What The Funk?

0:00 And we're back on what the funk I am so excited about this episode today, Dominique, formerly Ralph, now, farancy. You are someone that I've wanted to have on this podcast for a long time. I

0:14 think that I started planting the seed about a year and a half ago. Things had to kind of get settled and stable in your world. And I wanted to make sure the timing was right. But now we got you on.

0:25 So I'm really excited about this. And I do have a lot of my former, like colleagues, like coworkers on this pod. But very rarely is it somebody that I only worked with for like two months. But we

0:37 did work together at Seven Lakes back in 2013. And it was such a sad day when you decided to leave. I remember talking to Simone Gebriasis about it. And I was like, man, I am so bummed that Dom

0:51 left right now. But I really only knew her for a couple months. And I remember Simone being like, that's all it takes with Dom, man That's all it takes, so. Um, really kind of a fun crew. That

1:02 was a crazy time at, at seven lakes. You were there kind of like from the genesis of that organization, really helping them get off the ground on projects with Lynn and others. And in my mind,

1:15 we're really crucial to establishing a lot of the, the practices that allowed seven lakes to really grow and flourish as, as a company. So we'll talk about that. We'll talk about, you know, what

1:25 you're doing over at Chevron and, and the move from California to Houston and all these things. Before we jump into that, I want to know, who are you? Who's Dominique Farrancy? Wow, wow. What

1:38 a, what a, you know, it could be a heavy question first, right? I'm about, but at the same time, um, right. I, I think I've learned over the years that I am truly multifaceted, right? I am

1:51 many things to many people and I really lean into caring, looking out for individuals and all things that I do. I mean, that's truly what brings me a lot of passion. So if I had to say who I am,

2:10 right?

2:12 I'm one who loves to learn, pick up new things. I have a creative side to me,

2:22 and I try to bring that into all that I do. And then I also have a love of technology, of all things tech, and it's been that way for as long as I can remember. In fact, you know, my parents

2:36 would joke that they knew I was gonna be a developer by junior high, right? I was already tinkering and doing those things so early on, and I already knew what my major was gonna be before I even

2:48 got to college. Like, I was destined to be in the tech space. Very rare for kids to say, Yep, this is what I'm doing This is my path. My dad talks about it all the time as a family joke, but I

3:02 have that direction set. But no, I do love to learn both creative

3:09 and tech side both.

3:13 So like I'm coming up on 45 years old and I still don't know what I wanna do when I grow up. So I just sort of ended up as like a history in American studies major in college. I think because those

3:24 were like some of the easier classes that could ensure I actually graduated in four years so I didn't break the bank for myself or my parents. But you knew like you had a bit of a plan. Where are

3:34 you from? Like where did you grow up? I know you ended up going to Chico State and I love referring to you as the smartest person who's ever gone to Chico State. Maybe that's debatable. But like

3:43 where are you from and what was your like, what was it like growing up wherever you grew up and then heading into college and professional life? For sure. I mean, I had a really interesting

3:54 background, right? My family is. from the Caribbean. So we have this kind of movement throughout the family of going from the Caribbean up to Canada, which is where I was born. I was born in

4:09 Montreal. That's why you see a lot of Mardi Gras and celebrations up there in Toronto, in New York and all those places, right? There was a big migration there back in the '70s and then in the

4:26 '80s too. And then, yeah, I plopped myself straight out of Montreal and then family moved to California. So I grew up in the LA area mostly and knew that I wanted to stay within California as long

4:47 as I could. But at the same time, looking to go as far away as you can, when you're getting out of high school like. How far can I go and still be in California? So that's, you know, ended up

4:60 in Tico. But at the same time, right, I grew up with one sister. We're nine years apart and she is very much almost like a second, you know, my second mom, you know, she raised me as much as

5:18 my mom did. But we're locked, we're locked in together She had an entrepreneurial spirit early on and brought that in for me as well to bring that

5:34 entrepreneurial spirit in as well. And so we've always been locked up together. So she's my best friend, my everything. You know, we sleep locked together. Both of my parents and my sister's

5:48 family are all still in LA, so I do my best to go out and visit as much as I can. my husband and I are here in Houston. So I do feel that it can be tough sometimes right being apart from each other.

6:05 But my family is, that's my immediate family, but my extended family is quite large, right? I've got about 12 aunts and uncles on my mom's side and I think about six aunts on my dad's side. So

6:21 there's a lot of the family, but we were the only ones to come all the way over here to the West Coast. So we grew up pretty tight knit together, but always like a really strong support system,

6:35 always really, you know, striving to say, what do you want, right? What do you want to get out of your life, out of your future? And they always were supportive and backing me up along the way.

6:47 I love that. So you knew you kind of had a passion for tech And you decided to. go to Chico State, were you like a computer science major? Is that what you, what you did in college? Wow, yeah.

6:60 So I did, in fact, I actually started as a computer engineering thinking I might wanna have like this hardware component side and I realized down the road like, this is not for me. Like I had the,

7:15 you know, the breadboard and I had all my resistors and I carried it around from class to class. I don't know, I just, it wasn't as exciting to me as the software side. And so I shifted to

7:27 computer science in my second year to kind of hone in and be as specific as I can. I went down a math emphasis, which is kind of unique for Chico. So normally you'd see for computer science, you

7:46 might see, you know, maybe some design.

