The One Where We Geek Out on Storytelling with Colleen Coll

Oct 21, 2025

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Key takeaways:

Being laid off "forced" Colleen to upskill, so that she could broaden her skill set and therefore open up more job possibilities
The importance of having a good support network - Bart Farrell encouraged Colleen to get into video editing
How to put out a great short format video? Be a great storyteller!
Even though Colleen didn't find a job as a journalist, she realized that she could still find writing jobs in other areas
Some people feel intimidated by storytelling, even when they're constantly exposed to great stories.
If you're going to be a great storyteller, you have to be a great listener.
Writing about a topic with which you are unfamiliar means putting in the time to do research and cite references. AI can help with some of the grunt work, but it won't replace crafting a well-written story.
How support from the cloud native community helped Colleen during her time being unemployed
Even with DEI initiatives going the way of the dodo, we need to keep speaking about these important topics and elevating underrepresented groups.
Having a strong community like the CNCF keeps us wanting to stay in that community.
Tell your story, because it will always resonate with someone, and it can change your life.

About our guest:

"Allow myself to introduce...myself." - Austin Powers

Ever feel like you're juggling flaming torches planning events—trying to keep all the details in the air while something’s always about to catch fire? Yep, she's been there. Events have a way of throwing curveballs, and when tech and tools aren’t playing nice, chaos can easily take over.

That’s where Colleen Coll comes in. She love turning event madness into magic. Whether it’s on-site event coverage using digital media, live reporting, or behind-the-scenes management, she makes sure everything runs like clockwork. She's also a huge fan of using There.App, which simplifies on-location event management by keeping everyone in sync and streamlining the entire process, so no detail gets lost in the shuffle.

From tech conferences to startup launches, I capture the moments that matter and keep things smooth, whether it's happening live or behind the scenes. And when she's not on the ground, she's writing—blogs, articles, and ghostwriting for tech leaders to tell the bigger story behind the event, brand, or mission.

Find our guest on:

Find us on:

All of our social channels are on bento.me/geekingout
All of Adriana's social channels are on bento.me/adrianamvillela

Show notes:

Transcript:
ADRIANA:
Hey everyone, welcome to Geeking Out, the podcast, in which we dive into the career journeys of some of the amazing humans in tech and geek out on topics like software development, DevOps, observability, reliability, and everything in between. I'm your host, Adriena Villela, coming to you from Toronto, Canada.

And geeking out with me today, I have Colleen Coll. Welcome, Colleen!

COLLEEN:
Hello. Hi, Adriana.

ADRIANA:
I'm so happy to have you on. And, you know, like, I'm pinching myself. I'm like, why did I not have you on sooner? Like.

COLLEEN:
Well, I'd just be honored. I am honored that you finally asked. But I wasn't expecting it because I was just loving it as a spectator. Because you have so many. So many interesting people talking about whatever. Even if it's tech, even if it's not tech. Just kicking out, period. And geeking out in general, in particular topics. So, when you asked me, I was like, what? So. Yeah. Thanks for having me.

ADRIANA:
Yeah. Super excited. Okay, well, I'm going to start off with, some icebreaker questions. Okay. First question. Are you a lefty or a righty?

COLLEEN:
I am a righty. Most of my partners are always lefties.

ADRIANA:
Really?

COLLEEN:
Oh, yeah. I probably shouldn't be telling everybody, but both of my husbands, both former husbands were lefties.

ADRIANA:
That is so wild!

COLLEEN:
They’re great guys. Nothing bad. We're all cool.

ADRIANA:
I got to ask, for, for a righty living with a lefty. Were there any, like, nuances that you noticed?

COLLEEN:
Okay. Now, thinking about it. I think that they were. Oh, yes, I do. I think they had better handwriting than me. So I can't I never, like, had the chance to see if that was, you know, to test that out, that theory out. But both lefties had better, way better handwriting than myself.

ADRIANA:
That's so interesting. Did you ever, have, like, did you ever did you ever notice, like, if someone's putting a knife away in a knife block or like, hanging a coat on the hanger, like the the sort of lefty nuances where it's, like,flipped around.

COLLEEN:
I should have. No, I have not.

