June 26, 2023 • 39 mins
Augustin Bourgois - Augie embarks us on his captivating story of self-discovery and career. Leaving his town in Lille, France, at 15, he bravely ventured to a farming-focused boarding school, opening his eyes to different cultures and ways of life. This bold decision sparked a series of adventures. Augie's path took him to the vibrant city of Bayonne, between France and Spain, where he indulged in delicious food, revelled in a lively social scene, and discovered his passion for the hospitality industry.
Our conversation leads us through Augie's remarkable experiences, from attending culinary school to working in a Michelin-star restaurant. Along the way, he imparts invaluable insights into embracing the unknown, the significance of patience, and the power of forging connections. His story serves as a testament to the fact that regardless of age or background, something new and exhilarating is always waiting for you.
Augustin Bourgois is an MBA grad with a multicultural experience in business management, customer success, and operation development. After working in hospitality management in Europe and Asia, he settled in New York and sterned his career in the tech industry, launching Data Sailing in 2020 as a data analyst. His soft and technical skills solve Data issues and implement new processes.
Please tune in and be inspired by Augie's incredible journey and the lessons he has learned. Whether you're seeking the courage to change your life or simply searching for motivation.
Let's enjoy his story,
To connect with Augie: https://datasailing.com/
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Thank you for listening - Hasta Pronto!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Daniela (00:08):
Hi, i'm Daniela and welcome to my podcast, because
everyone has a story, the placeto give ordinary people, stories
, the chance to be shared andpreserved.
Our stories become the languageof connections.
It's in your connect and relatebecause everyone has a story.
Welcome my guest, augustineWokh-Yua Ogi.
(00:34):
He is an MBAO grad with amulticultural experience in
business management.
After working in hospitalitymanagement in Europe and Asia,
he settled in New York and sternhis career in the tech industry
, launching data sailing in 2020as a data analyst.
This is A ugie incrediblejourney and the lesson he has
(00:56):
learned.
Talking about his journey inthe hotel industry got me very
excited, as, like him, i am alsoan hotelier from Switzerland
and the time-spending hotel isalways memorable.
This story serves as atestament to the fact that,
regardless of age or background,something new and exhilarating
(01:16):
is always waiting for you.
You have to manage yourexpectations or don't have any,
perhaps when and you have noexpectations, it takes you to
far more wonderful experiences,like it happens to Ogi.
So let's enjoy his story.
Welcome to the show, Augustineor Augie.
I am very happy that you'rehere.
(01:37):
How are you?
Augustin (01:38):
I'm doing great.
It's almost spring.
Daniela (01:40):
I'm doing very good.
Good, ogi, tell me why you wantto share your story.
Augustin (01:46):
I arrived at the time of my life I was just about the
30s and every time you meet newpeople, you have to tell them
what happened the last 10 yearsand where you are where you are.
And every time I tell the story, they're like it's so
interesting, we've never metsomeone like you.
I think it's different.
I think it's different.
I think people need to knowthat, no matter how old you are
or what you want to do, there isalways a thing that you don't
(02:07):
know is possible.
That's my story.
Daniela (02:09):
Great, and so when does this story start?
Augustin (02:12):
This story starts when I'm 15 and I want to leave
my parents' house to go toboarding school.
And this is where This is inLille, north of France, at the
bedroom border.
Daniela (02:22):
And why do you want to leave?
Augustin (02:23):
I don't know, no, i'm thinking about it.
I don't know why I won't leave,but I always thought there was
something else than theenvironment I knew of And Lille
is a very nice town, but it's avery still type kind of town
where everybody's Catholicuprising and everybody's kind of
doing the same thing I wascertain there was something else
for me that I wanted to do andI wanted to be in a different
(02:46):
environment.
Just the desire of beingdifferent.
Daniela (02:49):
And your classmates were similar to you.
Augustin (02:52):
No, i went to boarding school in a forming
school.
80% of that place was daughtersand sons of farmers, so they
were studying to grow their ownfarms in the future and raise
cattle or whatever they wantedto be.
Daniela (03:07):
Horse riding and everything.
You wanted to move away fromLille, but with that you wanted
to go to boarding school.
Augustin (03:13):
Yeah, that was the idea, Because I was too young to
just leave everything, so Iwent for the equivalent of my
high school.
I went to boarding schoolbecause my mom didn't want me to
go too far.
I went to boarding school twohours away, from Monday to
Friday, and I would go homeevery weekend.
Daniela (03:30):
And there's a lot of boarding schools like that in
France.
Augustin (03:33):
I don't know.
I know that there was that oneclose to home and not so far
from home.
It's very rare to find a goodforming boarding school for some
reason.
But I know North of Paris, thatthat one was the best for
forming.
Daniela (03:45):
But this one was boarding school specifically to
learn about farming.
Kids or farmers will send theirkids there so they learn more
to come back home and help withtheir business.
Augustin (03:55):
Correct.
The boarding school was mostlyfor farming people.
The people who were going tothe school were not in boarding
school.
They were most likely goinginto literature or economics,
social and North farming.
It was a big high school forfriends, like maybe 1800
students, and so what happened?
Daniela (04:11):
How was your experience there?
Augustin (04:13):
Well, it was very different from what I was used
to, which was my goal.
It took me a little adjustmentphase.
It was my first understandingof there was something else,
that everything I knew for thepast 15 years and of my I have
three sisters and a brother, soI grew up in a very good family
and everything was good at home.
But now I had the opportunityto meet people that were not
(04:35):
raised the same way I was raised, so that was my first
understanding of the otherculture, even just in your
backyard, so two hours away fromhome.
Different People are differentin the way we're brought.
It's cool.
or you put everybody that'sdifferent in the same
environment.
there's gonna be to have like arealignment of the planet where
(04:55):
everybody's gonna have tobehave the way school wants you
to behave.
So that was very interesting tosee that It's not because you
come from X or Y or Z place.
once you're in the same place,everything you know is not there
anymore.
so you have to set yourself forsuccess in the same way all
together.
Does that make sense?
Daniela (05:14):
All right.
You spent how many years there?
Augustin (05:17):
I spent three years in high school in France.
you go from 15 to 18, then youget your GED at 18, and then you
have to choose what you want todo for college And then I
decided that I wanted to dopretty much general business
studies, but I wanted to be faraway from home again, so I moved
to Bayonna, which is the Spainborder between France and Spain.
(05:39):
They call it Basque countries.
There's like seven territories.
there are three in France andfour in Spain.
It's very traditional southwestFrance.
Old people speak anotherlanguage that has no roots in
French or Spanish or anything.
Basque language is veryinteresting, but you are two
hours from ski stations, 30minutes from the ocean.
(06:00):
the food is amazing and I spenttwo years there.
I didn't go home much.
I did a lot of partying, notmuch studying to every
restaurants I could eat.
I was living like a 40 yearsold man, but I was 19 years old.
Daniela (06:13):
Why is that?
Do you have money?
Was it economical?
How?
Augustin (06:17):
I didn't have money much.
I was finding good deals andgood people to know, so I was
not paying for much.
It was the first time when Iwas more than two hours away
from my parents on a daily basis.
So I lived in what they callthe Petit Bayonne, which is
basically where all the studentswould go out every night.
I had the best time.
I love that place, but I didn'tdo much studying.
(06:39):
I had to find a job at the endof the first year and that's how
I got into restaurants.
I found a job at a Michelinstar restaurant to serve some
plates and be a waiter, andthat's what I did for five
months And I realized that itwas a pretty good job.
I liked that very much.
So again, you got to understandeverybody in my family as their
own company and do things thatare pretty high level of
(07:00):
education.
When I come out I'm like I wantto be a waiter.
This sounds like a great idea.
I can eat for free, i can drinkfor a month And it's a good
life.
You don't work much during themorning.
You work mostly between 11amand 1am And then everybody go
out and have fun.
Then you start to get, and myparents were like that's a great
idea, but you didn't graduate.
(07:21):
So they shipped me back home.
After a summer of working Morethan a summer, like it was seven
months They shipped me backhome and they put me in culinary
school between Lille and ParisI won't name the town because
it's a nice town, i think, ifyou like it.
I didn't like it And it didn'tmatch with me.
I ended up in a professionalhigh school kind of You're not
(07:42):
really at a GED level but youwant to learn a trade A trade
school in the US, i think That'swhat they call.