7:51 design like sub-disciplines or specific like programming, sub-disciplines, cyber, things like that. But I chose the math option, the math path. And I ended up getting a minor because of that.

8:10 But I thought I would get into relational algebra specifically around a database design and how I managed like the query languages and how it ties into math. Now, I was going to go into that as a

8:31 research and maybe extend that into my masters, but life took me a different path. And I kind of abandoned that portion of it, but it's always something that had interests me about even the natural

8:47 query language,

8:50 how we process information and data, how we search for it, is there more effective ways to do it? And I thought I could go into that research down the road, but

9:03 life and work decided that was a better path for me at the time. So I've always thought of you as like a Chevron person, not necessarily a lifer, but you may be at this point So did you go right to

9:20 Chevron and like live in Bakersfield after college? Is that what happened? Ah, yeah, great question. So, you know, when I was going through school, I was one that signed up for everything,

9:35 right? I wanted to be in lead at all. So I was president of this and president of the bad. And I was quite active on campus, but one of the things that companies do when they come on to campus is

9:49 they'll work with. the student organizations to try to get their voices out there, right, to get the audience. So because I've led so much of the computer science department groups, a lot of

10:02 companies would contact me to say, Hey, we want to get as many students in the room as we can. Chevron was one of them, and at the time, I was a graduating senior. I had multiple internships

10:18 under my belt with Hilton It's a part of my life. We don't talk about too much, but every summer since freshman year, I was working with Hilton in PeopleSoft, so I had a huge background on finance,

10:38 HR, supply chain for PeopleSoft That was before, that picked up by Oracle.

10:49 all the different hotel locations. So I was at their Beverly Hills headquarters before they moved to the East Coast. So it was actually a really neat experience and they were right in the heart of

11:02 Beverly Hills. And I got to learn a lot from that experience, but it's very rare to find a student that has four summers of people's soft background and development So I think when Chevron saw my

11:21 resume, they saw I can fit really well into JD. Edwards.

11:28 Of course. They go hand in hand now. Where I does the,

11:33 I forget who bought who, but something like that, right? The acquisitions along the way. But yeah, they recruited me. So I was not looking for a job. I didn't know what I was gonna do And they

11:46 said, we'd love to have you.

11:52 All right, let's give it a try. They weren't even on my radar, but they were so good about approaching me and showing me what's possible. So, yeah, I started in Chevron right out of school, and

12:04 I started in the Bay Area. So, San Ramon was home-based, and I moved between there and Concord when they had their Concord location and really enjoyed it So, I

12:17 was there for a few years before I moved to Bakersfield, yep. Got it, got it, interesting. Okay, so you've really spent a lot of time all over California. Had you ever been to Bakersfield

12:29 before you moved there? 'Cause they're like, hey, we wanna put you out in Bakersfield, let's go. Yeah, you know, my journey for that was actually two options at the time, and I always reflect

12:42 back to say, did I make the right choice? What would life have been if I picked. you know, door one versus door two. But my second position move was you can move to Bakerfield and get experience

12:56 right being closer to the business and in the field, which I really liked. Or option two, I can move to Canada. So my option was to go over to Calgary and work from there and talking with family,

13:13 they said, oh, it'd be so much better, you could be closer to LA. It's only an hour 15 drive to get home and back. And I thought about being away from the family for so long, right? I was

13:27 already seven years, right? With Chico plus the Bay area, it's been seven years from being away from home. And I said, you know, maybe Bakerfield makes more sense, right? For me to stay close,

13:42 but Canada was on the table.

13:46 I still, you know, I always reflect on choices, right? You always say to yourself, Oh, it should've, whatever. It could've been this, it could've been that. But everything I've done, I feel

13:58 like there's value. There's value that I got out of it. There's value in the progress and the connections I made. I would not have changed a thing. So Baker's Field was home. And no, it was my

14:11 first time. First time seeing Baker's Field, when I heard already made the decision, because at that time, I said, let me go where life takes me. I did not feel that I had a whole back. If

14:26 maybe I didn't like something or it was unclear about it, I'll make it work for me. And I knew I had the support network to make it work.

14:37 Interesting. OK, so you end up in Baker's Field And was this like, were you working like in a double wide trailer? 'cause I know that there's like a whole lot of those in the oil field, in

14:48 Bakersfield, or were you in like some sort of corporate office closer to downtown? And what were you, what did you do? Like you had some experience working with enterprise systems at that point.

14:58 What did you do at Chevron and the Bakersfield STEM? Yeah, Bakersfield was truly eye-opening.

15:10 I think when you work in the energy space, you may find yourself working in an office setting so it feels very much like any kind of large corporation or company, but when you get closer to

15:23 operations, you really get to see and respect the process, like really understand what it takes. And Bakersfield was really exciting for me because it made everything real. I got to see it

15:37 firsthand. In fact, Bakersfield has all the combinations, both office setting and field location.

