Ashley Donnini

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Today on The Jay Allen Show, Jay speaks with Ashley Donnini. Ashley Donnini is the CEO of Lola Link Consulting, specializing in areas of utility transformation, risk management and operations. Donnini has spent over a decade supporting sea changes from legislation to
technology development and safety culture.

Listen to the interview today between Jay Allen and Ashley Donnini, on the Jay Allen Show!

Here is the transcript to the episode. The transcript is not perfect.

[00:00:03] spk_0: this show is brought to you by. Mm hmm. Well, hello and welcome to another episode of the J Allen show. I hope everything is good and grand inside of your neck of the woods and hopefully you're having a fantastic week so far because that's always important stuff to talk about. So anyways over the last few weeks, you have noticed that we have been taking these deep dives into some other conversations of some things that we were talking about, Some things that we were doing and of course a lot of it had to do with the world of psychology. Well today we're going to take a slight twist, a slight turn and go back to some of our roots And today we're gonna sit down and have a conversation with Ashley Donnini. She is the Ceo of Lola linked consulting specializing in areas of utility transformation, risk management and operation than any spent over a decade supporting see changes from legislation to technology development and safety culture. Her career began in 2007 regulating the Commonwealth of Virginia. Ashley holds a degree from Virginia. Commonwealth University Executive Masters and Energy Specialization from Ohio State. Mm hmm. So without some further ado, let's get this moving and sit down and have our conversation with Ashley right here on the J Allen show. But let's let's let's have the conversation. How did this whole thing start for you? I am. I was so intrigued because I know that we had spoken. I think it was either last week or the week before. How did you decide? At one point say, hey I want to get into utility. How did, how did that come about? And you go, okay, utility is what I want to get involved in. I mean, I don't know of a lot of kids to turn around and go, hey, utility is my thing. So how did this happen?

[00:02:09] spk_1: Yeah, I don't know of many uh kids either, but I hope that, you know, that will change because utilities is a great space to be in. Um but probably much like many in the industry. Um It started with no plan. I actually, um, I would say I had in my mind, uh definitely a different scenario for my life. Um but it's been fun and interesting and totally unpredictable, unconventional. I um, I guess if you ask the younger version of me, I would have never predicted that. Right? So, um, I actually started um as an undergrad um pursuing at the time, um I wanted to pursue law school, so I was headed down that path and much like many other college students was funding my own way and that came with a lot of part time jobs. So really at that time I just wanted stability and more structure. So I extended an outreach to my network of friends and colleagues and said, hey, I'm looking for a full time job so that I can really go to night school and um a dear friend of mine, still a friend today, reached out to me and and said hey I've been talking to my director about you and he said if you can get your resume on his desk by seven a.m. When he comes in tomorrow Hill take a look at it and han site you know knowing him now um You know he was testing my hunger for a role. They didn't have a role at the time. So it was like I'm just going to be transparent we don't have a job posting. You know we don't you know we know we probably could use some extra help but there's nothing formally in place. Um and so I remember meeting my friend at a gas station at like 11:00 at night passing over my printed resume. And what a good friend he got in there early put it on his desk and you know I'm sure obviously um he took a chance on me but um I imagine was a bit surprised and said okay she found a way so I must now

[00:04:55] spk_0: take a look

[00:04:55] spk_1: at. Yeah

[00:04:57] spk_0: let me let me ask the strange question at this particular point in life. Do you already have a resume that you had built out or were you doing kind of like the part time job where you're just filling out applications or did you already have something I guess proper Already done before this this moment occurs.

[00:05:12] spk_1: Yeah. No I I did not have anything proper so it was not only you know get it on my desk at seven a.m. But created and um you know research how a resume should really look. Um And so it was all of that but I think probably not very different from a lot of college students and their journey as they step into that professional the world. So um it's

[00:05:43] spk_0: actually a really you

[00:05:44] spk_1: know that's an unpredictable way to start industry but here I am and in an industry that I love

[00:05:52] spk_0: and that's the question. So how do you go from law? So this is a job in the utility industry that is being proposed to you at the time.

[00:05:59] spk_1: Yeah so the commission, I didn't obviously know this at the time but um they didn't they didn't have any roles posted but at the time they were entering into what they call a rule to show cause proceeding and really that's a court proceeding where they pursue or name a company or individual who's been violating law and at the time it was you know utility safety code and they needed someone to come in and really just be dedicated to helping right testimony. And so two of my, I think at that time I probably had four part time jobs but two of those were at private, yeah college is expensive.