So I was in there to learnculinary school I don't know why
, like eight hours of cookingclass, eight hours of old school
French rates for a thing, andthen I was keeping.
So I did that for nine months.
I went back to the South towork in a mission star
(08:02):
restaurant in the kitchen inSaint-Jean-de-Luz, which is very
much this paint border.
It's underwater.
Daniela (08:07):
Yeah, but isn't Saint-Jean-de-Luz close to
Bayonne?
Augustin (08:10):
Yeah.
So I went back home and then Iwent back to Bayonne.
I had some attachment there.
My heart was there more than myhead.
Daniela (08:18):
So it's interesting that you call the South, because
yes, that's the South, butsomehow we always think that the
South of France is like to loseor knees.
Augustin (08:26):
Yeah, a lot of people would see.
I think traditionally a lot ofpeople think of the South like
the South is knees can must say.
But that's a very differentmentality on the French side.
Yes, if you're from theSoutheast than the Southwest, i
always prefer the Southwest.
The Southwest is the ocean.
You have the waves, more of asurfer vibe than the Southeast.
That's very much more chic.
(08:47):
It's different vibes.
So I really much like theSouthwest where I went back to
work And then I really got intoculinary school and really liked
what I was doing with my handsand working with the team
Restaurants.
It's such a great carrierthat's not viewed as a carrier
Not I mean the US, but back inEurope.
It's a real carrier.
It's like you can do 40 yearsas hotel manager and restaurants
(09:10):
and nobody would judge you forthat.
Yes, Out here it's a bitdifferent.
Daniela (09:14):
I wanted to ask you that because, like you, i also
went to hotel school inSwitzerland, when I was working
in hotels there and I loved thewhole world.
And then we came to Vancouver,canada, and it was a shock.
It was not the same, not at all.
When you go to Europe andpeople are waiters, they speak
seven languages and you can seethat in Europe is completely
(09:37):
different than here.
Augustin (09:38):
Yeah, and I don't know why here is not.
I mean, here it's becausepeople who work in a restaurant
mostly at least when you'reyounger, as students then it's
something that I don't know foreverybody.
I don't want to talk foreverybody, but from what I see
is people who don't have theopportunity to do something else
, that they need a side job, sothey work in a restaurant.
In France you have like thisreal hierarchy of waiters chef
(10:01):
de roue, then head waiter Andthen if you want to be a
concierge.
then you have the goal of to getthe gold key on your jacket,
which are like le clé-d'or.
You have this whole environmentthat in Europe I would say that
you don't have it here in theUS.
But I didn't know about that.
I really wanted that.
I wanted to make it a carrier.
I was like I want to do this.
(10:23):
I know I can see the worldwalking in restaurants.
My parents were like that'scool, But you need to have a
degree in that.
So they put me back in school.
close to Bordeaux, i did an MBA.
Daniela (10:33):
Oh really, yeah, They wanted you to study more.
So an MBA on what?
Augustin (10:37):
I did hospitality management, so hotel and
restaurants management.
Daniela (10:41):
Oh, wow, okay, Okay.
And then you got a job.
Augustin (10:44):
Well, during that MBA .
The first year of the MBA wassix months in France.
Six months you had to gosomewhere, not in France, for an
internship.
I was in China for eight monthsworking for Sofitel.
It's a five star hotel brand.
There's one in the city here inNew York, and I was there in
Nanjing, between Beijing andShanghai 12 years ago.
(11:07):
Nanjing was very industrial,only mostly Chinese people.
There was not many Europeans.
I always remember taking thesubway there and I was the only
guy above 6 feet And it was verydifferent.
That was a shock.
You can't say it was a shock.
To go from Nile to the south,that was one thing, but going
(11:27):
from Nile and France to China inthe middle of nowhere, that was
different.
Daniela (11:32):
But I loved it.
I can imagine Did you pick thecity or you were just sent there
.
Augustin (11:37):
We had to find our own internship.
that was a struggle.
I think I sent like 700 resumesin every hotels in South East
Asia and China.
You find what you can find.
Yeah, I had friends who went toBrussels, Amsterdam, Phuket.
I had friends everywhere in theworld, then Australia, That was
good.
Daniela (11:55):
So you wanted to go to China, i wanted to go where most
of the people won't go.
Augustin (12:01):
I always have this desire of difference, so most of
the people won't go Like I wantto know where I don't know
anyone.
That's usually the goal.
I don't want to go and speakFrench because I find it boring,
even though now it will bedifferent, but back then I
wanted to be different.
I don't want to go to Phuketbecause everybody wants to go to
Thailand.
I don't want to go to Mexicobecause it's spring break and
(12:22):
there's going to be way too manyEurope.
I was like Australia and NewZealand is cool, but everybody
speaks English.
It's 18 hours flight.
I think China is different fromeverything we know, like the
way people are in China and ourChinese people are raised and
everything.
Daniela (12:36):
How was the hotel experience there?
Augustin (12:39):
The work was interesting because the brand
didn't own the wall, so it was aChinese company that owned the
hotel, but it was managed by theFrench companies.
It was very weird.
So you had this doublemanagement, but that's for the
work itself.
It was your house, by anaccommodation provided by the
hotel.
So everybody lived in thattowers of apartments where
(13:00):
Chinese employees would be eightpeople per room or Western
employees were two people perroom Discrimination at the
highest level of anything.
My whole point me going therewas to be in a different area,
but just arriving was alreadydifferent, because I was white
and I was raised French, so myroom was already very different
(13:21):
from the rooms my co-workers had.
They had two and two in eachside of the room, bank beds and
one shower for the eight of them.
And I had my own apartment,dasha, with another person, but
we all had our own bathroom andown bedroom.
Wow, and these people werenever.
they were going home maybe oncein the eight months for Chinese
(13:41):
New Year, but we would take thebus from our apartment,
everybody's apartment, wouldtake the bus to the hotel.
When your shift is done youcould take the bus back to your
apartment.
You eat there because there isa canteen.
Once you sleep and you startover, then you take the bus back
to your job.
That's all you do.
You walk, you walk and yousleep when you have time, and I
(14:02):
was pulling like 12, 14 hours aday.
That's how I realized how luckyI was, and my first realization
of it is like we're not boththe same, but I'm already very
lucky.
I have a lot at home that thesepeople don't have, and even
though I came here to findsomething different, i love it,
but I don't know if I could dowhat they do, like they do have
much of a choice.
They had to make money, send80% of the money they were
(14:25):
making back to their parents athome and then do that for the
next 15 years.
Daniela (14:29):
Wow, you were working 12 hours a day and you had days
off.
Augustin (14:33):
I think it was one day off per week.
From what I can remember.
It's not much, but the jobitself was not very complicated.
I was supposed to train theChinese employees.
The French art of view for theFrench hotel And it was pretty
In the restaurant In the yeah,there was two restaurants and
one bar in the hotel and roomservice All the food and
(14:53):
beverage department.
Daniela (14:54):
When you were off, you had the opportunity to go around
and explore.
Augustin (14:58):
Yeah, nanjing is actually a super cool city.
It was very green, there wasparks, the city itself.
In China they call it small.
Now I'm in New York.
I think it's medium.
Back then I thought it wasenormous.
12 years ago it was 17 or 18million inhabitants.
It's a big city.
Yes, for anyone in the worldit's a big city.
For Chinese in China it's amedium city.
(15:18):
But yeah, i went to see afriend in Beijing.
My mom and my other sister cameand we went to Shanghai for
three days So I saw a little bitof China and not just walk and
the bus and the apartment.
It was great.
I would love to go back toChina.
I think it's so different fromeverything we know.
The food is delicious, thepeople are fairly nice and the
(15:40):
language is interesting.
I think eight months was a goodtime.
Daniela (15:43):
Do we speak in English at the hotel or French?
Augustin (15:46):
English, mostly No French or barely any French.
Everything you don't see as aguest when you go to the hotel
is everything that's happeningbehind the scene.
So the basement with the stafflocker room where it would
change people would shower, itwas a disaster.
It was rough down there Andit's China, so people were
smoking in the corridors in thebasement, all towers hanging on
(16:09):
the walls in front of the shower.
That's a pocket-chief size thateverybody would shower, dry
themselves, put back the towelon the wall And I don't know.
But this place it was rough.
Daniela (16:20):
This was for what Was the shower?
because you do have a room.
Augustin (16:24):
Well, yeah, but the rooms where we had to take the
bus or walk 45 minutes to goback to our apartments.
