Operations Unfiltered

Zuryna: Welcome to operations unfiltered.

The podcast that takes you
behind the scenes of influencer

and talent management.

I'm your host Zarina and this week
I'm having another Mustang meetup

with my friend and fellow alum.

Dwight foot.

Dwight is my very own tech consultant.

So we did a deep dive into tech fatigue.

The state of AI.

And he shared some advice
for small business owners.

You know, this wouldn't be a
Mustang meetup without sharing

some memories from our times at SU.

And giving some advice to new freshmen.

So without further ado, let's
get into this week's episode

of operations unfiltered.

It is a Mustang meetup edition.

And I am joined by one
of my favorite people,

my best friend in the entire world,
fellow Stevenson alum, Dwight.

Hello and welcome.

I'm so excited to have you.

Dwight: Oh, of course.

I'm so proud of you too.

Cause , you know, I'm always behind
the scenes with what you're doing.

And it's just , I'm always excited to
see your projects come to fruition.

So I'm so proud of you.

Zuryna: Yes.

Well, you know, I'm all, you're always
in my corner and thank you so much for

always being a guest, being a Guinea
pig, helping me and you know, I'm sure

we'll get to it, but since this is a
Mustang meetup, I always like to ask

anyone, any alum that I have come on.

What their major was while they're
at Stevenson, what year they

graduated and share a favorite
memory that you have from Stevenson.

Dwight: Okay.

Well, I was a couple of
different majors at Stevenson.

Yeah.

I, I wanted to be a graphic designer.

So I had started off, as a
visual communications major.

And then I sat in a four hour art
class and I was like, this isn't, this

ain't for me, Y'all can have this.

I need to find something else to do.

Zuryna: Not four hours.

Four hours is insane.

Dwight: Exactly.

So then I switched over to
computer information systems.

And that was very much getting
into my programming bag.

I was like, I'm going to be a software
engineer and do this and that.

And I think I was in my sophomore
year of those courses and I was like,

Oh, I don't really enjoy this either.

And then I finally ended up getting
into business information systems, with

the focus in e-commerce technology.

So that's ultimately what
I graduated with, in 2014.

And then I went back to Stevenson
in 2017 and got my, master's in

business Technology Management.

Zuryna: So it all came full circle,
got two degrees from Stevenson.

I love to hear it.

And I'm laughing as I
get to my next question.

What is your favorite memory from SU?

And I'm laughing because like I
said, Dwight and I are best friends.

We met at college.

So.

Go ahead.

The floor is yours.

Dwight: You know,
college was a key friend.

I have so many favorite memories.

I think one of the ones on a serious
note that comes to mind is when you

were DJ Lady Z at the Mustang Radio.

And I came to see you doing your
shift and I was , fixing your laptop

and you were , doing your DJ thing
and , life was just so innocent back

then and , we were just hustling
and , things were so much simpler.

Thank you.

One of my favorite memories.

So I love that one.

But you know, I also love the one, we
were driving back from green spring

and you're like 1992 Honda and

Zuryna: yes, trenches.

This is the theme, the running theme.

Anytime I I have a Mustang meetup.

The running theme is we was
in the trenches cause you're

about to talk about my 1990.

It was a 94.

Excuse me.

I'm

Dwight: sorry.

A 94 Honda.

It's a comfortable ride, but baby,
baby was, she was trucking and, um,

it might've been raining or something.

Anyway, on our, you know, our
drive back , from Green Springs to

Owings Mills, it's like all those
back, windy roads and everything.

And, You were coming to a stop sign,
but you know, you was kind of gunning it.

And so you were like, Joe, hold my break.

And I'm just like, what?

And when I tell you this girl was
obviously applying, you know, the

regular break, but then also lifting
up the emergency break, like I was.

Absolutely.

Zuryna: Listen, you had, I
was a broke college student.

You got to do what you got to do.

That car got me from point A to point B.

And Joe, hold my break.

For those who don't know, that
is a reference to Madea who

also got me through college.

So listen, I had to do what I had to do.

My car worked.

Okay.

It got us

Dwight: there.

. Zuryna: Fun fact about that car.

