>> From Washington D.C.. It CUBE conversations with John Furrier. >> Welcome to this special exclusive CUBE conversation I'm joined for a year. The heart of the Amazon Web Services headquarters in Arlington Virginia the heart of Washington D.C.. I'm here with Teresa Carlson who is the chief of the Amazon Web Services Public Sector team. >> Great to see you again welcome to Washington D.C. John. >> A lot of action, having the CUBE on the ground all day yesterday. We've got interviews all day this afternoon, really getting the top stories and the big story is the the cloud computing impact to government. You've been leading the team in the public sector worldwide for Amazon Web Services really had great success since the CIA deal four years ago, which was a watershed moment to this gestation period of Amazon filtrating into all the different systems of the government, and worldwide. Congratulations. >> Thank you. It's been a great seven and a half years. It's gone by so fast. I still feel like every day is day one. >> One of the things that I'm the most impressed with you, and I want to get your take on it is: you've been very passionate about the mission of the public sector from nonprofits, education, inclusion and diversity, Women in Tech-- a variety of things-- as almost a higher level mission. But Amazon has been a real enabler for the change as well. So what is your official role now at Amazon. It's now Global has been. How has it changed over the past few years. >> Well in the early days, even though when I started here anyhow I always agreed it was worldwide that what ended up happening was the fact that it went from really just focused focusing on the U.S. to actually focusing on worldwide because if we didn't really win business here in the U.S. it was going to be hard to win business worldwide. >> You were the most powerful women in Washington D.C. as voted recently one of the magazine's. You've been doing great work here in D.C., but also globally. But one of the things that you're doing I want to explore with you is you're changing the game not just with technology and government, but in society entrepreneurship that you're enabling. You've kind of cracked the code on this formula with the work with Amazon where there's now the silos are being broken down and the blurring lines between the different sectors are all cross pollinating we're seeing that with entrepreneurship, nonprofits, education; what's going on there what's your view on this? >> Well when you're really going to drive change globally and when you're doing such a transformational change and shift with technology you can't just look at it as a shift of technology. It's got to be a shift to the sectors of what's happening. And also you can't just educate one group you have to go in and educate the society and have real societal change. Everything from ensuring that the community colleges have the right kind of programs for computer science that K through 12 that they have access, because if you miss one group you're going to miss a whole generation of something. >> The realities are there's millions of jobs worldwide that are needed for cloud computing and a variety of roles including new ones for AI and machine learning which we almost have no know individuals that are as qualified as we want them. So to drive real change you have to start at the policy level and ensure policy makers and regulators around the world are aware of what they need to put in place, so that these tools and technologies are enabled that they're promoting and budgeting for things like educational programs and they're very focused on not just old-tech companies but actual new-tech companies that are driving forward to start apps entrepreneurs and social engineers I'll call them. And that's really where we are trying to drive toward social change or societal change starting at the policy in going all the way down to education on diversity issues around the world. >> One of the things that you guys have done here in Washington has been as successful as you've done the hard work you put the time in. You paid your dues. Did the the brute force work you need to do with security and cloud. Now it's up and running is successful. Now you have a elevated responsibility with the cloud to enable wealth creation value creation change in society. So you're steward of a change agent at the same time you have to create value across those sectors. What does that responsibility mean to you and how are you leaving the team to continue to up the bar on the innovation in that area? >> Well it does mean a lot to me and it is super important because if you again get one element wrong it's almost like you misstep something. So we are we are like my entire team is really gritty, like we every day. We're sort of challenging each other. Do we have it right? The whole concept of the ability to dive and really understand your customers and what they need to do. That example of that would be is we really have sort of a model we developed as a team for going in and creating digital innovation or digital footprints for countries. So if you think about this if you walk into a country and they have zero idea how to become a digital nation you have to through her influence and your experience really educate them on what are the elements and again that goes through everything through. How did they set up policies. How do they have acquisition vehicles. How are their regulators working everything through the financial regulators telecommunication providers through the educational systems of how you operate within. Not only that but the