So you know, the cook, thechefs, the people working
maintenance, they like to take ashower before they go back to
their apartment.
Oh, i see, i see.
Daniela (16:37):
Oh, wow, wow, That's rough, oh yeah.
Augustin (16:40):
It was for them, it was rough Me.
I was very lucky because I wastreated very nicely.
I learned mostly abouteverything.
There's both hotels in there.
It was amazing.
Daniela (16:48):
Yeah, sounds really interesting.
You said that China andeverybody smokes, but in France
also people smoke.
Augustin (16:54):
I was born in 1992.
The law of smoking inside?
I don't remember it, but inChina I took the train for eight
hours.
Everybody was smoking insidethe train.
Oh, i see, you know, it's likeEurope in 1950s you smoke
everywhere.
There's no smoking inside,nobody cares, in the clubs,
people who were smoking back intime.
(17:14):
But at the same time it's likea parallel planet.
Daniela (17:17):
Yeah, so you were eight months in China and then.
Augustin (17:20):
Then I went back home for the second year of the MBA.
We spent one year in class.
It's a small village school.
It's an amazing school.
I think it's one of the topfive in France for hospital
management.
It depends on the program.
I think it changed, but it's ina very small village so you
live very close.
There is maybe 115 habitants,apart from the school.
It's in the middle of thecountryside, in Dordogne, which
(17:44):
is like two hours from Bordeaux.
It's in the middle of theTruffaut countryside, nice, so
like neighbors who pick upTruffaut and bring them home to
the school, i was the presidentof the student union there, so
it was a lot of fun partying.
And then we had to do anotherinternship.
I wanted to go back to Asia, butI didn't want to go back to
China.
I've done eight months, sowe're good.
So I wanted to go back to SouthEast Asia and I got Cambodia.
(18:08):
Well, i found a job in Cambodiaworking for Belmond.
Belmond is the same brand thatdoes the Orient Express train.
You know there's a veryluxurious train that goes from
depends on the season, butVenice to St Petersburg or
Venice to Paris.
So these same people they ownhotels.
So I work for one of the fasterhotels in Sium-Reyap.
(18:29):
Sium-reyap is where all the oldtemples in Cambodia, So on Kaua
, that's where I went.
So I spent six months thereworking for them And I thought
it was going to be like China,but it's not because a lot of
French people are in what theycall Indochina, because you know
, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnamall of these were Indochina
under the French colonies were athing.
(18:49):
So lots of French people.
So I worked there for sixmonths, seven months, Lots of
partying, way too much partying.
Actually, I was sharing myapartment provided by the hotel.
I was sharing my apartment witha guy from Switzerland and a
woman from Australia, Sarah, Andone night Sarah was like oh,
you got to come out with myfriend And I met this lady going
(19:10):
out one night at Deborah I camevery much in front of.
I mean, now it's going to beseven years and we're married
seven years.
That's keeping a big part ofthe story.
So we made Cambodia.
I was partying a lot, almostlost my job there because I was
partying way too much.
Until I met Deborah, i wouldkind of calm me down into the
partying.
(19:31):
Before I left Cambodia to goback to France, i met a French
person that was hiring more of afull-time position.
So I signed a job agreementwith him that after my MBA, in
six months I was hired back inCambodia.
So I finished my internship inCambodia knowing that six months
after, with my MBA in thepocket, i would be able to come
(19:52):
back in Cambodia and work.
And that's what happened.
Cambodia is an amazing country.
Amazing like very nice people,kingdom of wonder.
It's a rough country If you'renot familiar with it.
I'm saying that because thepeople in Cambodia they're
mostly young or very old, solike there's a jump in
generation, because thegeneration from 45 to 70 years
(20:13):
old they were mostly killed orthere was a civil war in
Cambodia, so the people now arevery young or reaching that my
age, so there was not many.
The generation of my parents isnot very there in Cambodia.
It's older than my parents orme, or young, but amazing people
, very nice Kind of old schoolway of working.
The men like to give directionsto women.
(20:36):
A great country, very cheap backthen Dirt roads everywhere, had
a motorbike.
That's all I needed.
Beer was like $2.
A pack of cigarettes was 50cents And that was life.
That's all I needed to do, andthat's all I did for six months,
and how old were you?
I was 21.
Daniela (20:54):
21 with an MBA.
Augustin (20:56):
Well, no, I was not graduated yet.
So that was the second year ofmy MBA.
I graduated at 22,.
Got married at 23.
Daniela (21:03):
So you met Deborah.
Augustin (21:04):
I met Deborah in Cambodia.
She grew up in New York.
She was taking a break fromwork.
She left work when they weregiving packages to people to
leave.
She was teaching English tovillage kids in the countryside
in Cambodia And she wasvolunteering And she loved it.
It was great.
We met at a good time wherethere?
was a lot of backpackers.
We had a lot of friends doingdifferent stuff And it was a
(21:25):
time before Cambodia became toomuch of a backpacker kind of
route style, Very relaxed.
Daniela (21:32):
So how many years ago?
Because this is probably havechanged now.
Augustin (21:35):
This is almost nine years ago.
Yeah, it changed.
We don't have.
I know.
Maybe two people that I knewback then are still there.
Everybody left.
I think it's very different now.
A lot of Chinese people madeinvestments, so the roads are
being paved.
Everybody has a car.
Back when we were there, it wasall took, took, all took, took,
Or you had your own motorbikeor bike, that's it.
(21:58):
That was barely any cause, soit was great.
Well, i spent six months there.
She spent about five months.
Then I went back to France tofinish my MBA.
She came to visit in Bordeauxand I proposed at 22, 20,
somewhere around there.
Daniela (22:13):
Wow, pretty young.
Augustin (22:16):
Pretty young.
I was, and I'm still, very muchlike this Don't think too much.
Well, no, it's changing, butdon't think too much.
Just if you think it's a gooddecision, just do it.
So we got on gauge.
I went to New York to meet ourfamily after that And then we
went back to Cambodia because Ihad my job offer Come back to
Cambodia and live two years inCambodia And I was working for
that French person Oh, it'spretty good.
I was responsible ofrestaurants and bars.
Daniela (22:38):
You said nine years ago that you went the first time,
but then you were there for twoyears, so you saw a development
on these changes that youmentioned.
Augustin (22:47):
Yeah, very developed.
Lots of changes, lots of like,a lot more foreigners from other
countries.
Before the first time there wasa lot of Australian people in
Europe And by the time we leftit was a lot of rich Chinese
people, rich Thai people, two orthree hours flight for them, so
it's the backyard.
The same way in France, whenyou go on vacation so much cheap
(23:07):
you go to Greece or Italy orSpain.
Well, that, or like Mexico forthe US, that's what Cambodia and
Thailand are for Chinese peoplewith money.
The difference between 12 yearsago in China and nine years ago
in Cambodia is like during thesethree years Chinese people in
China as a country got richerand got more inclined to go into
other countries.
(23:27):
So, and that's why I kind ofshifted into what I, what I
thought I was good at in thehotel and making people enjoy
their stay, to something thatbecome very much like factory
wise, where I was not feeling itmuch anymore.
So I was raised and I waseducated and hospitated to serve
people in a certain way in theI don't want to sound
(23:50):
stereotyped, but in the Frenchway of wine and food and coffee
after you dinner, and that inCambodia.
In the two and a half years wewere there, it really changed
into something that was moremanufactured and not so much
about the experience.
Daniela (24:03):
Is this because the hotel was maybe not a five star?
I mean, what's 5 stars?
Augustin (24:07):
It was SLH, small luxury hotels, i mean Cambodia
is not very expensive in general.
Like a 5 star night in Torontoor a 5 star night in New York
City is going to cost youbetween 800 to 1500 dollars The
night, where in Cambodia dependson the room and everything, but
within 3 to 500 you can havethe best day ever, nice, i have
to go there then.
(24:28):
Yes, so that was that.
So we decided to leave Cambodia, my wife from New York.
So 2 years in Cambodia for herwas a lot Cambodia it's still.
It was not the capital, so itwas kind of a village way of
living.
And after 2 years she wanted togo back to the US.
I did not.
Well, we got married in between.
I got married in Thailand.
(24:49):
Then, after we got married, iwas not ready to move to the US.
Never had the wish, you know, iwas in my South East Asia kind
of brain, so I was not ready tomove to the US.
