009 Vanessa Velasquez| steep learning curves

VANESSA'S BIO

Vanessa Velasquez is a young leader and should give us all hope and excitement about the future of America. Raised by a single mom in Vero Beach, Florida, she was most recently a White House Fellow and attaché to the Secretary of the Navy. She will continue to serve the country in an innovation focused role at the Department Of Defense. While she’s had to learn an alphabet soup of strange government acronyms she excelled and has been one of the youngest Fellows in history. A remarkable human who happens to be a Latina. Some past White House Fellows include CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta, NBCUniversal Chairman César Conde, Director of the National Economic Council and past Federal Reserve Board Governor Lael Brainard, Compass founder Robert Reffkin and Wes Moore, the Governor of Maryland. They know how to pick them and Vanessa’s “pinch myself moment” is as humbling as it is deserving.

Vanessa gained early and valuable experience at two of the most successful companies in the world, at Apple as a Global Supply Manager and at Amazon, where she supervised crews at fulfillment center operations, eventually doing corporate development work at Seattle headquarters focused on Amazon’s engagement with millions of Hispanic small businesses. Vanessa dedicates her time in and out of work to underserved communities. She mentors Hispanic Scholarship Fund scholars to and served as the inaugural Director of Fulfillment Center and Community Engagement at Glamazon, Amazon’s LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group. (host comment: Glamazon is a pretty amazing name, for sure.) She is the youngest Top Of The Gamer hosted by the show. Vanessa earned her B.B.A. and B.A. from Mississippi State University and is a proud alum of the school.

EPISODE OUTLINE

(00:00) - Introduction

(00:38) - Bio

(01:53) - Steep learning curves, everywhere; rocket-fueled career journey

(05:41) - The importance of example; mom lessons used at the White House

(08:20) - Pressure cooker survival leads to opportunity; the Amazon challenge

(11:40) - Goldfish, water, Bad Bunny; and never give up, ever.

(14:21) - Outro

VANESSA RELATED LINKS

White House Fellows Announced

Hispanic Scholarship Fund

The Pride of Mississippi State University

A winding path; Vero Beach. Mississippi, Amazon, Apple, White House, Navy

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