ADRIANA:
I'm just curious because I'm the only lefty in my household. It's it's... my my husband, my daughter, and I, living together, and, I'm the only lefty, and I. I impose my will upon them.

COLLEEN:
And it has everything to do with how you, like, hang a coat. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

ADRIANA:
So I'll hang my coat and I'll hang other people's coats facing a, facing one way, like the lefty way on the coat hanger and then knives on the knife block. Oh, like if my husband puts a knife in the knife block, I'll like, reverse it. To to suit my needs.

COLLEEN:
Wait, wait, wait. Is there a difference in how you hang the toilet paper roll?

ADRIANA:
No, we agree on that one.

COLLEEN:
I think that's I.

ADRIANA:
Think, I don't know, like, they're they're they're. We might not be together if we disagreed on that one.

COLLEEN:
Just checking because I.

ADRIANA:
Do feel like, wars, wars are fought over how how one hangs toilet paper rolls.

COLLEEN:
Girl, don’t get me started. Anyways.

ADRIANA:
I love the sidebar. Okay. Did I ask you, do you prefer iPhone or Android?

COLLEEN:
Oh, I prefer, well, I don't know if I prefer, but it's. What I have had is the iPhone. But, friends of mine that have the, Androids, I mean, those are, they're fucking impressive, especially when it comes to the camera, so. I’m in video and digital, and I'm like, maybe I should switch, but I don't know. I think there's a community or maybe a cult, that if I do switch, I’ll be hunted down. I’m that paranoid. So we'll see.

But I, I like them both, but I can't. I mean, for, video and digital, anything like that. Pics. I mean, I mean, hands down the Droids, they're, they're awesome.

ADRIANA:
One of my friends who's on Android upgraded her phone recently, and she had the dopest photo of an eagle in mid-flight. And I'm like.

COLLEEN:
See?

ADRIANA:
Wut?

COLLEEN:
See? Yeah, I mean, it's just the truth, but yeah, whatever. Maybe I just have to buy a camera.

ADRIANA:
I have my, my old dSLR, gathering dust in my house. I haven't picked it up for like, five years now. I don't know if I ever told you this, but I used to be a, I was for a year, a professional photographer. So, I did family photography. I quit tech. I quit tech. Because I was, like, sick and tired of it. And I hated my job. And I hated my life so completely.

My my work life. Not my life life. And. Yeah, so I, I, I was a family photographer, and so I invested in a nice, like, I got like a full frame Canon dSLR and like, the fancy ass lenses. And I taught myself Photoshop, and I got pretty good at taking the family photos, but then I hated... I had, like, some of the nastiest clients. And that just drove me away.

COLLEEN:
I totally understand. I used to be, before I got into tech. I used to be, because I've always been in events, but I used to be on the hospitality, restaurant side, and I planned, freelance planned weddings, bar mitzvas, stuff like that. And yeah, I know how people can be.

ADRIANA:
Actually weddings like, I, I never, I never, shot weddings because I was really scared, of, like, the bridezillas and the, you can't fuck up my perfect moment. And I'm like, oh, my god, what if I miss the shot? Like, you're going to get angry.

COLLEEN:
I know this sounds completely like, cliché, but it was never the brides for me. It's always the brides’ mothers.

ADRIANA:
Oh.

COLLEEN:
I mean, yeah, but my favorite experience, my best experience was planning this, bar mitzvah for, the the, his partner, his wife was, she was a VP. She was way too busy. So she asked, her husband, this guy who's just fucking amazing, and he says, look, I want to hire you. I know what I want, but I want somebody to organize it for me.

And I was like, yeah, cool. And it was just it went off so smoothly from the planning process to the day, to a point where they wanted me to dance with them. But I'm just like, I know that’s a little unprofessional but, fuck it, I did anyway. I had so much fun! But. And there are so many, so much candy.

It's not even funny. I don't know... like, sweets, everywhere. And I know when you're that age and all those kids. And that's what you know, because, I mean, they were really partying.

But it was amazing. It was just amazing. So yeah, but I get it.

ADRIANA:
You know, it's funny though, because like, you know, you you've got like your 1 or 2 dream clients and then they kind of in some ways it kind of ruin it for you because you want all of your clients to be like that. And you're like...

