 behind the headlines in the telecom and data center infrastructure industry. Welcome, welcome, everybody. This is Data Movers. I'm your host, Jamie Scato-Gattaya, founder and CEO of JSA, along with my fabulous co-host. You know him well, the top B2B social influencer in our space, Mr. Evan Kirstel. Hey Evan. Hey everyone, hey Jamie, how are you? Really good, really good. Just good back for him. Yeah, just good back from ITW, International Telecoms Week. So much going on in our industry and so glad to get home too. It was exhausting, exhausting. Well, it is exhausting, but we've been doing this for a couple years. We can't give up now. So Data Movers is where we sit down with the most influential men and women of today's leading telco and data center world, supporting the next generation of network requirements. And speaking of which, I think you're an Apple fan girl. Isn't that right, Jamie? You know it, you know it. Apple all the way. Well, you know, they've just, Jeff just passed on the verge of passing three trillion dollars in market capitalization, which is bigger than the GDP of many small countries, bigger than the stock market of the combined stocks of the United Kingdom. I mean, it really is something to behold. And there's even, I think you're a little bit responsible for that over the years, right, maybe one percent. I was just thinking, I've got to calm down my Apple purchases. And they have the big WWDC Worldwide Developers Conference next month, a couple of weeks away, where they anticipate Apple glasses, which would be, the buzz is there. You know, people like you love creating the buzz, but they got to deliver on the products. Do you think you'd wear Apple glasses? Have you ever worn a VR headset? I have, I have. And once was enough, was that the point? You know, my husband gets really into it. I'm a little bit of like, okay, five minutes, good, you know. But my friend wore his glasses, what were they, Google maybe, into a concert that didn't, they all like took your cell phones. And so he was able to like take some pictures without anyone realizing that it was on his glasses. So, I mean, technology's cool, it's out there, there are uses for it. But I'm excited about the watch. What is it? OS 10 and the new MacBook Air, that's gonna come out. Yeah, I've got my watch here. I'm on my MacBook now. So we're gonna have a pretty good time watching along. But to support all of that tech, you need a lot of connectivity, a lot of broadband. So let's get into it. You know it. So back to Data Movers guys. And actually I'm really excited to welcome our next guest. She is such an incredible mover shaker in our industry. And I was able to see her last week at ITW. Even in passing it was so quick, but I'm so excited to have her back here to really get the scoop. Bringing here into our Data Movers today is Ms. Jezebel Gilmore, Chief Commercial Officer at Connect Base. Hey, Jezebel. Hi, Jamie. Hi, Evan. Hi there. We are so excited to have you. And like we were two ships passing, you know that hallway, it's always like I wanna see you and say more. And then we're whisked on to other meetings. So thank you for taking the time right here today. There's so much we have to cover too. Of course, it's wonderful to see you in the hallway at ITW as many thousands of other people. But it's lovely to be able to come to Data Movers and sit down and have a chat today. Yeah, I heard 6,000 plus people at ITW is, yeah, our industry is back full force for sure. And Connect Base just announcing huge news with the acquisition of LMX. So can you tell us a little bit about this acquisition, how it strengthens Connect Base's platform, the connected world? Of course. Well, and it's my pleasure to be talking about Connect Base. For many of you that know Connect Base, we are a industry leading marketplace that really enables the digitization and automation of connectivity commerce. What does that mean? That means that we build a rich ecosystem that allows network buyers and sellers to conduct business with each other, utilizing our powerful location data and insight to empower our customers to transact with each other, utilizing digitized quoting, watering process to allow them to increase revenue and profit margin. And so coming back to talk about the acquisition of LMX, they are similar to Connect Base, but in the MIA in Europe and having them be a part of the Connect Base ecosystem really allows Connect Base to become the largest connected global API ecosystem for all the telecom service providers. And so that allows us to show over two billion global locations for our connected network. Ecosystem members, that's the buyers and sellers, to be able to look for last mile and middle mile connectivity services for serviceability pricing and even to place orders through the marketplace. How incredible. That's fantastic. And I'm a huge fan of Connect Base and not just because of your headquartered here in Massachusetts, where all the wicked smart people are based, but also going international is always exciting for a younger company. So you hired a new VP of sales for EMEA. Tell us about your plans for growth there. Oh, absolutely. So we brought in Edison Smith to come and help lead our MIA growth. And Edison is a 20 year veteran with special skills to grow disruptive growing companies in the telecommunications industry. And that truly brings value to Connect Base's customers and LMX's customers with a insightful sales process and support ongoing. I think that will benefit both the company and as well as our customer base going forward. And the story with Connect Base is one of just incredible transformative growth, growth, growth I know last year, incredible year you guys had. I don't know, 2023 is already incredible, but back in February 2022, I remember you guys rebranding from Connected to Fiber to Connect Base, beautiful rebrand, by the way. And in October 2022, Connect Base raised 