Welcome to an all new episode of Within the Trenches, a podcast based on the experience of being a 9-1-1 dispatcher. In this episode I spoke with the first recipient of the Within the Trenches Continuing Education Scholarship. Her name is Leslie, a Telecommunicator, CTO and 2016 recipient of the Mary Antley Telecommunicator of the Year Award. She dispatches out of New Hanover County in North Carolina and it was an honor to have her on the show. We recorded live from the Indiana Convention Center for the 2016 National NENA Conference & Expo. This episode is sponsored by NENA and INdigital - A leader in Next-Gen Core Services.

I was given an opportunity three years ago to bring my newly created podcast to the National NENA conference in Charlotte North Carolina. It changed my life in so many ways. I told my wife that one day I would pay it forward and I did that by creating a scholarship that would send a dispatcher to the national conference. There is so much to say about Leslie but I would rather you hear her story in her own words. Once again it was an honor to have her on the show and I see big things coming in her future. Keep doing what you do!

As always if you have any questions or would like to be a guest on the show send an email to [email protected].

Episode topics –

• How Leslie started out in dispatch
• Early phone calls
• A call that changed her life
• Mary Antley Award
• And more