Mavens Do It Better

Episode 37 of the Mavens Do It Better Podcast features Becky Benishek. Becky is a three time recipient of the Microsoft MVP award, is a one of a kind conference speaker and is the author of the following children’s books: The Squeezor is Coming!, What’s At the End of Your Nose?, Dr. Guinea Pig George and Hush, Mouse! Coming soon. She is also a engagement and technology strategist for the Crisis Prevention Institute in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Becky and Heather caught up virtually from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Marina del Rey, California.

Listen in as Becky, and Heather talk about:

Being a writer her entire life and the power of setting an intention to publish her first Children’s Book while enjoying some strawberry mead complete tips and tricks on book publishing having been both self-published and now with a publishing company.

Becky’s start in IT and career working in both technology and marketing, currently training nurses, teachers, security guards techniques to keep children and adults in safe for the Crisis Prevention Institute, an international training organization that specializes in the safe management of disruptive and assaultive behavior located in Wisconsin.

The serendipity of a collaboration with each of her Children’s Books illustrators – one of the books becoming a coloring book from black and white drawings that she loved and developing characters through words becoming drawings and full-fledged on the page characters.

Transcript available on mavensdoitbetter.com

To follow Becky: LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram | Website – Becky Benishek | MVP Listing | Crisis Prevention Institute

Becky is a 3rd-year Microsoft Office Apps & Services MVP. At the Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI), she directs strategy and engagement for Microsoft Teams, CPI's Yammer Home Network, and their Yammer External Network for customers. She also designs SharePoint Team Sites and other SPO pages because it's fun.

She's presented at Microsoft Ignite and MVP Community Meetups, participated in numerous podcasts and interviews, and mentors Yammer admins around the world. Becky also writes tech-based articles on LinkedIn, Medium, and the Microsoft Tech Community.

Becky has published three children’s books so far: “What’s At the End of Your Nose?”, “Dr. Guinea Pig George,” and "The Squeezor is Coming!" A fourth book, "Hush, Mouse!" is coming out in June 2019. She's working on young adult and adult fiction, poetry, sci-fi stories, and song-writing as well.

Becky also has an extensive Lego collection and a working Commodore 64. She is married with guinea pigs.

Episode 36 of the Mavens Do It Better Podcast features Stephanie Donahue. Stephanie is President/Co-founder at PAIT Group and a Microsoft MVP. Stephanie is a recognized member of the SharePoint community where she speaks, writes, and organizes SharePoint events both locally and nationally. As president and managing partner of PAIT Group, Stephanie leverages her experience and develops relationships to build a dynamic environment for her clients that ensure the right solutions are developed to address their unique business critical projects and issues.

Stephanie and Heather caught up virtually between Cincinnati, OH and Marina del Rey, CA.

Listen in as Stephanie and Heather talk about:

· Stephanie’s beginnings in technology and working with SharePoint via the encouragement of a mentor, becoming a consultant and then starting her own business, and encouraging others by doing the work, leaning on colleagues and that you can be successful where ever you are dropped into the world.

· Her Microsoft Community Mentoring Program work that led her to be a mentee nominated and the first given - Most Valuable Community Mentor Award.

· A discussion on diversity, inclusion, women in tech and what Stephanie is seeing in the workplace by colleagues looking for guidance and thinking around how we can level up our conversations, look to our kids to help them as they are coming into the workforce and what it means to be a human in tech.

Transcript available on Mavensdoitbetter.com

To follow Stephanie: LinkedIn| Twitter| Instagram| Website-Steph K Donahue| MVP Listing

With almost 20 years of experience in the IT Sector, Stephanie is a leader, an innovator, and skilled problem solver. She has a passion for technology and innovation that led her to co-found the PAIT Group. Stephanie believes that technology can minimize risk and maximize business growth and potential.

Stephanie’s community engagement helps keep her fingers on the pulse of technology to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to emerging technologies. She leverages her knowledge and relationships with vendors, peers, and thought leaders into innovative business solutions for each of PAIT’s clients.

PAIT helps senior management build technology plans that achieve business critical goals and co-executes these solutions with your company ensuring a proper transfer of knowledge. The result for the client is increased ROI with much lower risk. PAIT’s client success is proof that the model works. PAIT matches complex concepts and projects to simple solutions. PAIT Group utilizes Microsoft technology including Microsoft SharePoint, OneDrive, and Yammer to build solutions and solve business problems.

