 Johns began her career as a secretary and worked her way up to be President and CEO of Verizon, Washington, D.C., a $700 million telecommunications company.While at Verizon, Johns created a job-training program that placed over 400 teenagers, many of whom were high school dropouts, in communications jobs.She also led the efforts of Verizon's predecessor company, Bell Atlantic, to provide a high-speed internet connection to every public school and public library in Washington, D.C. Johns also led the effort to create technology learning centers in each of the city's eight wards and played a key role in securing $10 million in federal funding to implement a school-to-careers initiative.