"I would tell my younger self – stop playing it safe. Be braver. Be bolder. And believe, really believe, that you are capable of more than you think!" – Mike Mills, Managing Director (Service Providers) at Gamma, in conversation with Anurag Aggarwal

From handing out free internet CDs at a PC World store in the north of England…

to discovering the company that built all the infrastructure behind those very CDs…

to joining them and building a career that has spanned 25 extraordinary years –

Mike's journey into telecom is fascinatingly brilliant!

In this episode of Humans of Telecom, Mike opens up about:

💻 How a single day spent at an internet company during university changed the entire direction of his life

📈 Inheriting a declining, unloved division at Gamma – and growing it from £12M to £96M almost entirely through organic growth

🏆 Three consecutive wins at the Global Comms Awards for Best Sales Team – a feat that very few teams anywhere in the world can claim!

👯 The world of 'twincidents' – life with an identical twin brother Steve, who also works at Gamma, and the endless cases of mistaken identity that keep the industry on its toes!

🐕 Three Hungarian Vizslas who have made countryside walks a non-negotiable part of his daily life – and he wouldn't have it any other way

🏃 The 13-year-old who cleared over five metres in long jump and represented his county – until fate had other plans at 14

💪 Six Tough Mudders completed, electrocution and all – before finally drawing a very firm line in the mud

⚽ A lifelong Newcastle United fan – more heartbreak than glory, but last season gave him just enough reason to keep believing

❤️ And his quiet but powerful north star – be a good person, treat people with kindness, and invest genuinely in the success of others!

From Newcastle to Surrey, from dial-up internet to UCaaS and beyond –

Mike is living proof that staying curious, staying loyal, and daring to be bold can take you further than any shortcut ever will!

🎧 Listen now on your favorite podcast platform, and follow Humans of Telecom for more extraordinary voices shaping the industry and inspiring the human spirit!

#HumansOfTelecom #Podcast #Telecom #HumanStories

"I have never once walked into a room and thought — I wonder if I belong here. And I want every woman in this industry to feel exactly the same way!" — Stephanie Lashley, VP Messaging Strategic Alliances & Infrastructure at Bandwidth, in conversation with Anurag Aggarwal

From a mother who came home and talked about telecom at the dinner table…

to a young girl who grew up fascinated by the industry…

to someone who has spent over two decades helping shape how the world messages —

Stephanie's story is one of roots, reinvention, and remarkable impact!

In this episode of Humans of Telecom, Stephanie opens up about:

📱 Working on RCS back in 2012 — over a decade before the world caught up — and what it feels like to finally see it come to fruition

📈 Joining Bandwidth when messaging was barely a side project — and helping build it into a full-blown AI-powered RCS platform over seven years

🏠 Her lifelong love for interior design — from repainting walls on a whim to refinishing hardwood floors with nothing but determination and YouTube

🦋 A little garden that attracts butterflies and hummingbirds — because some of the best recharging happens close to the earth

🗺️ Visiting all 50 US states — with just three left to go — and a travelogue that the world is waiting to read

🧬 98% Sicilian DNA, ancestry traced back to the 14th century, and a salt mine in Trapani named after her family

✍️ A book written in the fifth grade that won recognition at the Young Authors Convention — the first chapter of a lifelong love for writing

👩‍👩‍👧 And the Women in Messaging initiative — born as a dinner for five, now growing to 50 and beyond — because every woman deserves a seat at the table

From Kansas City to Palermo to the global messaging stage —

Stephanie is proof that when you lead with inclusion, show up with empathy, and never stop creating, the industry takes notice!

🎧 Listen now on your favorite podcast platform, and follow Humans of Telecom for more extraordinary voices shaping the industry and inspiring the human spirit!

"I stumbled into sales. I stumbled into Facebook. I stumbled into Singapore and met my wife. And somehow, every stumble took me somewhere better!" — Deepesh Trivedi, CEO at UIB.ai, in conversation with Anurag Aggarwal

From a small town in North London called Watford…

to employee number 20 at Facebook's London office…

to the front row of WhatsApp's global expansion…

to now leading a conversational AI company in Singapore —

Deepesh's journey is one of instinct, courage, and beautiful timing!

In this episode of Humans of Telecom, Deepesh opens up about:

🚀 How a recruiter's phone call in 2008 changed everything — and why joining Facebook was the best career decision he ever made

💬 What it was really like working at WhatsApp before it made a single dollar — and helping shape how it monetized for the first time

🎸 The teenage band that almost made it — and the guitar he's been playing since he was eight years old

🌏 How moving to Singapore for a year turned into 15 years — all because of one person he met in the office on week three

⚽ Sundays with his almost-three-year-old son at football — and why fatherhood has been the most rewarding pivot of his life

🏃 A 5 to 7k run around Singapore when the mind gets too loud — and how movement brings him clarity like nothing else can

❤️ And his core belief as a leader — invest in people, do the right thing, and the rest will follow

From Watford to WhatsApp to the world —

Deepesh is proof that the best decisions in life and career are often the ones you stumble into with an open mind and a willing heart!

🎧 Listen now on your favorite podcast platform, and follow Humans of Telecom for more extraordinary voices shaping the industry and inspiring the human spirit!