Coffee Meets Cloud

Caramie McCollum, Cassandra Parker, Rachel Rogers
  • 5.0 (5)
  • Technology

Where tech careers, leadership lessons, and life’s daily chaos collide — all over a strong cup of coffee. Hosted by three tech professionals and full-time working moms, Coffee Meets Cloud brings you real conversations about navigating the evolving world of technology, growing your career, and balancing it all with the beautiful (and sometimes messy) realities of everyday life. Whether you’re leading a deployment, managing a project, or negotiating bedtime (or all three at once), you’ll find a seat at our table. No filters. No fluff. Just honest, caffeinated conversations about thriving — at work, at home, and everywhere in between.

  1. 1d ago

    Take Up the Space You Own: Money, Words, and Accountability

    What do household budgets, Dreamforce FOMO, latchkey kids, difficult conversations, and teaching a nine year old to own his mistakes have in common? More than you might think. This week, Caramie, Cassandra, and Rachel talk about the ways context shapes how we experience everything from money and parenting to work and relationships. Caramie shares how she is using AI as a “Household CFO” to tackle consumer debt and reduce financial stress, which turns into a conversation about ChatGPT, Claude, Rocket Money, spreadsheets, and why the best tool is often the one that works the way your brain works. The conversation then shifts to a viral discussion about leaving kids home alone, how socioeconomic circumstances influence our definitions of safety, and why there is rarely one universal answer to parenting decisions. From there, the hosts dig into something that affects nearly every relationship: the words we choose. They explore the difference between intent and impact, why absolutes like “always” and “never” can derail a conversation, and how learning to respond instead of react can completely change an interaction. Finally, a parenting challenge becomes a lesson that applies just as much to adults in the workplace: accountability has to be communicated. Owning a mistake does not mean shrinking yourself. Sometimes it means doing exactly the opposite. As Cassandra puts it: Take up the space you own.

  2. Aug 25

    We Had No Business Surviving the 90s

    This week, we're asking the important questions: Why did adulthood look so much easier when our parents were doing it? How did we survive childhood with no location tracking, questionable car safety, and instructions to just come home when the streetlights came on? And which things from our childhood actually deserve a comeback? We're talking about the surprisingly hard parts of being a grown-up, the parenting choices that would send today's internet into a spiral, and the things we desperately want to bring back. Some things were absolutely better left in the past. Others? We may have overcorrected. Plus, we debate the ultimate question: would we actually want to live in a world without smartphones again?

  3. Aug 18

    But We’ve Always Done It This Way

    This week, we’re questioning the things we’ve accepted as fact simply because someone told us they were true. From swallowed gum and tongue maps to the infamous five-monkeys experiment and the workplace classic, “we’ve always done it this way,” we’re talking about why bad information—and bad habits—stick around. Plus, the usual side quests: duvet cover rage, dangerous kitchen tools, parenting trial and error, the art of negotiation, and a surprisingly passionate amount of pickle talk. Sometimes the smartest thing you can do is ask: Wait… is that actually true?

  4. Aug 11

    Claude Went to Trailhead

    This week, we’re talking about the increasingly blurry line between using AI and letting AI do everything for you—from earning Trailhead badges to writing painfully obvious workplace messages and helping candidates fake their way through interviews. We also get into dual enrollment, why high school from home is absolutely not entering our WFH households, the importance of knowing when a hire just isn’t working out, and why sometimes everyone needs to close the laptop and touch grass. Plus: recurring school nightmares and the debate that really matters—which OG boy band was actually the best?

  5. Aug 4

    This Meeting Could've Been an Email

    This week, we're celebrating a huge milestone—3,000 podcast downloads! 🎉 From back-to-school shopping and our latest budget-saving hacks to how AI is changing everyday life, we share what's been making life a little easier (and a little more entertaining). Then we shift gears into a conversation every working professional can relate to: why so many meetings miss the mark, what makes an agenda actually useful, and simple ways teams can communicate more intentionally. It's a mix of parenting, technology, workplace culture, and plenty of laughs along the way. Grab your coffee and join us!

  6. Jul 28

    Help Me Rhonda

    What really happens inside today's classrooms? And what do teachers wish every parent understood? This week, we're joined by veteran elementary school teacher Rhonda (Miss Varnell) for one of our most honest and entertaining conversations yet. From teaching kids to read and navigating Chromebooks, to ADHD, dyslexia, curriculum changes, and the realities of parent-teacher communication, Rhonda gives us a candid look at life on the other side of the classroom door. Along the way, we laugh about ID10T errors, Sears catalogs, trophy culture, and second graders who somehow manage to hand out life advice better than most adults. Whether you're a parent, educator, grandparent, or just someone who still remembers the teacher who changed your life, this episode is a reminder that great teachers do far more than teach reading and math—they help shape who we become. It's heartfelt, hilarious, occasionally opinionated, and full of practical insight from someone who's spent decades helping children succeed. 🎧 New episodes drop every Tuesday. Until then... keep your coffee strong.

  7. Jul 21

    From Mixtapes to Megawatts

    What do caller ID nostalgia, road rage, ADHD parenting, leadership, and massive AI data centers have in common? Apparently... us. This week we're reminiscing about party lines, cassette tapes, and answering machines before tackling some much heavier conversations. We talk about why you should never engage with someone acting irrationally on the road, whether permanent Daylight Saving Time is actually a good idea, the realities of finding the right ADHD medication, and why "working in IT" doesn't mean we know how to fix every piece of technology. We wrap up with one of today's biggest technology conversations: data centers. From energy and water use to community concerns and sustainability, we explore both the opportunities and the trade-offs—plus brainstorm some very unconventional future solutions. As always, plenty of laughs, a few rabbit trails, and honest conversations along the way.

  8. Jul 14

    You Belong. Full Stop.

    AI hype. Layoff headlines. Career ladders. Industry statistics. It's easy to talk about tech like it's all trends and numbers—but every headline has a human story behind it. This week, we're joined by Sasha Semjonova, Tech Journalist at Salesforce Ben, to talk about the people behind the technology and the realities of building a career in an industry that never stops changing. Sasha shares how she went from knowing almost nothing about Salesforce to helping grow Salesforce Ben's YouTube audience from 2,500 to more than 60,000 subscribers—and eventually finding her voice as a journalist covering some of tech's biggest stories. We get into the human cost of layoffs, why no one is truly layoff-proof, the risk of building your entire career identity around AI, and what women are really navigating as they try to grow, lead, and build lives outside of work. Sasha also opens up about being one of the youngest—and often one of the few women—in major tech press rooms, the imposter syndrome that comes with it, and learning that you don't have to wait until you feel confident to take up space. Because sometimes the only way through imposter syndrome is a little exposure therapy. You belong. Full stop.

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
5 Ratings

About

Where tech careers, leadership lessons, and life’s daily chaos collide — all over a strong cup of coffee. Hosted by three tech professionals and full-time working moms, Coffee Meets Cloud brings you real conversations about navigating the evolving world of technology, growing your career, and balancing it all with the beautiful (and sometimes messy) realities of everyday life. Whether you’re leading a deployment, managing a project, or negotiating bedtime (or all three at once), you’ll find a seat at our table. No filters. No fluff. Just honest, caffeinated conversations about thriving — at work, at home, and everywhere in between.

Information

  • Creator
    Caramie McCollum, Cassandra Parker, Rachel Rogers
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    56
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2025 All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Coffee Meets Cloud

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