Johnny Halife’s Post

🎗️ 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐀𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧: 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 One year. 365 days. 8,760 hours. 525,600 minutes since our lives changed forever. One year since waking up to a message from Alejandro, asking if everyone we knew was OK. One year from the moment I truly understood my grandparents and what antisemitism meant. One year since 1,200 humans were slaughtered by terrorists, since 240 people from 40 countries were taken hostage by Hamas. One year of waking up to Telegram alerts of rocket barrages hitting Israel. In this year, I’ve also personally witnessed the rapid evolution of technology—AI, Elon’s rockets, and more—showing the progress of mankind like never before. Yet, we also experienced what our grandparents felt 80 years ago in Europe, firsthand. One year since our lives changed forever. And still, here we are. A part of me died that day, but since October 7, 2023, I’ve seen us grow closer. Yes, we all know someone, or someone who knows someone, who has been killed, injured, or abducted. But everyone I know—Jewish or not—called, asked, pledged money to our causes, and showed us support in one way or another. Today is not just another day. Today, we remember that antisemitism is far from over. That those who call for the destruction of the state of Israel ultimately seek the annihilation of the Jewish people. But we’re still here. We were here thousands of years ago, and we’ll be here for thousands more. As for me, today brings hundreds of heartbreaking memories. And yet, I’ll hug my wife and kids tighter than ever, making the same promise my great-grandparents made to my grandparents, my grandparents to my parents, my parents to me, and now, we to our kids: 🎗️ Never Again. We will dance again. 🇮🇱 Am Israel Jai | עם ישראל חי 🇮🇱

Tomorrow at sundown marks the beginning of Rosh Hashanah, the celebration of the Jewish New Year—5785 to be exact. It kicks off the High Holidays, a ten-day period that culminates in Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. On Rosh Hashanah, we celebrate God's creation of the world. Today, as I sit down to write the “every year” Shana Tova messages to our friends, family, colleagues, partners, and customers, I find myself pausing. This year feels different, and I can’t help but reflect. How do I write for a prosperous new year when it's been 360 days since the largest massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust? How do I plan a festive meal with my wife when more than 100 people remain hostages of terrorists? How do I gather with family and friends when the fear of simply taking an Uber to visit the Ohel in NYC weighs on my mind? How do I pray for success when so many of our friends hiding in bomb shelters, with millions in Israel facing a relentless rocket barrage from Iran? How, just how? Yet, it's faith that carries us forward. Rosh Hashanah is a reminder of life’s cycles—of renewal, hope, and the importance of aiming higher with our prayers. As a Sephardic Jew, we begin Rosh Hashanah with a poem called Achot Ketana (Little Sister). Each verse ends with the line, “Tichleh shana ve’kileloteah” (Let the year and its curses conclude), but the final verse brings hope: “Tachel shanah u’virchoteha” (Let the year and its blessings begin). May this truly be the last year we live in fear. May this be the last year that brothers and sisters are separated and held hostage by terror. May this be the last year I wake up to Telegram alerts of sirens sounding in Israel. And may this be the year of love ❤️, peace ☮️, and success 🍀—not just for the Jewish people, but for all of humanity. As my grandmother used to say, "may we all hear only good news". Shana Tova u’Metuka 🍎🍯! Am Israel Chai 🇮🇱.