[00:06:48] spk_0: Um

[00:06:50] spk_1: But uh was that two of those jobs were at um private law firms and the paralegals um who I was really supporting through filing of thousands of elements of paperwork and they let me um, eventually gain their trust enough to sit with them and understudy a bit and draft a little bit of their paperwork and testimony and obviously with a ton of oversight. So I, I was the, the wheels were greased for that environment and it just so happened that that is what they needed. And so I came on and I spent a good 6-9 months writing testimony for the condition.

[00:07:42] spk_0: So, so let's talk about that because it becomes interesting because you can almost see the foundational work on what's going on here. But this is still pretty heavy in the legal side of the house. So at one point during this journey, do you say, okay, maybe not being a lawyer is what I want to do anymore. And how does this transition occur? Mm

[00:08:03] spk_1: hmm. Yeah. So, so part of, um, when I, when I started at the commission, when you write that type of testimony, you have to have a decent foundation on terminology and um, in the code just in general. And so the commission at the time had a really well run training program. And so one of those training programs that I, that I went through, um, taught me a lot about, um, the, why, why does the commission exist? Why are these laws in place and really anchored? And the concept of safety and to me, even the person, like the perspective or naive nous of utilities just in general, it never connected for me until really that moment. And then specifically, and I leveraged this throughout my career as I've, you know, discussed and hired hundreds of employees and team members. And there was a specific incident that really caught my eye. It happened in walnut creek California Um, in 2004 and part of that training process was a review of that. It was a, it was a petroleum line explosion and fire. Um, they were installing a significant water line. I'm in the contractor, hit that, hit a jet fuel line supporting an airport and I'm many people lost their lives that day. And um, and as you went through that training process, they required you to read the OSHA report and when I read the ocean report, the fatalities didn't have a name, they had a number. And it just struck me like, wow, mind you, these were fathers husbands and that's where I think it really started to pierce me a bit to say, wow, Like I never thought about something like this ever happening, you hear about it. But if you're not in that world, sometimes you gloss over it. Um, and, and so I started, you know, as I continue to write that testimony, it just started to have a different meaning for me so well

[00:10:42] spk_0: now and it's interesting because the more I'm able to do this, the more kind of common that story is where there's always that one incident that is the one that does the shift, It's the one that makes you think differently to, to an extent on what's going on inside of there. So when you take a look at that impact, when you're reading this Ocean report and all of a sudden now they're not people, they're numbers and you're looking at this at what point do you say? Okay, this is where I'm gonna start taking some deeper dives because you are taking some deeper dives. I mean, from what we could find right around this time, you said 2000 and four, you're doing political, you're actually going to school for political science right around that same time too. If the information is accurate, if you tell me it's inaccurate, then I will be like, okay, we don't definitely messed up

[00:11:28] spk_1: you've done your homework.

[00:11:29] spk_0: So when you're looking at this all of a sudden does the political science still kind of evolved with the, with the stuff that you're seeing?

[00:11:35] spk_1: Well, it's the political science definitely had like this real tangible connection. And later in my career to actually um came to fruition more so than I ever could have probably thought a political science degree would, and, but um, yeah, there were definitely connections in this, um constructive tension between just the governmental process and timelines, um, to enforce code to change code all in that vein of safety and later down the road at my tenure at the commission. Um I had an internship that I did with the Virginia general assembly um at the time it was representative Christopher piece and I um got to kind of see a bit under the hood of that legislative process. And this was before I started with the commission, but um, was involved in a working group that really drove some um impactful legislation, unprecedented legislation around sewer laterals. Um, but yeah, I mean, and I was able to leverage, you know, my understanding and my education and the political science, both in text academia, but also in that internship type of non paid by the way. But um valuable. It paid down the road. Right? Well nowadays they have paid internships and like what

[00:13:17] spk_0: is this?

[00:13:18] spk_1: This is the life. Um, but yeah, I learned a lot and was able to really connect. Um and I think it it definitely played to my strengths in that space. And then obviously throughout my career having touched um a lot of different legislative changes or sea changes within industry.

