Hard Work and Flexbility Lead to Success feat. Natalie Smith '17

[00:00] Intro: Welcome to Owl Have You Know, a podcast from Rice Business. This episode is part of our Pivot Series where guests share stories of transformation in their lives and careers.

[00:12] Natalie: So, definitely within the next five years, I'd like the introduction to move to “Welcome, we have Natalie Smith on the line. She's a partner at EY-Parthenon.” Yeah. So, that's my focus right now.

[00:30] Scott: Today on Owl Have You Know, I'm joined by Natalie Smith, 2017 graduate from the Rice Business full-time program. Natalie and I discuss how her Rice MBA experience helped facilitate her transition from a career in offshore oil and gas with BP to leading mergers and acquisition engagements with EY-Parthenon’s M&A Practice, and doing it all while raising kids and starting your own business on the side. Let's jump into the conversation with Natalie.

Natalie, how are you? Welcome to the show.

[00:59] Natalie: I'm doing well. Thank you. Thank you for the invitation. Happy to be here.

[01:04] Scott: Thrilled to have you here, really excited about the conversation. So, I just kind of want to dig right in. Early in your career, you worked for BP in the energy space. Can you tell us a bit about how you landed at BP to begin with, a little bit of just kind of that journey?

[01:20] Natalie: Yes, yes. So, I studied mechanical engineering originally and studied at Prairie View A&M University. It's a HBCU here, locally here in Houston, then went and got my master's degree in mechanical engineering from University of Michigan. While I was there, I was working at Ford and doing research. I graduated in 2008 and that was probably the worst time to graduate from master’s school. And working for Ford, it was probably the worst time. It was a recession. So, I knew that I didn't want to start my career off there. And so, I was like, okay, well, I can always go back home to Houston and enter the oil and gas industry. And so that's what brought me to BP. Yeah. I worked as an offshore engineer there for about six, seven years.

[02:11] Scott: Oh, wow. So, the entire, kind of, the time that you were there, you were doing offshore-related work?

[02:17] Natalie: Correct, correct. Worked on both facilities as well as vessels.

[02:22] Scott: Okay. Wow. Can you tell us a little bit about some of the standout experiences from being offshore for BP?

[02:29] Natalie: Sure. So, I mean, every experience you have, especially working offshore and subsea, is unique. So, some of the, I'd say, the standout experiences that I had, so the first time that I actually rode on a vessel, it took 10 hours from the coast of Louisiana inward to get to the facility.

And the first time that I went, it was a horrible storm. It was a, it was a horrible storm. And the boat was just rocking back and forth and all of the bunks and beds are below. And so, regardless of you being sleepy and have worked either a 12 to 16-hour shift, it's loud. The slams from the waves are, it's amazing. Yeah. And to be out there for that long, 10 hours just to get to the site. And then we were there on site for about two weeks. And working offshore, there's a rule. So, you can only be off shore for two weeks and then you have to touch land and then you have to come back to continue work.

So I was, this entire procedure that we were working on lasted five weeks. So, two times, we had to go, yeah, shuttle back to the coast and literally get off the boat, touch land and then get back on and go back out.

[03:59] Scott: Oh, wow.

[03:59] Natalie: Yeah.

[03:59] Scott: That's quite the experience.

[04:01] Natalie: So, those are some of the standout things that you wouldn't think happens. Yeah.

[04:06] Scott: From that experience, I mean, it's just my understanding of, I've not ever been on an offshore platform, but, you know, and for those that haven't that are listening, I suspect that there's, you know, an amount of preparation that's kind of required to be out on a platform. What are some of the things, hurdles, you had to, kind of, get over to be able to be out there and doing that kind of work? And are there any things that, you know, you kind of learned from that experience that sticks with you today?

[04:31] Natalie: Oh, definitely. So, there are quite a few certifications that you need in order to be able to go offshore. And I'd say the one that is most interesting is the HUET Training. It's the helicopter training. The helicopter training actually occurs within a pool. It's preparing you if the helicopter were to break down and, within the ocean, and teaching you how to survive, basically. And so, they teach you to bust through the window of the helicopter and slide through the window. You learn how to make your coveralls into floaties. And you learn, you know, the true weight of your steel toe boots and how to take those off, you know, to protect yourself. They put you in a pool that allows you to really, truly realize the temperature of the water. And so, they try to realistically prepare you.

