The BreakLine Arena

Join us in the BreakLine Arena in celebration of Women’s History Month with BreakLine alum Haley Wilson. Haley shares her path from Grapevine, Texas to the Air Force Academy, where she studied Behavioral Sciences and Leadership. She then led several teams across the Air Force and in the Pentagon, and earned a Master’s in Human Factors and Industrial Organizational Psychology from Wright State. She now is the Chief of Staff to VP Product & Sales Activation at Google. Haley dives into her work-life as a recovering perfectionist, the importance of setting boundaries and sticking to them, and how teams are emboldened and ultimately more successful when they represent people from a multitude of backgrounds. Welcome, Haley, to the BreakLine Arena!

Join us in the BreakLine Arena for an authentic and insightful conversation with Matthew Prince, Co-Founder and CEO of Cloudflare. In this episode, Matthew shares his love for his hometown of Park City, Utah, the entrepreneurial journey which led to the creation of Cloudflare, as well as the challenges associated with leading in a complex and ambiguous environment.Cloudflare’s mission is to help build a better Internet. Today the company runs one of the world's largest networks, which spans more than 200 cities in over 100 countries. Matthew is a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, winner of the 2011 Tech Fellow Award, and serves on the Board of Advisors for the Center for Information Technology and Privacy Law. Matthew holds an MBA from Harvard Business School where he was a George F. Baker Scholar and awarded the Dubilier Prize for Entrepreneurship. He is a member of the Illinois Bar, and earned his J.D. from the University of Chicago and B.A. in English Literature and Computer Science from Trinity College. He’s also the co-creator of Project Honey Pot, the largest community of webmasters tracking online fraud and abuse.If you like what you've heard, please subscribe, follow, and rate our show! To learn more about BreakLine Education, check us out at breakline.org.

Join us in the BreakLine Arena for a conversation with Nima Ghamsari. From being a globally renowned online-poker player, to co-founding Blend, and to being named to Fortune’s 2020 Finance 40 under 40, Nima’s story is testament to the power of betting on yourself. Nima Ghamsari is the CEO and co-founder of Blend, a Silicon Valley technology company transforming the $40+ trillion consumer lending industry. Blend’s cloud-based technology, currently specific to mortgages, delivers speed and efficiency to lenders so they can serve the modern borrower and safely navigate the industry’s changing rules and regulations. Prior to Blend, Nima was an early employee at Palantir Technologies, where he co-founded its commercial group solving major data challenges for the financial sector. After the 2008 financial crisis, Nima worked directly with major banks and agencies to develop and implement software enabling underwater borrowers to avoid foreclosures while saving financial institutions billions of dollars.If you like what you’ve heard, please subscribe, follow, and rate our show! To learn more about BreakLine Education, check us out at breakline.org. 

Join us in The BreakLine Arena for an intimate conversation with BreakLine Alum, Audrey Stewart.Audrey is a member of the BreakLine Alumni Council, where she played a critical role in the successful launch of Apex, our vertical hyper-focused on closing the diversity gap in tech by helping high-performing people of color pivot into compelling careers within the industry.In this episode, Audrey thoughtfully shares her reflections on leadership as well as the state of diversity within the tech industry.Before joining Google, she earned her MBA from Columbia Business School, was a United States Military Academy at West Point graduate, & a nationally-ranked juniors tennis player. She is also a phenomenal chess player & a Cajun & Creole cook.Audrey spent 7 years in the US Army in the Air Defense Artillery, earning a Bronze Star. She held strategic roles collaborating cross-functionally with the Air Force & Marine Corps & deployed to Qatar, the UAE, & Iraq.After transitioning out of the Army, Audrey spent 3 years in consulting with Deloitte before BreakLine Education helped her pivot into a career at Google, leading employee engagement initiatives, including working as a Program Manager for the Annual Diversity Report.Credits: Music for this episode was provided by fellow BreakLine Alum, Gabby Allong, courtesy of Valery Kingdom Records. Featured selections include: Gift, Stuck in My Head (Remix), and Rose.

Join us in The BreakLine Arena for an intimate conversation with BreakLine Alum, Jay Staples.Jay is a member of the BreakLine Alumni Council, where he played a critical role in the successful launch of Apex, our vertical hyper-focused on closing the diversity gap in tech by helping high-performing people of color pivot into compelling careers within the industry.In this episode, Jay shares deep insights into the value and power of building community within organizations, especially as a member of an underselected group. Upon joining PayPal, Jay became an Employee Resource Group (ERG) Leader for Amplify, an internal organization advocating for Black employees at the company.Before joining PayPal, Jay had a 4.2 GPA in high school and received a full merit-based scholarship to college as a pre-med mathematics major. He is a master of the pivot and ended up graduating summa cum laude with a degree in Intelligence, Security Studies, and Analysis.He then enlisted in the United States Air Force, where he spent 6 years as an Intelligence Analyst, including gathering data for the NSA and deploying to Benghazi, Libya & Greece.Credits: Music for this episode was provided by fellow BreakLine Alum, Gabby Allong, courtesy of Valery Kingdom Records. Featured selections include: Gift, Stuck in My Head (Remix), and Rose.