Episode 35 of the Mavens Do It Better Podcast features Tracy van der Schyff and Jethro Seghers. I accompanied Tracy and Jethro on a road trip #365tourza across the Eastern Cape and Western Cape of South Africa. Along with Adam King, Warren Marks, Alistair Pugin and Darrell Webster, we spent 10 days together in a van bringing Office 365 technologies to four events - SharePoint Saturday Johannesburg, SPS Mini events in Port Elizabeth and East London and a final stop for SharePoint Saturday Cape Town. Jethro is Senior Program Manager Microsoft Teams - Education, author, and speaker and Tracy is a three-time Microsoft MVP for Office Servers and Services, blogger, author, speaker, Microsoft 365 coach and catalyst and owner of the consulting company The Guid Stuff.

Tracy, Jethro and Heather caught up in the car driving Jethro to his flight out of O.R. Tambo International Airport, Gauteng, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Listen in as Tracy, Jethro, and Heather talk about:

The experience of being in a van on a road trip through South Africa with other Microsoft community members and what it means to build community.

Both Tracy and Jethro’s journey in tech, education, training and how they came to the roles that they are currently in today. Jethro’s talks about his background, Microsoft Teams – education and Tracy chats about her start in technology and working with c-levels and businesses on their PC and Office 365 acumen.

The importance of supporting each other, how we learn, how we raise the bar for basic PC literacy, how we empower people to be their best selves not only at work but in everyday life.

Transcript

To follow Tracy: Tracy van der Schyff | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram | Website-The Guid Stuff | MVP Listing

To follow Jethro: Jethro Seghers | LinkedIn | Twitter | Blog | Instagram | Microsoft Teams – Education

Thank you to AvePoint and SkySync for their sponsorship of the 365TourZA.

Thank you to Tracy van der Schyff, Alistair Pugin, Warren Marks and Brandon Botes who produce and coordinate the SharePoint Saturday Community Events in South Africa and the 365TourZA.

SPS Durban is coming up Saturday May 11th, register here.

Tracy van der Schyff is a Microsoft 365 Coach and Catalyst who facilitates the evolution of human capabilities: She is an energetic, hyperactive adrenaline junkie who sees challenges / issues as opportunities and thrives on improving processes, environments and the general quality of life. Her broad knowledge about IT AND Business gives her the ability to communicate on both levels and convey meaningful requirements and narrow the (ever present) gap between the two. Tracy’s passion is to empower people and therefore training and change management lie close to her heart. Tracy’s mission is to positively impact WHAT and HOW people create, as she believes that what we design / create, designs / creates us back (Ontological Design). It is about enabling others to serve themselves better, expand their possibilities, increase their capacity to learn, act more effectively and better design their future. Tracy is a highly sought after lecturer, workshop host, speaker, and blogger – she challenged herself and wrote a blog every day for two years – one series on called https://tracyvanderschyff.com/microsoft-365/ and another called Around the Office in 365 days. Her book on Adoption and PC Literacy will be coming out this year.

Jethro Seghers is a Senior Program Manage for Microsoft Teams – Education. Jethro has been involved in Microsoft Technologies since 2000. He covered those technologies from many different angles: developer, architect, trainer, IT manager, solutions architect and business leader. The last few years he focused on and became certified in SharePoint technologies. Office 365 became one of his biggest expertise areas where he was awarded Microsoft MVP in Office Servers and Services. Within these technologies Jethro focused on the end user experience and the architecture. He loves people to fully understand the possibilities the cloud brings for them and how they can maximize it to increase their business. Jethro’s interests vary from rebuilding classic cars, practicing classic culinary training, and spoiling his French bulldog, Mia. He is a European (Belgian) currently living in the USA. He is an author and blogger and loves to give back to the community by speaking at numerous conferences around Cloud Services.

Episode 34 of the Mavens Do It Better Podcast features Robert Bogue. Rob is a 15-time Microsoft MVP, a sought-after speaker, author, and consultant, who helps clients make the complicated simple. Whether the complicated includes Microsoft SharePoint, technologies, or no technology at all, Rob helps organizations become more effective. Speaking across the globe as often as once a week, he brings a blend of deep technical expertise and emotional intelligence that eliminates barriers. Having written 27 books and edited another 100, Rob is as comfortable with the written word as he is in front of a room of 10, 100, or 1,000.

Rob and Heather caught up in person at the AIIM Conference at the Grand Hyatt in San Diego, CA.