15:46 both, which I really liked. But yeah, in the field, they have sometimes what we call double wives, which we called, you know, like kind of home bases. And we worked out of trailers, we worked

15:59 out of different facilities that they had within the field. But what I really love the most is, you know, pulling up, you know, you're pulling up right next to the well, you're parking right

16:11 across from it There's thousands, as far as the eye can see, of, you know, different production facilities. And you know that when you make a change in the application or the software or the

16:25 program, it is making a difference in the field. I felt, I felt, I really truly connected to the change. We make a change. The engineers see that firsthand the next day. So, the value story

16:40 that you're bringing, the all the details behind contributing to the end goal. You feel a part of it when you're there. So I always actually encourage early career, energy employees to spend time

17:01 out in facilities, if you can, because you really do have an appreciation for what it takes to make the whole value chain happen.

17:11 Yeah, it makes it real and it's also just cool Like for me, I'm here in Colorado and the wells that are being drilled here and that have been drilled over the past 15 years are these like massive IP

17:26 wells, right? You're talking about fracking and going down a mile and then horizontally, a couple of miles, massive well pads, rigs moving all over the place. And then even driving past some of

17:41 these to the airport from my house and then going up somewhere like Bakersfield. I was like, oh my God, these are like, these donkey heads are almost like hitting each other as they're going up

17:51 and down in the field. There's so many wells. I like to refer to it as like, it's like a graveyard. You know what I mean? 'Cause you just go out there and you see, like right next to each other,

18:02 there's all these different wells and tanks and trucks and Bakersfield is really foggy, right? So I'll never forget one of my first times, driving out to a double wide. First of all, there was no

18:17 address. It was just like a geographic pin, somebody sent this. It's like, so you go down like the third dirt road, right? There's three of them close to each other. Find the third one as

18:27 you're getting closer to top. Go right, go a little less than a mile. And I'm like, there's no service on my phone right here. This is gonna be hard. You drive out and you go and you park and

18:38 you're like, oh my God, if I backed up like three more feet, I would have hit a well, you know? So like that compared to here. And, you know, other places, West Texas, for example, where

18:48 the spacing's so much different, was like, started to make it real for me, like, okay, I see why these wells produce 10 barrels a day forever versus some of the wells close to me, might start

18:60 off producing 1, 000 and then have steep declines. So I agree, like, my contrast of seeing what was happening here and in West Texas versus seeing what happened in California is like, okay,

19:12 there's all different types, right? As you're looking for the commodity in the ground, maybe you don't have to drill as steep, right? Maybe you don't have to increase the choke. You just sort of

19:22 keep it running steadily and the decline is flat forever versus these massive steep declines. So I feel like when you were in Bakersfield, that's when you met like the Seven Lakes crew, right? So

19:35 you were working on projects that were creating efficiency both for the field as well as the back office. and putting technology on the front end. So did you love that? And then what happened? All

19:51 of a sudden a bunch of you guys leave and start seven lakes? Like what was that process like? Yeah, so I think we recognize that there's a lot of value in what we're doing. But the relationships

20:08 that I had in Bakersfield were really special and unique Like so many of those individuals, I still connect with today. So I have a good friend. She was actually our manager at the time over the

20:26 Data Foundation project. She's already left the company share and she actually works over at SAP now.

20:35 And she's in Ireland. And you know, I had a chance to

20:41 see her connect with her recently. And those relationships make a difference in how the project kind of comes together. I know it's kind of, it's very cliche, I say, right, you've got to have

20:55 the right connections and the people have to really make sense and fit together. But when you got, when you're linked, when you really understand each other and you know how to lean into each

21:06 other's

21:08 strengths,

21:11 each other's skills and recognize when, hey, this is a gap for me. Let me bring this person in who can close that gap. All those pieces come together to make magic happen. But no, at the time,

21:25 the project was kind of going through a stabilization, right? We've done, we had done a lot of work. We had found a scenario that, you know, the teams were able to kind of keep everything going.

21:41 And I think people were kind of just moving on career-wise, right, over the time. But yeah, I think a few individuals recognize, hey, we can create the same scenario outside Chevron and do

21:58 something unique. Now, I did not leave with that initial team. I actually had a lot of other projects, both family projects and other things going on that I saw and recognized as an opportunity.

22:14 And I was right there at the five year mark in my career, which tends to be that time in everybody's journey in their life when they're starting to pivot. They're starting to see what else is out

22:27 there, right? I am only known Chevron from graduating from Chico State. And I think I was saying to myself, What else might be out there that I could try, that I could experience, right? Beyond

22:44 the walls that I've only seen and created around me. So I think I took a chance, right? Not only trying out that new opportunity with Seven Lakes, but also trying some family projects on the side

22:58 too. Like this was my time to really partner with my sister and try some new things out as well as finding my own path In my own career. And again, this is another decision, almost like the Canada

23:12 versus Vakersfield, right? This was another, do I stay or do I go? Do I take the chance or do I kind of stay the course? And again, I wouldn't change a thing, right? I knew the people that I

23:25 would work with that we would get it, that we would lock in and lean into each other's strengths and make something magical happen. I took the chance and I love every moment of it.