Join us in The BreakLine Arena for an intimate conversation with BreakLine Alum, Jasmine "Jas" Motupalli.Jas is a member of the BreakLine Alumni Council, where she played a critical role in the successful launch of Apex, our vertical hyper-focused on closing the diversity gap in tech by helping high-performing people of color pivot into compelling careers within the industry.In this episode, Jas shares empowering thoughts surrounding the mental models we carry, as well as how diversity elevates high-performing teams to the next level.Before joining Gusto, Jas graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point and served 13 years in the Army including an assignment as a Data Analyst at the Pentagon. Jas deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and was awarded a Bronze Star and Purple Heart.As an Army Officer, she also earned a Master of Science in Operations Research from Georgia Tech prior to returning to West Point as an Assistant Professor of Systems Engineering and the Associate Director of the Center for Leadership and Diversity in STEM.Credits: Music for this episode was provided by fellow BreakLine Alum, Gabby Allong, courtesy of Valery Kingdom Records. Featured selections include: Gift, Stuck in My Head (Remix), and Rose.

Join us in The BreakLine Arena for an intimate conversation with BreakLine Alum, Deon Scott.Deon is a member of the BreakLine Alumni Council, where he played a critical role in the successful launch of Apex, our vertical hyper-focused on closing the diversity gap in tech by helping high-performing people of color pivot into compelling careers within the industry.In this episode, Deon masterfully shares the genesis of his lifetime commitment to service, both in and out of uniform. Deon's love and advocacy for Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs), in particular his alma mater, Hampton University shines through as he talks about the importance of creating pipelines of opportunity.Before joining Google, Deon spent 20 years in the Coast Guard, where he led Hurricane Harvey response efforts, including the safe rescue of more than 7,500 people.Most recently, Deon was hand-selected to assist the Biden/Harris Presidential Transition Team as the Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Policy Lead for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Agency Review.Credits: Music for this episode was provided by fellow BreakLine Alum, Gabby Allong, courtesy of Valery Kingdom Records. Featured selections include: Gift, Stuck in My Head (Remix), and Rose.

Join us in The BreakLine Arena as we share a compelling conversation with Lieutenant General Vince Stewart, former Deputy Commander, United States Cyber Command and 20th Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.In this conversation, Lt. Gen. Stewart shares lessons from his childhood as a first-generation Jamaican immigrant, the importance of mentorship and sponsorship over the course of his 38 years of service in the US Marine Corps, as well as deeper insight into the dichotomy of being a person of color in America.If you have not had the opportunity to read his moving OpEd, it can be found at: https://taskandpurpose.com/opinion/vincent-stewart-racism-black-lives-matter/If you like what you've heard, please subscribe, follow and rate our show. To learn more about BreakLine Education, check us out at breakline.org.

Join us in the BreakLine Arena for a conversation with Dr. Amy Cuddy. We dive into the power of our body language, overcoming imposter syndrome, and roller-skating tricks.  Dr. Amy Cuddy is a social psychologist, bestselling author, award-winning Harvard lecturer, and expert on the behavioral science of power, presence, and prejudice. Cuddy earned her Ph.D. from Princeton University in 2005 and was a professor at Harvard Business School from 2008 to 2017, Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management from 2006 to 2008, and Rutgers University from 2005 to 2006. She continues to teach at Harvard Business School in executive education. Her TED talk, “Your body language may shape who you are,” can be found here:  https://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_may_shape_who_you_are?language=en

Join us in the Arena with Baba Shiv. He breaks down how to leverage our physiology in order to make better decisions. Embedded in this episode are tiny tweaks we can all make to our daily lives that can profoundly upgrade our well-being.Baba Shiv has done extensive work on the emotional brain, documenting its powerful role in shaping decisions and experiences. His work includes the application of neuroeconomics to the study and practice of innovation and entrepreneurial leadership in companies, from Silicon Valley startups to Fortune 500 companies, as well as countries including India, Malaysia, and New Zealand. His work has been featured in a variety of media outlets including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, CNN, Economic Times, Fox Business, Financial Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, and Radio Lab. Baba Shiv teaches courses at Stanford GSB and the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford, including “The Frisky Science of the Mind,” “Scaling Design Thinking Globally,” and “Crafting Interventions for Massive Change.”