22 million in series C funding led by Digital Bridge Ventures, always there to support our industry. What do you attribute your company's current growth to? Oh, there are so many different things that contributes to the growth of Connect Base. I think to me, one is the vision that Ben Edmund, our CEO and founder had for the industry, knowing that automation and digitization is the key for effective communication and commerce between the different service providers within our industry. And to the digital transformation across the globe from every enterprise that not only needs to transform themselves, but relies on the underlying network services to actually transform. How could you transform digitally without getting the data from one place to another? So the growth of the telecommunications industry is paramount to the success of digital transformation and the need to digitally transform our own industry in support of the growth of our industry is another factor. And then of course, having that growth funding to support the scale up journey of Connect Base is all contributing to our success. Fantastic. So we haven't been introduced before this call, so I check you out on LinkedIn and you were prior to Connect Base with a founding member of Network as a service provider Packet Fabric, who I remember well. And your resume really is, reads like a who's who in our industry, which is amazing, especially considering how few women there are leadership roles to be frank. So tell us about your journey before Connect Base. Well, thank you very much. And I was going to say that what you see on there also shows a lot of stumbling and trials and tribulations through a career. And I got to say that as a woman, I'm told that I have thick skin and I do, but also- I have very thin skin, by the way, so be careful of these people. Very sensitive. Well, you probably have better skin than me. It must be all the skin product I've been using. But it's a resiliency of every individual and every time that I fail, and there has been a lot of failures in my career. I got up and did it again until I was successful. And that is what really helps to build the confidence. It's not that I was success the first time, but that I didn't succeed the first time, but I continued at it. And I think that really is what helped me to get to where I am today. Well, that's such a great message, you know, the way you put that. And if I ever need to apply for a job again, I'm totally going to use that word for word because it was very, very powerful. Jamie? Yeah, resiliency. Yeah, spoken as the true leader you are. And talking about your leadership roles, you've been across organizations such as GTT, IX Reach, now PCCW, Console Connect. Nanog, of course. Why did you decide to make that jump to one of our favorite companies, ConnectBase? Because I truly love the industry and I believe that ConnectBase is doing something that is truly needed and beneficial for the industry as a whole. In order for the industry to function more effectively and in an optimized fashion, we need to go through the automation, the digitization journey, the digital transformation journey. And ConnectBase has built a platform in support of that for the different service providers to be working with each other. I truly believe that the success of the telecommunications industry relies on the collaboration of an open-mindness of all the different players. And in order for that to happen, there has to be a platform like ConnectBase and Ben's done a phenomenal job in bringing the technology and the ecosystem members together. And so I'm here to help them scale that up and bring it to market. And globally? Absolutely, for sure. Which is mind-blowing with that latest acquisition, your latest hires. I mean, unbelievable, two billion, two billion. That's incredible. So, well done already. So absolutely, congratulations on that. So you have a great track record of transformation in organizations and helping businesses with growth. And, you know, we're in a difficult time, a lot of change, a lot of uncertainty and risk. So what are you advice to have to your peers, other senior level leaders, executives on leading teams to be successful through turbulent times? Great question. That's a great question. And I'm going to say that for every challenge, there's an opportunity. And so in the most challenging times, that means there's a most number of opportunities as well. And I truly believe that the companies are made with people and we have built a super strong team in support of the scale-up. We're no longer a startup, we are a scale-up now. And in order to truly scale everyone on the team has to be rolling towards the same direction together. And that requires everyone to be highly communicative, open-minded and really in support of the company's vision and objectives, not just their own. In, you know, building a team of eight players is crucial. And there's a lot of talent out in the market in this world. And we're just in the process of building the best team to deliver the best service to our customer base. Yeah, so well said. And when there's rocky times as well as good times, there's nothing like, you know, the family that you create with your work colleagues and knowing we all have each other's backs. You know, it's a crazy time, but we can see it through together. Love it. All right, so this is one of my favorite parts where we end our data movers with a few rapid-fire fun facts about you. So tell us the first thing that comes to mind. Evan, you want to kick it off with our silly questions? Yeah, favorite way to start your day. And I'm guessing there's coffee involved, but I'm being present this year. So what is your favorite way to start? On the yoga mat. So, I love yoga and it helps you start the day with a whole new mindset, so. Yeah. And exercise. I'm right there with you. Sun salutations, just calm me down. All right, favorite