From Secretary to Cloud Director with Rhonda Lemke

Episode Information

Show NotesThe people you least expect are watching your career. Rhonda Lemke built nearly 30 years in technology on that truth.
Her career started at Arthur Anderson, where she worked as a secretary and executive assistant. A mentor asked her at 19 to quit her job, move in with her, and go to college. That moment set everything in motion. From there, Rhonda worked her way through help desk management, 15 years at Accenture in IT consulting and change management, network operations at cars.com and Sears.com, director-level roles at Arthur J. Gallagher and Culinary Health Fund, and eventually Director of Cloud Infrastructure at a healthcare AI company and Caylent, an AWS partner. She earned her MBA at 52. She is now in real estate in Las Vegas.
The through-line in every move was not technical expertise. It was the ability to read a room, communicate across teams, and earn trust before she needed it.
WHAT RHONDA DOES NOW:After nearly 30 years in technology, Rhonda recently transitioned to real estate in Las Vegas. Her technology career spanned help desk management, IT consulting, network operations, service management, and cloud infrastructure. She holds an AWS Solutions Architect Associate certification and an MBA.
KEY INSIGHTS FROM THIS CONVERSATION:
Advocacy Works Both WaysThe people who moved Rhonda’s career forward weren’t her closest work friends, they were the ones quietly watching her work ethic from across the room.
Soft Skills Are Harder to Teach Than Technical SkillsShe was hired into technical roles without the technical qualifications because hiring managers knew she could communicate under pressure and translate between engineers and the business.
Ego Can Block Your Best OpportunityPride almost stopped her from taking a step down in title at cars.com, the one move that opened every director-level role that followed.
EQ Is a Skill, Not a GiftShe learned to read rooms, manage tension, and stay observant growing up in an unpredictable home and didn’t realize until later that those were professional superpowers.
The Machine Behind the LeaderLooking like the smartest person in the room has nothing to do with being the smartest, it’s about having the right people around you and knowing how to activate them.
Never Disqualify Someone on Paper Credentials AloneThe Pizza Hut manager who couldn’t fill her Sears.com night shift on paper ended up being one of the best hires she ever made, because he was building Linux servers in his basement.
TOPICS COVERED:• Starting in tech as a secretary with no technical background• Building a help desk and ITSM system from scratch in Lotus Notes• 15 years at Accenture – internal mobility and consulting work• Why soft skills open more doors than technical certifications in leadership• Overcoming ego to take a step down in title• Developing emotional intelligence through childhood adversity• What real mentorship looks like (Marine boss, Friday affirmations)• The polar vortex that triggered a move from Chicago to Las Vegas• Navigating organizational politics in unionized environments• Hiring the Pizza Hut manager who became a NOC team leader• Getting an AWS certification and MBA later in career• Why the people you least expect are watching your career• What the job market in 2025 actually looks like for experienced professionals
WHO THIS EPISODE IS FOR:• IT professionals trying to move from technical roles into leadership• Anyone considering a career pivot later in life• New managers who are still too technically hands-on• Professionals navigating politically charged organizations• Job seekers trying to use soft skills to compete in technical interviews• Anyone who has let ego or pride block a good opportunity
CONNECT WITH RHONDA LEMKE:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhondalemke/
ABOUT CAREER DOWNLOADS:Career Downloads explores technology careers through conversations with professionals who share their journeys, lessons learned, and practical advice. Hosted by Manuel Martinez, each episode exposes listeners to different technology roles and helps them manage their own careers more successfully. New episodes release every Tuesday.
Connect with Career Downloads:Website: https://careerdownloads.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/career-downloadsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@careerdownloadsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@careerdownloadsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/careerdownloadsFaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Career-Downloads/61561144531249
TranscriptionManuel Martinez: Welcome everyone. My name is Manuel Martinez and this is another episode of Career Downloads, where each episode I basically hit the refresh button, bring on a different guest to learn more about their background and their experiences to help you find some actionable advice that you can use as you’re managing your own career. For today’s episode I have with me Rhonda Lemke. Her and I were connected through Chelsey Bonilla who I’ve had here on the podcast before. Rhonda and I got on a couple calls. We hit it off great. I learned more about her background and was just excited for her to talk about all the things that she’s done, the things that she’s accomplished. So with that I’ll go ahead and introduce Rhonda.

Rhonda Lemke: Thank you Manny. Thank you for having me here and this is quite the honor because usually I’m having people on my real estate podcast so it’s great to actually be the guest and share my information.

Manuel Martinez: Yeah and I’m excited especially when we talked a little bit about the things you’ve accomplished throughout your career. It was very – I found it fascinating. So – and you shared a lot of insights with me that I know that if we go in a little bit greater detail, you know, it’s going to be very helpful for other people so that they can kind of go through and say, Oh I didn’t think about it that way or, Oh that’s how she you know, how she goes and handles challenges that come through and you know – things that a lot of times we may not think of in the moment but later on you might be – Oh wait a minute, this scenario is familiar. I remember somebody – and hopefully they’ll remember – Oh, I remember Rhonda had gone through this type of scenario, or had to make this type of decision and I can use some of what she did in the past to kind of help me.

Rhonda Lemke: And I think that this – so today one of the reasons I chose today as my podcase date is because today is – one year ago today I was laid off from Caylent, and Caylent is an AWS partner and it was probably the best role of my entire career and it’s been one year of just complete pivoting and after almost three decades in technology I said well let me try real estate I’ve always wanted to sell real estate in in Las Vegas you know like selling real estate in an international tourist destination it is a blast and – but I will also say, the job market and the real estate market in 2025 have been soul crushing, and so I’d love to just kind of share my experience, because it’s not easy. It’s not easy, you know, you watch the LinkedIn feed, and you see everyone, I’m open to work, can anyone help and make a connection, so I just want to be out there, like I understand it and I can also help make connections.

Manuel Martinez: Right, well that’s awesome. So if you don’t mind kind of start and tell us a little bit about where you grew up and then eventually what you thought you were going to do for a career and then what actually got your career started.

Rhonda Lemke: That is so interesting because – well first of all growing up in the 80s you know we had the best music and I’m sorry they’re remaking our music now and you know like Tracy Chapman and her Fast Car song like that was our that was our childhood and so I grew up in a town called Lansing Illinois and it’s a south suburb of Chicago. Blue collar community, kind of tough you know, I got beat up a little bit here and there. And so growing up when you say what did you want to do like you know what was your career, I didn’t know like honestly at 16 years old I was working at McDonald’s thinking oh maybe someday I’ll be manager and at the time my second dad he said well Rhonda if you would like to go to beauty school or secretarial school this is a thing so college wasn’t really like – my brother and I are first generation college graduates and both of us have our advanced degrees you know masters and whatnot. So growing up in that environment it really – what influenced me is when I got – so I said well I’m not going to go to secretarial school I was in the work program in high school and I typed faster than anyone – I got a job as a secretary at Arthur Anderson before Enron ever happened right so I was 18 years old commuting downtown Chicago. I had mentors, right, that taught me how to commute that said well Rhonda why aren’t you going to college? And you know my peers and so there was sort of that pressure from my peers to actually do something more than the Lansing, Illinois environment if that makes sense like Chicago you know commuting downtown Chicago you are exposed to to ev