Um, I would still be
driving that car today.

Had I not crashed it into the golf
course, trying to make it to class

to green spring during the snow.

So rest in peace to my baby Lola.

She was a great card.

Dwight: She was cute.

Zuryna: She was cute.

Those are funny friend.

Thank you for including me in your
favorite memories from Stevenson.

Cause you were definitely part of some
of my favorite memories as Stevenson.

I'm always going to say RA
training, shout out to Marie.

RA training is always going to be some
of my favorite memories and another

favorite memory that I have from our
time at Stevenson, it was always our

tradition, you know, whenever it snowed.

Somehow, some way we would dig out our
cars, my 1994 Lola, we would dig out our

cars and we would always go to Chipotle
no matter what snowstorm we were in.

It was giving very big back
energy back in the day.

But that was one of my favorite memories.

So I just always think about

Dwight: you.

Yeah, for the Chipotle
friend, I still would.

Zuryna: I'm in like a middle ground
between big back and trying to get ready

for summer, but nevertheless, stop.

I'm sorry.

Amazing.

Anyway.

Yes, Frank.

Okay, so let's get into your current
role and or your side hustle.

What are you doing now?

Post grad in the real world?

Dwight: Yes, in the real world.

Oof, stress.

So currently I am a senior
customer success manager at Latera.

Latera is a company that provides software
solutions to law firms all over the world.

So drafting software, risk management
software, really just about anything.

I mean, we offer a full suite of
solutions that all firms, can adopt to

really increase their productivity, create
some consistency in their workflows, and

really just enable legal professionals
to really do their best work.

So I've been at Letera
about two years now.

I originally started off
as a solutions engineer.

Where I was helping implement the
solutions, post sales, helping our

customers customize the solutions in a
way that made sense or for their business.

So now I'm kind of moved into
the customer success side, which

is a little less technical.

But that's something that I really
wanted to do because , I enjoy

building relationships with people.

, and I kind of was over the whole, . I
want to, I thought I was going to be

like this all mighty, engineer and know
everything, and that just got exhausting.

So I was like, I'm going to
go focus on what I do best.

That's really connect with our
customers and understand their needs.

So,, this position is pretty cool.

I get to do a little bit of both.

, but it's really about advocating for
our customers and really managing

their journey as they make their
way through the litera ecosystem.

Um, my little side hustle, I don't
know how many years ago this was now.

Was this 2020, maybe 2019?

, I feel like it was

Zuryna: 2019.

Give yourself that extra year.

I feel like it was 2019.

Dwight: Probably.

So I started a tech
fluent creative agency.

And that was really me kind of
delving into my love for web design.

That was originally the purpose of that.

Okay.

You know, like I said before, when I
was at Stevenson my freshman year, I

really wanted to be a web designer.

So I thought it was kind of the perfect
way to kind of bring myself back to that.

And that was more so , you know, kind of
consulting, doing the design work, , and

really just helping other small businesses
really find, Best practices,, you know,

in a technical space that made sense
for their business, really helping them

make a footprint online, essentially.

Zuryna: Yes.

We actually worked together a
couple of times on a few projects.

So I smile when you say tech point, cause
I know , we were working on some things,

so I love hearing about tech fluent.

So speaking of tech fluent, your
professional life, and even your

personal life, we love exploring
the people, processes, and tools

or technology that are used to do
whatever it is that you do and keep

it going and functioning efficiently.

So, what tools and technology do you use,

Dwight: yeah, so professionally, my go to
is Copilot right now, Microsoft Copilot

has changed the game for me because

Zuryna: before you get
into it, what is Copilot?

For those who don't know what
Copilot is, what is Copilot?

Dwight: Yeah.

So Copilot is Microsoft's
latest AI solution.

I mean, this thing is, it's almost like
another person, which really is the wow.

It's like having an assistant
without having a physical assistant.

It's really like help
increase my productivity.

So if you don't have it, yeah.

If you can get it at work, you know, go
advocate for that to your managers, to

whomever, to really start adopting it.

So what

Zuryna: type of tool,
what does it help you do?

I'm so intrigued.