Listen in as Rob and Heather talk about:

Rob’s work as a fifteen-time Microsoft MVP

His awesome home studio and creation of his brand the SharePoint Shepherd which has tools and processes to help businesses maximize investments in SharePoint through videos, books and DVDs

Rob’s many collaborations with his wife Terri, who is a nurse, including; saving lives with their new patented moisture indicating dressing for hospitals, educating kids and parents through their Kin 2 Kid child safety deck which provides the opportunity for children and their loved ones to play cards and talk

Their new book Extinguish Burnout: A Practical Guide to Prevention and Recovery

Transcript

To Follow Rob: Robert Bogue | LinkedIn | Twitter | MVP Listing

Thor Projects | SharePoint Shepherd Website

Robert Bogue has a driving passion for delivering solutions through both teaching and learning. His drive for resolving problems is fueled by his creativity and innovation – by his ability to find solutions that others cannot find. His experience in the technical world has given him a unique opportunity to learn how to solve problems both in a technical sense and an organizational sense well before problems arise.

Robert is a community leader and has owned his business for over 10 years. He has authored 26 books and has been an editor for over 100 additional books. Robert strives to be better today than he was yesterday and achieves this through his strategy, facilitation, elicitation, coaching, and mentoring techniques and skills. He has received the prestigious Microsoft MVP designation fifteen times. He combines his love for emotional intelligence, communication skills gleaned from working in the IT world and having to talk to others, and his dynamic presentation skills to help change lives one at a time.

Robert is an engaging presenter who speaks at local, regional, national, and international events. He has spoken to tens of thousands of professionals. Robert has fine-tuned his ability to focus others into effective communicating to create a wonderful experience for his audiences. He can bring together all departments of an organization to help build communication bridges to increase employee satisfaction and therefore increase efficiency within the organization. He is committed to “making the complicated, simple”. His approach to continual learning has led him to be an expert in instructional design and video production.

Episode 33 of the Mavens Do It Better Podcast features Karuana Gatimu. Karuana is Principal PM Manager, Customer Advocacy Group, Microsoft Corp. She is a business architect with a passion for people, technology and communications. Using 25 years of technology and marketing experience Karuana helps drive usage and adoption of Office365 services including Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, Planner and PowerBI to land value in the real world. She the executive producer of Coffee in the Cloud on YouTube and uses her studio to help other people own their stories.

Karuana and Heather caught up in person in the Mixer/Commons on Microsoft Corporate Campus, Redmond WA during MVP Summit 2019.

Listen in as Karuana and Heather talk about:

Career development and how to craft your role, career and getting after what you want your life to look like in any industry learning from Karuana’s own journey in technology and with Microsoft.

Working together as advocates, colleagues and Karuana being an active myth buster about how powerful women CAN work together to help each other and Heather and Karuana’s partnering together on diversity and inclusion projects, content and events.

A look into Karuana’s role as Principal Program Manager and being a member of the Microsoft Teams organization and working to build adoption and custom learning courses, training and support for customers and partners.

To Follow Karuana: Instagram | LinkedIn | Twitter

Microsoft Teams Twitter | Coffee in the Cloud You Tube | Microsoft Service Adoption Specialist Course

Transcript

Karuana Gatimu is an experienced service adoption leader who works for the Microsoft Teams Engineering Group leading the customer insights & community outreach teams. She has worked in corporate IT, technology marketing and executive management. As a service manager & business solution architect she has been responsible for the health & adoption of a variety of technology solutions. Karuana is also a community leader for the Office 365 Champions community for business users, IT Professional and aspiring adoption professionals and produces a YouTube channel, Coffee in the Cloud with training content for Office 365.

Episode 32 of the Mavens Do It Better Podcast features Alan Campbell. Alan is the owner of Alan Campbell Productions - specializing in Food, Wine, Lifestyle, Cookbooks, Product photography and video production. He is also the owner of Camlow Cellars in Sonoma County along with winemaker Craig Strehlow. They create a small lot Estate grown Magna Porcum (Big Pig) Pinot Noir from the Green Valley of Russian River Valley. They make approximately 400 cases a year and a limited quantity of delicious Whole Cluster Rosé of Pinot Noir.

Alan and Heather caught up virtually from Sonoma County and Marina del Rey.

Listen in as Heather talks with Alan talk about:

Alan’s start in photography and how a trip to Mexico led him to be one of the premiere food and wine photographers in Sonoma County and his collaboration with the Kendall Jackson Estate on their beautiful cookbook, Seasons.

What it takes to take care of a winery and make a small batch vintage as a local, long time resident who started with a few vines and a sparkle in his eye.