23:41 That's great. Yeah, and you know, you said a few things there that I want to latch on to. And I think one of them is like the chemistry, right? And that was actually really obvious to me in the,

23:53 like, and part of why I went to Seven Lakes 'cause I've always felt, and this has been reinforced over the years, that like, first of all, people do business and buy from people that they like

24:03 and that they trust But I also think that there's an element of people do business where they see chemistry amongst the team that they would do business with. Like, that's important. If you're in a

24:14 meeting and you see these people don't even really like each other, right? Like, what's the future for this company? You can feel it. When you're working for especially a smaller company, it's

24:25 really important to put that united front forward and you just can't fake it. It's not a fake it 'til you make it situation. Every high or so crucial, relationships mean a lot. And it comes

24:35 through when you are in the room talking about doing business. And in a lot of cases, some fairly impactful substantial business. If you're talking about data warehousing and analytics and reports

24:47 that then get spread to hundreds of people throughout an organization, like you probably feel more comfort working for a bigger company. So if you're going to work with a smaller company and doing

24:57 that, like you really need to see like, hey, they have all the skills. And then be like, these guys even like each other enough to be around Or is this person going to start my project and then

25:05 leave in two months. And then I'm like, what the hell's going on? Why did I make this decision? And I think Seven Lakes had a lot of those things out of the gate, which is as part of why I joined

25:15 the company in addition to like the experience, um, in the space and then just like the general like high level of intelligence within that company. So at the point that I started working there,

25:26 you were a few years in. Um, and you were like truly the jack of all traits. hey, there's something wrong with my computer. You're like, let's get on a go to meeting, right? And show me what's

25:38 wrong with your computer. Hey, now I'm having an issue logging into this, right? You'd like FaceTime on the phone. You're like, yeah, yeah, do this and that. And then it's also like, oh, I

25:47 need a proposal. Can you help write it? Sure. Hey, I'm onboarding, like, what are we doing for onboarding? You're like, oh, yes, so the bathroom's over here and we're gonna go to lunch over

25:58 here. So like, you are like a really valuable resource for a small company because you, I think in a lot of ways, were such, it could at least put the generalist hat on. So then you left and I

26:09 was like, ah, that sucks so bad. But I think that you left and did you go back to Chevron or did you take some time off working on some of the other family projects? Like that must have been 2013

26:19 timeframe. Yeah, 2013, so I did take some time off. Not too long, actually, because this is again, the power of networks That same friend. that I was just talking about, who's in Ireland.

26:37 She heard that I was a free agent again and said, wait a second, if you're not working for seven legs, we've got to get you back, right? We've got so much work to do. So came back in

26:55 to Chevron as a contractor. And I took up for a little bit and was kind of doing kind of like family, my family's businesses on the side as well as consulting for Chevron. And it was probably about

27:13 like eight or nine months in, Chevron said, okay, let's convert you back to an employee and have you come back in as an employee. So that really was when I had a chance now to see what the world

27:29 was like outside for so many years while I did enjoy it. The travel got to me. The on the road style is something you got to wrap your head around when you're doing consulting work. Like I,

27:45 especially living in Bakersfield, that is the worst commute. You could possibly do trying to go to these locations 'cause I always was stuck in Houston. Let me tell you, I could never get out of

27:58 Houston because of some storm or something coming through and have to wait another day before I can get that flight back out to Bakersfield. So that life is a hard life. It is, and that was a big

28:13 thing for me too. Like I had never traveled much in my career. Like for a really important demo or meeting, yeah, you get on a plane, you go, you know, I'm in Denver. So you go to Dallas or

28:22 you go to Pittsburgh. Of course you go to Houston for conferences and for meetings and all that. But it wasn't the like every week type of thing. Not so in 2014, 2015, when Seven Lakes was like

28:34 full-blown services and consulting, and I was like the only sales guy, I feel like I traveled almost every week. I mean, I remember looking back, you know, like over a course of two years, it

28:45 was like 90 round-trip flights. So like 181 was, yeah, like you get status and you get a whole bunch of points. If you're flying the same airline that you can redeem and go on like nice trips with

28:59 your family, but when you're traveling so much for work, you don't want to go on personal trips. You just want to chill out and stay at home. Yeah. And to be honest, yeah, you're, you're spot

29:10 on. And I, I think I look back and say to myself, well, that life too also brings, does not bring the balance that I realized I needed in my life. So I knew that the work I was doing was really

29:25 helping the company, right? I could see my work and I could see that there was you know, it was appreciated, but the problem was too that hey, it could be Sunday, it could be a Sunday morning

29:40 and I get a call and I better get my laptop open because there's a big proposal Monday morning and we forgot like a whole section of the of the proposal we got to work it or we've got a big

29:51 presentation for BP and

29:55 I need to get up on Saturday morning and keep knocking that out and and so I did not have any boundaries at all I allowed it to 100 take over because I knew the value but I also wasn't giving myself a

30:12 chance to make sure I was valuing my time and myself as well and not and not only that I think also my career journey because you called it right I was doing a little bit of everything and I think

30:29 yeah I lost myself in what I know and what I do. I lost the tech side because I was doing marketing. I was doing proposals and all of these things. And I was still doing some software work, right?