COLLEEN:
Yeah... but it's all good. That's why I'm in the business. I should get out based on some of these experiences that I have had with people and planning, but maybe I'm just like a glutton for punishment because I can't stay out of it. But event plan... I, I just love it. And I love to travel and I love meeting new people. And, you know, even sometimes when those people aren't really nice.

ADRIANA:
And you're very talented at it. And I definitely want to I'm dying to dig more into into that very shortly. Okay. Next question. Are you a Mac, Linux, or Windows gal?

COLLEEN:
I am a Mac fully. I used to be. No, I'm Mac. Screw it. I just, I mean, I went to Windows for a minute, and it's nice, but when I went back to Mac. And these weren't my choices, these... based on where you work or, you know. Project is. And right now I have my MacBook Air, and I just fucking love it. And, one of the clients I have right now, because it's super privacy, kind of cyber security, they sent me, what is it?

I forget. Some kind of Windows. I think it's IBM. No, it's, Shit. I don't even know what it is. That's why I hate it. It's said Dell. Fuck that. Yeah. Dell. Yeah. It's great because I used to have it. Dell. Yeah, yeah.

ADRIANA:
I know. Dell was like, a part of my life for a long time.

COLLEEN:
Huge ass clunky thing, and and, I don't know, my fingers are just not used to the mousepad that they had. I had to, like, super like, press harder. But it was an old version, you know? But I mean, I can't I'm, I'm, I'm spoiled at the moment. Yeah. And, I'd like to stay there, but you know, I, you know, I can be bought. So I’ll go with whatever they get me.

ADRIANA:
It's funny you mentioned the the like the mouse clicking on on the non Macs because there was one job It was a semi recent job where it was a, a Windows shop. So there was no Mac for me and I was, I was so sad. And they gave me a Lenovo and I swear I spent the whole time I was there, like crying over my laptop. And just like the lack of that, like beautiful Mac experience. So I can... I for sure I feel you on the on the touchpad experience. It's just it's it's not the same. Obviously, beggars can't be choosers, but whenever I'm, you know, applying to a company, I'm like, so, do you, do you allow for Macs, do you distribute Macs to your employees?

COLLEEN:
Yes.

ADRIANA:
And if they say yes, then it's like, bonus points.

COLLEEN:
Yes, yes. I've been I've been very lucky with, some of the past companies that I've worked for and they've been Mac. But I get it, though, I, I love that I have experience with both.

ADRIANA:
Yeah. Yeah for sure for sure.

COLLEEN:
So it's it's good. I can just like, you know, adjust to anything. And that's part of being in events. You got to be that way and being a part of the community, being in media, I mean, nothing should shock you, but,

ADRIANA:
So true. Speaking of media, I've got, I've got two more questions for you. Do you prefer to consume, content through video or text?

COLLEEN:
Ooooh... video. At the moment. It's interesting because... That. Last year I really got into short form video, because I was pitching myself, and I was kind of desperate I was laid off from a year and a half ago, January 2024.

So I was just desperate to find work. And sometimes when you are desperate and vulnerable to find work, you got to upskill and find out. Oh, another way that you could pitch yourself, especially being my age and not, as you know, young and, and, I'm “seasoned”, but sometimes “seasoned” people may be a liability for some companies.

I have no idea why, but that's another issue that we can talk about. Yeah, yeah. But, yeah, I, I needed to upskill, and, my son used to do my videos for me for where I used to work, and he got this new job, and he's like, hey, mom, I don't have time for you. You need to learn.

ADRIANA:
There's the ultimate incentive. Like, sorry, buddy.

COLLEEN:
Yeah. So I said, okay, I'll do it. And I took these tutorials with Capcut and, just and just do, you know, just kind of upskill and found these, these, this information about, you know, how to boost your campaigns with video and short form video, got on TikTok, which is an addiction.

So to answer your question, to get my news, I love the short form video. And I love getting it... the alerts on my phone. And I love that if there's video with it, it's great. I love, getting the links to stories, but sometimes you have to pay for a subscription, and I don't get the full...

Yeah, but I belong to a lot of newsletters, TLDR news newsletter is where I get most of my content, whether it's Fast Company, whether it's TLDR for tech. AI lot of AI newsletters. So that's how I usually get my content.

