Change Is The Only Constant feat. Pooja Talreja ’08

From Dubai to Houston, Pooja Talreja’s journey is one of resilience, growth, and discovery. Her story is about more than just crossing continents—it's about breaking through personal and professional barriers to find her true passion.

After a pivot from accounting to HR, Pooja is now the senior vice president of people at Ironclad Environmental Solutions, with 15 years of experience leading global teams in the oil and gas industry.

In this episode, Pooja joins host Maya Pomroy ’22 to share her experiences, from growing up in Dubai to navigating life in the U.S. and making bold career moves. She offers invaluable insights on the importance of lifelong learning and how to lead through corporate transformation.

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Episode Guide:

00:39 Growing Up in Dubai

01:40 Moving to the United States for College

03:25 College Life and Career Beginnings

05:30 Discovering a Passion for HR

08:28 MBA Journey at Rice University

17:56 Current Role and Leadership Insights

27:51 Advice and Reflections

Owl Have You Know is a production of Rice Business and is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

How did Pooja landed in HR

12:58 [Maya Pomroy]: So, was it while you were at Rice that HR spoke to you? Or people, the idea of inspiring and leading people?

13:08  [Pooja Talreja]: 100%. It was one of the early classes, Organizational Behavior with Professor Brent Smith. I went to him and I said, "How do I do this? I need to do these things we're learning in these case studies with Southwest and everything that you talk about—motivating people, leading people—but impacting the business through that." And it was very simple what he said: "Have you considered HR?" And I said, "No, I always thought my next move would be adjacent to accounting, right, finance, or maybe something in operations. HR was not even on my radar." And that's why Brent and Rice overall was such a big part of where I landed with my career because it taught me that you can be good at something and still find your calling.

Balancing compassion and compliance in HR

21:29 [Maya Pomroy]: Maya: Do you feel that, that learning and growing is one of the most important things in terms of being a strong leader?

21:35 [Pooja Talreja]: One off. Yes, absolutely. But I'll, I'll give you my favorites. For me, it's compassion. The way that I define HR is not your textbook HR. Really, I think of it as a Venn diagram. You've got your policies and compliance and legal things, but then you've got the other side, which is doing what's right for the people.And when you can find what can work for both, that's where HR comes in. That's where the magic happens. That's how you build the right level of engagement and loyalty and motivate people, is when you find doing what's right for the people, but doing it in a way that's still ethical within your policy, within the laws and regulations. So that's what I love about my job, is figuring out that sweet spot.

The value of cohort experiences in the classroom

17:05: I think that's why cohorts tend to become so close, right? The professor is teaching you so many different things, but to your point, there's an equal amount of learning from the people that are sitting in that class and their experiences and failures and all of that. It's just an overall fantastic experience. And I miss it. I love being in a classro