Talks with Dom

Meet Alfredo Ramirez, whose career has taken him from Accenture to Trilogy as one of their first 20 employees, to leadership roles at Evolutionary Technologies, and eventually into founding multiple companies—including Vitalz, later acquired by Oracle, and Vyopta Incorporated, recently acquired by HP.  As a proud alumnus, he’s also spent years giving back to UT Austin. In this episode, we talk abo...

Meet Arielle Olfers — founder and CEO of The Southern Influence, a creative agency rooted in multi-dimensional storytelling. Named in Inc. 's 2024 Female Founders 250 list, Arielle has worked with brands like YMCA and Red Bull, and built her career from her early days at AOL StudioNow to becoming a creative director, producer, and brand strategist. We’re going to talk about her journey, her lo...

Meet Jessica Gibson — a powerhouse in real estate who worked in mergers and acquisitions, software sales, and more before coming home to her current job with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices. She absolutely loves the fast pace of it all and is one of those people who always has a creative side project going — from helping coordinate parties to doing temporary tattoos with friends for fun. She’s sma...

Meet Jon Brandi — a holistic wellness coach who supports others in accessing and embodying their inner wisdom to unlock their physical energy and vitality, to live at what he calls TRUE.0. His journey into this work began through navigating anxiety, depression, and hypothyroidism, experiences that reshaped how he understands health, resilience, and the mind-body connection.  At his core, Jon belie...

Introducing Hunter Byrne! She went from working in finance and banking to owning her own boutique here in Austin called Apricot Lane. She talks with Dominique Ramirez about what led her to leave the corporate world, how she built Apricot Lane from the ground up, and how she’s learned to redefine success on her own terms. Want to connect with Hunter? Check out Apricot Lane’s Instagram and website !

Meet Austin Slade, a local music producer. He picked up the guitar at age nine, started teaching by nineteen, and studied everything from classical singing to audio engineering. After playing gigs and performing live, Austin started creating music for video games! Want to listen to some of Austin’s works? Check out the following: ​ Austin Slade Youtube Channel ​ Online Portfolio

Tune in to Host Dominique Ramirez being the guest this time around in her 1-year celebration episode. She's interviewed by a previous guest, Courtney Dickey, the Chief Legal Officer of ZenBusiness and Board of Directors Member for Make A Wish Central & South Texas. Learn what makes Dominique tick, her takeaways from this past year of podcasting, advice she's picked up along the way fro...

Learn the story of Cassie Brandi, an incredibly talented vocalist and performer based in Austin. Cassie started performing at just six years old, studied music at Berklee, and has performed all over the world including Suntory Hall in Tokyo. She’s released her own music, works as a session vocalist on commercial projects, and has been sharing her passion for music and movement through vocal coachi...

Meet Jorge Cardenas, the Chief Information Officer for the City of Brownsville, someone who’s helping shape the future of technology at the city level. Under his leadership, Brownsville recently took on a full-scale replacement of its IT infrastructure. In this conversation, we dig into Jorge’s journey into IT from the Marines, the lessons he’s learned along the way, and how he balances leading la...

Introducing Lisa Lucero — a leader whose career and community service have left a lasting mark on Austin. Lisa is the former Director of External and Legislative Affairs for AT&T, and she’s dedicated much of her time to serving on boards including the Long Center, Dress for Success Austin, and Meals on Wheels Central Texas. Her work has even earned her the Game Changer Award from GirlStart for...

Meet Eric Silverstein — the head chef and founder of The Peached Tortilla, a beloved Austin restaurant that began as a single food truck back in 2010. Eric earned his college degrees in finance, marketing, and law from Washington University in St. Louis, began his career at a prestigious law firm, and then took a leap of faith into the culinary world. That leap has since led to multiple successful...

Meet Christina Leipold, a seasoned customer success leader with over 15 years of experience, with Dominique Ramirez. She earned her degree in Government with a minor in Race, and Ethnic Studies from the University of Redlands and is now pursuing a Master’s in Risk and Compliance at Texas A&M University. Christina is the Director of Customer Success at the Austin Board of REALTORS today and an...

