In Episode 70 of Razorleaf’s Stay Sharp podcast, Farewell to Jen, co-host Jonathan Scott says goodbye and thank you to departing co-host Jen Ferello, who’s moving on to her dream position at Siemens. Jonathan also welcomes his new co-host, Razorleaf’s VP of Marketing, Juliann Grant, who is no stranger to Stay Sharp, having been running things behind the scenes since the beginning. In honor of Jen’s last episode, the trio talk about where the podcast started and how it’s grown, what Jen’s learned from being part of the effort, and what’s been the most fun along the way.
Jen’s Reflections on Stay Sharp
The first part of the discussion centers on how far the Stay Sharp podcast and Jen herself have come since it began 70 weeks ago. “We started with audio,” Jen explains. “Matter of fact, I would caution anybody: When someone says to you, hey, would you like to help out? Make sure you’re clear on what ‘help out’ means.” She laughs, adding, “I said I’ll help out with a podcast, and then I was co-host. And then we moved from audio to video. That’s a leap.”
Jen then reflects on what she’s learned through scores of interviews. Obviously, that included a lot about the digital product industry and about the importance of data. But more, she learned was to not be afraid of things. As Jonathan says, “The podcast has made you fearless. I love it. That should be a pitch to all our listeners who are thinking about giving us ideas and coming on the podcast even. Hey, it’s good. Get over your fears.”
What’s Been the Most Fun
“I would say that the most fun is basically the interaction,” Jen says, “whether it’s with Juliann behind the scenes, wither it’s with our guests as we’re prepping them.” For her, it’s the people involved who fed her love of how people interact with, create, and are impacted by technology. “It’s why I do what I do. Generally speaking, I have been in sales, business development, and creating relationships around technology,” she explains. “It makes sense that people are the most interesting—they’re the most diverse and the hardest to put your finger on as far as how they affect technology and our adoption of technology.” Jonathan agrees, chiming in, “We deal with people, process, data, technology. But you know which one has the humor to it? The people. The data, the process, the technology—not so funny on their own.”
Jen winds back to almost the beginning with an example of behind-the-scenes fun: the team’s effort to name the podcast. Regular listeners will be amused to hear that Jen’s favorite contender never saw the light of day, until now—perhaps with good reason. It’s a long way from “Gin, Lipstick, and All Things Digital” to “Stay Sharp,” but the trio agrees that they ultimately settled on the right label and approach.
What’s Ahead This Year
With Jen’s departure, there will obviously be some changes to the weekly show. To start with, Juliann and Jonathan will be the new “J” duo in charge—and it remains to be seen how long Jonathan will refer to Juliann as “NextGen Jen” or “NextJen.” In addition, per Juliann, the podcast name will change slightly, “just to say ‘Stay Sharp in Digital Engineering’ because people had some confusion about searching for the podcast.” In addition, Jonathan and Juliann will make a variety of tweaks to generate more engagement and conversation with their audience. “Because honestly,” Juliann says, “We don’t want to do this without our audience, and we really would appreciate people’s input on either topics you want to hear about or guests you’d like us to have on.”
As for Jen, she’ll still be findable on LinkedIn and at industry conferences. Her new position at Siemens will see her returning to the component software space, where she spent most of her career. She notes, “Component software is selling pieces of software that other companies—independent software vendors—use to build applications.” Siemens creates Parasolid, the world’s leading geometric solid modeler, which is “the math under all the engineering software that people know—it’s really fun math,” Jonathan explains. Jen will create long-term development partnerships for Siemens. “For me,” she says, “it’s a great combination of technology and people.”
Learn More About What to Expect for Stay Sharp
The full podcast contains more discussion and details on a variety of topics, including what Jen got wrong about Additive Manufacturing, her challenge to the audience to identify the company that started out as “Flying Moose Software,” whether or not you’ll see her again on the podcast, and more.
Check out the full conversation in Stay Sharp Episode 70: Farewell to Jen, and join us each week for a new podcast.
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