place to travel? Oh, home. He had to wear it these days, now that we're all back on the event circuit, yeah. Well, you know, yeah, like you said, we're traveling so much, so I love going home, but I guess anywhere new, I love going to new places and I love seeing people. I love anywhere there's friends and that's new. I love learning and seeing new people. I love it. Absolutely, one day I want to be like Jamie and travel to Monte Carlo and Nice and Con and all of these places, but until then, we'll just have to make do with Worcester. A toddler has pulled down my jets just a little. I'm guessing, you know, if you do yoga early in the morning, are you an early bird or a night owl? Both. I'm a mom. I'm a mom and, you know, I'm an entrepreneur and you gotta take whatever that you have available, so I don't really get to choose. I'm both, you work late and you work early to make sure that you can accommodate everyone and everything that you want to do. Oh, I hear that. I hear that. I'm like, please, what is that? It's like a mirage for me, I'm like, okay. I must be the odd man out here. I get my 12 hours a night. You're like, I'm done, I go. All right, so let's rewind the clock to Jezebel in high school. What favorite sport or extracurricular activity were you involved in? So I was a nerd and I did a lot of art in addition to my STEM studies, but, you know, my extracurricular activity included dancing, I was on a dance team and as well as fine arts, so I painted. In fact, I think I spent so much time painting and sculpting, I often forgot to eat dinner, skipped meals because I was in the studio. Yeah, I love that. Wow, you're quite the Renaissance woman, that's fantastic. Next question seems silly, so I didn't write it, it's Jamie's fault, but what was your first car and did it actually drive well or did it break down? We're trying to get like Jezebel high school in our hands, you know, like, oh, oh my God. I didn't learn how to drive until I was in my very early 20s because I moved to the States when I was 17 and so I, you know, I learned to drive and later, but my first car was a Volkswagen Jetta, it's red and it was a Wolfsburg edition, I remember clearly, but man, that was a cute little car and I drove it not that much, to be honest. I lived across the street from the office and for the convenience, so I, you know, it was actually I had to drive four and a half walks because all the streets were one way to park in the employee parking lot when I lived one block from the office and I could just walk and so it's actually faster to walk from my apartment to the office than from the parking lot, the employee parking lot to the office, so I never drove to work. And more green, so you were thinking green even then? Yes. Absolutely. And what is, last question, what is your biggest inspiration and why? Or who? Who is your biggest inspiration and why? Oh. And you can't say Evan Crystal. No, this is the funny one. Evan, since you were in Worcester, I was gonna say maybe we should catch up in person at some point, come back, come into the ConnectFace office and you know. I've been there once, I would love to get an update, this was like years and years ago, so I'm sure you've grown by orders of magnitude, but yes, absolutely, that sounds like a blast. And yeah, thanks so much for joining us for this short chat with Jamie. Wait, wait, wait, I need to know her biggest inspiration. Yes, so I was gonna tell you my, well, my biggest inspiration, this is gonna be a funny one, is Lucille Ball. She was awesome. She absolutely was awesome and she's a pioneer, but in a very lighthearted way, she engaged her audience and she was one of the first women to run a studio of her own. So I like to think that as a pioneer in telecommunications that I'm following her footsteps and if nothing else brings laughter and lightness into people's lives. That was probably the best answer I've ever heard to that question, I'm just saying, I'm just saying. Yes, you don't hear that often. She overcame a lot of adversity, I think, a lot of abuse, physical mental abuse and Hollywood was terrible for women, so that's quite a story she has, so wow, really great. Well, thank you for being here. I mean, Jamie had mentioned before the show started that Jezebel Gilmore is a rock star and I thought, oh, you know, Jamie's in PR, she says this a lot, but no, you actually are a rock star, so I think. You guys, let's get true rock star, so kind of it. But go on, go on. Go on, go on, go on. Go on, go on, go on, go on, go on. Go on, go on, go on, go on, go on. Yes, you are certainly some of, I know, our next generation of women and men coming into our industry, you are their biggest inspiration and we are just so excited and honored to have you here on Data Movers. We so appreciate your time, your insight, a little peek into your high school years. I could just see you working the clay, doing the oil, so just awesome. So thank you so much, Jezebel. Thank you and thank you both for having me and I just want to say that I am truly honored to be here and I love having the ability to influence the next generation and because I was influenced by so many and I was supported by so many and I think my love for the telecommunications industry and my love for collaboration stems from the support that I received early on in my career and even if I couldn't do that for just one person to help shape their life, it means that I've done something impactful today. So, and thank you for having me here for that. And as you have and we so appreciate you. And guys, if you enjoyed today's Data Movers podcast as much as we all have, be sure to check us out at jsa.net slash podcast for upcoming Data Movers episodes and also other JSA podcast series. And follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn, Twitter's Day Scotto, Evan Christel, and we'll catch you there. As always guys, stay safe, happy travels and happy networking.