ADRIANA:
That's very cool. It's interesting. Like, you you touched on a couple of things that I want to unpack. First of all, the short form videos, like, so for me, for me personally, I don't like videos, for consuming content. For me, it's like a last resort. And I'll, I'll always, I'll, I'll default to text when I can.

I will say, though, that, my, my daughter has gotten me into, like, Instagram Reels, like watching them. So we’ll just, like, send each other. I have, like, a circle of friends, plus my daughter, where we just, like, send each other Instagram Reels all the time. But I have this weird thing on Instagram Reels where I don't like to turn up the sound.

So I, I like to have. I prefer the reels with the captions. And so that's how I watch my reels. And if they make me turn up the sound, it’s like, nope.

COLLEEN:
Well that's funny. They do say that, Adriana, because that's how I do it. I do you well, you can't do that on TikTok. I don't think you can. But for Reels in Instagram, I just keep it quiet and do I see something funny? Then I'm like, oh, and there's certain influencers that I do want to see, especially the the comedies. I'm always like...

ADRIANA:
I love the comedy ones.

COLLEEN:
Oh yes. And they make me laugh. So there’s definitely, turning up the volume on that one. But yeah. So yeah. Okay. Video over text.

ADRIANA:
And then the other thing that I want to mention, because you said, like you, you've done some short form video, and I have to say, so first of all, I've seen your short form videos. They are super awesome. Like, just next level. And, you know, it's interesting, like, there is, it's such a different skill to produce short form video compared to long form video. And I was wondering if you could, talk a little bit, about that. Like what, that's like, what. What the differences are.

COLLEEN:
Well, coming from someone who’s dabbled as a producer and not more of the logistics part of AV, audio visual, and then getting thrown in, if you want to call it thrown in. But getting desperate and vulnerable to make sure you put... to upskill, learning this was not as hard as I thought, but to be good at it. You got to be creative and you have to be a fucking fantastic storyteller.

Now I know people throw videos together, but then there's people that tell the story, and I had to give a huge mother effing shout out to the guy that inspires me. He always does, and he's one I don't only at my son. Well, my son said, mom, I don't have time for you, but Bart Farrell is the guy. He says, Colleen,

I think you would be good at this. I think that you would be good at this. And I finally got into it and he is the f the M-F-er GOAT.

ADRIANA:
Oh my God. Like, Bart’s stuff is so good.

COLLEEN:
Yes. And I'm, I'm waiting for him to, like, not be good. And even his stuff that isn't fantastic is fucking amazing. I just, I follow him and he tells a fucking story in all of his videos, whether it's something about kickboxing somewhere or being on the floor at CNCF or anything. It does it. It's the way he shows it.

It's the way the zooms. It's the way he crowd shots, the music he uses, the close ups of the people and the slow motion of their hands. I'm like, wow, oh, I just love it. So that's my advice. You have to be a great storyteller. You can't just like, put it out there because people want to see creative and storytelling no matter what.

Even if you're not doing it through video you have and you do it through text. If you can tell a great story and it, resonates with people, you will have followers, if that's what you're looking for. I just want to put out good content that if, if, if there's a tribe of people or community people that will, will like, but it it resonates with them.

And there was a pain point. There's something that they can resolve and and I can help with that. So that's, I mean, that's my story and I'm sticking with it.

ADRIANA:
Yeah. And I think you're so spot on on on like telling the story and like because they're short form videos, like they have to be engaging. Right. Because for the first five seconds this thing's boring. Like, fuck off. I don't want to. Next up next, real.

COLLEEN:
Girl, I’m glad you said that. Because when I'm on TikTok and I'm, you know, I scroll and if somebody is going on and they don't get me into the next, like 15 seconds, I'm just like, scroll. Yeah. I mean, you gotta wow me. You know, seriously, about what you want to say. If you're selling something, you're telling a joke and sometimes even silence can tell the story just just by looking at the fucking

ADRIANA:
it's funny, because I think a lot of, like, I think YouTube and Instagram have upped the length of their of their shorts, Reels, what have you.

And even though, like on the one hand, I'm like, because I post climbing videos. Sometimes my climbing videos are over a minute. On the one hand I'm like, yay, I don't have to cut this or speed it up. On the other hand, I'm like, oh shit, now I have to watch this fucking long video. I don't want to watch it.

