The Buzz with ACT-IAC
The Buzz with ACT-IAC
Voyager Voices: Stories of Growth and Impact
In this special live edition of The Buzz, hosted by Yohanna Baez from Jammin Java in Vienna, Virginia, the focus is on Voyager Talks, celebrating the achievements of the ACT-IAC Voyagers program. The event highlights the importance of collaboration between government and industry, featuring professionals from the program and supporting Canines for Warriors. The episode includes an interview with Annabelle Garcia, Capture Manager at Evans Incorporated, discussing her presentation, experiences, and challenges as a bilingual professional. Insights into the Voyagers program's impact on her career, networking, and the importance of stepping out of one’s comfort zone are also shared. The conversation wraps up with advice for future applicants and an open invitation for networking and support.
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Intro/Outro Music: See a Brighter Day/Gloria Tells
Courtesy of Epidemic Sound
(Episodes 1-159: Intro/Outro Music: Focal Point/Young Community
Courtesy of Epidemic Sound)
Yohanna: [00:00:00] Hello everyone, and welcome to a very special live edition of The Buzz. I'm your host, Yohanna Baez, and tonight we're coming to you from Jamin Java, a fantastic music club and a bar coffee shop right here in Vienna, Virginia.
Annabelle: Voyager. How are we feeling?
Yohanna: We are here for Voyager Talks, a signature event celebrating the creativity, knowledge, and leadership of this year's Voyager class. I. A group of professionals at the very forefront of collaboration between government and industry. Tonight is all about showcasing how these partnerships drive real impact for the American people, while also supporting an incredible cause Canines for Warriors, which provide service dogs to veterans in need.
Yohanna: For those unfamiliar, the uh, act IAC Voyagers program is a leadership development initiative. Designed for rising leaders in government and industry, [00:01:00] high potential professionals preparing to take on the next level of leadership. It's all about shaping the future of collaboration, innovation, and impact.
Yohanna: And what an incredible energy in the room. The creativity, the teamwork and sheer talent on display tonight is truly inspiring. I've seen some fantastic group presentations, uh, during rehearsals, and now I am sneaking to the green room to chat. Um, I'm going to step away from the crowd and start moving into a quieter space.
Yohanna: So joining me now is. Okay.
Annabelle: Annabel Garcia, capture manager at Evans Incorporated. What
Yohanna: is your
Annabelle: presentation for
Yohanna: today
Annabelle: on stage? So today we are doing audits. So
Yohanna: very dry subject, um, but we're doing our best. So you guys are gonna make it funny? Yes. Can an audit be funny? Talking about [00:02:00] audits is very hard to be funny when talking about audits, but we're trying to do our best, so yeah, that's okay.
Yohanna: Do you feel nervous at all? Or are you more excited than that? Of course.
Annabelle: Yeah. No, I'm very nervous because this is my thing. English is not my first language, so when I have to talk in front of people, I get
Yohanna: stressed out. I know it. No, it doesn't matter. But my brain, yeah, it starts. Flipping, you know, so it's a lot of like translating.
Yohanna: Yeah. So I start translating word, is it the same word in
Annabelle: Spanish? Yeah. So like really being in front of an audience. Like my worst nightmare. Yeah. So it's okay, but you get
better,
Yohanna: but, but you get better with practice, right? Yeah. Yeah.
DMI AD: Do you need the sear? I do for a second. Okay, cool. I do apologize.
Yohanna: No, it's okay.
Yohanna: It's okay.
Yohanna: Yeah, I think, I think I'm liking it. The. I don't know what the part is, but you're [00:03:00] looking at it. So
the part is master of Ceremonies. The part excuse
Yohanna: for our listeners, we're in the Green room of Jam and Java here in Vienna, uh, Virginia for the Voyager talks. So you'll hear a lot of folks in the background.
Yohanna: There's pizza came into the room, there's food and drinks. People are getting ready for their presentation. When you think about your. Your, uh, career so far and being a capture manager. Yeah. What are some things that folks don't really understand when it comes to like what you're doing?