How important photography and the perfect photo or short videos can truly make a brand pop in the marketplace and how he works with his teams and clients to get the gorgeous shots that make up his portfolio and projects for clients in Sonoma County and across the United States.

Alan Campbell Photography | Website | Instagram | Facebook | Bookings

Camlow Cellars | Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter

Season: Wine Country Food, Farming, & Friends

Transcript

BigMatchMedia.com coming soon

Alan Campbell started taking photos at age eight, hitting the Fremont drag races with his flash cubes and Kodak Instamatic. As a teen, he watched in awe as the images from his mom’s heavy old Minolta SRT101 came to life in the darkroom, their blurry trails developing before his eyes. Time in Mexico fine-tuned his eye for color, contrast, and light, capturing everything from colors and textures in the markets to shadow human faces in a night-time Easter parade.

Adam studied graphic design in college and learned the complexities of photography as an assistant for San Francisco Bay Area hi-tech companies and has returned to his roots – literally – now surrounding himself with the North Bay redwoods and apple trees of his youth. Nature inspires and focuses him on the textures and colors of the ingredients in the food and wine he captures. He teases out the details and uses light to create emotion. Alan’s work sends his audience an invitation to see, taste, hear, and really experience the story, reaching way beyond the merely visual.

Episode 31 of the Mavens Do It Better Podcast features Jim Kierstead. Jim is a two-time 2013 Tony® Award-winning producer of the Broadway, touring, Toronto, and London productions of Kinky Boots and the revival of Pippin. Jim and Heather caught up in person in Hell's Kitchen/Times Square in New York City.

Listen in as Heather talks with Jim about:

What it's like to be a Broadway producer and all the different aspects of theater, business and artistry that it entails.

How Jim got started as a producer and all the beautiful productions he has brought to not only Broadway but to touring shows across the United States, London and all around the world.

The current state of Broadway today and how telling stories is still the way we relate to each other, change each other and how live theater is still one of our greatest ways to connect and learn empathy.

To Follow Jim: LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter | Kierstead Productions

Jim also is involved with the international hit musical Matilda on Broadway and on tour and is a co-producer of the 2016 Broadway musicals Waitress and Natasha & Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812 starring Josh Groban. He has been a co-producer of the Broadway productions of The Visit (Tony nominated), You Can’t Take It with You (Tony nominated), Side Show, It Shoulda Been You, and Rocky. Jim has worked in New York theatre since 2000 investing and raising money for shows including Something Rotten, The Glass Menagerie, the revival of Hair (Best Revival), American Idiot, The Addams Family, Catch Me If You Can, among others.

Jim began his career by developing and producing the critically acclaimed Off-Broadway premiere of Thrill Me – The Leopold & Loeb Story (nominated for Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Musical in 2005) and produced its original New York production in 2003. He founded his production company Kierstead Productions, Inc. in 2004. In 2010, he produced the Off-Broadway premiere of Yank! – A World War II Love Story. Jim has been an Executive Producer on the films Between Love and Goodbye, Kiss Me, Kill Me, and the upcoming Wakefield starring Bryan Cranston and Jennifer Garner.

Currently, Jim is developing a new musical entitled Unexpected Joy with book & lyrics by Bill Russell (two-time Tony® nominated for Side Show), a play entitled Cover by Bill McMahon, and a play entitled The Dodgers by Diana Amsterdam about the draft dodgers during the Vietnam War which had its World Premiere production at The Hudson Theatre in Los Angeles. Jim is on the Board of Directors of The York Theatre Company and The New York Theatre Barn.

Transcript available at mavensdoitbetter.com

Episode 30 of the Mavens Do It Better Podcast features Heather Severino. Heather helps individuals and organizations learn how to maximize productivity in the modern workplace by sharing real-world experience and knowledge of software applications such as Microsoft Windows 10, Office 2016, Office 365, OneNote, Project, SharePoint, Visio, Adobe Captivate and TechSmith Camtasia Studios.

She has been Microsoft Certified since 2006 and became a Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) in 2011. In 2012, Microsoft appointed her an MCT Regional Lead for the United States, and she is currently one of approximately 115 MCT Regional Leads worldwide mentoring other MCTs. In 2017, Microsoft honored her with the distinguished award as a Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for the OneNote technology. She also became a Microsoft Innovative Educator and Microsoft OneDrive Expert (MODE) in 2017. When she’s not teaching in the virtual or onsite classroom, you can either find her at a technology conference helping others prep for their Microsoft certification exams or looking for turtles below the surface of the ocean.