[05:28] Scott: Simulate that experience.

[05:28] Natalie: Yeah. Yeah.

[05:29] Scott: Hopefully never had to put that into practice.

[05:31] Natalie: I never did. And I'm grateful for that, yeah, very much.

[05:35] Scott: So, in those six years, I mean, were you on just a single rig or lots of different platforms? Or how?

[05:41] Natalie: Right. Right. So, I did work on different platforms in different projects to actually create new facilities. I did quite a bit of, of work out there, worked with a lot of great people that I still admire to this day and connect with to this day. Yeah. BP was a great place.

[06:01] Scott: So, kind of with that foundation in energy and offshore, you were at BP when you started your full-time MBA program?

[06:11] Natalie: Well, let's take a step back. So, why even the MBA, right? So, I had always wanted to achieve a particular role, a business executive role, and be a part of the decision making, actually be around that table. And within the oil and gas industry, especially a company of the size of BP, it's very hard to reach that level. You could work 20 years and just be a manager. It's very hard to make it to a level where you're a part of the C-suite. And so with that in mind, I wanted to, one, get my MBA, but also transition to study, the study the aspects that would place me in those type of environments. And so, that's what brought me to Rice.

I did have an opportunity to study finance as well as entrepreneurship and through that, had an opportunity to do an investment banking internship with UBS during the summer. And that basically opened my eyes to mergers and acquisitions but also definitely gave me the validation that, yes, from now on, I will be a part of that environment where the folks who are responsible for making business decisions and have the authority to make the decisions. I'm always in the room now. Yeah.

[07:43] Scott: I love it. What did originally put Rice on your radar?

[07:46] Natalie: At that time, we were here in Houston obviously. I was working at BP and I was married. And also, we had our first son. And so, we were at a place where I knew that I couldn't move to another state in order to study for my MBA. I knew that it would need to be local. And so, Rice, from that point of view in regards to MBA to me is the, it's the top school here. It was a no-brainer for me. And they're phenomenal when it comes to finance and entrepreneurship. They have a wonderful department. In addition, they have a strong network, not only here in Texas, but nationally. And that's what I wanted to be able to walk away with.

[08:32] Scott: And so to do that, you stepped kind of out of your career to go do a full-time program. What were some of the challenges and experiences of balancing family with now the studies and sort of fully immersing yourself in that Rice experience?

[08:49] Natalie: Right, right. So, I did leave corporate and just solely focused on school. And my husband continued to work. So, I did get an opportunity to get a partial scholarship through Rice. My husband was still working. And both of us were supporting and still raising children. It was definitely a busy time, shall I say, you know. I could be in class and if something happened with my son, Dylan, then, you know, I may need to step away and go see him in class, you know, and, and make sure that he's okay. In addition, long nights to ensure that, you know, I still take my son and put him to bed. And then at night is when I study. It was, you know, just getting, becoming flexible and being in a position to adjust, but also being willing to put in the hard work to make sure that it was a success. Yeah.

[09:47] Scott: Yeah. Absolutely. No, that's fantastic. In the Rice experience, what was unanticipated in terms of, kind of, when you showed up and now you're in the middle of the experience, like something that was a surprise in a, I'll say, a good way? Like, what was, you knew that you wanted to go in, great school in Houston, but you're there. You know, your elbow's deep in, you know, finance and accounting and all this stuff but like, what kind of surprised you?

[10:15] Natalie: Yeah. So when I went to Rice, I was under the impression that I would end up being an investment banker. That was my goal. And I landed the internship and whatnot, and it didn't work out the way that I planned. And I pivoted to consulting. And I did not expect that. Actually, when I went to Rice and investment banking and consulting kind of start as far as the recruiting process, it starts immediately at the beginning. They were talking about consulting and I didn't really know much about it. I had my own, you know, assumptions about it, but I didn't foresee myself ever becoming a consultant. And it's a, it's amazing that I pivoted to consulting and made a full career out of it. Yeah. So that, that's the big, big surprise. Yeah.

[11:08] Scott: Was there sort of like a spark moment in that, where it was like consulting is now, like, hey, like, I'll think about that differently or sort of accept that as a, as a cool potential path. Was there sort of-

[11:19] Natalie: Right.

