is a big supporter of mentorship and loves to mentor others, which is why she also volunteers with ACT-IAC as a coach for the Associates 2022 Program.    Laura and I met because of our shared passion for mentoring.   List of past episodes: https://tgwlink.net/episodes

This is a new side series where I talk to people in my network that have passion projects, side hustles, or amazing hobbies in addition to their day job.   This week's guest is Holly Barnett, she is a business systems analyst at Leidos and currently participating in the ACT-IAC Associates leadership development program, where we met. Today's conversation is on how she got started with dancing...