But she was ready to move to acity.
So we moved to Hong Kong And Idid the opening of a French
restaurant in front of the racecourse.
Hong Kong is now.
I live in New York.
(25:09):
I know what a crazy city is,but Hong Kong is New York City
on steroids.
It's non-stop, 24x7, more money, more people, more craziness,
more different backgrounds ofleft and right.
If you have enough money, it'samazing.
If you dare to walk and make aliving, it's very hard, so
expensive.
And I was walking like crazyhours.
(25:31):
I was feeling like thetiredness of starting work at 16
, 17 years old To now beingtired of walking in hotels and
restaurants.
So we stayed only 6 months inHong Kong.
Then she wanted to go back homeand I was like, okay, we did my
suggestion for 6 months.
Maybe we can go now.
So we moved to the US 6 yearsago.
All of this experience I tookit as the best thing that can
(25:53):
happen to you is if you don'thave any expectations.
When I moved to China, i had noexpectations whatsoever And I
didn't want to set my mindthinking, okay, maybe this is
gonna happen or maybe the peopleare gonna be like this.
That's not a good way for me toapproach it.
It's don't.
If you don't have anyexpectation about whatsoever,
everything that's gonna happento you.
(26:13):
There is no bad way that it'sgonna be turned into.
It's just an experience Andthat's how I took it.
I took it China, cambodia, hongKong and now the US.
Anything that happens, don'thave the expectation and
everything.
Then it's not gonna beenjoyable.
Nothing is gonna come as asurprise.
So if you come in and beinglike I'm moving to the US but I
have no idea what to expect, nordo I want to expect anything,
(26:35):
then everything that's gonnacome in the weeks, month or
anything is gonna be a goodsurprise And that's how I
approach it.
And now it's been 6 years.
We bought a house in thesuburban New York City 2 years
ago.
I owned and managed my owncompany for the last 3 years.
I left the hotels andrestaurants 7 years ago.
I still have no expectationwhatsoever.
(26:55):
I just try to make my ownroutes in my own terms, with my
own background, and that's goingwell.
Daniela (27:01):
Okay, i agree with you.
It's very good about managingyour expectations and not having
too many expectations, but youreally love the hotel industry.
Augustin (27:09):
I loved it and I'm glad I did it, but I think it's
good to do different things.
Daniela (27:13):
When you came to New York, you thought that you were
not gonna work in hotels anymore.
Augustin (27:18):
Oh well, it was a bit complicated because I did have
a visa to start with, but when Ifirst came in, i worked for a
catering company that did bigevents in the city, so I was
still kind of in restaurants.
I was a staffing manager, so Iwas trying to find people to
work big events.
I did that for 2 years Andeverything I learned in
restaurants or in hotels can beapplied to everything.
(27:40):
Yes, like that's what's amazing.
You work in it, so you know,but people would don't know is
like when you pick up a phone asa sales agent or customer
representative there's nothingthat's going to teach you in
class how to deal with acustomer on the phone, But when
people deal with other clientsin restaurants or hotels, that's
life.
Listen, When someone is angry atyou because they found a rare
(28:00):
plate, there's no book thattells you how to react.
There's some indication thatI'm sorry this happened.
Let me send it back to thekitchen and you don't have to
pay for your plate.
This experience of livingthrough a complicated situation
in hotels, restaurants becausewe're touching to food and where
people sleep, That's what youlike needs that people like a
lot and fairly, because that'sneeded.
(28:21):
So when you touch to this kindof stuff, people are much more
intense in their way to go aboutthings.
Only jobs where you areconfronted to this situation are
going to teach you about everyother possible situation you can
encounter.
I still love hospitality.
I'm not closing the door.
There is a restaurant in myvillage that I'm like if one day
that goes for sale, maybe,Maybe I get back into it and I
(28:41):
love cooking And that taught mean amazing thing.
But I'm not very in a hurry togo back to it.
But I'm 30 years old and I dida lot.
But I was also like I pushed it.
I pushed a luck and I did likesix years, seven years in
hospitality.
I'm not forgetting it because Iwouldn't be what I'm at without
it, And I always tell to myclients.
Now, when I work in technology,I'm like I'm not just a nerd
(29:06):
And everything I do apply to mywork right now.
Everything that's good about meis things that I learned in two
others, So I do apply theseskills.
Daniela (29:14):
The MBA helped you a lot more.
Did you learn way more fromthat?
Augustin (29:19):
I mean it was a great opportunity for the place I
went to.
I think in the US they're veryfocused on the degree you get.
I don't think it's the same inFrance.
I think I've got moreopportunities when I first
arrived in the US because I hadan MBA.
I didn't learn how to be inlife with an MBA.
I learned how to be in lifewith the professional situations
I was faced with.
Yes, yes, and the place I wentto.
(29:41):
But the MBA didn't teach melife itself.
It taught me how to go aboutcertain things.
It didn't revolutionize mywhole work.
Daniela (29:48):
Okay.
So you came to the US and youcouldn't work because you didn't
have the papers.
but then you started to thinkokay, maybe I don't want to be
doing hotels, what else can I do?
So how did you decided toswitch?
Augustin (30:02):
Well, after a year and a half working for that
person, it was very differentfrom my experience in Asia and I
was not a manager And Irealized people would not say it
as a carrier.
That's the professional side ofit.
The personal side of it is I wasmarried for two years and my
wife was getting tired of meworking nights and weekends.
That's the truth.
It's a tough life.
(30:22):
People who work and still workall of their life, weekends and
nights they have my eternalrespect.
It's a tough life.
It's hard, it's a hard job.
So I started to go aboutfinding a company that would
pair what I learned intohospitality into something that
I could do more, into an officeenvironment.
(30:42):
So I got into a company thatwas delivering That's like an
application that's deliveringmeals to offices.
I worked for these people fortwo years.
I got promoted after eightmonths to a GM, so I was
overseeing all the customerservice for the clients on the
East Coast.
That was my transition intosomething that is kind of
related to hospitality, becauseit's related to food and food
(31:05):
delivery, but it's not workingnights, weekends, 15 hours a day
on your feet all the time.
Daniela (31:11):
How do you get to be working in technology?
Augustin (31:15):
Objectively.
When you resume a restaurant,hotel, hotel management training
, fnb hotels, restaurant, nobodyin Chase Bank or Goldman Sachs
is going to hire you, right orbad.
So I had to make a switch ofsaying I can be hired but still
do something that I learned inhospitality.
So when I was first hired bythis company, I was hired to
(31:38):
oversee coordinators that wouldgo on site And after eight
months of doing this I had theopportunity to move within that
same company as GM CustomerSuccess Manager.
Daniela (31:50):
So I wouldn't barely go on site anymore.
Augustin (31:53):
But what made me stand out is that I was good on
site and good with clients.
Daniela (31:57):
I understand.
How do you get to be in the ITjob that you're doing at this
time?
Augustin (32:03):
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Back then, the startup I wasworking for was delivering meals
to corporate offices And whenthe pandemic hit, all the
corporate offices closed in thecity.
I was doing a lot of Excel andeverything for my job.
I decided to get more into thatand do a certification for
three months with like an onlinebootcamp, and then I started as
(32:23):
a side job.
So I started to put myself onthe upwork.
It's a freelancer app, so youput what you can do when people
send projects your way And youcan apply.
It's like Uber, but forfreelancing, someone will
request something.
You say you can do it.
You propose and then hire youto do it, and I did that and
that took off.
(32:44):
So I was making a lot more thanmy full-time job.
So I quit my full-time job andI started doing only freelancing
.
I started my own company.
What do you do?
I do data analytics So I helppeople convert what they do
manually on a daily basis tosomething that's more automatic.
So let's say, you use aspreadsheet to track all your
(33:06):
expenses as a business And thenyou have another spreadsheet
that says we get this client onthis day, this is what this
client is bringing me as far asmoney.
I put all of this software andspreadsheet that you have into
one place, so you just have tolook at one place.
(33:26):
The data comes in and it tellsyou directly how much you made
yesterday, what's your expensesfor that day, what's your
revenue per client, what's yournumber of clients active.
Daniela (33:39):
That's one example.
Augustin (33:41):
But in general, i do automation of collecting your
data to making it visible in away that you're not aware of,
because what you do on a dailybasis you, for example, let's
say, your podcast you have10,000 people listen to your
podcast, but you don't knowwhere they come from.