[11:21] Scott: … a moment-

[11:21] Natalie: It was.

[11:22] Scott: … or a conversation or a mentor?

[11:23] Natalie: It was. So, I had the assumption that consulting was only solving long-term company problems. And I didn't know that there was a perspective of consulting for M&A, for mergers and acquisitions, for transactions between businesses. And that opened my eyes. There's another aspect to this. And I definitely wanted to be a part of it. It interested me and I wanted the opportunity to see, you know, how I would like it, give it a try. And surprisingly enough, I'm enjoying it. Yeah.

[11:58] Scott: That's great. That's really cool. The front end of your experience, I understand that you attended like a pre-MBA boot camp in Shanghai. Is that right?

[12:05] Natalie: I did.

[12:07] Scott: I wanted to ask you just about, sort of like, what was the motivation for doing that? And if you could just kind of share a little bit about kind of what the experience of being in Shanghai was like for that?

[12:16] Natalie: That's a cool question. So, while I was attending Prairie View, I had attended a study abroad program in China. And it was specifically for Mechanical Engineering. And I studied at Wuhan University and focused on the language, the history, economics and also did a study, a research study on the Yangtze Dam. Through that experience, I had an opportunity to, one, improve my language and build on my vocabulary within Mandarin. In addition, learned how to write and just wanted to consume the culture as much as possible. And so, I loved that experience.

And I think up until that point, people definitely, who are my friends, colleagues, associates, they knew that I had now a connection to China and developed friends there and whatnot. When I was pursuing the MBA, a mentor of mine, Eric Lyons, had proposed to me that there's an opportunity for me to get a fellowship by attending this particular MBA program. And I was like, sign me up. Yeah. Like, this is, this is great. Yeah. This is right up my alley. So, that's what, actually I didn't even know about the program beforehand. He had introduced it to me and I was happy to participate in it. And it was phenomenal. I think it was a two-week program. They went through, you know, providing awareness about what you're about to embark upon for your MBA program. And so, it was perfect. I was not surprised when I attended Rice about what we were studying and things of that nature. It provided that initial awareness.

[14:11] Scott: Wow, that's amazing. Very cool. Have you had an opportunity to go back since then?

[14:16] Natalie: I haven't. That was the last time. Yeah. That was the last time but I, it is, it is on our bucket list. And I have always ensured that my children also kind of learn the language along-

[14:29] Scott: Oh, yeah.

[14:29] Natalie: … the way. So, it's a goal of mine that the family goes and that we are fully aware with we're able to communicate and get the most out of the experience. Yeah.

[14:38] Scott: I love it. That's fantastic. Thank you for sharing. I'm curious about – because you're with EY now in a consulting role. And so, as you kind of started to think about consulting differently, like, why EY? Like, what's been great about the experience coming on to EY and what drew you there?

[14:55] Natalie: Yeah, definitely. So when I was determining where I would be for my career post-Rice, I definitely recruited across multiple avenues and across multiple industries. And EY stood out very highly amongst the rest on a few different factors, diversity, in addition, just the culture. I've never felt secluded or isolated or ignored. My voice has always been appreciated and always been valued. And I didn't get that from all of the various places that I interviewed. As far as the culture, the fit, it worked perfectly. In addition, within the EY-Parthenon, the M&A practice of EY, they focus on a lot about the apprenticeship model and grooming, and that is what I desired and what I needed in order to thrive for my career. And so, I'm grateful for EY. Yeah.

[15:57] Scott: Okay. So Natalie, you're at EY now. You've had this ambition of being in investment banking and now you're there. You're senior director of mergers and acquisitions. What does somebody in that role at EY do?

[16:09] Natalie: Good question. So, within the EY-Parthenon practice, this is mergers and acquisitions. So, at a high level, we are responsible for supporting a company if they want to buy another company or even if a company wants to sell itself or a business unit to another company. And so, the senior director is now responsible for that entire aspect, owning the activities as well as the delivery of those deliverables, the products, in order for functions, each function, finance, marketing. You also have the operations, the supply chain, the manufacturing, all of those different aspects to run the, that particular business.

