Her Story
About Johanna
I have been in my field for about 25 to 30 years, and I currently work as a program manager, a role I've held for approximately 10 years. I started with my current company in August of last year. My career has evolved through multiple disciplines. I began as a systems engineer with a degree in Management of Information Systems (MIS), then expanded into finance by earning a master's in finance and a master's in investments, and became a certified financial manager. I worked in finance management for about 10 years before becoming a PMP certified professional. Now I apply all three areas of expertise - engineering, finance, and program management - to my current role. I have held significant leadership positions including Chief of Staff for FEMA and operations manager overseeing 40 people. My typical day involves about 40% connecting with my team and stakeholders, and 30% executing planned activities like hosting or facilitating meetings for legal, product, program, and other stakeholders. My main responsibility is serving as a bridge between customers and leadership on one side, and technical stakeholders on the other, translating high-level customer and leadership needs into technical solutions that my team can deliver. One of my most notable achievements was planning, managing, and implementing the 5G network in Denver for Verizon, which required coordinating multiple vendors, engineers, legal, finance, procurement, municipality, and government entities.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Johanna
01What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
My mentor Chris Cholas, Senior VP at T-Mobile, showed me the way but let me make my own mistakes. He didn't want to micromanage me - he would say 'This is the way, but you do your own thing and see.' When you grow based on your own experiences and other people's experiences, that's when you really grab the knowledge out of it, whether you succeeded or failed. That approach of learning through doing, not just being told what to do, has been the most valuable lesson for me.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Do not get boxed in on one specific role. I think trying multiple roles will not just allow you to grow your skill set, but it will allow you to use what you already have, and that opens up a quest for learning. Don't be afraid that if you're not a marketing person, you have to be marketing your whole life - no. Know that there's multiple roles, multiple companies, multiple teams, because there is a learning experience along that path. The continued learning process and not being afraid to take on different roles is what will help you grow.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think the biggest challenge right now is AI. It's not like the old times when it was about gender - engineering being full of men or project management being full of women. Not anymore. Now we're competing, both males and females, against technology. What we know today is not enough, it will never be enough to compete against a computer. So what we have to know is how to use the resources and the technology that we have on hand. Use AI instead of competing with it, because we will never win. That is the challenge today - people refuse to grow with the trend, and the trend is AI. So use it to your benefit, use it to learn, know how to manage it, make it work for you instead of competing against it. It's a tool, an opportunity.
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