So you want to know where theclick coming from.
(34:02):
You want to get more of theclick from Topify or Apple Music
or everything like this, andall of this is collecting.
Already You have thisinformation.
Whether you know it or not isdifferent.
What I'm here is to help youaccess this information and see
it in a way that'sunderstandable.
Daniela (34:20):
Also very different.
You have clients, but you'reworking mostly in the computers.
Augustin (34:24):
No contact with humans, just my two dogs in the
office, just a lot of Zoom calls, which I don't mind doing.
Soon I'm going to hire peopleand build the team again and get
this kind of team spirit goingagain.
Daniela (34:36):
Okay, so you see yourself moving from the hotel
hospitality to the technology.
Augustin (34:42):
Oh definitely.
At least until I get to like astatus quo, and if I'm bored
again, then maybe I go back torestaurants.
Daniela (34:49):
It is a matter of personality.
You will say that you're aperson who doesn't have much
expectations, but has always adesire to experience more, and
that's what moves you to beadventurous, but adventurous
with no expectations and no fearthat, however, things are going
to work out.
Augustin (35:09):
That's a very good description.
I like that.
I think there's a lot of truthof what you said.
There's one thing Noexpectation doesn't mean no fear
.
You always are anxious It's avery Western world anxious of
what if and what that.
but you can have the anxietycoming in.
You can have it after a certaintime, like the stress can lead
(35:31):
to anxiety.
Being stressed is good.
I mean working in restaurantsand hotels you're stressed all
the time.
You've got to go fast andthings got to go fast.
But the anxiety will come.
You just have to make sure thatit's handled in a proper way.
Another thing I have no fear.
I don't.
I ended up in some places,sometimes in Hong Kong or
Cambodia.
(35:52):
I was like I have no ideawhat's going to happen, if it's
good or bad, but I went throughit.
I'm not sure I would go back toit because I'm maybe afraid of
these places, but it's like Ihad the fear.
I just didn't know I would havethe fears.
It's like this distance.
I put myself into somethingthat happens.
I just have to concentrate onme and make the best of what I
(36:15):
can bring to the table.
So things happen in a certainway I may know of, and if they
don't, but then it was not myfault I put myself to that
purpose of saying okay, i putmyself for success.
Daniela (36:27):
If success comes it's great.
Augustin (36:29):
If something else comes, then it's just an
experience.
Just keep What's in the past isdone.
We're not getting time back.
I wish, but we're not gettingtime back, so it's just moving
on.
Time is precious.
Daniela (36:40):
Do.
Your personality irritatesanybody at all.
Augustin (36:43):
Oh yeah, Some people don't understand why everything
has to be always like, and alsothere are some people dealing
with their own challenges.
So some people with the loveand anxiety, for example, will
tell me you can't tell me thatthis is not working Like.
I have anxiety.
This is the way I am, And Iunderstand that I'm not saying
every second of my life.
I'm thinking, oh yes, let's go,Let's do it, It's going to be
(37:05):
great.
No, no, it's not.
It's not always like this.
For most of them, I try toapproach myself.
Whether I succeed or not.
It's different, But some peopleare just like.
This is what they like.
They don't like the unknown,which is fair.
We can all have the same life,But I think sometimes the
unknown can be the other side ofthe fence of your backyard.
(37:27):
It doesn't have to be China orCambodia.
Daniela (37:30):
Anything that you think that now that you have this
experience, you will dodifferently.
Augustin (37:35):
Moving forward patience.
Patience is a good thing.
I don't want to say age, butit's kind of true.
I think, patience, you learnwith age Back then I was like I
want this, i get it, i do it, idon't.
And now I'm more like, okay, Iwant it, but let's make sure the
plan is pretty well done beforewe go into it.
(37:56):
So there's no too bad surprises.
But you learn these things liketime and things will come.
Good things will come.
Daniela (38:02):
Yes, you're right Patience.
Wonderful learning lesson, Ogie.
Thank you so much for sharingyour story.
You brought me back to my hoteltimes.
You make me excited because Ireally missed that world, but
it's true that you work reallyhard.
Augustin (38:18):
It's a good life.
Daniela (38:19):
Definitely.
I'm sure that people will learnand relate, which is very
important as well.
Augustin (38:24):
Oh yeah, that's the best way they can relate to
someone on the podcast or,anyway, can make good links.
Yes, thank you, Daniela,appreciate your time.
Thank you.
Daniela (38:32):
This was a fun story.
I enjoyed very much meetingAugie, his sense of adventure.
It was a light story, yetlessons learned.
Also, i appreciate that he wasable to pronounce my name so
beautifully, because I know youmay wonder, but Daniela seems to
be a very difficult name topronounce for many cultures.
Please take five seconds rightnow and think of somebody in
(38:56):
your life that may enjoy whatyou just heard, or someone that
has a story to be shared andpreserved.
When you think of that person,shoot them a text with the link
of this podcast.
This would allow the ordinarymagic to go further.
Join me next time for anotherstory conversation.
Thank you for listening.
Hasta pronto.
Hi, i'm Daniela and welcome to my podcast, because
everyone has a story, the placeto give ordinary people, stories
, the chance to be shared andpreserved.
Our stories become the languageof connections.
It's in your connect and relatebecause everyone has a story.
Welcome my guest, augustineWokh-Yua Ogi.
(00:34):
He is an MBAO grad with amulticultural experience in
business management.
After working in hospitalitymanagement in Europe and Asia,
he settled in New York and sternhis career in the tech industry
, launching data sailing in 2020as a data analyst.
This is A ugie incrediblejourney and the lesson he has
(00:56):
learned.
Talking about his journey inthe hotel industry got me very
excited, as, like him, i am alsoan hotelier from Switzerland
and the time-spending hotel isalways memorable.
This story serves as atestament to the fact that,
regardless of age or background,something new and exhilarating
(01:16):
is always waiting for you.
You have to manage yourexpectations or don't have any,
perhaps when and you have noexpectations, it takes you to
far more wonderful experiences,like it happens to Ogi.
So let's enjoy his story.
Welcome to the show, Augustineor Augie.
I am very happy that you'rehere.
(01:37):
How are you?
Augustin (01:38):
I'm doing great.
It's almost spring.
Daniela (01:40):
I'm doing very good.
Good, ogi, tell me why you wantto share your story.
Augustin (01:46):
I arrived at the time of my life I was just about the
30s and every time you meet newpeople, you have to tell them
what happened the last 10 yearsand where you are where you are.
And every time I tell the story, they're like it's so
interesting, we've never metsomeone like you.
I think it's different.
I think it's different.
I think people need to knowthat, no matter how old you are
or what you want to do, there isalways a thing that you don't
(02:07):
know is possible.
That's my story.
Daniela (02:09):
Great, and so when does this story start?
Augustin (02:12):
This story starts when I'm 15 and I want to leave
my parents' house to go toboarding school.
And this is where This is inLille, north of France, at the
bedroom border.
Daniela (02:22):
And why do you want to leave?
Augustin (02:23):
I don't know, no, i'm thinking about it.
I don't know why I won't leave,but I always thought there was
something else than theenvironment I knew of And Lille
is a very nice town, but it's avery still type kind of town
where everybody's Catholicuprising and everybody's kind of
doing the same thing I wascertain there was something else
for me that I wanted to do andI wanted to be in a different
(02:46):
environment.
Just the desire of beingdifferent.
Daniela (02:49):
And your classmates were similar to you.
Augustin (02:52):
No, i went to boarding school in a forming
school.
80% of that place was daughtersand sons of farmers, so they
were studying to grow their ownfarms in the future and raise
cattle or whatever they wantedto be.
Daniela (03:07):
Horse riding and everything.
You wanted to move away fromLille, but with that you wanted
to go to boarding school.
Augustin (03:13):
Yeah, that was the idea, Because I was too young to
just leave everything, so Iwent for the equivalent of my
high school.
I went to boarding schoolbecause my mom didn't want me to
go too far.
I went to boarding school twohours away, from Monday to
Friday, and I would go homeevery weekend.
Daniela (03:30):
And there's a lot of boarding schools like that in
France.
Augustin (03:33):
I don't know.
I know that there was that oneclose to home and not so far
from home.
It's very rare to find a goodforming boarding school for some
reason.
But I know North of Paris, thatthat one was the best for
forming.
Daniela (03:45):
But this one was boarding school specifically to
learn about farming.