If a company's buying it and integrating it within their company, then we need to work with each of those particular functions and support them in this particular integration. That's more of the execution aspect but you also have the financial aspect, right, where I need to confirm that valuation. We may end up renegotiating numbers for the particular valuation and running a fairness opinion on the valuation. In addition, we'll do the due diligence to support operations as well as finance tax to ensure that we kick the tires on each of these specific areas and identify any risk or concerns that may come to life through this particular deal. So, that's what I do and I own that entire aspect of the deal. Yeah.

[17:56] Scott: Wow, that's exciting.

[17:58] Natalie: And the client relationship.

[17:59] Scott: Oh and doing it all while keeping everybody-

[18:02] Natalie: You're right.

[18:03] Scott: … happy.

[18:03] Natalie: Exactly. You got to keep people happy. Yeah.

[18:05] Scott: Well, I mean, what are some of the distinct challenges in that, in pulling that together?

[18:11] Natalie: I'd say the critical challenges is the fact that this is a people business. And so, there are multiple personalities and there are multiple agendas when it comes to transactions and ensuring that our clients win. And so, you want your client to win. You want them to know that the advice that we're providing them is trustworthy as well as credible. And so, we want to ensure that we maintain those type of relationships and provide that type of service to them as well.

[18:43] Scott: No, that makes sense. I suspect that there's probably a lot of people that are on the team to, kind of, pull all of those different kind of pieces together.

[18:52] Natalie: You'd be surprised. I've been on some engagements where if we're just doing a due diligence, it may just be four people. But I've been on other engagements where the execution aspect to actually realize the transaction or it may have very large teams up to, you know, a hundred, if not more.

[19:12] Scott: Oh, wow. I'm interested in just, kind of, the profile or the characteristics of people as you build out your team. Like, how do you think about putting the right team together and ensuring a positive outcome, given all of the different dynamics and challenges and the uniqueness of every deal? I'm sure every deal has its kind of own personality. Are there rules of thumb or things that kind of guide your team-building process?

[19:42] Natalie: It is. So, I like to build my teams really according to the motto that we have at EY. So, smart, driven, and nice. And everybody at EY, if you've made it there, you are very intelligent. So, as far as me questioning your intelligence, don't have to worry about that. Definitely want to have people a part of my team who are aware of and have experience within specific industries and sectors, in addition to making sure that they are self-starters and that's kind of where the driven piece comes from. Because with this particular job, you need to not only be aware of what the program plan is, but in order to execute it, you have to be a self-starter. Nobody's going to tell you, “Oh okay, today is, this is when this particular thing starts and this is how you do it.” You just have to have it. With that, that particular skill, you just have to have it within yourself and you go on your own, and you do it well.

And then lastly, as far as the nice piece, I like to work with people who are respectful, that have strong interpersonal skills, in addition, know how to be considerate of others. And that's where that nice piece comes from, because it not only works well within, internally, within our teams. But at the end of the day, we're providing a service. And so I need people who know how to be a servant to their client. And part of that is being nice.

[21:15] Scott: So, I want to just to shift a little bit because I want to talk about Sisterly Village and-

[21:21] Natalie: Okay.

[21:21] Scott: … kind of what inspired you to start that. If you could tell us what it is and kind of the mission and then why you started it.

[21:27] Natalie: Right. Right. So, I had started Sisterly Village while I was attending Rice. And I have a passion and affinity for retail, always have. And I would design my own garments as a child. With Sisterly Village, I wanted to develop a company that supported women's organizations and provided them attire that could make their lives very easy and wear professional attire that was very easy to put on. They would only need to zip it up and walk out the door, and they would look nice. And we would sell garments that were either for a group, like a chapter, or even individually. And the thought behind Sisterly Village was that it was a company that would always give back, a social enterprise.

With Sisterly Village, for every order that we, that you made, we would donate 7% of the proceeds back to an organization of your choice. And so, that could be with, you know, the organization that you just purchased for or that could be to another entirely different organization.

And so, I had this company from the time that I graduated from Rice, leading up to COVID. Through COVID, obviously, with that, you know, thought process for the business, there was no need any longer for attire for women's organizations. Many conferences were canceled, right when COVID started. Therefore, there was no, you know, no need to look alike. In addition, many people took a pause on spending money on just purchasing attire. Many folks were just staying at home and there really wasn't a need to continue to buy attire to look nice to go somewhere. So…

[23:31] Scott: Demand for sweatpants went up.