[00:13:42] spk_0: So do you have some political aspirations now as well after seeing on seeing under the hood, Seeing behind the curtain.

[00:13:48] spk_1: Never say never. But where I like to really

[00:13:52] spk_0: say yes. That is a version of a yes.

[00:13:53] spk_1: Yeah. Never say never. Um, It's not on my radar as it sits today in terms of being front and center like a legit like legitimizing um, politics. However, um, where I've operated a lot of my career and I actually enjoy it is really that behind the curtain type of space where I'm connecting this problem challenge, vision and operational. Izing it and, and part of that journey kind of taking that strategy to the street is very much, you know what you often can see in careers and in areas like lobbying, like political associations that are trying to educate and inform different advocacy groups. And so I've definitely played in that space for sure and, and influenced. I'd like to thank, um, for the better measurement of the industry and just in general society, but in terms of sitting in the forefront, I don't know about that. Um, but definitely support there. There's definitely, it's kind of like being my mom's a nurse. I always say it takes a special person to be a nurse and I really think it takes a special person to be a politician. Um, but there's a force, um, a diverse force behind those scenes that really, you know, the politician can live and die by in terms of team. So part of that team, I would say, yeah, I'm part of that as it sits uh, today an advocacy. But um, I don't know if I see myself sitting in the driver's seat.

[00:15:54] spk_0: So we will be looking at what kind of political involvement you'll have later down the

[00:15:59] spk_1: road, you're not buying that. Okay,

[00:16:02] spk_0: I'm buying it. I'm just saying later on on what you might be involved and even if it's behind the scenes.

[00:16:06] spk_1: Oh yeah maybe. Yeah.

[00:16:13] spk_0: This portion of the show has been sponsored by private internet access, America's number one virtual private network or VPN. Even if you use incognito mode internet service providers is storing your browser data and many times even selling it. A private internet access or P. I. A. Can help you be aya encrypt and reroute your internet traffic through one of its own servers hiding your data from your internet service provider or network admin. And with servers and over 75 countries you can get unrestricted access to geo blocked content from around the world. The I eight comes with easy to use apps and browsers extension for all devices, a rock solid privacy policy, open source security, advanced customization settings and it was just ranked the fastest VPN in the world by Pc magazine. And if you sign up right now with P. I. A. You can take advantage of a special deal only for safety FM listeners only by using the following link. You can get the digital privacy for less than $2 a month. Yes you did hear me correctly. Less than $2 a month and an extra four months for free. So that means for only a dollar 98 a month and 83% off you can get this service for you right now that's so much more inexpensive than virtually every other VPN on the market. And if you get it right now, you can take a P. I. S. 30 day risk free challenge. You can try it out for 30 days, see if you like it. And if not just return it for a full refund. So just go to safety FM dot com forward slash VPN. That's safety FM dot com for slash two VPN to try out the best VPN on the planet completely risk free. Now, remember safety FM dot com forward slash VPN and we are back on the J Allen show on safety FM. So let me ask you something, I want to kind of go back a little bit to the utility portion. And of course today is International Women's Day. So this is the time that we're doing the recording. I want to make a reference here. That of course, as you are aware, and a lot of us, you know that utility, for the most part is a is an industry that's heavily, heavily related to males. There's a lot of males in the utility industry. So as a woman, as you're going through this, how was there any difficulties when you're writing some of this testimony when you're going about and saying, okay, this is what this is what we're working on. How does how is the industry at the time responding to you with what you're bringing forward.

