Plug In with TTC

This special episode brings Plug In with TTC Season 1 to a close. Our producers wanted to change up the game and put host Dax Moreno in the hot-seat to wrap things up! Guest-host Charles Woodin, CEO of Geekdom, asked Dax about his perspective on building teams, memorable moments throughout his time at TTC, and even asked him the famed "Back to the Future" question. Thank you so much for following along with us this season!!

This is the fourth and final episode of the Decade of Downtown SASW Edition: The Do-er. We are closing it out with the female powerhouse, President & CEO of the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation, Jenna Saucedo-Hererra. She has been instrumental in some of the major wins that have helped reshape the landscape of San Antonio. Not just our tech sector but also advanced manufacturing, Biomed, retail, and others! You can feel her energy as she shares the love of getting to work for SAEDF and getting to DO the work with people in and out of our community so that people can grow their families and businesses here in San Antonio - A big part of doing so is achieved through "investing in your people." Join us and take a listen!

As the Decade of Downtown edged beyond its mid-point and into the latter half of the decade, something special was taking shape just 8 minutes to the southwest of the urban core.  Port San Antonio was readjusting its own strategy and vision under the guidance of its new leader, Jim Perschbach.    With a knack for systems-based thinking and visionary placemaking (inspired by a trip to somewhere magical as a youngster), Jim brought a new perspective of incremental growth and community-building through activating and investing in the power of people here in San Antonio.  The results of this shift in mindset and messaging?  Thousands of new jobs created in San Antonio, new office buildings being built on the Southwest side of SA for the first time in decades, and wins like a new eSports arena piling up weekly!

In the 2nd edition of the series, "Decade of Downtown" Luis Gonzalez, CEO & Co-Founder of Parlevel Systems, reflects and shares what it was like to have a front-row seat during Geekdom's early development stages. In this conversation, he shares a glimpse into how Parlevel Systems was built and the people and companies that helped them along their journey to being an international company - formed right here in the heart of downtown San Antonio! Let's get to building with Luis, hit the play button! 

As the main visionary behind the "Decade of Downtown", former Mayor Julián Castro set in motion a plan that would forever alter the landscape of downtown San Antonio.  It would also serve as a pivotal moment in the development and growth of the startup and entrepreneur communities in SA! In this conversation of the Decade of Downtown Revisited, Julián revisits what went into the creation of that plan, how he felt it developed over the proceeding years and shares his thoughts on the futures of the communities it helped to create.

In this week’s episode, Dax keeps the streak of awesome guests going as he welcomes a female trailblazer in San Antonio’s cybersecurity scene, Amanda Keammerer!  With a self-professed “long and winding path” to career happiness, Amanda shares some of the most pivotal moments in her career and keeps it real in describing her struggles as a first-generation college student with West Wing dreams.  Listen in to hear how she conquered college and developed muscles that help her lead communities to this very day!

DAX IS BACK! After a 3-week hiatus, Dax decided to bring the heat with his first episode back! He’s joined by Founder & CEO of Irys, Beto Altamirano. Beto’s story goes back to his very first experience as an entrepreneur and also shares who he owes his entrepreneurial spirit. This conversation challenges the stigma of taking the road less traveled and learning to accept that the “wild-dream” you’ve been thinking about is very possible!

PRODUCER TAKEOVER: In this week’s episode, our Executive Podcast Producer, Cade Blalock, spoke with Andrew Fitzgerald the Chief Digital Content Officer at Hearst TV!  Andrew has had a storied career and some awesome roles that carried him from startups like Current TV to Twitter and eventually to New York City for his role with Hearst TV. In this episode, we get to dive into his love of story-telling and how that propelled him from USC’s film school and into the twists & turns of a career filled with happy accidents.  Enough reading, it’s time to hit play and enjoy the episode!  

PRODUCERS TAKEOVER: Our Executive Podcast Producer, Cade Blalock, and Assistant Podcast Producer, Jessica Chavez, are co-hosting this week’s episode! They spoke with Thu Nguyen, Programs Manager for the 80/20 Foundation. Thu wears many hats in her role at the foundation but in this episode, we mainly go over her work with Students+Startups. Take a listen to hear how this former Longhorn went from copywriting to getting 75+ students plugged into getting a taste of the startup world! 

PRODUCERS TAKEOVER: Our Executive Podcast Producer, Cade Blalock, and Assistant Podcast Producer, Jessica Chavez, decided to take turns in the TTC host seat! Join Jessica in this week’s episode as she interviews the CEO & Founder of Camp Einstein, Catherine Sutton! Catherine shares some of her twists and turns that eventually led her and her twin sister to building a STEM enrichment program for kids K-12. Tune in to hear why trying to fit a square peg in a round hole could actually be the catalyst for finding your passion!

This week we are joined by two of the Co-Founders from Plus One Robotics, Shaun Edwards & Paul Hvass! They share some crucial secrets to their startup success, the story of their founding, and even explore why they choose to keep Plus One in San Antonio. Listen in to hear what’s in store for the very bright future of Plus One! P.s. They’re hiring! Check out their OPEN positions here: https://plusonerobotics.com/careers/

It’s Episode Cinco here at Plug In w/ TTC and we are thrilled to have talent recruiting maven and entrepreneur, Bethany Reese, in the virtual studio with us!  Drawing from her experiences as a woman in tech and often being the only female in the room, this conversation will challenge your perspective on career adversity, give some much-needed guidance on job seeking, and she even shares a moment of personal reflection that might resonate with many of you.  Oh, and this is one “Back to the Future” answer you don’t want to miss!

This week, Sean Attwood, Vice President of Tech Development at San Antonio Economic Development Foundation joins our host, Dax Moreno for a journey back down career (memory) lane. This episode features hard-fought lessons in making the leap out of retail, pursuing your own career track, and how powerful showing interest in your network can challenge your career trajectory. There are also a few solid book mentions during this conversation if you like to read!

Our host, Dax Moreno, is joined by not one but TWO developers on this week’s episode - Justice Yao and John McCormick - from cybersecurity specialists, Def-Logix! They both share their experience and personal perspectives as software developers in different stages of their career journey. Listen in to hear their take on everything from organizing chaos through code to working in San Antonio and why they think everyone should dip a toe into the world of programming!

Join Dax Moreno as he sits down with Dirk Elmendorf, one of the founding members of Rackspace, entrepreneur, and creator of the brand new job searching tool, Jobward. Listen in to hear Dirk share untold stories from his time at Rackspace and explain how having an owner’s mentality towards your job search is the ultimate career hack for today’s tech worker. 

In our premiere episode, host Dax Moreno is joined by local tech legend, noted author, and his brother-from-another-mother, Lorenzo Gomez III.  Listen in to hear their stories about unlaunched careers in medicine, building cultures at tech companies like Rackspace, and how they’ve navigated the winding roads of their careers in the growing San Antonio tech scene.