30:48 As an analyst, but it was not the same. And I think I had a chance to reset myself.

30:54 Yeah, I mean, you really did do a lot, which is super valuable for a smaller company, but I could also see that being like, all right, what am I doing? When I sit down and say like, what am I

31:05 doing? It's some HR, maybe it's some payroll, maybe it's marketing, maybe it's sales engineer, maybe it's proposal writing, and you're getting further and further away from the tech, which like,

31:15 as you said, is something that you've liked since you were just little dumbing. So I could see where honing in on some of that focus is helpful. And I remember you moved to Houston, which sort of

31:28 felt inevitable, I feel like, You were already traveling there so much and you don't mind warm weather. Besides Canada, you've always lived in warm weather places, right? Your family is from the

31:39 Caribbean. So you end up in Houston, what was that like? Like when did you go to Houston and what was the impetus for that? It's like we want you at corporate headquarters or why did that happen?

31:50 Yeah, when I started doing the consulting work, it needed to be front facing the role required me to be on site at a lot of different locations. And so, and the team was 100 base in Houston. So I

32:10 recognized for myself that Bakersfield wasn't going to get me far. I could not stay in Bakersfield and grow my career and find the things that I wanna do in that particular environment. to go back

32:30 to LA and need to go to the Bay Area or try something out. And I think when I got this opportunity, I said, go for it, right? At the time, I still wasn't married. So, you know, my husband,

32:46 boyfriend at the time, he said, let's do it. So we moved together. Thankfully, he had the flexibility in his role. He worked for FedEx at the time and FedEx is everywhere So he had an

33:00 opportunity to, to sure, it moved to Houston, no problem. So we did it, moved out there and yeah, having looked back. So I've been out there now since about, yeah, 20, so 10 years, 10 years

33:14 ago, time it's flying by, flying by. I never thought I would have left California, but, but I did and it's home. I do love it here, it's hot. Yeah, of course it's hot. But, you know, I

33:28 also love, I love to travel and so that's a part of our, you know, married life is we do a lot of traveling and we go out and see places. So I never feel locked in Texas. I'm just, this is a

33:43 home base. And then often go to the next adventure that it at look of kind I, yeah So.

33:49 way. And you don't have kids, right? So it does make travel a little bit easier. That changes a lot, not only buying in my case, like five tickets to go somewhere, but also just like literally

34:01 all of the bags. Like we went to, geez, we wanted a family vacation. I mean, it's more of a trip 'cause now that I'm running my own thing, I can't really fully check out. But I didn't open my

34:14 laptop for a couple of days, which is a huge win and really got to focus on spending time with family. But what stood out to me is we get to Baltimore and we go to Avis, right, to load up the

34:25 vehicle and it was too small. like they're literally wasn't enough room and this was a mid-sized car. So I'm like, oh my God, we have so many bags that like this wouldn't be safe. Like, A, I

34:36 can't see out the back window, B, it's like people have to hold their suitcase on them for a two and a half hour drive to the beach. Like, no. So now when we travel, we need like a explorer.

34:47 There's something like that. Just to get all the bags in and have it be safe. So like little things like that that's so much easier when you don't have kids and all of their stuff It's like, how do

34:57 you have so much stuff? But you just do. Everybody has one bag. Everybody has a carry on. That's like 10 bags. So I'm in a colossean.

35:08 Go ahead. No, you go. You're gonna say something. Yeah, I was just saying that the

35:15 process of consulting and being on the road trained me to really pack lean. because you don't have time to check bags and you wanna get home, you need to get to the next spot. So I will say seven

35:30 legs trained me in that. I have always packed super lean, so we're in and out quick for our travels, but I know I can only imagine with kids that many kids. Well, so I'm with you, like me too,

35:42 right? I don't wanna check bags, but then you don't have a choice if you got all these bags, you're going away for a week and you got kids, right? So the contrast, my wife always says this to me

35:50 and she has to travel either for work or for a friend's trip or something where she's like, wow, this is like, and she travels a lot less than me. So I'd say like most of her trips or family trips.

36:01 So she's like, man, this is what you do. Like, this is so easy when you travel by. I'm like, yeah, it's kind of nice, right? You can just sort of sit at a bar and order some food. Maybe go

36:10 to the American Express Lounge, right? Park wherever you want. It's not this crazy process, a little bit of a delay. That's all right, I'll just sleep on the plane, you know? no big deal

36:19 versus like, oh, there's just a lamb. God, are the kids going to get to bed on time? Yeah, I've got a funny story for you. It just happened to me. I was out at the Gartner Conference, out in

36:32 Florida, a couple of months back, heading back home. You know, again, the beauty of flexibility, the beauty of traveling, I ended up getting to the airport and they changed my flight so that

36:50 the plane actually shrinks So it was a plane layout that was smaller than the original flight. So that means that they had to kick people off 'cause there wasn't enough seats. And so they were

37:03 looking for volunteers. I called my husband and I was like, okay, do you want me to do a1,

37:11 000 voucher to not be on this plane and I'll come home tomorrow or do you want me to get on this plane? He said, I'll see you tomorrow.