COLLEEN:
Well, I mean, I think the long forms can be more educational and the other ones are, if you speed it up. This was more of a promo and an advertisement. I mean, it's just how, how how you use it and but you have that community of climbers and community. I mean, you and Marino, you guys are fucking crazy. I'm not doing that.

ADRIANA:
Okay, I have a final question from the list. What is your superpower?

COLLEEN:
Oh, it’s easy. I'm a kickass storyteller.

COLLEEN:
Mostly writing. And now I'm getting into the video part of it and I want to perfect that.

ADRIANA:
Nice.

COLLEEN:
That is my biggest superpower. My second is I throw great parties.

ADRIANA:
Right on.

COLLEEN:
And even when I'm older now and I'm like, can I just have theme parties, like all the time? My last big theme party was when I turned 54, two years ago, and I had a studio 54 party. And I just came up with the idea.

So I had about a hundred people come to this party and it was amazing. It was amazing. So yeah, I don't know how I'm going to be, keep doing that, because I’m getting a little tired. And if I do, it’ll be smaller versions. But yeah, that's my superpowers.

ADRIANA:
That's so cool. And I gotta ask, like, how did you get into, like, the storytelling first with the writing and then transitioning into video? You alluded a little bit to the video part, but how how did you get with the writing?

COLLEEN:
Well, it's this is funny. I actually my, my major in college was journalism. Yeah. And, I loved writing. I remember being in high school and I wanted to write for the paper, and they were looking for people to review, music. And this is back in the 80s. Damn it. So I reviewed Run-DMC. Which one was at the time the one that they had, Walk This Way on it and, and it was like, maybe 500 words.

I got sort of popular for reviewing music. So I decided when I went to go to college, I'm going to major in journalism, blah, blah, blah. I love writing. Those classes were, wow, I mean, you if you had two errors or grammar, whether it's grammar, spelling or anything, you get an instant F.

Just they, I mean, they, they really put like a lot of stress. But when I graduated, I couldn't find a fucking journalism job if my life depended on it. And if I did, it paid nothing. Not a goddamn thing.

But no, I struggled, but I did. This is what I figured out is that whatever I got into, whether it was marketing or, business strategy or whatever, that was available, they needed writers. And then I just, then I became a speech writer for events, and and it just, just kept going and going. But I focused on event planning, project management and, and just just straight up marketing and how to promote product services and shit like that, and loyalty programs for restaurants.

I worked in health care, but people love when you know how to write, because there's... a lot of people just don't.

ADRIANA:
It I feel like it's a lost art form to a certain extent because there's, there are like especially in, in tech. So I, my, my degree is in industrial engineering. And one of the prerequisites of my program was, in my first year, we all had to take a technical writing course. Everyone like groaned about it and like, fuck, technical writing is hard.

But I do appreciate... as as hard as it was. And I was like, used to writing prose, and I was like pretty good at, at English class and kicked ass with the essays and all that. But, you know, like, technical writing is so fucking dry, so precise. But anyway, it taught me an appreciation for for that form of writing, especially like when it comes to documentation, but just in general, like I, it it's sad that there aren't enough good writers in tech, because I think we really, really need them.

COLLEEN:
I think sometimes the expectation, I think some people are intimidated by it. Because some of the people that I've, I've met in tech are incredible storytellers. I just think that they just don't see themselves as that. And it's, most of these people read... read comic books, watch movies that are very great, the storytelling, you know, on steroids.

They just really need to have the confidence to do that. And then the ones that do you see them as influencers, whether they have podcasts or they're just writing stuff. Justin Garrison, and YOU. Hello. And, yeah. And Tim Banks is a great storyteller. I mean.

ADRIANA:
Oh, yeah.

COLLEEN:
And then Kelsey Hightower, when he just... he's a great storyteller. No, not only in his writing, whether it's, social media post, but when he gets on stage, he whether it's scripted or not, he doesn't look like he's scripted. And he tells a story that always comes back to what the topic is. That is so easy and difficult for certain people, because they're intimidated by it. And some people are naturals at it and some people can learn it. And what I like to do is I like to be the producer of it. A lot of people think that I have this camera and whatever, and I'm like, they're like, oh, you're an influencer. I'm like, hell fucking no, I'm not.