Give me the T.

Let's spill the T.

Dwight: So, the T is , from a project
management perspective, Copilot is

really great at the end of your meetings
because it can generate meeting notes.

It can literally extract, , action items,
decisions that were made, who said this,

who said that, , and it puts it in a
nice format for you, and it takes a

lot of the post meeting work that a lot
of project managers have to do, right?

Sending out the email.

With the actual items and what we
covered today, all of that's done

for you and you just kind of go in
and kind of edit it to make it sound

like, you know, it's something that
you actually wrote, like a human

Zuryna: wrote it.

Yeah.

Oh, wow.

. I can't believe your corporate
job lets you use that.

I know so many corporate companies
have so many qualms about utilizing AI.

So it's interesting that your
company allowed you to do that.

And hearing from your perspective,
it's, it's giving you some efficiency

and and optimize your processes.

So clearly it's working.

Dwight: Yes, definitely.

Yeah.

And if my company wasn't letting
us use it as a technology

company, I would be concerned.

So

Zuryna: yeah, for sure.

For sure.

And so I, you mentioned their side hustle.

What type of tools did you use
or do you use to manage task

when you do a side hustle project
or even in your personal life?

Dwight: Yeah.

So I love OneNote.

OneNote is like, it's like
my diary to everything.

I love being able to do freehand notes
where , it doesn't have to be a structure.

You kind of can just put your
thoughts on the page and just,

yeah, just let it live there.

And that's one of my favorite things.

That's how I journal.

That's how I, if I need
to write something.

It's

Zuryna: a digital bullet
journal, if you will.

Dwight: Yeah, exactly.

So definitely one note and
then also something that you

introduced me to, which was Trello.

I still love the tool so
much, , because I think both of

us are very visual people too.

So for sure.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Zuryna: Cool.

So you mentioned you're a consultant.

I've worked with you on a couple of
projects with some small businesses.

Thinking back to the projects you've
worked on, current projects, whether

it be corporate or on your side hustle.

What tech challenges have you observed?

Dwight: There's so many tech challenges,
especially for small businesses,

but I think probably, the one that.

I've seen quite often it's just
that a lot of small business owners

aren't really taking advantage of the
solutions that are out on the market.

It's so easy to get like overwhelmed
with all the different solutions, right?

I don't care what, what sector
of tech that you go into.

It's all oversaturated.

And so.

I think people tend to kind of shy
away from technology if it's not kind

of comfortable with, and I think,
you know, as a business owner, your

focus really should be scaling your
business, really understanding your

market and really just delivering a
world class solution to your customers.

And so.

I think it's so important to really
take advantage of technology to automate

some of those mundane tasks, right?

,
Zuryna: absolutely.

Automation is key.

I love a good trigger because honestly,
to your point, it's oversaturated.

I need somebody to remind me
that co pilot sounds amazing.

Like I'm just sitting over here.

I've Googled it already.

Like, so I absolutely get it.

And then to that point, do you ever
experience or even the clients that you

support, do you experience tool fatigue?

I'm in my tool fatigue era.

I'm tired of all the tools.

So I hear you, but me over
here, I just want to get a

pencil and a note, a and a pad.

, I just, I want to go back to the old days.

Dwight: Yes, yes, yes, yes.

And which is a cheap.

Probably funny you think, well,
he's a tech guy, he doesn't get

tech burnout, but I absolutely
do, probably on a daily basis.

, and I'm very much like you, I still love
a good pen and paper to write on my to

do list, because you get tired of looking
at a screen all the time, it's it's

one thing to do it for work, but then
if you have a side hustle or whatever

you're doing outside of your professional
life, it just gets really exhausting.

So , I'm all here for
the technical breaks.

Zuryna: Absolutely.

And at this point I need it.

My mental health is, is directly
tied to the screen time I feel like.

So I need to shut it down and the
tool fatigue is taking a toll on me.

Oh my goodness.

And what have you observed are some
roadblocks or obstacles in the industry

of tech and AI and adoption of that?

Because you mentioned how it
helps to optimize efficiencies

and streamline processes

Dwight: yeah.