Annabelle: How hard it really is.
Annabelle: Um, working with the federal government is not as easy as people think. Um, especially because sometimes it's very, it's a lot of a one way thing, you know, so it's very easy for the government to reach out to you, but it's very hard for you to reach. Out to the government. So when you are a capture manager, you have to find out a lot of information, get a lot of [00:04:00] intel on opportunities that are coming out on, you know, all the, everything around that opportunity, that requirement.
Annabelle: And it requires a lot of research and it requires a lot of contact with people from government that you hardly ever get. Yeah, so it's very hard. It's very sales oriented and it, the competition is brutal. Yeah. So it's, it's difficult. Yeah. It's a difficult job. Yeah.
Yohanna: And comparing that with your time with the Voyager class Yes.
Yohanna: Class of 2025, how has that helped you be more competitive? Be more aggressive out there, understand what it is that the government's actually maybe looking for. Um, talk about your time with the Voyager.
Annabelle: Yeah, well definitely with connections it's helped a lot. 'cause you know, you get so many people that you start getting close to that you otherwise wouldn't, right?
Annabelle: So you build these connections with these amazing people. Uh, you get in contact with them, you just talk all the time constantly, and you share ideas. You share information. That sometimes you don't get access to. Yeah. And [00:05:00] selflessly, you know, people just share. Yeah. You know, so, um, I, I will, I would say that it's been very beneficial.
Annabelle: I don't know if it's gonna be like a, you know, wow, this is like the, the, you know, the magic tool to. To do this, but it's definitely a step in the right direction and it really helps all of us. You know, you also get access to people from government that gives you some, some insight that they're allowed to give.
Yohanna: Yeah.
Annabelle: Uh, although with this just, you know, in this times it's been harder. Yeah. Because they're not allowed to. But, um, but at this week, we. Connect with each other and we help each other out. So. Exactly.
Yohanna: I think connections and networking is something crucial. For sure. Also with the Voyager program, it's, it's kind of like what you put in is what you kind of get out of it.
Yohanna: Yes. So it feels as if you understand like, this might not be the big thing, but it's somewhere and I'm going somewhere, somewhere I'm doing something, I'm, you know, you're in the right direction. That's what I've been hearing a lot. Yes. Even with the associates. Yes. Um, that I've been interviewing as well.
Yohanna: Um, when you think about collaborating, you mentioned how, you know, [00:06:00] some folks are kind of generous, et cetera. Like collaboration tends to be, like, it lends itself to that collaborating. You have to kind of be a little bit, you know, generous and generosity, et cetera. What do you think about, uh, your time with collaborating with, you know, private sector, public sector, government, et cetera?
Yohanna: So, with the Voyager
Annabelle: specifically, it's been, it's been really great. You know, like, um, we actually. Just to give you an example, we have a chat group, a WhatsApp group. So we just talk about a million things in that group. You know, like we don't really have to wait for, um, a meeting or we don't have to wait for an upside.
Annabelle: We just really talk to each other. And if we have a question, uh, especially like guys from the government are open to answer it on the group chat, you know, if they can, if they're allowed to. Um. And same thing with other companies, you know, so with other businesses that we may have access to or not. So it's really, it's been really great.
Annabelle: Yeah.
Yohanna: Okay,
Annabelle: good. Yeah.
Yohanna: Back in the green room, [00:07:00] we caught people in the moment right before their presentations, writing that wave of the unknown nervousness. Excitement, some jitters, but now we have the space to step back and reflect, get some background information and continue that conversation with no humming or buzzing.
Yohanna: Just an open dialogue about their journey, any lessons they've learned and what comes next. We touched on their experience in the green room, but now we get to hear the fuller story. Let's dive in.
Yohanna: So we're back now and we are a little bit quieter. We're doing a much, um, a much quieter interview. How are you doing, Annabelle? I'm doing great. How about you? I'm doing good. I think you guys did a great job with Jam and Java. How did you think that that ended up?