Kids or farmers will send theirkids there so they learn more
to come back home and help withtheir business.
Augustin (03:55):
Correct.
The boarding school was mostlyfor farming people.
The people who were going tothe school were not in boarding
school.
They were most likely goinginto literature or economics,
social and North farming.
It was a big high school forfriends, like maybe 1800
students, and so what happened?
Daniela (04:11):
How was your experience there?
Augustin (04:13):
Well, it was very different from what I was used
to, which was my goal.
It took me a little adjustmentphase.
It was my first understandingof there was something else,
that everything I knew for thepast 15 years and of my I have
three sisters and a brother, soI grew up in a very good family
and everything was good at home.
But now I had the opportunityto meet people that were not
(04:35):
raised the same way I was raised, so that was my first
understanding of the otherculture, even just in your
backyard, so two hours away fromhome.
Different People are differentin the way we're brought.
It's cool.
or you put everybody that'sdifferent in the same
environment.
there's gonna be to have like arealignment of the planet where
(04:55):
everybody's gonna have tobehave the way school wants you
to behave.
So that was very interesting tosee that It's not because you
come from X or Y or Z place.
once you're in the same place,everything you know is not there
anymore.
so you have to set yourself forsuccess in the same way all
together.
Does that make sense?
Daniela (05:14):
All right.
You spent how many years there?
Augustin (05:17):
I spent three years in high school in France.
you go from 15 to 18, then youget your GED at 18, and then you
have to choose what you want todo for college And then I
decided that I wanted to dopretty much general business
studies, but I wanted to be faraway from home again, so I moved
to Bayonna, which is the Spainborder between France and Spain.
(05:39):
They call it Basque countries.
There's like seven territories.
there are three in France andfour in Spain.
It's very traditional southwestFrance.
Old people speak anotherlanguage that has no roots in
French or Spanish or anything.
Basque language is veryinteresting, but you are two
hours from ski stations, 30minutes from the ocean.
(06:00):
the food is amazing and I spenttwo years there.
I didn't go home much.
I did a lot of partying, notmuch studying to every
restaurants I could eat.
I was living like a 40 yearsold man, but I was 19 years old.
Daniela (06:13):
Why is that?
Do you have money?
Was it economical?
How?
Augustin (06:17):
I didn't have money much.
I was finding good deals andgood people to know, so I was
not paying for much.
It was the first time when Iwas more than two hours away
from my parents on a daily basis.
So I lived in what they callthe Petit Bayonne, which is
basically where all the studentswould go out every night.
I had the best time.
I love that place, but I didn'tdo much studying.
(06:39):
I had to find a job at the endof the first year and that's how
I got into restaurants.
I found a job at a Michelinstar restaurant to serve some
plates and be a waiter, andthat's what I did for five
months And I realized that itwas a pretty good job.
I liked that very much.
So again, you got to understandeverybody in my family as their
own company and do things thatare pretty high level of
(07:00):
education.
When I come out I'm like I wantto be a waiter.
This sounds like a great idea.
I can eat for free, i can drinkfor a month And it's a good
life.
You don't work much during themorning.
You work mostly between 11amand 1am And then everybody go
out and have fun.
Then you start to get, and myparents were like that's a great
idea, but you didn't graduate.
(07:21):
So they shipped me back home.
After a summer of working Morethan a summer, like it was seven
months They shipped me backhome and they put me in culinary
school between Lille and ParisI won't name the town because
it's a nice town, i think, ifyou like it.
I didn't like it And it didn'tmatch with me.
I ended up in a professionalhigh school kind of You're not
(07:42):
really at a GED level but youwant to learn a trade A trade
school in the US, i think That'swhat they call.
So I was in there to learnculinary school I don't know why
, like eight hours of cookingclass, eight hours of old school
French rates for a thing, andthen I was keeping.
So I did that for nine months.
I went back to the South towork in a mission star
(08:02):
restaurant in the kitchen inSaint-Jean-de-Luz, which is very
much this paint border.
It's underwater.
Daniela (08:07):
Yeah, but isn't Saint-Jean-de-Luz close to
Bayonne?
Augustin (08:10):
Yeah.
So I went back home and then Iwent back to Bayonne.
I had some attachment there.
My heart was there more than myhead.
Daniela (08:18):
So it's interesting that you call the South, because
yes, that's the South, butsomehow we always think that the
South of France is like to loseor knees.
Augustin (08:26):
Yeah, a lot of people would see.
I think traditionally a lot ofpeople think of the South like
the South is knees can must say.
But that's a very differentmentality on the French side.
Yes, if you're from theSoutheast than the Southwest, i
always prefer the Southwest.
The Southwest is the ocean.
You have the waves, more of asurfer vibe than the Southeast.
That's very much more chic.
(08:47):
It's different vibes.
So I really much like theSouthwest where I went back to
work And then I really got intoculinary school and really liked
what I was doing with my handsand working with the team
Restaurants.
It's such a great carrierthat's not viewed as a carrier
Not I mean the US, but back inEurope.
It's a real carrier.
It's like you can do 40 yearsas hotel manager and restaurants
(09:10):
and nobody would judge you forthat.
Yes, Out here it's a bitdifferent.
Daniela (09:14):
I wanted to ask you that because, like you, i also
went to hotel school inSwitzerland, when I was working
in hotels there and I loved thewhole world.
And then we came to Vancouver,canada, and it was a shock.
It was not the same, not at all.
When you go to Europe andpeople are waiters, they speak
seven languages and you can seethat in Europe is completely
(09:37):
different than here.
Augustin (09:38):
Yeah, and I don't know why here is not.
I mean, here it's becausepeople who work in a restaurant
mostly at least when you'reyounger, as students then it's
something that I don't know foreverybody.
I don't want to talk foreverybody, but from what I see
is people who don't have theopportunity to do something else
, that they need a side job, sothey work in a restaurant.
In France you have like thisreal hierarchy of waiters chef
(10:01):
de roue, then head waiter Andthen if you want to be a
concierge.
then you have the goal of to getthe gold key on your jacket,
which are like le clé-d'or.
You have this whole environmentthat in Europe I would say that
you don't have it here in theUS.
But I didn't know about that.
I really wanted that.
I wanted to make it a carrier.
I was like I want to do this.
(10:23):
I know I can see the worldwalking in restaurants.
My parents were like that'scool, But you need to have a
degree in that.
So they put me back in school.
close to Bordeaux, i did an MBA.
Daniela (10:33):
Oh really, yeah, They wanted you to study more.
So an MBA on what?
Augustin (10:37):
I did hospitality management, so hotel and
restaurants management.
Daniela (10:41):
Oh, wow, okay, Okay.
And then you got a job.
Augustin (10:44):
Well, during that MBA .
The first year of the MBA wassix months in France.
Six months you had to gosomewhere, not in France, for an
internship.
I was in China for eight monthsworking for Sofitel.
It's a five star hotel brand.
There's one in the city here inNew York, and I was there in
Nanjing, between Beijing andShanghai 12 years ago.
(11:07):
Nanjing was very industrial,only mostly Chinese people.
There was not many Europeans.
I always remember taking thesubway there and I was the only
guy above 6 feet And it was verydifferent.
That was a shock.
You can't say it was a shock.
To go from Nile to the south,that was one thing, but going
(11:27):
from Nile and France to China inthe middle of nowhere, that was
different.
Daniela (11:32):
But I loved it.
I can imagine Did you pick thecity or you were just sent there
.
Augustin (11:37):
We had to find our own internship.
that was a struggle.
I think I sent like 700 resumesin every hotels in South East
Asia and China.
You find what you can find.
Yeah, I had friends who went toBrussels, Amsterdam, Phuket.
I had friends everywhere in theworld, then Australia, That was
good.
Daniela (11:55):
So you wanted to go to China, i wanted to go where most
of the people won't go.
Augustin (12:01):
I always have this desire of difference, so most of
the people won't go Like I wantto know where I don't know
anyone.
That's usually the goal.
I don't want to go and speakFrench because I find it boring,
even though now it will bedifferent, but back then I
wanted to be different.
I don't want to go to Phuketbecause everybody wants to go to
Thailand.
I don't want to go to Mexicobecause it's spring break and
(12:22):
there's going to be way too manyEurope.
I was like Australia and NewZealand is cool, but everybody
speaks English.
It's 18 hours flight.
