Today on the Career Conversation Podcast, we are joined by Bre Johnson, the Regional Sales Leader for Cisco. Cisco, a tech giant in cybersecurity, networking, cloud, and collaboration, is where Bre has carved out her remarkable career path, one pivot at a time.

From her active high school years in Colorado, balancing sports, social life, and restaurant jobs, Bre learned early on the art of rolling with the punches. Her initial plans in applied kinesiology at CU Boulder shifted gears dramatically towards a double major in Sociology and Cultural Anthropology after an inspiring encounter with the world of social sciences.

Adversity struck in college with the sudden passing of her mother. This brought Bre back home to Fort Collins, where she continued her education at Colorado State University. Here, she thrived academically and personally, despite the unexpected turns, from leading an honor society to conducting impactful research on Hurricane Katrina, to studying abroad in Sydney.

The real world presented its own challenges, with Bre facing the 2008 recession head-on, transforming obstacles into opportunities. Networking and perseverance led her from serving tables post-graduation to breaking into the corporate world. She quickly rose through the ranks in tech sales, from Lexmark to the high-stakes environment of medical sales, and back into tech with Cisco, where she's now a leader in the public sector.

Bre’s story is a testament to the power of pivoting, networking, and embracing change. She's become an integral part of her community, mentoring the next generation of tech enthusiasts, and serving on boards that merge education, technology, and business.

www.cisco.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisco

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Currently serving as Commander of the 367th Recruiting Squadron in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Lt. Col. Somann is responsible for managing the recruiting activities of ten flights and 82 personnel, spanning a vast 450,000 square mile area over eight states in the western United States. The squadron's mission is to inspire, engage, and recruit future airmen to deliver airpower for America.

Lt. Col Somann boasts an impressive career in the Air Force, having held diverse leadership roles in Air Force Acquisitions, instruction, and recruitment. He has contributed his expertise as a staff officer at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti, and as an instructor and recruiter at both the U.S. Air Force Academy and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Notably, he has overseen the operations of a team of approximately 600 personnel as the Director of Operations for the Air Force Research Laboratory's most substantial division, responsible for Human Factors research and development.

With a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology and a Doctorate of Philosophy in electrical engineering from Purdue University, specializing in biomedical research, Lt. Col. Somann possesses an unmatched level of engineering expertise. In his previous role as the Deputy , Head of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the U.S. Air Force Academy, he oversaw the education of 1,400 students annually.

Crystal McCoy currently serves as the spokesperson for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Denver Field Division. She is a retired police officer where she spent the final years of her sworn career as the Senior Public Information Officer for the Aurora Colorado Police Department.

Her career in law enforcement began as a dispatcher in Florida before she moved to Colorado in 2001. In Colorado, she worked as a contracted dispatcher with the General Services Administration, then Captain for the armed security force under the Department of Homeland Security.

In 2005, she became a police officer for the Glendale Colorado Police Department where she served as an officer, detective, and sergeant as well as being the Terrorism Liaison Officer for the Colorado Information Analysis Center. In 2013, she continued her law enforcement career with the Aurora Colorado Police Department where she served on patrol, in the Burglary Impact Group, on the Trauma Response Team, as a Task Force Officer on the Joint Terrorism Task Force with the FBI Denver Field Division, and spent her final years before retirement in 2021 as the Senior Public Information Officer under two different chief administrations.

In addition to service in law enforcement she was a founding board member for two non-profit organizations dedicated to fallen officers and their survivors: Colorado Fallen Hero Foundation and Brotherhood for the Fallen. She received several awards and commendations in her law enforcement career. She is most proud of awards she received from the Colorado Avalanche for being the top non-profit organization multiple years in a row, the Core 4 Spirit of Community Service from the City of Aurora, and a 2019 Heartland Regional Emmy Award winning producer.

Crystal earned her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice at Central Christian College of Kansas, was born in Indiana, and now raises two young daughters with her husband in the Denver metro area

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureau_of_Alcohol,_Tobacco,_Firearms_and_Explosives

Angelique Napoleon is a Solutions Director & Cyber Capability Lead for GDIT in Washington, D.C. 