Annabelle: Oh, thank you. We had really heard really good stuff.
Annabelle: We had good reviews, I think. I think, I think people had fun. That was the main goal, you know, so [00:08:00] just for people to have
Yohanna: fun. Great, great, great. What I'd like to do is kind of go back and go before you started, you know, before you joined the program, um, could you maybe just share a brief overview of your background and how your career journey began?
Annabelle: Sure, like, I think I mentioned this before, but my, my background is pretty, uh, diverse is, is eclectic. So, um, I have been working in sales in my earlier, earlier years and then moving to banking, uh, retail. Then I did while I was in school, when I was doing my MBA, I went into international business and did some work in France and Spain, and after that I was looking into getting into the federal sector.
Annabelle: So I started working for, um, companies that do federal government, uh, contracts. So that's how I started in this business. That was about seven years ago. I did, I work initially with a company in cybersecurity. [00:09:00] Uh, clinical research. So it's, it's very diverse. Right. And then I got into Evans, uh, about a year and a half ago.
Yohanna: Okay, great. Yeah. What inspired you to apply for the ACT iac, uh, professional Development voyages program?
Annabelle: Oh, actually it was my boss who suggested it. Um, I have the, the luxury of having a boss that is very, you know, she, she really loves having her employees. Doing a lot of professional development and she really inspires us to do that.
Annabelle: So she is the one who told me about it. Uh, she promoted me and then she told me to go for it, and I applied. So I wasn't really very familiar with Aya quite yet. I was, but more, more of just like attending events and things like that. But. I wasn't aware of this program until she mentioned it, so, um, yeah, so she's the one who actually introduced me to it.
Yohanna: Smart Boss. Shout out to your boss who has vision, vision for, you know, succession [00:10:00] planning, for having a deep bench, having people, you know, surrounding herself with people that are all knowledgeable. You know, that's, that's smart.
Annabelle: Yes. Yeah, I, I give her a lot of prompts for that because she's, she's very, very into.
Annabelle: Her team. So
Yohanna: when I think about the Voyagers program, I think about the ideas of folks starting that are like in. In the middle of their career, like mid-career folks. Were there any gaps in your career that you hope the program would help you address?
Annabelle: Yeah, yeah. Well, so maybe for me, this is a little bit different than for the rest of the voyagers.
Annabelle: The reason being, um, I have been in this country for about 26 years. I went to school here. I did my bachelor's here, my MBA here. But I started at a later age, right? So probably I'm one of the oldest people at vo. At Voyagers. Um, what that means is that most people at my age are probably in higher positions at the director level.
Annabelle: Um, but because I came to [00:11:00] this country late, right? So I have that gap, right? That generational gap a little bit. Um, I don't think it's a, I don't think it's a, it's been a problem. I just think it's just. The way it is, it's just a gap right in, in terms of generations. So I would say that that's what it is.
Annabelle: Probably it's more, uh, challenging for me to mix with the Voyagers crew just because of the generational gap, you know? So, um, I think that that's what I have encountered. Um, I also don't live very close. To everybody else. So that's another gap that I've had there. Um, but you know, it, it's just challenges, but you overcome them and you do the best that you can.
Annabelle: Right. So it hasn't been a negative experience at all. It's just that I can sense the difference. Right.
Yohanna: Yeah, for sure. That's great. Yeah. So you sense it, you see it,
Annabelle: and then you work on it. The, the guys, everybody at Voyagers are very welcoming and really they, I probably pay more attention to that than they do, you know [00:12:00] what I'm saying?
Annabelle: And just because I'm conscious of it. Yeah. But it's, it's been great. It's been a great experience overall.
Yohanna: That's great. So it sounds like your initial impressions of the program were positive. Were there any aspects that maybe surprised you?
Annabelle: You know, no. I mean, well, surprised me what surprised everyone and it's just the current environment in, in the government, but that was just a surprise for everybody.
