Summer Replay - Building and Maintaining Cultures of Innovation with Francessca Vasquez

Screaming in the Cloud

Relishing in your company’s current successes is important, but planning for the future of your business (and the wider industry) is equally vital. In this Summer Replay of Screaming in the Cloud, we’re taking you back to the post-pandemic climate of tech with the Global Vice President of the AWS Professional Services and GenAI Innovation Center Francessca Vasquez. With 20+ years of experience under her belt and thousands of customers, she knows a thing or two about thriving in the cloud. You’ll get Francessca’s insights into why companies struggle to maintain a cutting-edge work environment, the rapid pivot to the cloud amid a global pandemic, the importance of courting different backgrounds in your organization, and why the next generation of tech workers could spur unprecedented innovation. Even though COVID is seemingly in our rearview mirror, this discussion still holds weight in today.

Show Highlights:

• (0:00) Intro to episode
• (0:49) Panoptica sponsor read
• (1:30) Francessca’s role as AWS Vice President of Technology
• (2:56) Challenges of shifting company culture
• (5:38) Customer service and cloud adoption
• (9:46) The importance of legacy companies as clients
• (11:55) The pandemic’s role in cloud migration
• (14:39) Finding “untapped talent” during the pandemic
• (16:45) Courting people breaking into the industry
• (20:19) Panoptica sponsor read
• (20:42) Toxic gatekeeping in tech
• (24:29) The “real world” versus the realities of tech
• (26:43) Excitement for the next generation in tech
• (29:15) Diversity, equity, and excellence
• (32:20) How to communicate with your customers
• (40:00) Where you can find Francessca

About Guest:

Francessca is the leader of the AWS Technology Worldwide Commercial Operations organization. She is recognized as a thought leader of business technology cloud transformations and digital innovation, advising thousands of startups, small-midsize businesses, and enterprises. She is also the co-founder of AWS workforce transformation initiatives that inspire inclusion, diversity, and equity to foster more careers in science and technology.

Links Referenced:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Francessca_V
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/francesscavasquez/
• Original Episode: https://www.lastweekinaws.com/podcast/screaming-in-the-cloud/building-and-maintaining-cultures-of-innovation-with-francessca-vasquez/

Sponsor

• Panoptica: https://www.panoptica.app/