I think China is different fromeverything we know, like the
way people are in China and ourChinese people are raised and
everything.
Daniela (12:36):
How was the hotel experience there?
Augustin (12:39):
The work was interesting because the brand
didn't own the wall, so it was aChinese company that owned the
hotel, but it was managed by theFrench companies.
It was very weird.
So you had this doublemanagement, but that's for the
work itself.
It was your house, by anaccommodation provided by the
hotel.
So everybody lived in thattowers of apartments where
(13:00):
Chinese employees would be eightpeople per room or Western
employees were two people perroom Discrimination at the
highest level of anything.
My whole point me going therewas to be in a different area,
but just arriving was alreadydifferent, because I was white
and I was raised French, so myroom was already very different
(13:21):
from the rooms my co-workers had.
They had two and two in eachside of the room, bank beds and
one shower for the eight of them.
And I had my own apartment,dasha, with another person, but
we all had our own bathroom andown bedroom.
Wow, and these people werenever.
they were going home maybe oncein the eight months for Chinese
(13:41):
New Year, but we would take thebus from our apartment,
everybody's apartment, wouldtake the bus to the hotel.
When your shift is done youcould take the bus back to your
apartment.
You eat there because there isa canteen.
Once you sleep and you startover, then you take the bus back
to your job.
That's all you do.
You walk, you walk and yousleep when you have time, and I
(14:02):
was pulling like 12, 14 hours aday.
That's how I realized how luckyI was, and my first realization
of it is like we're not boththe same, but I'm already very
lucky.
I have a lot at home that thesepeople don't have, and even
though I came here to findsomething different, i love it,
but I don't know if I could dowhat they do, like they do have
much of a choice.
They had to make money, send80% of the money they were
(14:25):
making back to their parents athome and then do that for the
next 15 years.
Daniela (14:29):
Wow, you were working 12 hours a day and you had days
off.
Augustin (14:33):
I think it was one day off per week.
From what I can remember.
It's not much, but the jobitself was not very complicated.
I was supposed to train theChinese employees.
The French art of view for theFrench hotel And it was pretty
In the restaurant In the yeah,there was two restaurants and
one bar in the hotel and roomservice All the food and
(14:53):
beverage department.
Daniela (14:54):
When you were off, you had the opportunity to go around
and explore.
Augustin (14:58):
Yeah, nanjing is actually a super cool city.
It was very green, there wasparks, the city itself.
In China they call it small.
Now I'm in New York.
I think it's medium.
Back then I thought it wasenormous.
12 years ago it was 17 or 18million inhabitants.
It's a big city.
Yes, for anyone in the worldit's a big city.
For Chinese in China it's amedium city.
(15:18):
But yeah, i went to see afriend in Beijing.
My mom and my other sister cameand we went to Shanghai for
three days So I saw a little bitof China and not just walk and
the bus and the apartment.
It was great.
I would love to go back toChina.
I think it's so different fromeverything we know.
The food is delicious, thepeople are fairly nice and the
(15:40):
language is interesting.
I think eight months was a goodtime.
Daniela (15:43):
Do we speak in English at the hotel or French?
Augustin (15:46):
English, mostly No French or barely any French.
Everything you don't see as aguest when you go to the hotel
is everything that's happeningbehind the scene.
So the basement with the stafflocker room where it would
change people would shower, itwas a disaster.
It was rough down there Andit's China, so people were
smoking in the corridors in thebasement, all towers hanging on
(16:09):
the walls in front of the shower.
That's a pocket-chief size thateverybody would shower, dry
themselves, put back the towelon the wall And I don't know.
But this place it was rough.
Daniela (16:20):
This was for what Was the shower?
because you do have a room.
Augustin (16:24):
Well, yeah, but the rooms where we had to take the
bus or walk 45 minutes to goback to our apartments.
So you know, the cook, thechefs, the people working
maintenance, they like to take ashower before they go back to
their apartment.
Oh, i see, i see.
Daniela (16:37):
Oh, wow, wow, That's rough, oh yeah.
Augustin (16:40):
It was for them, it was rough Me.
I was very lucky because I wastreated very nicely.
I learned mostly abouteverything.
There's both hotels in there.
It was amazing.
Daniela (16:48):
Yeah, sounds really interesting.
You said that China andeverybody smokes, but in France
also people smoke.
Augustin (16:54):
I was born in 1992.
The law of smoking inside?
I don't remember it, but inChina I took the train for eight
hours.
Everybody was smoking insidethe train.
Oh, i see, you know, it's likeEurope in 1950s you smoke
everywhere.
There's no smoking inside,nobody cares, in the clubs,
people who were smoking back intime.
(17:14):
But at the same time it's likea parallel planet.
Daniela (17:17):
Yeah, so you were eight months in China and then.
Augustin (17:20):
Then I went back home for the second year of the MBA.
We spent one year in class.
It's a small village school.
It's an amazing school.
I think it's one of the topfive in France for hospital
management.
It depends on the program.
I think it changed, but it's ina very small village so you
live very close.
There is maybe 115 habitants,apart from the school.
It's in the middle of thecountryside, in Dordogne, which
(17:44):
is like two hours from Bordeaux.
It's in the middle of theTruffaut countryside, nice, so
like neighbors who pick upTruffaut and bring them home to
the school, i was the presidentof the student union there, so
it was a lot of fun partying.
And then we had to do anotherinternship.
I wanted to go back to Asia, butI didn't want to go back to
China.
I've done eight months, sowe're good.
So I wanted to go back to SouthEast Asia and I got Cambodia.
(18:08):
Well, i found a job in Cambodiaworking for Belmond.
Belmond is the same brand thatdoes the Orient Express train.
You know there's a veryluxurious train that goes from
depends on the season, butVenice to St Petersburg or
Venice to Paris.
So these same people they ownhotels.
So I work for one of the fasterhotels in Sium-Reyap.
(18:29):
Sium-reyap is where all the oldtemples in Cambodia, So on Kaua
, that's where I went.
So I spent six months thereworking for them And I thought
it was going to be like China,but it's not because a lot of
French people are in what theycall Indochina, because you know
, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnamall of these were Indochina
under the French colonies were athing.
(18:49):
So lots of French people.
So I worked there for sixmonths, seven months, Lots of
partying, way too much partying.
Actually, I was sharing myapartment provided by the hotel.
I was sharing my apartment witha guy from Switzerland and a
woman from Australia, Sarah, Andone night Sarah was like oh,
you got to come out with myfriend And I met this lady going
(19:10):
out one night at Deborah I camevery much in front of.
I mean, now it's going to beseven years and we're married
seven years.
That's keeping a big part ofthe story.
So we made Cambodia.
I was partying a lot, almostlost my job there because I was
partying way too much.
Until I met Deborah, i wouldkind of calm me down into the
partying.
(19:31):
Before I left Cambodia to goback to France, i met a French
person that was hiring more of afull-time position.
So I signed a job agreementwith him that after my MBA, in
six months I was hired back inCambodia.
So I finished my internship inCambodia knowing that six months
after, with my MBA in thepocket, i would be able to come
(19:52):
back in Cambodia and work.
And that's what happened.
Cambodia is an amazing country.
Amazing like very nice people,kingdom of wonder.
It's a rough country If you'renot familiar with it.
I'm saying that because thepeople in Cambodia they're
mostly young or very old, solike there's a jump in
generation, because thegeneration from 45 to 70 years
(20:13):
old they were mostly killed orthere was a civil war in
Cambodia, so the people now arevery young or reaching that my
age, so there was not many.
The generation of my parents isnot very there in Cambodia.
It's older than my parents orme, or young, but amazing people
, very nice Kind of old schoolway of working.
The men like to give directionsto women.
(20:36):
A great country, very cheap backthen Dirt roads everywhere, had
a motorbike.
That's all I needed.
Beer was like $2.
A pack of cigarettes was 50cents And that was life.
That's all I needed to do, andthat's all I did for six months,
and how old were you?
I was 21.
Daniela (20:54):
21 with an MBA.
Augustin (20:56):
Well, no, I was not graduated yet.
So that was the second year ofmy MBA.
I graduated at 22,.
Got married at 23.
Daniela (21:03):
So you met Deborah.
Augustin (21:04):
I met Deborah in Cambodia.
She grew up in New York.
She was taking a break fromwork.
She left work when they weregiving packages to people to
leave.