For 26 years she has supported the U.S. Government and Commercial clients in Intelligence, Cybersecurity Engineering and C-Suite capacities.

Angelique develops holistic solutions which build on the foundation for Cyber Resiliency and provides Penetration Testing, Cyber Threat Intelligence and System Security Engineering solutions to a variety of clients. 

She is an Air Force Veteran and supports mentorship programs and initiatives for transitioning Military members and their families looking to enter the Cybersecurity field. She is Co-Founder and Chairwoman of the Board for the Cybersecurity DIVAS.

Rylee Montague is a 19 year old Private in the United States Army. As a high school student, she was a triple sport athlete, an AP Scholar who took over 20 AP courses, and was a National Merit Semifinalist. Her story is inspiring. During her senior year, she passed on a four year ROTC scholarship to Harvard University because she wanted to mature before heading into school. Her story is refreshing and her commitment to her country is unwavering.  If you are looking for more details on Combat Medics in the United States Army, please follow the links below:  

https://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs/career-match/science-medicine/intensive-care/68w-combat-medic-specialist.html 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/68W

Layson works for Southwest Airlines as a Ramp Manager. Her love of airplanes started as a child. Growing up, she remembers countless memories of plane spotting when her family drove by the airport.

After high school, Layson attended college to study operations management. She worked odd jobs during her schooling—waitressing, food delivery, and even selling vacuums. Nothing captured her passion until she saw a social media post for the Southwest Airlines Emerging Leader Development Program. Although no longer offered, this leadership development program placed participants in different areas of the airline operation for 18 months, where they spent six months in three separate rotations. Layson found her passion, and a company invested in their people.

During her time in the program, Layson worked in three roles: Customer Service, Provisioning, and Ramp Agent, to learn about the operation and gain insight into how to turn an aircraft. Southwest Airlines is a rock-solid company. They’re committed to investing in their employees and providing them with opportunities for learning and personal growth.

https://careers.southwestair.com/ramp-agent-jobs-denver

Christina Collette was born on the Air Force base in Alamogordo, New Mexico. She is a third generation native to Colorado and graduated from Beer Creek High School in Lakewood. In high school, she participated in FLBA but excelled in Auto Shop as well as Wood Working.

Throughout her high school experience, she managed a Rite Aid store and once she turned 18, she moved into the Banking sector and focused her college studies on Law and Accounting. However, after 4 years in Banking, she quickly realized that both school and finance were not where she wanted to be. Banking did not bring out her passion and did not excite her. However, memories from high school of turning wrenches and working on cars in the auto shop along building and creating things with her hands in wood working continually captured her attention. So, she decided to change her career path. She took a risk and walked away from banking and got her first job with a manufacturing company. She started as a receptionist and within 9 months, became an estimating manager. From there, she became head of customer service and eventually was promoted to move out to North Caroline to help open and manage a new manufacturing facility. Throughout this experience, Christina realized that she had found her career pathway that not only allowed her to grow as a professional but also fed her passion.

From there, she managed an aerospace company giving her the opportunity to work with original equipment manufacturers such as Lockheed Martin and SpaceX. Within this role, Christina was able to help engineer new products and increase customer efficiencies while greatly reducing their scrap. During this time, one of Christina’s customers was Reata Engineering. Having already worked with Reata and knowing their reputation, when a job opening presented itself she took advantage of the opportunity and she applied.

Christina’s story in unique in that with each company she worked for, she began in an entry level position, and rose to General Manager or Director. She credits this upward mobility due to the massive opportunities that are available within manufacturing.

The Cherry Creek Innovation Campus and our students within the Advanced Manufacturing Pathway are beyond lucky to have Reata Engineering as and Industry partner  where students can participate in paid modern youth apprenticeships. These opportunities are only available because of people like Christina who are passionate about their career in manufacturing and passionate about investing in our youth. 

www.reataeng.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_manufacturing