Today's guest is Shelley McGuire. She is the owner and Events Curator for Shelley's Events, the Chief Strategy Officer for OrangeSlices, a realtor in Florida, and Co-owner of MSS Management, an accounting and wealth management company. On top of all that, Shelley is a former professor of Entrepreneurship, a former special education teacher, and a former Business High School teacher. We talked about how important it is to find a mentor and how it can transform your career.

You can engage Shelley here:

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelley-mcguire-62a12a57/

Podcast - https://orangeslices.ai/featured-interviews/

Website - https://shelleysevents.com/

List of past episodes: https://www.thegeekwithin.net/

Today's guest is Eric Twiggs. He is a Founding Partner and President of The What Now Movement, author of The Discipline of Now: 12 Practical Principles to Overcome Procrastination, host of The 30 Minute Hour podcast, and a Certified Business and Life Coach. We talk a bit about Eric's passion for providing tools and ideas to entrepreneurs.

You can engage Eric here:

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/erictwiggs/

Book - https://www.amazon.com/Discipline-Now-Practical-Principles-Procrastination/dp/B07GFRP5QM/

Podcast - https://www.youtube.com/@the30minutehourpodcast69

The Geek Within can be found on several podcast platforms - https://www.polywork.com/posts/W0IZQ1lu

List of past episodes: https://www.thegeekwithin.net/

Today's guest is Matt Payne. He is the Founder of Outer Circle Foundation, which is focused on supporting Veterans and first responders during their most critical moments. They champion PTSD awareness, suicide prevention, and their transition to new opportunities. Matt has a diverse background and has worked for several well known companies.

Listen or watch episode 201 here:

YouTube - https://youtu.be/M0d6O_QqVBc

Spotify - https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/geekwithin

You can engage Matt here:

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattpayneocf/

The Geek Within can be found on several podcast platforms - https://www.polywork.com/posts/W0IZQ1lu

List of past episodes: https://www.thegeekwithin.net/

Today's episode is a little different. I asked my good friend Rima Reyes to interview me for my podcast so that I could share my own career journey. It is a little weird to describe myself, but here goes - I am the Chief of Enterprise Architecture at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, I speak on government innovation and use of technologies, volunteer with the ACT-IAC Emerging Technologies Community of Interest as a government advisor, love opportunities to mentor those early in their career, and I am the host of this podcast, The Geek Within. This episode is a bit longer as I dive into my love of technology, lucky job opportunities, how I love public service, and some advice I would give my early career self.

You can engage Jeremy here:

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/geekwithin/

The Geek Within can be found on several podcast platforms - https://www.polywork.com/posts/W0IZQ1lu

List of past episodes: https://www.thegeekwithin.net/

Today's guest is Brionna Mayo. She is a Data Architect at Smart Synergies. Brionna has a lot of experience in the DoD contracting community. We met through our shared love of networking in the DC area. Brionna and I talk a bit about your pipeline of growth and how hard it is to communicate what you know in the early years, and we need mentors to help us learn how to do that. On top of that, we need a better way of educating hiring managers and organizations that experience in many programming languages allows an applicant to switch and bring their experience to the language skills you need more easily.

You can engage Brionna here:

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brionna-mayo-cspo-3637a2225/

The Geek Within can be found on several podcast platforms - https://www.polywork.com/posts/W0IZQ1lu

List of past episodes: https://www.thegeekwithin.net/

Today's guest is Dominic Sale. He is the Managing Director at Code and Theory, which builds transformative digital experiences for federal agencies. Dominic is a previous federal employee where he worked at the General Services Administration, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Department of Transportation. We talk a bit about the all too formal way government interacts with industry and how better dialog needs to occur. Both Dominic and I interact and meet up at a variety of DC area networking groups and have gotten to know each other over the past 3-4 years.

You can engage Dominic here:

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominic-sale/

The Geek Within can be found on several podcast platforms - https://www.polywork.com/posts/W0IZQ1lu

List of past episodes: https://www.thegeekwithin.net/

Today's guest is Kate Livis. She is the President of Livis Consulting, which is a small woman owned business specializing in IT consulting, agile management, and IT staffing. Kate and I go back over 20 years when I hired her as a developer at a small DOD consulting firm. We take some time to talk about the state of training staff and how many organizations overlook it and lose out.

You can engage Kate here:

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-gribovsky-livis-5638759/

Website - https://livisconsulting.com/

The Geek Within can be found on several podcast platforms - https://www.polywork.com/posts/W0IZQ1lu

List of past episodes: https://www.thegeekwithin.net/

Today's guest is Arfa Syed. She is on the Growth and Strategy team at Leidos. Arfa graduated from the ACT-IAC Voyagers 2022; she sat on the Cybersecurity board at NOVA and was also a 2022 NOVA commencement speaker! On top of all of that, Arfa is also a freelance writer and speaker focused on IT, Cybersecurity, and digital media. And finally, Arfa was recently certified to teach yoga. I have known Arfa for a few years, and I am excited to finally get her on the podcast. We got a chance to talk a bit about the challenge of a company that graduates from small business and the severe impact it has on their opportunities

You can engage Arfa here:

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/arfasyed/

The Geek Within can be found on several podcast platforms - https://www.polywork.com/posts/W0IZQ1lu

List of past episodes: https://www.thegeekwithin.net/

Today's guest is Jonathan Hamlet. He is a Senior Procurement Executive at the Millennium Challenge Corporation. Jonathan has worked at six different federal agencies in his government career and did a stint at Booz Allen Hamilton. I met Jonathan when I worked at MCC and found him to be extremely knowledgeable in the acquisition space. Jonathan speaks to how important it is to get your customer's perspective and spend time with the company delivering products/services to ensure good communication and appropriate relationships.

You can engage Jonathan here:

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-hamlet-5863b1148/

The Geek Within can be found on several podcast platforms - https://www.polywork.com/posts/W0IZQ1lu

List of past episodes: https://www.thegeekwithin.net/

Today's guest is Beth A. Martin. She is a UX Design and CX Subject Matter Expert in Digital Services at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Beth is also a board member of Federal Innovators Salon. We talk about our shared passion of mentoring for those early in their career and encouraging others to consider a career in government. Beth and I run into each other at networking events here in the DC area and I find it incredibly important to connect with fellow Government employees.

You can engage Beth here:

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethannmartin/

The Geek Within can be found on several podcast platforms - https://www.polywork.com/posts/W0IZQ1lu

List of past episodes: https://www.thegeekwithin.net/