You know, AI has really, , blown up
over The past year or so, and obviously

it's, it's not that new tool AI has been
around for quite some time, but, , I

think on a consumer level, it has
really expanded itself and, , as great

as it is, it also comes with a lot of.

What ifs and a lot of security risk
and implications and things like that.

And so, just being vigilant about
the kind of AI tools that we're using,

because you have AI tools out there
that , you can literally feed it,

whatever you want, and it may go and
regurgitate that to someone else, right?

It could be something racist.

It could be, you know,
any kind of crazy thing.

And so I think it's our
responsibility as consumers to,

Hold these developers accountable, right?

We, there's so many bad actors out there.

I think AI will always kind of be a
sensitive area for, for a lot of people.

A lot, a lot of people, meaning
corporations, people that

are small business owners.

, it's risky for everybody.

And so I would just say, do your research.

And really take your time
interacting with these AI tools.

Zuryna: Great advice.

And as a small business owner
who's already scared of everything,

AI definitely scares me, but
I have benefited from it.

It saves me so much time.

My brain is all over the place.

So for that to spit out some key
takeaways and some action items and

film the meetings, oh my gosh, it
replaces time that I could be

using to be productive elsewhere.

I wish that my corporate
job would adopt it soon.

Hint, hint, nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

You know, because I've asked for it
and I think honestly it could replace

or make a lot of these meetings more
efficient, you know, so fingers crossed

that more companies will adopt it
because I think it's here whether we

like it or not and we got to adjust,
we got to adjust and keep it moving.

Yeah,

Dwight: exactly.

Zuryna: Okay.

So your dream client.

Who would you love to
work with at TechFluent?

Whether it be your dream business, your
dream content creator, who is on the list

?
Dwight: Oh, so you see, you know,
I'm a, I'm a watch guy, right?

I love watches, it's
been my thing forever.

If I could ever work with Audemars
Piguet, that would be the ultimate,

ultimate, ultimate, , client.

And obviously I would be doing
something probably along the lines

of developing some sort of web tool
or something to help drive their

sales or something along those lines.

But I think just to be able to kind of
establish that relationship with them,

because I'm just in such of an awe of
how they work, their craftsmanship,

how they market, it would be perfect.

Zuryna: You definitely
giving me classic man vibes.

So I could see that working
out for you at TechFluent.

And I hope that that happens for you.

If you're listening, TechFluent
is here and available.

Audemars Piguet.

I can't even pronounce that.

That's very classy.

You

Dwight: better speak it.

I love that.

Zuryna: So, because this is a
Mustang Meetup , I always like to

close it out with what piece of
advice would you give a freshman

Dwight: Oh, okay.

This is like, what, going back 10 years
when I was, no, more than 10 years

when I was a freshman, like 15 years.

Don't

Zuryna: look at me.

I'm still a young girl.

I don't know.

You are

Dwight: a spring chicken, friend.

I am.

I have.

Zuryna: Yeah.

I don't know.

Dwight: But I think the best
advice that I could give is

be open to any and everything.

You never know where you may find your
tribe, where you may find interests.

. You know, it's obviously a scary
experience sometimes coming out of

high school, going to college where
you don't know anyone, and you have

all this responsibility, but I think
keeping an open mindset is probably

the best way to be in college, right?

, you and I met, I don't know, because
of the admissions office, I think, , I

was giving tours, you were working
in the office, , You just never know.

At that front

Zuryna: desk chow, at that
front desk, always at work.

Dwight: Yeah, so I think, I really
do think once, once you find your

tribe that way, it's, college is just
going to be like 10 times better.

Zuryna: Oh my, well thank you, that is
perfect advice and I couldn't agree more.

And again, thank you so much for joining
me for this episode of Operations

Unfiltered, the Mustang Meetup edition.

It's always a pleasure talking to you
and you know, I'm gonna text you later.

Dwight: Yes, friend.

Of course.

Thank you for having me.

This is so good.

I can't wait to see this blow
up because I know it will.

And I'm just so happy for you.

Zuryna: Thank you so much, friend.

And thank you guys for listening.

Thank you.

Until next time.