🚀 𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫: 𝐀𝐈, 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬! After Labor Day, the world started spinning faster than ever… 🌪️ September has been non-stop for SOUTHWORKS! From AI demos to game development, strategic partnerships, and more, we’ve been all over the map. At this pace, I’m half expecting airlines to name a seat after me... hahaha! ✈️💺 Here’s a quick rundown of our journey this month: 🚀 We kicked things off at #IBC24, where we showcased some groundbreaking #AI solutions for video content creation and engagement in the #Media and #Entertainment space. It was awesome to team up with Harmonic for the Live Video Highlights Extraction demo. Shoutout to Federico Bridger and Gerardo Meola for rocking it! 🤖🎥 #MediaTech #DevelopmentOnDemand 📝 Check out the full scoop on our AI showcase here: https://lnkd.in/e9d9bjsR (P.S. Hit up Pablo Damiani more details!) 🔗 We're thrilled to announce our strategic partnership with Kmeleon! Together, we’re pushing the boundaries of enterprise #AI innovation across multiple industries. 🚀🤝 You can read the press release here: https://lnkd.in/egq4rzNm ☁️ Our team also had the pleasure of joining the #Microsoft Digital Natives crew at GitHub HQ for an #Azure Immersion event in San Francisco. Huge thanks to Jay Emery, Shaloo Garg, and Mike Gaal for the continued partnership—this is our favorite Microsoft team! It was great to connect and dive deep into #CloudTech and #Azure solutions for #Startups. Big thanks to Ezequiel Jadib and Nahuel Beni for representing! 🎮 Meanwhile, Nahuel Beni, Carlos Torrecillas, and Sergio López Lara were on the ground at #Unite24, connecting with #gamedevelopers and catching up on all things #GameDev. 🔥 In Mexico, our team was part of the #MicrosoftAITour, talking #AIintegration and #LatAm growth. Santiago Maldonado Cantón, leading the charge! 🇲🇽💡 #LatAmTech #TechGrowth 🏆 And last but not least, SOUTHWORKS has been recognized in Everest Group’s PEAK Matrix Assessment 2024 for our work in Key Verticals and Nearshore Delivery in Software Product Engineering Services! 🙌 It's been a wild ride, and we're just getting started. Shana Tova to everyone in my network celebrating Rosh Hashana! 🍯🍎 Wishing you a sweet and successful new year! #SoftwareEngineering #Innovation #SOUTHWORKS #Partnerships #ArtificialIntelligence

🚨 𝙴𝚡𝚌𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙽𝚎𝚠𝚜! 🗞️ I’m proud to share that SOUTHWORKS has been recognized in Everest Group's 𝐒𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐊 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐱® 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐬, 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐄𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐍𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲! 🌟 As Alejandro G. Jack said, "𝐵𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑔𝑛𝑖𝑧𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠. 𝑂𝑢𝑟 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑛𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑛𝑒𝑟 𝑑𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑒𝑑 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑢𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠, 𝑒𝑛𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑢𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑏𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑔𝑙𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦." A huge thanks to our talented team 💪 and our amazing clients for their support. Exciting times ahead! 🚀 📰 Check out the full press release here: https://lnkd.in/dW_MgKri   #softwareengineering #innovation #tech #nearshoredelivery #SOUTHWORKS #PEAKMatrix #EverestGroup #BFSI #Healthcare

Thrilled to have Santiago Maldonado Cantón join the #MicrosoftAITour in Mexico City! 🙌 Congratulations to the Microsoft team for an incredible event where we heard from Satya Nadella about the $1.3B USD investment in Mexico. 🇲🇽 It’s inspiring to see how leading companies are adopting AI to optimize their operations. At SOUTHWORKS, as Microsoft partners for more than two decades, we’re committed to making this potential a reality. Thank you to Ivonne Mejía, and Victor Hugo Del Angel Ramos for your ongoing support. Exciting things are ahead for Microsoft in the region! 🚀💫