37:21 Totally Holy shit. You know, like, right, the only way I could pull that off is I was lean. I didn't have any, I didn't know any small bag. I was like, yeah, I'm out of here. Put me in the

37:33 hotel. I'll be back in the morning. Um, so yeah, always travel light. Oh, yeah. I mean, that is, um, definitely something. And I really can't take advantage of those types of things anymore.

37:45 Because if you leave all your kids at home with your wife, even if somebody is saying, yeah, we'll give you 1500 bucks to go tomorrow It's like, well, I'm kind of needed like as soon as I can get

37:54 there guys. So I'm not going to be that person, even though it would be nice to have1, 500, 000 travel credit. Um, so, so what do you, like, what do you do? What kind of work do you do? And

38:05 I know Chevron's like a big enough company that you've probably moved around roles, but I do think it's still kind of IT or liaison between IT and

38:12 the business. Like what do you, what do you do? Like what kind of work do you do at Chevron currently? Yeah, so I'm part of the data engineering. group. And right now I'm doing a lot of people

38:27 management. So this is around not only career planning for employees in the data engineering space, but also seeing how we can continue to grow and improve our data engineering employees overall.

38:45 So data engineering is mostly, you know, analysts, architects, engineers, all covering all the variety of areas across Chevron. So it's really an interesting role. I've enjoyed it. I've been

39:01 in this particular role for the last two years and it allows me to lean into the people development side, which I really love. So I know I've been talking all about staying within the tech space,

39:17 but I get to work and meet so many smart people every day. and hear their journeys, hear their challenges of how they're trying to solve these really big important data problems, and I get to be a

39:32 part of that conversation. So I've really enjoyed it. I don't know what's next in my horizon, but I know that I'll continue to look for roles where I can help influence and try to support people's

39:46 careers along the way. Yeah, I like that And I think, I do remember at one point, geez, this must have been

39:54 2017, 2018. You were doing some sort of midstream supply chain, and I'm like, what? We're working on upstream production, operational efficiency, dashboards. I'm like, now you're running like

40:07 60 people in a midstream supply chain group. So A, it speaks to your versatility, but B, it's like, well, what do you want to do? And I think the combination of you, your consulting background,

40:18 but also your skill in dealing with people. Makes sense when you're like, okay, you've got these chess pieces and you need to move them around accordingly a to keep them motivated, but also be to

40:30 ensure that Chevron's like project mandate is executed upon right so I think it's a really good role for you as I see it because it's a mix of the personality people management in addition to

40:43 technology execution so I could see why you like this particular role Let me ask you a little bit without getting too deep into the Chevron corporate strategy about what it's like working for a bigger

40:54 company that has really leaned into and embrace the concept of sustainability and ESG. Are you seeing more projects like hit your radar that are related to hydrogen or carbon capture or just, you

41:09 know, non traditional upstream oil and gas focus And maybe talk a little bit about like what you think the company might look like as this becomes more of a hot topic. Yeah, I think we're, you

41:23 know, one thing that Chevron has always done really well is to share a lot of their journeys and their projects on different news outlets and even on their own YouTube channel. In fact, I recommend

41:39 checking it out. They have some really great videos of some of the projects going on in California around renewables and

41:49 what they're trying to do. Do right to move the needle in that direction. So the focus on sustainability is something that has always been a big part of the company year after year. In fact, we've

42:05 got a sustainability report that comes out every year talking about all the impact across the globe that's done. So in terms of IT,

42:16 We continue to right lean into the business on what's most important and Focusing on the priority projects and those are a big part of it. So We are always kind of pivoting around data. So I'm going

42:32 to put my data my data hat on We're always looking to say okay What's coming in new that maybe it's new data we need to collect and you have to realize with such large companies That sometimes there's

42:46 so much information. How do you make sense of it all? How do you find it so that it's actually meaningful and you can make decisions on it? And that's the beauty of being in the data space which

42:56 I've always been since they won I mean since the verse since my people soft days It's always been about the data and then it's always been about quality and reliability and consistency and regardless

43:09 of what topic it is Whether it's renewables whether it's operations or anything in between people want to know and be able to trust data. And so that's why the roles around the data space,

43:23 especially now with AI coming up big and getting more and more popular, AI is only as good as your data, right? So if you don't put your data story right, you can't do these new and exciting

43:38 projects. And so I think that's why I've always loved staying in this data space, because it is such a fundamental piece of all software. You cannot make good applications without quality behind it.