I’m the last person. Nothing wrong with the influencers. The ones who get, do it, do it right. I'm following you. But I am the producer. I like to tell the story with my camera. And if I'm in it, like, for a minute. This is me. This is. This is my signature. Me being in.

People ask me, Colleen, don’t you want to be interviewed? I'm like, no. No. The only time I would like to be, if I'm doing the interviewing, I will stand there. Whatever. But I consider myself as a producer, and that's how I tell my story. But you're right. Tech writing is not easy. But there's specific parts of writing. There's the creative. And you can do that in tech and then the things that you really need to not fuck up with, like the documentation when you're doing tech writing, whether it's for coding or whatever.

But even before I got into tech, I was writing, NIH grants for people, because I used to be in biotech, for a lot of research assistants. And you're trying to get money, you know, for their, their cause. I know a lot of, you know, a lot of it had to do with, you know, curing cancer.

So you have to be like. And then those instructions for NIH grants. Oh, my God. I mean, if I can survive that, I am the best project manager on this planet.

And you find some other people who were project managers for NIH grants, and they will tell you. They, I mean, it's just like, it's just another life. It's like being in another, like in the matrix and stuff. But that's how I got my whole brain of how to do, how to separate creative storytelling and documentation and project management that's straight up.

Yeah, whatever. And then combining the two. I hope I explained that right. But it's, it's it's good. And I never really noticed how awesome it was for me in the future, because when I got laid off and I just thought, okay, I'm just looking for something, event planning, event planning. And people ask me, well, can you write? Can you ghost write? I'm like, yeah, I guess I could, and now I'm doing more of that than I am event planning, and I fucking love it. I went back to my roots.

ADRIANA:
I love that so much. I have to say, like, by the way, mad skills. You know, you mentioned that you have have done speechwriting and I feel like that requires some mad skills because you have to write the speech in a way that conveys the voice of the person delivering the speech.

COLLEEN:
Yeah. And I'm glad you mentioned that, because some people can be a natural at it, if you know what you're doing. I'm a natural at it because I sit and I listen to people, and that's a fucking art these days because I know when to shut the fuck up. I you all know who I'm talking about.

But one of the things, if you're going to be a great storyteller, you need to shut the fuck up and just listen. This this, gig that I have right now is, there's a, one of, the VPs was asked to be a co-presenter, and, at one of these sessions at IBM Tech Exchange, and, one of the strategies is to put together... What one of the projects put together a social media strategy, you know, pre, during and post to make him like, this is awesome.

We want people to go to this session. And they're like, oh, Colleen, can you write content? I'm like, yeah. And I can write some thought leadership pieces and stuff like that. And I'm like, I, do you know, Robert? I was like, no, I don't know, Robert. But this is what I'm going to do with Robert. I'm going to sit down.

I'm going to have a one on one with Robert, and I'm going to ask him, brainstorm what is his expectation? I'm going to look at him. I'm going to listen to it, I’m going to listen to his tone. I'm going to listen how he explains what the topic is on this session, and I'm just going to listen and I'm just going to watch. And that's how I get the tone. That's an art, and I'm really good at it.

ADRIANA:
Yeah, I was going to say, like, easier said than done. I'm sure like to be able to really capture.

COLLEEN:
People are paying me for it. So I'm getting all these like people I've heard and they're like, Colleen, I need for you to go write this for me. You know, thought leadership is like, yeah, yeah.

ADRIANA:
You're a chameleon, I love it.

COLLEEN:
Did I mention I like money?

ADRIANA:
I was going to mention the, I guess the other aspect of, of, what you're doing, too, is like, not only conveying that person's voice, but writing about things that you might not necessarily be, like, super familiar with, either, I would imagine.

COLLEEN:
That's where the journalism background comes in. Because and, and not a lot of people have that. And yes, AI is great. LLMs, thank god, they save me a lot of work. But if you don't know how to capture, something that you don't know about, by not doing the research and not looking like you don't know what the fuck you're talking about, not knowing how to cite where you got your information and all that other stuff.

Yeah, I mean, eventually AI will probably get better at it, but I can see it from a mile away. And a lot of people, other people will. But not only that, I can see that AI, if it's straight up and it's not crafted, if you do AI, what saves me a lot of is the research part of it.