Dominique Ramirez interviews Gretchen Dubois, current VP of Media at Ad Results Media. Gretchen began building her career in New York City where she rose through the ranks at multiple ad agencies and helped enterprises across different industries. She studied Advertising and Economics at UT Austin and even spent time in Paris studying International Marketing. Gretchen’s known for her directness, d...

Get to know Jeremy Garcia in this episode with Dominique Ramirez. Jeremy is the new Head Coach of the women’s volleyball team at St. Edward’s University. He’s been dedicated to the sport since age 11 and has built an impressive coaching career with stops at The University of Texas at Austin, Penn State, and Duke University. In this episode, we talk about what sparked his love for volleyball, how h...

Meet Katie Whitehurst with Dominique Ramirez, a Biosystems Engineering graduate from Oklahoma State University and a licensed Professional Engineer. She currently works at Pape-Dawson Engineers, where she’s made her mark on major transportation projects across Texas. But Katie’s story isn’t just about roads and infrastructure—it’s about stepping into leadership even when it’s uncomfortable, stayin...

Join Dominique Ramirez’s interview with Jackie Navarro, an enforcement attorney who earned her degrees from University of California, Berkeley as well as St. Mary’s University School of Law. From being the first person in her family to graduate from college to earning leadership roles in her professional life and faith life, Jackie holds herself to a high standard and encourages others to dream bi...

Meet Kevin Paul (KP) II with Dominique Ramirez and learn about how his career journey from sports, event planning, affiliate marketing has led him to higher education admissions today. He loves what he does and takes pride in his job and what he accomplishes in his personal life, both attributes we should all strive for ourselves! Take a listen to his story. Want to connect with KP? Find him on Li...

Join Dominique Ramirez’s interview with Nigel Pope, a Principal Technical Program Manager at Amazon, whose journey has taken him from the South Australian Police Force, and Australian Army Reserve, to leading major tech programs that help keep Amazon running smoothly. Want to connect with Nigel? Find him on LinkedIn . 

Listen in to Dominique Ramirez interviewing Fayth Murphy, a Registered Nurse with over six years of experience in some of the most critical and complex areas of healthcare—think Pediatric ICU, Cardiac Care, and Cardiac Cath Labs. She’s also a proud U.S. Air Force Veteran, a certified critical care nurse, and currently working as a travel nurse, taking her skills and heart for service across the co...

Meet Lydia Suzanne, who was born and raised in France and moved to the United States after graduating with her Masters degree in Marketing. She has spent nearly a decade in Human Resources, but after having her two daughters, she felt the pull toward something more creative — photography. In 2024, she officially launched Lydia Suzanne Photography , a full-service motherhood photography business ba...

In this episode, join Dominique Ramirez interviewing Kristen Fuhrman, whose life journey has taken her from studying anthropology and working with bones to building a career in financial services. She's now helping women make confident, informed decisions about their money. The conversation revolves around how she made that pivot, what fuels her “why,” and yes — her love of travel (she’s been...

Join Dominique Ramirez in this episode learning more about Austin Rife, a Software Development Manager at Amazon Web Services, and his journey to becoming an engineer in the space of artificial intelligence. Austin studied Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Alabama, then earned his Master’s in Financial Engineering, and has received much advice from mentors throughout his car...

Meet Tori Leslie in this episode with Dominique Ramirez. She grew up in Florida and moved to New York for a full change of pace in life. From finishing college later than the social norm to landing her first job in sales, Tori's story is a powerful reminder that everyone’s path looks different. We’ll talk about navigating comparison, figuring out your strengths, and learning to put your ego as...

Learn with Dominique Ramirez about Matt Pojman, a data scientist currently at Airbnb. His career has taken him through some of the biggest names in tech, including Meta and Roku; but before all that, he was a student right here in Austin, earning both his undergrad and master’s degrees from the University of Texas at Austin in business and professional accounting. He’s someone who’s always had a l...

This episode’s guest is Lisa Moore, a former civil engineer who earned her degree from UT Austin, worked at TxDot, and then made the courageous decision to step away from her career to raise her children full-time. Today, Lisa has stepped into a whole new chapter as the founder of Lisa Jayne Florals, a floral design business born from passion and creativity. She’s already worked alongside some ama...