Annabelle: Right. But, uh, as for the program, I think I was expecting a lot of what we've got. I think it's very involved. I think it's more involved than I was, than I was actually expecting. Uh, it's a very, you know, strong time commitment. Um, so I was not expecting that it was gonna be that complex. I. But, um, but at the same time it's been a great learning experience, you know, and I love learning, so I don't think it's been a negative in any way.
Annabelle: It's just that you have to put into what you wanna get out of it. Absolutely. Absolutely.
Yohanna: I agree. [00:13:00] I agree.
DMI AD
Yohanna: Um, were there any skills or lessons that you learned from collaborating with your peers, like across government and across, you know, industry sectors and stuff?
Yohanna: Were there any skills that you were able to take away immediately?
Annabelle: Um, yeah, I think, um, well for sure, public speaking is one. It's one of my main problems if, if I can say it, or challenges, you know, and, and I think I told you this because I'm bilingual, so I just, I'm always conscious of when I'm gonna speak in front of people.
Annabelle: I think public speaking is one. [00:15:00] Um. Also I have gotten better at networking. And that's just because just communicating with everybody, sharing stories, you know, just sharing experiences with all these guys coming from very different backgrounds, from very different, not industries, but um, you know, we all have different core capabilities in our company, so it's different for all of us.
Annabelle: But yeah, I think networking and. Public speaking have been the, the main ones.
Yohanna: So talk to me more about your group and your, and your coach. How was that experience like? Have you kept up with them? Oh, okay. Like my, my flight
Annabelle: crew, you mean? Right. So, um, yeah. Okay. We have, we are divided into flight crews, right?
Annabelle: So it's four of us for each flight crew and one coach. Um, well, we actually have two coaches. One that is for the flight crew, and then we all have a personal coach. That we are assigned to for our flight crew. It, we had a great team, you know, we [00:16:00] always communicated, we had very good, uh, feedback, one from another, you know, just help each other.
Annabelle: We were, we really worked great as a team. Um, we were very responsible into everything that we had to do. Um, and our coach for the flight crew was always very involved up until the point that she couldn't, and that's just because of the government situation. Right. But, uh, she was very involved and very open to talk to us and to help in e every time she could.
Annabelle: Um, in terms of my personal coach, he's been great, really. Um, we have a very open line of communication. Uh, we are supposed to meet specific times during the program, but we have met more than the specific times. You know, he's very open to that. So we can, I can just email him if I have a question or call him.
Annabelle: Um, and he calls me as well if he has something for me. And he's been very open. I have asked him for a lot of advice, which he's been more than willing to give me. [00:17:00] So it, it's been really good. It's been really good. It's very nice to have somebody I. That you can talk to when things are going in a way that you don't expect, you know, or when we have doubts or questions or you don't feel prepared to do something.
Annabelle: So it, it is been, it's been great. That's great. That's,
Yohanna: that's really good to hear that you have a, that you've developed a solid, you know, group of people and been building on your network. Yes, for sure. So Annabelle, you were about a couple of months away from graduating the program. How has it been so far?
Yohanna: And also I kind of wanna talk about Jam and Java. How did that go?
Annabelle: Sure. So Jam and Java was fun. Um, it was actually, I. More fun than I was expecting. You know, like we were all really nervous because this is, this is more like a, like a show than, than a presentation or, and we're just all so used to do serious stuff, right?
Annabelle: Just like presenting papers and projects and things like that and talking about important things. So this was really a fun project to do. Um, the [00:18:00] preparation with my team was great. We had a great, it's not the same team as you have throughout the, throughout the program, so they put you in a different separate team.
Annabelle: Um, and my team was great. We worked really well together. We were on time for everything. Uh, came up together with our skit and with everything we had to do, it was, it was really fun. You know, it was really fun to see all the groups doing different things, um, and just really relaxing, you know, like just doing something that in the middle of so much chaos that's going on and, and it was just a fun, fun time to have.