43:54 So yeah, I think I'll always have and lean into data in the rest of my career, for sure. Well, yeah, and it feels like a pivotal time as far as data because you're right. I think there's a lot

44:08 of, if I just look at the whole ecosystem of oil and gas, there are some companies that are like, We don't trust our data, our data is not good. We've done too many acquisitions, how do we

44:17 reconcile all of this stuff? And they're sort of like, you know, in a tricky spot. Then you have companies that have put in data management best practices and have maybe a data management team or

44:30 have just invested heavily. So they feel confident in their data, but now they're trying to figure out like, okay, what do we now do with it, right? Like we want to start putting chatbots on

44:39 everything and start asking questions around like, what does the rock look like here? Show me the lift type for a subset of wells in this particular area. Show me the AFE costs on aggregate or

44:53 average for this series of pads. And like really be able to then spend more time analyzing and less time searching for data, because even if your data's good, like where is it, right? And what's

45:06 the trusted source? And I see this so many times, even companies that I love and respect is we have like really talented, intelligent, hardworking people that spend so much more of their time

45:19 looking for data than analyzing data and making decisions. So I'm like really keen to see what this looks like over the next few years as humans don't necessarily need to be the ones to search for

45:31 that data and you can leverage the bots and start to see like, all right, what did we find when we were looking at this information and now can I make a recommendation or decision that used to take

45:44 three weeks and now do it in two hours. Like, I think that's gonna be pretty powerful, cool stuff and I think tangentially the executives at the companies want this but the people who have their

45:57 hands and the data are like, we have to make sure that we trust it first, so. Yeah, and I'd say you're gonna need a balance, right? Because I think we will start to lean more and more into AI to

46:12 tell us. what we're looking for, but there is value in that human analysis piece that we have to figure out what's that sweet spot between the two. I just read an article the other day about

46:28 Google's AI providing incorrect information to specific questions because it was trained on articles that were satire They were not meant to be true payments. These were actual satire specific

46:48 arguments that were put out there. But the AI came back and said it as fact, right? And so even if you train these bots to give you information, what is the accuracy of the information that it's

47:05 being trained on? So there is, I think, something we have to figure out in. and how we use these tools to say, okay, this is the information. How do I now maybe validate it or maybe it supports

47:21 my own thinking? And then I can counter it and say, yes, it's validated by this and this and this and it just simplifies maybe my research but doesn't replace my research, right? Yeah, and you

47:36 would look really bad if all of a sudden you give this bot or whatever to somebody that wants this information and it's answering questions off of satire. It's like, well, what are you doing? Like

47:46 apply your own human-based intelligence to it before you give it to me, dude. Don't make that

47:52 bad for me. Yeah, exactly. So that's funny and like I love hearing about use cases like that since I don't dig into the AI every single day. I use it for some pieces and I see the value in it. I

48:01 think I probably need like a crash course on like, how do you best leverage AI for sales or business development or marketing? I'm not talking about like writing my emails for me. because it still

48:12 feels a little bit too artificial. In that case, like to me, I like to lean into the authenticity of how I do write emails. And it has to be like, you know, kind of fun and sticky and real. And

48:26 there's nuance that I don't know if AI fully grasps now or will grasp anytime soon, right? Without models getting extensive training.

48:37 And we're still in these early phases of how we can adapt it into our day to day. I mean, we're gonna, we'll see it evolve in our lifetime and it will look nothing like it does today. And the,

48:50 the trust of it will be quite high. But I think we just need to find, truly find that balance of the, that human unique factor along with a speed of getting that information out, right? To the

49:03 masses, how, how do we have the two co-exists together? I was also reflecting on my nephew who

49:14 I'm always amazed at how quickly he can use technology so fast in his everyday and I'm like, Oh, show me that trick, how'd you do that, right? And he can pick it up so fast. And I love, you

49:29 know, his text messages to me and, you know, he's just so fast about everything of how he works So yeah, we may see, right, this next generation, use it in a way we had never thought of, right?

49:42 Yeah, I mean, even outside of just AI technology as a whole I, mean, I remember a few years ago seeing my oldest daughter do like edits on TikTok, and I'm like, Wow, she's making like mini

49:53 movies, like on her phone. I'm like, This is like really impressive stuff. So I'm like, Hey, will you do some of these for like my business? I'll pay you She's like, Absolutely not, not

50:05 interested in doing that. And I'm like, I will literally pay me20. She's like, it's just a waste of my time. It's not fun. I'm like, oh, okay, I guess we have a different mindset. Somebody

50:15 was offering me20 or whatever with inflation, 10 back in the day to do something that would take me two minutes. I've been cranking out edits all day, baby. Let's go, let's do some edits. All

50:24 right, I wanna put you on the hot seat real quick. I told you 45 minutes, it doesn't matter. We went long, doesn't surprise me at all. So I'm gonna ask you some questions. Maybe I prepared you

50:34 for these, maybe I did, but I'm just gonna throw it out there. So, first of all, who is your favorite colleague at Seven Lakes?

50:44 Oh my goodness.

50:48 I have so many. I'm like, let me think, let me think. I will say my, while I, everybody, all my relationships are unique and special. I have to say it's Simone, Simone's my favorite.

51:04 I'm gonna send this to Tensey. Since he's going to hear this, she's not going to be happy because you guys were like, you guys were like inseparable. Yes, yes, there was so many, but I think it

51:14 was because we had the journey from the past, right? He really did support me, especially when I went into a brand new space when I first moved to Bakersfield. He was always so supportive and made

51:27 sure I, you know, adapted and came into the team with a lot of success So there's a longer journey there, but yeah, everybody I love though. Yeah, no, Simone's a good one. What do you like to

51:41 do outside of work?