entrepreneurs. How do they actually set up a group teach and train them. Sometimes in societies that really have not had zero training in entrepreneurship. You know you think about the United States I could call you up and say hey I have a question about something I'm doing in media. Can you like give me some suggestions. You would help me if you go to countries like that. They don't have the same network. We even have here. So really establishing helping them establish what is their blueprint. >> And I will tell you it's working. And the reason I think it's worth working is because we go in very humbly, we begin to we're very patient, we have a long term view and what we're doing and we really demonstrate for them and not just demonstrate that help them ensure that they're getting there and that's the customer obsession side of us. >> And the old way the old competitive landscape used to be a price on our product performance is the best. Therefore you should buy it right and make as much money as possible and provide some customer support and some maintenance. Okay. Now you guys have hit the form. That's just one element of a successful formula. Mission driven but also ecosystem and community. >> That's right. >> Talk about the dynamic between those three things having the mission the right price performance and also community and how is that formula work for you guys and how do you make that successful. > Yeah well so here's the really interesting fact: when we decide to go in and build in the region we can. The realities are we could go anywhere in the world and build region but will that region be successful. And there's many elements to that being a success. And one of the things as an example is price. So in order to have a region that is priced in in a manner that individuals can buy for cloud computing you've got to ensure that the elements that you need to build that region are in place. So you've got to think about things like utilities, power, water, land, networking, telecommunications, and then education, are the people there that can actually respond and take the jobs that are required. So you have to look at each and every element and go in and really make those changes. And an example that I'll share is telecommunication providers around the world were the most advanced in the world in the United States in telecommunications. But if you go to other parts of the world there's a there's a monopoly or duopoly and their prices are generally outrageous. And for a company like ours of course we're a big networking company and if you go in and if a customer pays a hundred percent more than they would pay in a region that was right next door they're probably not going to want to use that cloud. So when I say that we're going in and driving real change we really feel like it's our obligation to go in and ensure that we put all the pieces and parts in place with that country and those officials to ensure that they understand. And then that added element if we're going to do that to telecommunications provider that may be part of their revenues for government or it's all they know then we need to teach them how they set up new business models because there are fantastic business models for telecommunication providers with cloud computing managed service offerings they can do a lot more mobility, gaming there's so much stuff that many of them have been so used to an old business model. We really have to help them transform in order for that entire community and region to be successful. >> Would it be safe to say that you guys are enabling value creation and that you guys are allowing others to take advantage of that it's not just your profit you're enabling them to profit and or how they see that it could be for social good but also could be for making more money? You can't lose by helping people make more money or to achieve their objective. >> We love that. Will that any if you think about Amazon Web Services, our you know where we started was with startups and entrepreneurs the ones that led us first were the developers and engineers right. They came in and they start using AWS and then those developers and engineers turned into small companies and start ups and large companies and so we really have a soft spot for entrepreneurs and startups. So you know we talk about all the time in all parts of our business that we really need to be focused on those young entrepreneurs that are creating value in wealth. And if you do that you really see you want to change it even if you can back to the United States, you're starting to see in small communities. I'm from Kentucky we have agri-entrepreneurs. We have individuals that are looking at new farming techniques. They're taking health care startups in Kentucky. I mean it's great because you don't need to be in Silicon Valley anymore to have a startup and do really great work. >> You're a disruptive enabler you're changing your force of nature. You're one of the most powerful people in Washington. You're from a small town where this make you feel. I mean sometimes you pinch yourself. >> I'm very humbled. I'm super humbled. I know my parents were both teachers my dad was a high school basketball coach love coaching I'm a huge Kentucky basketball fan but you know humble I feel blessed every day that I get to do this role and that I've been able to work for such an amazing company who believes in this because you know Andy Jassy and myself always said, from day one the first day I met him, I was like wow he is gonna be such a champion of this because we talked about paving the way for disruptive innovation