Annabelle: So, um, we, I mean, I feel, I felt more confident than I felt throughout the preparation of the, this kid. So. It was fun. It was good. I think ev, all the teams did great. Uh, I really laugh with some of them, so I hope everybody did the same, but it was, it was just a fun project. It really was. That's good. Great.
Yohanna: So one question I like to ask folks that go through our professional development program is if. For example, if there's [00:19:00] someone out there listening to you now and they're thinking like, oh, I, I'm interested in this, but I'm scared or I wanna do this, but I don't know if I should, like, do you have any advice for someone that might be listening who might be in your, you know, position and might have like the same kind of background?
Yohanna: What would you say to them? Yeah,
Annabelle: absolutely. In fact, I have to tell you, I promoted my, our, our BT team in my company is very small, is the, the grow. Chief Growth Officer, route vp, VP of Growth. It's uh, the one who promoted me and then it's our business development specialist and myself. So I actually told them to go ahead and apply for the program.
Annabelle: So Ashley is my boss and she's applying for partners. Hopefully she's gonna get in and then. Christine is the BD specialist and I don't like, listen, you have to go for the associates. And my boss was like, yes, you have to go as well. So, and she got accepted into associates. She was very [00:20:00] scared at the beginning, but, um, but you know, I help her with advice about her application and things like that.
Annabelle: So. Uh, she's already in, she's gonna start associates. And, um, you know, what I will tell people is just, you know, if you don't play, you don't win, right? So you just, you always have to go through things that make you uncomfortable. That's the way that we all evolve and change, right? If you're in a comfort, you know, in a comfort zone, you, you're there and never will move out of it.
Annabelle: But sometimes you just gotta get uncomfortable and do things that scare you a little bit. And, um, you know, just try everything. There is no right or wrong answer here, you know, it is, it is. Just try to do it. Put the best foot forward. Be honest and, and ethical when you're doing your application and throughout the program, right?
Annabelle: Be just commit to it. And, you know, just, just try it out. I have met people in my program that were rejected the first time and then they reapply and they get in. [00:21:00] Yeah. So, you know, it's, it's, it's just like everything else in life, right? You can, you and everything is a learning experience. So I think that if you, if it gives you the opportunity to learn something new, if it gives you the opportunity to move forward and they connect with more people, why not?
Annabelle: Right? So that, that's what I will tell them. Just. You know, there's nothing wrong that's gonna come out of it, so nothing wrong with trying. That's great.
Yohanna: Yeah. I thought my question was gonna be like, yeah, go for it. You're like, I already ha, I've already been telling people. That's amazing. That's really good.
Yohanna: I've always, I've always believed that like, rejection isn't really rejection. I think rejection is redirection. Absolutely. If it didn't work this time. You're just gonna have to find another way. You're gonna have to redirect Absolutely. And go somewhere else. That's really good to hear.
Annabelle: Absolutely. You know, if, if I always say this and, and sometimes my son laughs at me, but I tell him, you know, if there are people walking in the moon and traveling to space, we can do these little things here.
Annabelle: You know, so like, there, there, there are things that [00:22:00] people just get scared to do, myself included. But, you know, just try if. It's okay
Yohanna: to fail. It's fine. No, it's great. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for your time. Is there anything else that you'd like to add? Maybe folks can reach out to you.
Annabelle: You know, if you know somebody who's interested and wants a perspective out of it, and I'm more than happy to, you know, I.
Annabelle: I like to pay it forward, you know, so I have people to who has helped me, so I will have others. It's, it's perfectly fine and if somebody needs to reach out to me or want to reach out to me to ask me the questions, you know, I'm on LinkedIn, they can just, uh, hit me on LinkedIn. Okay, great. I. Thank you so much for your time.
Annabelle: Of course. Thank you.
Yohanna: This has been such an insightful conversation. Thank you for sharing your journey and experiences with us and to our listeners. If you are interested in learning more about ACT IX Professional Development Program, be sure to check out ACT iac. Dot org slash professional development.
Yohanna: Until next time, [00:23:00] keep learning, keep growing, and we will see you in the next episode.