I have to find where I'm going to find it. I know where to find it, I read it, I make sure that this is, being a journalist, that whatever I found is valid. Yes. Yeah. Because you never, don't ever want to get caught. You know, you go viral that you're an asshole. But, no, it's just that's where I differ... is I have a journalistic background where I know how to get that information.

It's easy for me now. So I, well I don’t want to say easy. It's quicker, so I can be more productive in putting out more, information.

ADRIANA:
And isn't it cool how, like, things that you've done in the past end up playing such a huge factor in your present, right?

COLLEEN:
It is very cool. And I'm glad you said that, because I had no idea. I love being event planner. My goal right until last year was to go global with conferences. I love the CNCF. I love being in that community, but now I have this new thing I just never thought I would get back to and I love.

I realize how much I love writing and now I'm realizing how I can combine it to what my goals were. To be in on site media coverage. And now using video.

And one of the things that I don't want to lose, and I'm sorry if I this is not part of your your questions, but, how do I say this? Not being in the community as an employed individual last year, was seriously, heartbreaking. It was mentally fucked up for me, because I felt like I was like kicked out of a club. But not intentionally.

Me trying to get back in, you know, like in high school and shit. And, what I discovered, is meeting people like you and people like Marino and all these other awesome people, Bart, making sure that I don't get lost. Like, hey Colleen. Whether they're telling me about, you know, job opportunities or project opportunities and freelance. I mean, I, I've had the opportunity when people heard that I was looking for Tech Field Day, to, Futurum Group, to Visible Impact.

All these people asking me to do stuff. Yeah. And Bart, and and and and, the Marinos and even Tim and and everybody just just letting me know. Colleen, we got your back. That is something I hope that the CNCF community keeps. because they do it well when they do it well. And, I still want to be in that in some way or fashion.

I know things are changing. Don't get me started with this new current administration. When things change, whether you're especially being a woman and a person of color, how we we keep in the mix and we don't stray away from that. And I'm going to keep being an activist for it, even though some people don't think that I should.

But, fuck it. That's how I’m built. I can't keep quiet when things like that are important. When you roll back things that worked and kept people like us in the mix having those opportunities because you, oh my God, you were just so great. And I'm always going to be your cheerleader. You, Autumn Nash, and a bunch of other women in tech and and women of color.

But when I saw that what was going on in the rollbacks, I was like, oh no, no, no, we're not doing this.

ADRIANA:
Yeah, yeah. And that's why it's so important. Like, honestly, it's one of the reasons why I keep doing the podcast, is I want to keep elevating, you know, underrepresented groups, people who like, you know, DEI haters shit on just because we're not we don't look like what, what whatever, whatever that stereotype is. And we need to keep just keepin’ on.

And I really appreciate you like, talking about these things and even, you know, what you were saying, the feeling of of being unemployed, and and feeling like you were, like, out of the club kind of. And I think having those conversations is really important because we, we often seem the sort of, like, cheery, you know. Oh, well, you know, I'm looking for my next opportunity and it's, you know, I see this as a great opportunity for blah blah, which is awesome to have that like, positive outlook, but like, let's face it, we're human.

This shit hurts. It hurts. It feels like rejection. Even if it's, you know, like, can't be helped for whatever reason. It still is so shitty. And I think having a place where people can freely talk about it and just like, let their feelings go is so important.

COLLEEN:
People are scared of change. And I get it. But, because they've never experienced it before. You can't. Just because everything is working for you. Not. Well, forget about other people who are probably going through something. And I had people were like, oh, Colleen, you should smile more or, you know, don't get so... don't give up something will come.

I'm like, I know that, I said, but I really appreciated the other people. People that would like, oh, man, I'm I'm so scared. You know, I don’t know if I'm going to find something. And these people just shut the fuck up and let me say what I had to say. And then just gave me a fucking hug. And I always will appreciate that.

So when this happens to when I know that if I see it happening with other friends, I will never. If they reach out to me, ever, ever treat anybody the way I've seen others do. You know, get ghosted, or don't even acknowledge them or just play them off like, oh, don't worry, you know, I mean, people like you said, people are human and that is some serious shit to get through.