[00:18:53] spk_1: Yeah. I mean um that's a very um interesting question, I've seen industry really evolve. Um, many that that know me in this space would say I've grown up in industry and part of growing up an industry, I've not been able to only see it evolved, but I've really been, I'm surrounded by incredible people who have mentored me and guided me along the way through challenges that quite frankly women experience in this industry that, you know, others don't on top of that. I was very young when I entered industry as well. And so often I would find myself not only being the only woman in the room, but being the youngest by a long shot. And and so, um, you know, as I've walked that path and there have been a lot of allies um, behind the scenes that have helped me. But yeah, there's definitely challenges that I've faced and I've had everything from cat calls on a job site where I'm inspecting, you know, a construction job site, um, you know, to um, you know, leveraging and supporting, you know, young women who are trying to, you know, break breakthrough in the industry. So it's been really a hybrid of barriers and opportunities. What I always, um, you know, in terms of reflection back on industry, what I've always tried to coach and think about is there's a time, you know, to provide Grace. Um, and then there's a time to, you know, push back and stand up for yourself um, in in this space, you know, a lot of the progress that's been made I think has been through education. You know, there are times where, you know, I would have this conversation and there would be this really offensive statement made, but the intention behind that statement was good intent and it was really ignorance that was driving it. And so the question that I always posed to women is, you know, do you want to make them an ally or a foe? Because you know, you have more power and an opportunity to create an ally to to help you and and also grow that space so that other women don't have to to go through maybe certain challenges or you can totally turn them off and and it be um, you know, not productive. So, um I was trying to think about it that way and in most of my career when I've done that, um kind of provided an umbrella of Grace, it's really I found that it's really education and they just didn't know versus other times where it's important for you as a woman leader, two to exercise push back and you know, you you have to use your judgment and no when those lines get crossed. But I've had more encounters of ignorance than I have had of, you know, um malice intent.

[00:22:26] spk_0: So I guess let me ask the question, we can do it in one or two ways of course, if you were taking a look at this and you were either giving advice to the younger, your younger self or giving advice to people that are coming up an industry that they're saying, hey, this is what I want to get to. What would be your recommendation to either your younger self or the suggestions of the people that are coming through

[00:22:46] spk_1: um in context of being a woman or just in general, Okay,

[00:22:50] spk_0: we can do both to I mean, which everyone because of, because right now we're seeing transitions were not not all the way there. So that's the reason why I put it into that particular perspective, because I think we'll be honest at some point, this conversation will be dated when it comes to women industry because that's not going to be a conversation of, Oh my God, it's a male dominant industry, it's gonna be a nice combination of both things. But as we speak right now, in 2022, we're not there

[00:23:16] spk_1: yet. Well, the first one, I the first piece of advice I would say is never suffer in silence because that's not productive to you and it's not productive to the industry. Um, but how you deliver that message really matters, and that's really kind of what I'm eyeing at, which is sometimes there's, you know, you kind of have to take a take a deep breath and and source from a place of intent and question, you know, All right. You know, the barrier or challenge that I'm being faced with. Is it because it's it's really driven by a desire for this male senior leader not to place a female in the role or is it, you know, they just don't know or haven't considered diversity and and how your experience connects to that. So, um, you know, I think the number one piece of advice is like, just don't suffer in silence, um and pay attention to how you deliver it. Um because uh no, no situation is ever the same. Um and then there's plenty of the second piece of advice that I would say, which is sometimes unfortunate, but I do see it um which is women can also feel threatened by other women. Um and my advice there is there are plenty there's plenty of room. Um and so, you know, you really have to think about um who you include in your network and how you continue to support other women um as well, and and not to see it as an angle of competition. Um but really as an angle of support.

[00:25:07] spk_0: Okay, well, I appreciate that because I think that that would be something that people can look at now as we're going through this and things are transitioning and really apply it to what's going on. And I love that you decided to go go inside a Pandora's box Because what you just said there that, you know, women don't have to compete with other women because there's there's enough room. Most people wouldn't even say that. I mean, so I'm glad that you have decided to go that far with it. So I appreciate it.

[00:25:36] spk_1: You

[00:25:36] spk_0: know?

[00:25:37] spk_1: Yeah. And and and you can't, I guess I would say you you can't get to the real stuff that makes that that drives discussion and change unless you unpack the hard stuff. And sometimes that comes with difficult conversations and comfortable conversations, but that's also where the real change happens. And so, you know, you can't sit and suffer in silence. You have to take an active role and um, you know, bridging those, those gender inequities. So

[00:26:14] spk_0: you're so spot on on it. You're so spot on it because I will tell you, I have had this conversation behind closed doors, but never in a public

[00:26:21] spk_1: forum, Most

[00:26:23] spk_0: people won't talk about this. So I appreciate you doing that. So, I have to ask the question because you have done something that I think that is super brave, especially during the timeline that you have decided to do this. You have decided to go out on your own and start your own consulting and you did it during the middle of a pandemic, which I think is either super crazy or super brave. I'm not sure which one yet you're gonna have to tell me. So why decision to all of a sudden do it, especially during that particular time frame?

