Steve Banfield recently did what so many busy professionals wish they could do — take a sabbatical before starting the next chapter of their career. In this episode of the Beyond the Blue Badge podcast, host Lora Poepping sits down with the former CEO of BMW’s former car sharing service Reach Now to talk about his career, the value of unplugging to recharge, and walking the Camino de Santiago.

https://microsoftalumni.com/beyondthebluebadge

Chaitra Vedullapalli is co-founder and CMO of Meylah and co-founder and president of Women in Cloud. Beyond the Blue Badge host Rich Kaplan kicks of Season 2 of our podcast talking with Chaitra about her journey in the tech industry, empowering female entrepreneurs in the tech and living a purpose-driven life that fuels economic development.

https://microsoftalumni.com/beyondthebluebadge

Here is a preview of season 2 of Beyond the Blue Badge.

Guests include:

Jon Shirley

Steve Banfield

Chaitra Vedullapalli

... and many more!

Be sure to subscribe to get more, during season 2 of Beyond the Blue Badge.

https://microsoftalumni.com/beyondthebluebadge

Here are some clips from season 1 of Beyond the Blue Badge.

Featured Guests:

Rich Barton Trish Millines Dziko Amy Brown Jean Thompson T.A. McCann Claire Bonilla Laurie Raisys Dawn Trudeau and Lisa Brummel Lily Kanter Rich Tong Nicole Stansfield Brad Stewart

Be sure to subscribe to get more, during season 2 of Beyond the Blue Badge.

https://microsoftalumni.com/beyondthebluebadge

Brad Stewart spent his entire Microsoft career at Las Colinas, Texas. Now he’s the chief operating officer of the North Texas Food Bank. In Episode 12 of Beyond the Blue Badge, Brad shares his journey from the technology industry to helping run one of the largest food banks in the country, and why he’s passionate about eliminating hunger.

Nicole Stansfield started her career at Microsoft in 1995 as a recruiting coordinator. Since then, she’s held human resources and recruiting positions at Amazon, Washington Mutual and is now the head of recruiting for Vulcan. In Episode 11 of Beyond the Blue Badge, Nicole talks with host Lora Poepping about her journey, the lessons she’s learned along the way, what it was like to work for Paul Allen and what every Microsoft alum should know when talking with recruiters.

After more than a decade with Microsoft and years as a venture capitalist in the U.S. and China, Rich Tong is taking time for discovery and self-reflection as he identifies his next big thing. In Episode 10 of Beyond the Blue Badge, listen in as host Paul Shoemaker and Rich Tong talk about that journey, what he’s learned and why he knows that next big thing will be “a social venture that’s fun and with great people that’s going to change the world.”

Episode 9 of Beyond the Blue Badge was recorded in front of a live studio audience as part of Microsoft Alumni Network’s Alumni Connect, a business-to-business conference and mentoring event. Host Rich Kaplan facilitated the keynote conversation with Lily Kanter, the co-founder of Serena & Lily and the CEO of Boon Supply. Lily graciously shared her story of starting and running Bay Area home design retailer Serena & Lily, growing it into a sought-after success, knowing when it was time to walk away from the day-to-day operations and the exciting new challenges she’s found with Boon Supply.

In Episode 8 of Beyond the Blue Badge, alumnae Dawn Trudeau and Lisa Brummel talk about teaming up at the “nexus of business, sports and social justice” when they bought the Seattle Storm. They talk about the business challenges of running a professional sports franchise and what it’s like to win multiple Women’s National Basketball League challenges.

In Episode 7 of Beyond the Blue Badge, host Lora Poepping chats with fellow Microsoft alumna Laurie Raisys about the decision to leave her job in college recruiting to raise her children and, eventually, run an independent bookstore in the digital age. She talks about becoming a boomerang and the challenges of returning to the workforce. She also delves into the decision to buy and run one of the top bookstores in the Pacific Northwest.