and making the world a better place and in order to do that there's multiple aspects of those things. And again the technology is that is that bridge builder. It really helps take the divided and pull it together but it's got to be all these other elements that really make it work completely. >> With this power you have in, and you're too humble to say that, but that that's true comes great responsibility. How are you using this opportunity to go to the next level at a higher level not just help them as other achieve their business objectives within D.C. you do involve them some things. What's your mission on that level. You go to a higher level. What is that and what are you doing with this opportunity that you have. >> Well it's really about helping drive social entrepreneurship. And then I would say the second one is diversity and ensuring that we are really getting more women in tech and a more diverse work environment for tech. And I'll just start on the social entrepreneurship side. It really interacts nicely with all of our goals. The thing that's really change about social entrepreneurship in the early days people thought of that just as a not for profit come of it. People were like that's not so cool. Well today social entrepreneurship is cool. Many young men and women if you talk to them they want to be involved in something they want like many but they want to be involved in something that's really doing good things. And we've sort of again been able to bridge how we're doing things that eight of us through social entrepreneurship. So an example we talked about Bahrain a little bit we have a scale in Bahrain where we take these groups in that we have also one here in Washington D.C. at the U.S. Institute of Peace for Peace tech which we're looking at technologies that helped push down correction and improve peace around the world. And then we have Halcyon House which we support and Halcyon is just as beautiful Georgetown has such a lovely place that Dr Satsha Kuno started where, we support but it's all social entrepreneurs that live there for five and residency and their health. Thirty seven the most amazing are in Washington become social entrepreneurs and they have technology enablement legal enable a venture capital access and that's good. >> And then the last one that we've done is called Cal Polytech we're with the president there President Armstrong he's another gentleman from Kentucky. We started there he left what we were doing and he said I want to go all in on that. Yes. And I want to start in innovations in hardware right here on campus where we can bring our talented students. We can also merge with community and Sabriel government issues. So they're they're doing areas of justice and public safety. They're looking at health care issues. They're looking at their looking and also child exploitation issues and they're bringing all those things together to try to solve real problems. And we're helping. So it's really How about the women in tech. You're involved in. So you are women tech leader again most powerful women DC powerful people in DC. >> Well women in tech is such an important issue because again we're a fairly significant part of the population and pretty underrepresented in tech. And one of the things that we've done we started a program at AWS yes called we power tech where it's really about diversity and overall but we go out into communities we work with the schools. We have coding days on campuses. We have started in clubs. We have empowerment days where we teach women how to you, how do you interview. How do you understand the roles in tech. We do serve early. What is Cloud and how do you get involved with cloud and you would talk about other jobs. You know I've had this conversation before about tech is great in the coding part but also there's so many other jobs in tech like and to finance its operations its sales you know PR marketing and your you have to be pretty talented in tech to do any of that. It's not again I'll say for the faint heart. So we are making progress but we still have a long way to go and take a superfund. >> What's your secret of success. >> I think I learned very early on how to operate in a very diverse world. My dad was a basketball coach during my time growing and I had a lot of young men basketball players our home. We were always kicking and I had to stand toe to toe with them all the time in every aspect. I could not you know I just really I was like you know I'm going to win this argument. So the court and >> >> I don't want delays for sure but I really once I guess once I set my mind to something I really believe in it. There's passion in me. I just keep going. I don't know. That is not the right answer. How do we get there blockers are just something that can be removed in my mind and I think Amazon is the kind of culture that you know obviously the way the whole company has been created and how it's driven nothing has gotten in the way. You just sort of learn from those things and if you if you say every day we may not have gotten to where we want to be today but we learned from that from the failure that we had today in that experience and you take that in each day you sort of evolve until OK. Now we learn from that suggest and I and the other thing I tell my team because we're said to Yang Campany you don't really know what you know so don't get tied to the ways that you're doing things because we need to adjust very quickly. So I so I try to promote a an environment where we don't we've made progress. We don't know the right answer every day and we need to constantly be