[00:26:53] spk_1: Yeah. Um Well I think you're not alone in that boat of

[00:26:58] spk_0: uh of

[00:26:59] spk_1: going, whoa, the timing is crazy. Um but you know, there was really, I would say um 2, 2 key things that really seated that, so like throughout my career I've always um found myself, you know, as a problem solver, um and that's really afforded me a lot of opportunity to do a lot of cool and diverse things, but often on bleeding edge type of things and very strategic things. Um and so that's given me an opportunity to see where gaps are and um and then um employ what I believe kind of to be gifts that I've been given everybody has them um to help kind of translate and really allow those visions and strategies to come to life. And so um I really just felt called to do something a little bit different, you know, I've been in the public side of the the industry, have been in the private side of the businesses as part of um an executive team on one of the nation's largest utilities. Um and um and I wanted to see what it was like with that third, what I would say, third stakeholder group, um which is really the services side of it. Um and and and really felt called to kind of step out a little bit and and leverage that gift and just like this hire more meaningful way and it's really allowed me to do that. I've, I've connected with so many new um people, new talent and and working on incredible things that are meaningful um and really will serve the industry well. So I feel really good about that. And then, you know, the second, the second seed that really kind of catapulted me is, and it was really kind of transitioning my thought process on stepping out um on my own. I had a conversation with a really great friend of mine um and um you know, we were just talking about, you know, is this something that I want, you know, want to do? I don't know. Um but I know that I'm feeling called to do something different and what he said to me was, well Ashley, you know, you've demonstrated to date no matter what you do, you're going to be great at it. The question now, at this stage in your life is what story you want to tell your daughter, Lola. Hence Lola link at the time. Now I have two babies. So I have to probably figure out another adventure.

[00:29:43] spk_0: But yeah,

[00:29:46] spk_1: but um and it really stuck with me. He wasn't doing it. I I think he in many ways said it just almost in passing, but it just sat with me for a really long time. And um and so I said, you know, there's going to be an opportunity where Lola is going to be faced with a decision and I a fork in the road in terms of decision making and I hope she has a ton of those throughout her life. Um and I don't want her to mm hmm, settle for a choice because fear is there. And so, um I said, okay, well I'm all in and like I have to, you know, model this and I and not just for Lola, but just for women and industry. I think, you know, I've seen it time and time again that even for example with job descriptions, women will say, well, I don't fit this job description at all. But I love to learn it and I think I can do it and they never apply for the job. Um and so they really put themselves in a position where they're not, you know, putting their name in the hat for the opportunity there. They're sabotaging sabotaging in many ways themselves. And so I just decided to take the leap. I never, you know, would have guessed I'd, you know, ever in my future would have been starting my own company. But it's really just um, you know, modeling that example as well for my daughter and and other women in industry and taking it day by day and step by step and, you know, learning along the way and having fun about it.

[00:31:44] spk_0: So if people want to find out more about your consulting services and the things that you're doing, where can they go to find out more information.

[00:31:50] spk_1: There's two key ways. Um one is go to my website www dot lola link dot com. Or you can check me out on linkedin um both through Lola link consulting LLC or by my individual profile page, Ashley Donnini.

[00:32:11] spk_0: So here's a, here's a question. Do you accept people that you don't know on your linkedin? Because that's always, I always find that one interesting.

[00:32:17] spk_1: I do um I do accept people that I, I do not know, but I definitely will view their profile um you know, to understand if there's a potential connection. I'm, you know, I think I always hear this, this um concept of, you know, self made and I just don't believe that I believe it takes a village and sometimes those members of your village come through linkedin connections and so, um you know, I don't, I try to give people a bit of my time, see if there's a connection and how I may be able to help them and um and it's served me well so far. So that's, that's kind of how I operate on the linkedin space.

[00:33:07] spk_0: Got it, got it, got it. Well, actually, I really do appreciate you coming onto the show today

[00:33:11] spk_1: jay. Thanks for inviting me and for the listeners. Thanks for listening

[00:33:15] spk_0: once more of the go to dot com. The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the host and its guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the company. Examples of analysis discussed within this podcast are only examples. They should not be utilized in the real world as the only solution available as they are based only on very limited and dated open source information, assumptions made within this analysis are not reflective of the position of the company. No part of this podcast may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means mechanical, electronic recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the creator of the podcast, J. Allen