Season 2 / Ep. 05: Lessons from an Individual Contributor

In this episode, Alison is joined by Corina Ocanto, a workplace strategist who has spent her career translating human needs into environments where people can thrive. Their conversation traces the quiet power of leading from the middle—those moments when influence comes not from authority, but from attention, empathy, and the courage to ask better questions.

As they move through Corina’s path from design school to systems-level strategy, the discussion turns toward the invisible work that makes organizations function: trust, communication, and the willingness to see each other clearly. Corina shares what she’s learned as a “team of one” inside complex structures, revealing how belonging is built not by proximity, but by understanding.

Rooted in Sentido’s “Lessons from an Individual Contributor,” this episode invites us to rethink how leadership shows up in our own work. It’s a story about presence, purpose, and the relationships that make our work meaningful—and a reminder that culture is co-created, every day, in the smallest interactions.