Wear Your Cape to Work™

Karla Mae Eidem, Global Head of Transformation and Project Delivery at Project Management Institute, joins Trina and Mathew to talk about the experiences that shaped the way she leads projects. Her career has taken her across countries, cultures, industries, and unfamiliar roles, where she learned to read between the lines, understand different perspectives, and find common ground with the people around her.

Her superpower, genuine ...

In this special live episode of Wear Your Cape to Work, recorded at the PMI Orange County Chapterin Anaheim, California, Trina Schaetz talks with Marjan Khan, HR Project Manager at Mazda North America Operations, and Tamas Vejsz, Senior Project and Program Leader at CTC Global. 

Marjan and Tamas share how they discovered their leadership strengths, how those strengths were shaped by their career paths and life experiences, and ...

In this episode of Wear Your Cape to Work, Trina Schaetz and Mathew Sparkes talk with Misty Boyd, Senior Director of ePMO at LION, about the power of decisive leadership in project management. Misty shares how directness, action, and outcome-focused thinking can help PMO leaders move work forward, support executive decision-making, and keep project teams aligned to business strategy.

This conversation explores what it means to be a ...

In this episode of Wear Your Cape to Work, Trina Schaetz talks with Ashley Simmons, VP of PMO at Summit Seven, about PMO leadership, stakeholder management, organizational strategy, and leading change with curiosity.

Trina first heard Ashley speak on a panel at PMO UnCon in San Diego in spring 2026, where Ashley’s talent for stakeholder management, organizational strategy, and change stood out right away.

In “The Curious ...

In this episode, Trina and Mathew talk with Joe Pusz, better known as "PMO Joe," about discovering project management, learning from mentors, leading PMOs, and understanding the business value behind project work.

Joe shares why project leaders need to stay focused on purpose, customer needs, executive priorities, and the people doing the work. He also reflects on how being unemployed during the recession shaped his mission and insp...

Katharine Manchanda is a strategy and execution leader with experience across IT, banking, retail, automotive finance, loyalty programs, data and analytics, and the winery industry. Throughout her career, she has led projects and programs, helped grow PMOs, updated governance structures, and mentored project managers.  We're excited to have her on the show because she is as passionate about people as she is about business stra...

Francis Solomon Knox is the Senior Director of Portfolio Management at Breakthrough T1D, a leading global type 1 diabetes research and advocacy organization. Throughout his career, he has led portfolio transformation work across government and nonprofit organizations. In this episode, Steve and Trina explore how Francis brings clarity, alignment, and forward motion to a complex web of stakeholders.

Show Notes

1:00-4:00 | An accidenta...

We’re replaying one of our most popular episodes this week as anticipation builds for NASA’s Artemis II mission, the agency’s first crewed lunar flyby in more than 50 years. 

In this episode of Wear Your Cape to Work, Trina sits down with NASA PM, Jeff Conner, who spent 43 years working with space projects. From the early days of the shuttle program to coordinating recovery efforts after the Columbia accident,...

In this episode of Wear Your Cape to Work, Amy Altomare shares how she built a Project Support Center at City of Hope, starting within the nursing department and expanding across the organization.

You’ll hear what project work looked like before that support existed, what it takes to earn trust and buy-in in a clinical environment, and the practical steps Amy used to create a model that helps teams lead meaningful pro...

What if the qualities you once thought were holding you back were actually your greatest leadership strengths?

In this episode of Wear Your Cape to Work, we sit down with Jorge Alzate, a former analytical chemist turned Digital Program Manager, who discovered that introversion is not a limitation. It is a leadership superpower.

From leading complex data separation during a major corporate divestiture to founding Forwa...

This episode is about the leadership superpowers required to run the biggest projects in the world. We’re joined by Tim McManus, a global expert in mega- and giga-project delivery who has led massive construction and infrastructure programs across continents. With experience across energy, transportation, and sports, Tim shares what changes at mega scale and why it demands a different kind of leader. Hear the stories and ask ...

In this special wrap-up episode, Trina and Mathew look back on the standout moments and superpowers from Season 2 of Wear Your Cape to Work. 

Together they revisit the insights, stories, and lessons that made this season unforgettable and share what they learned from each inspiring guest.

• Precision under constraint.
  The season opened with Jeff Conner, program manager from NASA, who described project management before onl...

Steve West has seen project management evolve from the days when building an extranet to share files felt revolutionary to today’s era of AI-driven collaboration. As Product Manager at Project Insight, he’s witnessed every major shift—from desktop tools to browser-based systems to intelligent automation.

In this episode of Wear Your Cape to Work, Trina, Mathew, and Steve talk about the early days of project managem...

Today on Wear Your Cape to Work, we’re joined by Sanjiv Bhagat, Manager of Program Management at Amazon. Sanjiv shares his journey from technical roles in the public sector to leading global logistics initiatives, how his love of puzzles shapes his prioritization skills, and why every project must start with the problem—not the tool. He also explains Amazon’s leadership principles, including Jeff Bezos’s &ld...

We’re excited to welcome Agatha Agbanobi, founder and principal consultant of ResonantHR to the WYCTW podcast. With more than 15 years in project and program management and six years in HR leadership, she shares what it’s like to lead initiatives in employee relations, conflict resolution, workforce development, and DEIB.

Agatha — unlike most of us — is comfortable being close to the fire. She uses her superp...

Fisayo Folarin has built a reputation for being someone you can count on. Whether leading digital banking projects in Nigeria or driving SaaS implementations in Canada, her superpower is reliability combined with a deep commitment to transparency, communication, and continuous & curious learning.

In this episode of Wear Your Cape to Work, Trina and Mathew talk with Fisayo about what it takes to restart your career in a new count...

Today we’re joined by René Clayton, an AI strategist, PMP, author, & transformation leader with 20+ years in financial services, IT, & emerging tech.

As founder & Chief Strategy Officer of Byte Strategy, René helps small businesses & fintechs bridge the gap between project management and AI. With MIT training and deep experience in automation and AI strategy, she shares how project managers can embrace technolo...

In this episode, we talk with David Doty, an education leader who’s taken on some of the toughest assignments in the field.

From launching a brand-new school district in a divided Utah community to transforming educational access for incarcerated adults, David has led complex, high-stakes projects under intense public scrutiny.

We explore what it takes to lead systems change, build trust in fractured environments, and stay grou...

Episode Summary:
Charlene Reynolds began her career answering phones as a receptionist, a role many women were steered into. But she knew she was capable of more. Each time someone said she needed a degree or certification to move up, she earned it.

Charlene built her path by raising her hand for difficult projects, leading through uncertainty, and elevating voices others overlooked. Now one of only 25 women in the U.S. running ...