Heather and Heather caught up virtually from Las Vegas NV and Manhattan NYC

Listen in as Heather talks with Heather about:

Heather’s company TeachUTech to help organizations with the adoption of Microsoft technology offering on-demand and in-person engagements and her start as an MVP working with educators to learn OneNote, her new love for Microsoft Teams and tips and tricks about own her own business and how to bring the information you need to you to keep up with the fast pace of technology training.

Her “accidental” start in technology after growing up in Florida and majoring in biology and marine biology in college, by answering a job board for an admin assistant for a local government in the IT department that led her to become the Microsoft Certified Trainer she is today.

Organizations that she belongs to that support women in tech and diversity tech in the Microsoft MVP community as well as her own local communities and a look into her book “Conversational Geeks - Conversational Office 365 Collaboration.”

Heather Severino | Classes | Instagram | LinkedIn | Twitter | Conversational Geeks for Office 365

Transcript

Episode 29 of the Mavens Do It Better Podcast features The Oddysy. Kevin “KJ” Jacoby and DJ Johnny Juice Rosado.

Oddysy : a long wandering: a series of adventurous journeys usually marked by many changes of fortune. Music sometimes makes for strange—one might say Odd—bedfellows. We may start down a road with a firm objective in mind, only to find that with experience and time, the goal has changed. Paths cross, new stars enter our orbit, influencing us in ways both overt and subconscious. Sometimes change becomes its own goal. So it is with The Oddysy, a potent amalgamation of jazz, hip hop, and pop, with a sound eclipsing the sum of its parts.

The band has released two singles with music videos, “Alone” and “Incantation” on Apple Music, iTunes and Spotify. Their full album will be dropping soon which will have an excellent bunch of guest artists: Chuck D, Darryl ‘DMC’ McDaniels, Leaders of the New School, and more.

KJ, DJ Johnny Juice and Heather caught up in person in the East Village in New York City.

Listen in as Heather talks with The Oddysy about:

The creative process around building their new album and how they put together this delicious recipe of beats and instruments, and finding the magic and connection with each other creatively.

KJ and Juice’s eclectic backgrounds coming up in the music industry, where their nicknames come from, and their beginnings of playing bass for KJ and Juice’s start working the turntables with shout outs to Philadelphia and Juice’s Bronx crew.

How food and being foodies brought them together and how their backgrounds in jazz and hip hop influenced the ingredients that they blended together to make their fantastic album full of story, real life and heart.

Kevin “KJ” Jacoby | Instagram |Twitter

DJ Johnny “Juice” Rosado | Instagram

The Oddysy | Bookings | Facebook |Instagram | Twitter | Website | YouTube Channel

Music | iTunes | SoundCloud | Spotify |Vimeo

Episode 29 of the Mavens Do It Better Podcast features Christine Bongard, President and Co-Founder of The WIT Network. Christine is the main spokesperson for the organization and regularly speaks on behalf of The WIT Network at events and hosts all “We’ve Got WIT” webinars. Her job is to see that the mission and passion of The WIT Network is carried out. She also leads the global community currently consisting of 80 chapters in 40 countries. She has been actively involved as a leader for Women in Technology for four years and was honoured with the WIT Community Champion award by Microsoft in 2017.

Prior to the WIT Network, Christine helped start a Microsoft Gold Partner company. At the ripe age of 25 she became an entrepreneur. Over the years she learned how to run a company managing everything from sales to finance to operations. Additionally, the experience provided an opportunity for Christine to build and grow her relationships in the Microsoft channel as a participant on many Advisory Councils for Microsoft.

Christine was “Born to Run” as a Jersey Girl and never misses an opportunity to spend time at the beach in her spare time. She has a love for travel and is in pursuit of completing a visit to all 50 U.S. states, with only 7 left to go. Christine adopts retired racing greyhounds and currently has two lovable pups, Fleetwood and Leo who also keep her “on the run”.

Christine and Heather caught up in New York City at One World Trade Center.

Listen in as Heather talks with Christine about:

The transformation and launch of The WIT Network, a community of professionals that believe in making it easier for women to imagine, begin, and develop a career in IT and their upcoming inaugural International Women’s Day Event this week happening in Kansas City

How important diversity is to output for a business, and how male allies and conversations are happening in our industry and how The WIT Network is facilitating those conversations.

Learnings of how to not just check a diversity box and getting educated, create solutions together for the good of companies and our world at large.

Christine Bongard | Instagram | Twitter

The WIT Network | Instagram | Twitter | Website | LinkedIn