51:44 Yeah, so I, you know, of course we talked about travel already. And so if you're not, if I'm not here in Houston, I'm on the road somewhere, traveling somewhere because I love it. But I also

51:56 have a passion around journaling and crafting So that's something that I love to do.

52:05 got into that actually right around the time I was planning my wedding and I got into a lot of that. And again, my sister in our entrepreneurial spirit, we took a passion of mine and created a

52:21 small business around it. So I get to do a hobby that I love, but I also, you know, make money from that hobby too. So I have a small business around journals and notebooks that I create. And

52:37 it's something I've been doing now since 2015,

52:43 somewhere around there is when it finally happens. I cannot believe it. I'm nine years into that small business. Good for you. Yeah, it's a space I know absolutely nothing about. But obviously,

52:54 if you've been able to turn it into a real business, there must be some demand for whatever it is you're doing from a journaling standpoint, so keep it going. Very niche for those listening right

53:03 though. So specific that have a passion around specialty papers, specifically Japanese paper. It is a specialty of mine. I have Japanese paper brought in to Houston here every month. It's

53:19 something that I love and it's an art form that isn't as visible and represented anymore, but there is a very niche market out there for people that truly appreciate it Well, I'm not one of those

53:34 people, but if you're listening to this and you are, you can reach out to Dominique.

53:42 Next question I wanted to throw at you is, geez, I have a few, let me narrow this down a little bit.

53:54 Talk to me a little bit about what you see over the next few years of your career. Like it seems like at this point you kind of are a bit more of a Chevron lifer. Would you be happy doing the type

54:05 of job you have now for the next five years? Do you want a different challenge living somewhere else working on the refinery or midstream or some other side of the business? Like sort of what do you

54:16 see as your career path starts to continue to unfold as a Chevron person?

54:23 Yeah, I mean this question, I mean I even ask my own team members of this all the time in. We all laugh about it, right? Oh, I don't know what the next year will bring or I can't think 10 years

54:37 out, right? But I feel like I'm at a point now where I am very happy and content with how where life is taking me and the work that I get to do So yeah, I could see myself doing this. going

54:53 forward and maybe it evolving into maybe some new business areas like maybe getting some exposure to areas I haven't seen before but still managing and having a chance to work and connect with people

55:08 I've realized now that it that's a passion of mine I really do enjoy it so I'd like to continue to lean into that and yeah maybe five years from now I have another epiphany and I realize you know what

55:22 I'm gonna do something new and I think that's the beauty of just any career or you know any company you can pivot and you say for my life or but I think Chevron brings the unique perspective where

55:37 yeah you can have multiple kinds of careers within Chevron and they truly support that and there's so much value and having a chance to pivot and still be in the same and have and maintain those

55:52 relationships. So yeah, let's see where life brings me. But for now, I'll keep on messing back. We'll check in in five years then. And final question for you, Dom. What advice would you give

56:04 to your younger self? I'm talking about maybe the 21, 22 year old version of yourself. And I know that's not the easiest question to answer, but like, what would you tell the younger version of

56:16 Dominique as you head out into the world and career and oil and gas and tech and entrepreneurship and all these things? What would you tell yourself?

56:27 I would say one, you know, one as I reflect to is keep up with your networks. I don't think that I,

56:39 you know, recognize how important they were in the early days. And there's so many people that have made such an impact for me over the years. that I never had a chance to stay connected to. And

56:55 it's something that is a part I struggle with sometimes, to make sure I leave enough room in my day to stay connected to those that really made a difference. And I would say that to my younger self

57:11 and to others early in their career, you may hear that from mentors and advisors saying, Hey, it's your network It's who you know, it's all the people you talk to. But those relationships really

57:25 can help you when you're pivoting or making a big change. So I shared the example of me going back out into the world again and trying another after leaving Seven Lakes and doing something new. And

57:40 it was my relationships that got me back in to Chevron and to my next moods And again, whatever the future may bring. It's about the people around you that kind of make that happen. I know it's you

57:54 too. It's you as an individual to pace yourself and to find those opportunities. But man, does it make a difference when you have support around you to make it happen too. So that will be my

58:06 advice. I love that. I mean, people answer that question so differently. And I really appreciate that that's what you went for and mentioned. Sometimes people think of network as like, I go to

58:18 an event, an event where I don't know anybody and I shake a whole bunch of hands, sure, that's networking. But you're talking about people that you've spent time, you know, doing projects with

58:28 getting on airplanes together, staying at the same hotel and staying up later at night and finishing up work or just talking about life. That's really what it's all about. You know, and I commend

58:39 you for providing that advice back. And now it's making me reflect on, maybe I should have done a better job with that one. I was in my twenties, but I did understand at some point the value of.

58:50 network and now it's like a very important part of how I operate. So, Dom, thank you so much for coming on. You crushed it. You're a great representative. Yeah, you're a great representative

59:01 for your organization. You're one of my favorite colleagues of all time and I can't thank you enough for coming out. Thank you. Have a good one. Thank you so much for inviting me.