looking at do we get that right and how do we adjust so you know getting that agility in your business has a lot of the hiring that we do today. There's so many that we bring in that are from sort of an old school mindset because these companies did not grow as fast as we're grown and we are in a hyper growth mode. And when you're in a hyper growth mode you have to constantly look for leaders that can scale. And so that's the other sort of thing. >> So the place that can you hang with it. I've seen people you know where they sort of hit a wall and they come back but you really have to constantly say you know this is strapon. You're probably not going to have the same experience ever again. >> Here's some oxygen for some people that are not really oriented so culturally you feel that you're a good fit for Amazon given your personality. That's a key and >> I love it. I mean I love it because of the pace I love it because it change we're driving and the other thing after years of working in tech it's so fun to see your customers be successful. I mean I can't that high seeing customers actually drive results in young entrepreneurs be able to create a company. I had a young girl in Brazil I was in Brazil at the embassy and we had a we had a actually a women's panel and she Saanich like 23 years old and we got to talking and she said I just she said I created my first gaming video at 16 and sold it at 18 percent millions and she was like in her third company. She said all built on a yes. And that is like so cool. >> Like those stories you're just like wow and wouldn't be possible if you went through the old gatekeeper's other ways. >> Well I mean you know I was part of all that. I mean you spent so much of your many on just building out the tech the servers and you know in the early days entrepreneurs. >> So in each of their early capital on that. And now I think that's why you know private equity and venture pathless we are involved with them so much because they see the value that cloud computing can have in their portfolio as trying to value their image. And then the entrepreneurs you'll see seven they'll have to have Mini's going at once you know what it's like it's a good thing because that cost of creating a business is a lot less they can focus on their real talent not just buying servers and stacking them. >> Final question for you talk about the impact that you've had with either the U.S. public sector here in town your event that you started the public sector summit early days conference room in a hotel ballroom or hotel where she was at the major convergence center. It's looks like reinvent. So you had an impact. And this year probably going to be bigger. That is an indicator that something is going right there. >> Well I'm very proud of my team for helping us build this thing out that it was early days. I do think we I say up until this thing we had maybe 50 50 people. And I think last year we had about eight or nine thousand and growing and it is likely that we'll reinvent we have in over a two day period will be June 20th and 21st this year. Please can we have you back. We will be there. But we're doing something a little bit unique this year we're going to have a Space Day on the 19th. And what you know obviously eight of us Amazon we really like space has a leg like you know the cars. Yeah like SpaceX blew out like a comfortable space safe space in the clouds and way beyond that. >> And this is a really interesting area because you know space I remember as a young girl you know sing sing you know the first whole videos of walking on the moon and it makes you feel so good. You know that science and technology emerging that there's a lot of that that needs to be updated and modernized now. And we work with a lot of partners now you know like Lockheed Martin and Raytheon groups that are building tools Blue Origin Space X Nassa Air Force has been a huge robotic surgery of robotics and software involved in machine learning. I mean you think about ground stations and if you think about ground and satellite stations a lot of that is very outdated technology and that's where cloud computing and the new tools that you know that we are driving in our age on machine learning space are really going to help as well as that storage and compete and do more things at the edge with that. So so that's going to be a really fun day and we're going to have folks from all of them helping the public and the public. So it's like a precursor day to our two hour meeting and then all our public sector many re reinvent. So we're we're really excited about that. And it's something new we're going to try this year and see what kind of momentum that we want to add that we have a lot of requests with. Let's just do it. >> What's your goals. Next couple of months. See you at Public Sector Summit your event in June. Q I'll be there. What's what's on your radar. I'll have. >> A big agenda for global traveling. I'm going to be in Australia Singapore Argentina. I've got a couple of trips to Canada. I'm going to be doing very shortly here in London. I'm going to be doing a girls and tech conference and I have went out to San Francisco for the keynoting that so I have a big agenda this year of travel so get myself all geared up for my year on the road. But it's going to be fun. We have a lot of great things going on this year worldwide public sector. >> Congratulations on your success. Thanks for spending that time. Thank you Don. It's good conversation here in Washington D.C. We're in Arlington Virginia. Amazon Web Services headquarters here in Washington. Thanks for watching.