Anna Lohkemper didn't grow up dreaming of a career in tech. She grew up dreaming of Broadway.

At 18, Anna moved to New York for musical theatre school, chasing a career in performance. After two years of auditions against hundreds of girls fighting for the same roles, the dream didn't work out. She moved home to Atlanta feeling like a complete failure, and started over.

In this episode, Anna takes us through her honest, non-linear path from performer to Solutions Consultant at Workday, and how the skills she built on stage, reading a room, adapting on the spot, staying calm under pressure, are the exact skills carrying her through boardrooms across Europe and the Middle East today.

We cover:

• What a Solutions Consultant actually does day to day
• Why the "5% of the job is the demo, 95% is the prep"
• How she juggles 25-30 live opportunities at once
• Becoming the trusted advisor in the room, and why that matters more than being the salesperson
• How she uses AI to manage note-taking, follow-ups and RFP responses
• The real cost of the role: travel, always being "on," and switching off
• Why she believes nothing she learned chasing her dream was ever wasted

This one's for anyone who feels like their path took a detour it wasn't supposed to. Especially the students, parents and mid-career professionals who think their old skills don't count for anything, they usually do.

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