This is the team you want to join if you’re in the Valley 👇

𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 “𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭-𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞”… 🎉 As the curtain closes on IBC - International Broadcasting Convention, I’m filled with a flurry of emotions. It flew by! This was our first-ever booth, and what an incredible learning and business opportunity it was for SOUTHWORKS. Alejandro G. Jack and I had always dreamed of this moment, but until now, we hadn’t ventured into it. 🌟 What an experience! Hundreds of people stopped by to explore how AI is transforming the future of Media and Entertainment—and what we’re doing to lead that charge. From highlights detection to AI-infused CMS, and our main attraction: the AI Avatars demo—everyone was genuinely curious and shared incredible feedback. 💬🤖 A big shoutout to our partners and neighbors at the event—Andy Beach, Simon Crownshaw, Eric Wilson, Eliot Sakhartov, and the entire Microsoft crew—for bringing customers over again and again. We’re so grateful for your support and can’t wait for what’s next. 🙌 To our friends and partners at Harmonic—Allan Nicholson, Jean Macher, Moore Macauley, Dan McCrary, Alex Dove, and the team—it’s been an absolute pleasure partnering with you for a third consecutive show. 💪 And to my incredible team, both on-site and remote—Pablo Damiani, Nicole Revers, Gerardo Meola, Federico Bridger, Alejandro Perren, Melanie Arnott, Cecilia Cortese, Santiago Maldonado Cantón, Micaela Maria Sonnante, and everyone else who worked tirelessly to bring our SOUTHWORKS showcase to life at #IBC2024 — THANK YOU. 🙏 You gave it your all, and the smiles we saw every time someone engaged with our booth said it all. You’re the true rockstars of the show! 🌟🎸 We’ve learned more than we expected and are beyond thrilled with the results. That’s a wrap for IBC 2024 and my busy weeks on the run. But there’s so much more to come, and I’m already pumped for NAB 2025! 𝐒𝐞𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧 𝐋𝐚𝐬 𝐕𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐬! 🎲✨

Big congratulations to our dear friends at Canary Speech — Henry O'Connell, Nate Blaylock, David Brown, and the entire team. 🚀 ❤️

#IBC2024 - 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐭, 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞! ✈️👋 Leaving SF and heading to Amsterdam for #IBC24, and I couldn't be more excited! Not just for the AI-powered demos we'll be showcasing 🤖🦾, but also to reconnect with the incredible SOUTHWORKS team, our amazing partners, and some great friends in the industry. 🌐💼 After a whirlwind trip through SF, it's time to take on IBC - International Broadcasting Convention and show off what we've been working on. 📩 If you're in Amsterdam, drop me a message! Or swing by booth 14.A26 to see our industry-leading demos in action! #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #DevelopmentOnDemand #SoftwareEngineering Pablo Damiani Gerardo Meola Federico Bridger Nicole Revers Alejandro Perren

🌪️ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 24 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬! Not even a full day after turning 39, life decided to remind me of the two most important traits of entrepreneurship—𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴. Right after celebrating my birthday with family in Miami, I was supposed to fly to SF for a 2-day Azure Immersion, followed by a quick hop to Amsterdam for IBC - International Broadcasting Convention. But... life had other plans ✈️. Woke up, headed to MIA, only to find out my flight was canceled. Well, more like postponed a million times 😅. After waiting it out, I was given two choices: either rebook with a +5 hour layover or get a refund. I chose the refund, stopped at a McDonald’s parking lot (as one does) and rebooked a different flight set for 7:00pm. Annnd… that one was delayed too. I didn’t end up getting to my SF hotel until 2am 😴. But hey, woke up today and made it to the GitHub offices for the Azure Immersion, where I had the chance to connect with some incredible people and partners 💼. So, here’s what I was reminded of: 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 💪: Things are always harder than we think, but 90% of success is just showing up. Despite all the setbacks, I kept pushing to get to SF—even if it was only for a few hours. 𝐀𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐇𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐧 𝐁 (𝐂, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐃, 𝐢𝐟 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞) 🔄: As Andrew Grove once said, "Only the paranoid survive." Between cross-country and intercontinental flights, you’ve gotta be prepared for the unexpected. Thankfully, both Ez and Beni were ready to step in and lead the Immersion from the SOUTHWORKS side. Big shoutout to Mike Gaal, Shaloo Garg, Jay Emery, Angela Sanders, and the whole Microsoft Digital Natives team 🙌. Even though I didn’t make it to the SF Giants game, these pictures show that it was a blast! Hoping I’ll catch the next one. ⚾ And to Ezequiel Jadib and Nahuel Beni, thanks for your professionalism and always being ready to step up when it counts. Couldn’t have done it without you. Right now, I’m sitting at the KLM Lounge at SFO, waiting to board for Amsterdam after a whirlwind 9 hours in SF. And you know what? It was totally worth it ✈️. On to the next adventure! 🌍