Silver City, NM- One could say that Graduate Student Lauren Dazey is something of a bad ass. When she arrived at WNMU to get her Masters in Business Administration, she already had a rich background working in heavy industrial jobs, particularly working on oil rigs.
Growing up in Aurora, Colorado, it was her mother’s career as a geologist that was Lauren’s main inspiration for her future career. When her mother tragically passed away from pancreatic cancer, Lauren made the chose to pursue higher learning and began studying geology.
“It was good to have that influence early in my life,” said Lauren.
During her time as an Undergraduate at the University of Wyoming, Lauren worked at the University of Wyoming Museum of Geology. She graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Geology in 2013. Afterwards, she found a job working on off-shore oil rigs for a company she preferred not to disclose.
Lauren faced some push-back when she entered that career; not only was she a woman working in a male-dominated occupation, but she was also a geologist entering an engineering field. Lauren shared one experience in which she wasn’t allowed to join her co-workers on a rig due to some out-dated superstitions.
“There are some myths that a woman on an oil rig is considered bad luck,” Lauren explained.
In this instance, Lauren bent the rules, disregarded the “company policy” and went aboard the rig anyway. While aboard, she caught a mistake that one of her supervisors had made, made the proper corrections and ended up saving her company close to $300,000.
Overall, Lauren had positive memories of her experience. She stated that after awhile, being out on a rig from anywhere around three days to two weeks with her co-workers ultimately led to close, familiar bonds being formed.
Lauren eventually began taking classes at Western New Mexico University, studying toward a Masters in Business Administration. She hopes to get a job working in human resources at the mining company Freeport-McMoRan, a company she plans on interning with after graduation.
She currently lives in Safford, Arizona with her husband of three years and her dog Dallas. She makes a two hour commute a few a days a week for her job as a Graduate Assistant with The Center for Gender Equity and Social Justice. She has helped plan numerous events, such as the recent Women in STEM and this week’s F-Week. She also mentors and schedules work studies for The Center.
Lauren eventually hopes to get a PhD, feeling that learning as much as she could would be beneficial to her a career and potentially help her eventually start her own company. She has also considered using it to teach.
“Mostly I just think it’d be cool,” Lauren said with a smile. “People can call me Doctor Dazey.”