[23:32 Natalie: Exactly, exactly. A lot of athleisure went up. And so, through that, I put my store on pause. So, it did very well, but I'm glad I took a pause when I took a pause because otherwise-

[23:47] Scott: That make sense. No, that's cool.

[23:47] Natalie: … I think the story would be different.

[23:48] Scott: What are the things that you've learned of from that experience and kind of-

[23:51] Natalie: Oh, many things.

[23:51] Scott: … just standing up your own business, winding it down a little bit. And it sounds like it's maybe on, kind of, the back burner. I don't know. But like, what are some of the things that stand out from having done that work?

[24:00] Natalie: Right, right. So, I'm very clear on the end-to-end process of designing garments to selling garments. And what I mean is the design process, the manufacturing process, the logistics process, the distribution process, and even the marketing process, the return aspect with your clients, your customers, and ensuring that your, your customers feel like they received a quality product and would love to continue to purchase from you. Through Sisterly Village, I learned it and there were areas where things weren't perfect and learned how to perfect it and improve it.

In addition, the sales aspect, so with our company, the goal is to have basically a client relationship with women's organizations. And so, it put me in a position where I now needed to pitch and sell my company to these particular women's organizations and get their buy-in in order to be able to sell product to their organizations.

Many of these women's organizations have contracts in place with approved vendors and only work with specific vendors for their attire because they have, obviously, trademarks. They also have crests and whatnot that they've copyrighted and, and have protection over. And so, they only work with approved vendors that they know will make a quality product, ensure that the emblems are done tastefully and accurately. And so, we were approved by many women's organizations. And so, that's something that I'm, I'm very proud of.

[25:51] Scott: Oh, that's very cool. Looking ahead, you know, into your crystal ball, what's like the next five to 10 years? You know, what's the next big goal that you want to kind of go tackle and take on?

[26:03] Natalie: Right. So, definitely within the next five years, I'd like the introduction to move to “Welcome, we have Natalie Smith on the line. She's a partner at EY-Parthenon.” Yeah. So, that's my focus right now.

[26:19] Scott: Very cool. You're a Houston native, Texas native. Like, what do you love about being in Houston?

[26:26] Natalie: Houston is a very busy place. In addition, I like the Southern hospitality aspect, the ability to meet so many different people. It's, you know, obviously, I'd say the most diverse place in the nation and large at that. I'd say that's how we compare against New York but we're very wide. I appreciate the ability to have to drive places. I couldn't foresee myself living in a city where I have to ride a train. And so, definitely, Houston's home. And it probably will always be home.

[27:04] Scott: I love it. Just kind of as we wrap up, any advice that you would give for people considering coming to Houston, participating in the Rice program. What advice would you give, given your journey and where you've been?

[27:18] Natalie: Advice for just coming to Houston, be prepared for the heat. And trust me, everybody complains. If you've lived here, grew up here, you’re still complaining about how hot it is compared to, you know, the people who've just moved. Everybody does not like-

[27:32] Scott: This is being recorded in August.

[27:31] Natalie: … how hot it is. Exactly, yeah. It's hot. Yeah. For folks who are interested to attain their MBA, and, and are considering Rice, I definitely think that you couldn't go wrong with that decision. Rice is a phenomenal school and one of the best when it comes to offering scholarships. You definitely will receive a quality education.

In addition, we're known for, you know, small cohorts. So, the relationships that you build are a lot stronger. You know everybody and everybody knows you very well and your family. Many of my classmates, they've looked after my children and we still, you know, hang out to this very day and help each other with their careers as well.

And those are the reasons, the network, are a lot of the reasons why I went to Rice. You definitely can't go wrong if you want to be a Owl.

[28:26] Scott: I love it. Natalie Smith, 2017 full-time program Rice Business alum, thank you for being on the show with us today.

[28:33] Natalie: Thank you so much. It was an honor.

[28:37] Scott: Thanks for listening. This has been Owl Have You Know, a production of Rice Business. You can find more information about our guests, hosts, and announcements on our website, business.rice@edu. Please subscribe and leave a rating wherever you find your favorite podcasts. We'd love to hear what you think. The hosts of Owl Have You Know are myself, Scott Gale, and Maya Pomroy.