And Microsoft with their layoffs and I'm sure there's going to be more. So, but I want to be a community. I want to be in that community of people to help. Whether I repost something, if you just want to talk to me, and I'll try, even though I'm probably not in your space at all, but I'm going to be that person. And sometimes that's not being popular.

I don't give a fuck if I'm popular anymore, if I have something to say. So I know you all. Or if somebody watching this. You know who I'm talking about. I will always advocate for everyone in need, especially people, women and persons of color, especially in the tech community.

ADRIANA:
Yeah, absolutely. And I so appreciate everything that you do. Like your your work is incredible. And I, you know, I, I'm, I'm so lucky we got connected. And it's funny too, how we got connected. I want to say it was like sometimes, sometime last year you reached out to me, because you were helping out with, State of Open Con, right?

And uh, like, hey, can you do, like, a a quick episode with Amanda Brock to promote State of Open Con? I'm like, oh.

COLLEEN:
That's right. And I didn't even know. I was just so happy there was some woman, there's a woman of color that was doing podcasts in tech because I don't see that often. And I was like, oh my god, that's wonderful. And Amanda, you know, being a woman and all her hard work for State of Open Con. I mean, I love being in that, in that space.

I'm just so happy. And you, you went out of your way to do it even though because I know, you know, it was last minute. But, you know, that's media.

Yeah. So that's how we met. And then I heard I saw that you were connected to, you know, my folks, like Marino Tim. And, and then I met, some more people, via you. And we saw each other. I think I was open source in Seattle or somewhere I can.

ADRIANA:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, we run in a lot of the same conference circles, right? Yeah. I know it's such a treat when I see you around. I'm like, oh, there's Colleen doing her thing! Yay!

And then like, next thing you know the videos are out and you're like, oh damn. That was fast! Those videos are really good. And that was so fast.

COLLEEN:
So yeah, I, I just love this community. And and I'm glad that the majority love me back. You know, for sure.

ADRIANA:
I know we're, we're kind of coming up on time, but really quickly, I did want to talk, briefly about, if you can, quickly talk about how you got into the CNCF community.

COLLEEN:
Oh, this is fantastic. When I got my job, through The New Stack, that was one of my first jobs after, Covid. Well, actually, it was during Covid, and I. I just lost my job in biotech. And I was looking. And then, don't you know, Covid happened, so I'm just like, whatever. And, The New Stack hired me, and they hired me as a producer, a digital person, and they're like, okay, Colleen, we got it.

Even though it was virtual. You need to plan this, you know, this and that, because we need to plan our interviews or podcast with CNCF. I'm like, what the hell is this? Yes. Yeah. And I met Chad and all these other media people and I'm like, and they were so welcoming. And I just got I got thrown into it, but not in a negative space.

I mean, in a way. It was just awesome. And this huge community of people I got to meet like Stephen Augustus and, and and Priyanka and all these other people, like. And I was seeing women in spaces that I've never seen before, and I just loved it. So that's how I got into it. And and then when I went to a small startup called the Duckbill Group, same people, and always attached.

Everybody knows each other. Just like a huge family. So that's how I got into it. That's why I don't ever want to leave.

ADRIANA:
Oh my God, I love it, I love it. We definitely want you! We are coming up on time and I know you have to go. So before we part ways, do you have any words of wisdom for folks in our audience in the spicy, non spicy, whatever flavor you want.

COLLEEN:
I don't want people to give up, their stories. Try to be as, as the best storyteller of your own story, as, as and put it out there as fast as you can, because, you never know what's going to happen. And it always it will resonate with someone else. And it could change your fucking life. Tell your story.

ADRIANA:
I love that. Oh, that's so wonderful. Thank you so much, Colleen. This has been an absolute pleasure. And I'm so glad that we, got a chance to do this. So thank you for geeking out with me today, y'all. Don't forget to subscribe and be sure to check the show notes for additional resources and to connect with us and our guests on social media. Until next time.

COLLEEN:
Peace out, geek out!

ADRIANA:
Geeking Out is hosted and produced by me, Adriana Villela. I also compose and perform the theme music on my trusty clarinet. Geeking Out is also produced by my daughter, Hannah Maxwell, who, incidentally designed all of the cool graphics. Be sure to follow us on all the socials by going to bento.me/geekingout.