She was teaching English tovillage kids in the countryside
in Cambodia And she wasvolunteering And she loved it.
It was great.
We met at a good time wherethere?
was a lot of backpackers.
We had a lot of friends doingdifferent stuff And it was a
(21:25):
time before Cambodia became toomuch of a backpacker kind of
route style, Very relaxed.
Daniela (21:32):
So how many years ago?
Because this is probably havechanged now.
Augustin (21:35):
This is almost nine years ago.
Yeah, it changed.
We don't have.
I know.
Maybe two people that I knewback then are still there.
Everybody left.
I think it's very different now.
A lot of Chinese people madeinvestments, so the roads are
being paved.
Everybody has a car.
Back when we were there, it wasall took, took, all took, took,
Or you had your own motorbikeor bike, that's it.
(21:58):
That was barely any cause, soit was great.
Well, i spent six months there.
She spent about five months.
Then I went back to France tofinish my MBA.
She came to visit in Bordeauxand I proposed at 22, 20,
somewhere around there.
Daniela (22:13):
Wow, pretty young.
Augustin (22:16):
Pretty young.
I was, and I'm still, very muchlike this Don't think too much.
Well, no, it's changing, butdon't think too much.
Just if you think it's a gooddecision, just do it.
So we got on gauge.
I went to New York to meet ourfamily after that And then we
went back to Cambodia because Ihad my job offer Come back to
Cambodia and live two years inCambodia And I was working for
that French person Oh, it'spretty good.
I was responsible ofrestaurants and bars.
Daniela (22:38):
You said nine years ago that you went the first time,
but then you were there for twoyears, so you saw a development
on these changes that youmentioned.
Augustin (22:47):
Yeah, very developed.
Lots of changes, lots of like,a lot more foreigners from other
countries.
Before the first time there wasa lot of Australian people in
Europe And by the time we leftit was a lot of rich Chinese
people, rich Thai people, two orthree hours flight for them, so
it's the backyard.
The same way in France, whenyou go on vacation so much cheap
(23:07):
you go to Greece or Italy orSpain.
Well, that, or like Mexico forthe US, that's what Cambodia and
Thailand are for Chinese peoplewith money.
The difference between 12 yearsago in China and nine years ago
in Cambodia is like during thesethree years Chinese people in
China as a country got richerand got more inclined to go into
other countries.
(23:27):
So, and that's why I kind ofshifted into what I, what I
thought I was good at in thehotel and making people enjoy
their stay, to something thatbecome very much like factory
wise, where I was not feeling itmuch anymore.
So I was raised and I waseducated and hospitated to serve
people in a certain way in theI don't want to sound
(23:50):
stereotyped, but in the Frenchway of wine and food and coffee
after you dinner, and that inCambodia.
In the two and a half years wewere there, it really changed
into something that was moremanufactured and not so much
about the experience.
Daniela (24:03):
Is this because the hotel was maybe not a five star?
I mean, what's 5 stars?
Augustin (24:07):
It was SLH, small luxury hotels, i mean Cambodia
is not very expensive in general.
Like a 5 star night in Torontoor a 5 star night in New York
City is going to cost youbetween 800 to 1500 dollars The
night, where in Cambodia dependson the room and everything, but
within 3 to 500 you can havethe best day ever, nice, i have
to go there then.
(24:28):
Yes, so that was that.
So we decided to leave Cambodia, my wife from New York.
So 2 years in Cambodia for herwas a lot Cambodia it's still.
It was not the capital, so itwas kind of a village way of
living.
And after 2 years she wanted togo back to the US.
I did not.
Well, we got married in between.
I got married in Thailand.
(24:49):
Then, after we got married, iwas not ready to move to the US.
Never had the wish, you know, iwas in my South East Asia kind
of brain, so I was not ready tomove to the US.
But she was ready to move to acity.
So we moved to Hong Kong And Idid the opening of a French
restaurant in front of the racecourse.
Hong Kong is now.
I live in New York.
(25:09):
I know what a crazy city is,but Hong Kong is New York City
on steroids.
It's non-stop, 24x7, more money, more people, more craziness,
more different backgrounds ofleft and right.
If you have enough money, it'samazing.
If you dare to walk and make aliving, it's very hard, so
expensive.
And I was walking like crazyhours.
(25:31):
I was feeling like thetiredness of starting work at 16
, 17 years old To now beingtired of walking in hotels and
restaurants.
So we stayed only 6 months inHong Kong.
Then she wanted to go back homeand I was like, okay, we did my
suggestion for 6 months.
Maybe we can go now.
So we moved to the US 6 yearsago.
All of this experience I tookit as the best thing that can
(25:53):
happen to you is if you don'thave any expectations.
When I moved to China, i had noexpectations whatsoever And I
didn't want to set my mindthinking, okay, maybe this is
gonna happen or maybe the peopleare gonna be like this.
That's not a good way for me toapproach it.
It's don't.
If you don't have anyexpectation about whatsoever,
everything that's gonna happento you.
(26:13):
There is no bad way that it'sgonna be turned into.
It's just an experience Andthat's how I took it.
I took it China, cambodia, hongKong and now the US.
Anything that happens, don'thave the expectation and
everything.
Then it's not gonna beenjoyable.
Nothing is gonna come as asurprise.
So if you come in and beinglike I'm moving to the US but I
have no idea what to expect, nordo I want to expect anything,
(26:35):
then everything that's gonnacome in the weeks, month or
anything is gonna be a goodsurprise And that's how I
approach it.
And now it's been 6 years.
We bought a house in thesuburban New York City 2 years
ago.
I owned and managed my owncompany for the last 3 years.
I left the hotels andrestaurants 7 years ago.
I still have no expectationwhatsoever.
(26:55):
I just try to make my ownroutes in my own terms, with my
own background, and that's goingwell.
Daniela (27:01):
Okay, i agree with you.
It's very good about managingyour expectations and not having
too many expectations, but youreally love the hotel industry.
Augustin (27:09):
I loved it and I'm glad I did it, but I think it's
good to do different things.
Daniela (27:13):
When you came to New York, you thought that you were
not gonna work in hotels anymore.
Augustin (27:18):
Oh well, it was a bit complicated because I did have
a visa to start with, but when Ifirst came in, i worked for a
catering company that did bigevents in the city, so I was
still kind of in restaurants.
I was a staffing manager, so Iwas trying to find people to
work big events.
I did that for 2 years Andeverything I learned in
restaurants or in hotels can beapplied to everything.
(27:40):
Yes, like that's what's amazing.
You work in it, so you know,but people would don't know is
like when you pick up a phone asa sales agent or customer
representative there's nothingthat's going to teach you in
class how to deal with acustomer on the phone, But when
people deal with other clientsin restaurants or hotels, that's
life.
Listen, When someone is angry atyou because they found a rare
(28:00):
plate, there's no book thattells you how to react.
There's some indication thatI'm sorry this happened.
Let me send it back to thekitchen and you don't have to
pay for your plate.
This experience of livingthrough a complicated situation
in hotels, restaurants becausewe're touching to food and where
people sleep, That's what youlike needs that people like a
lot and fairly, because that'sneeded.
(28:21):
So when you touch to this kindof stuff, people are much more
intense in their way to go aboutthings.
Only jobs where you areconfronted to this situation are
going to teach you about everyother possible situation you can
encounter.
I still love hospitality.
I'm not closing the door.
There is a restaurant in myvillage that I'm like if one day
that goes for sale, maybe,Maybe I get back into it and I
(28:41):
love cooking And that taught mean amazing thing.
But I'm not very in a hurry togo back to it.
But I'm 30 years old and I dida lot.
But I was also like I pushed it.
I pushed a luck and I did likesix years, seven years in
hospitality.
I'm not forgetting it because Iwouldn't be what I'm at without
it, And I always tell to myclients.
Now, when I work in technology,I'm like I'm not just a nerd
(29:06):
And everything I do apply to mywork right now.
Everything that's good about meis things that I learned in two
others, So I do apply theseskills.
Daniela (29:14):
The MBA helped you a lot more.
Did you learn way more fromthat?
Augustin (29:19):
I mean it was a great opportunity for the place I
went to.
I think in the US they're veryfocused on the degree you get.
I don't think it's the same inFrance.
I think I've got moreopportunities when I first
arrived in the US because I hadan MBA.
I didn't learn how to be inlife with an MBA.
I learned how to be in lifewith the professional situations
I was faced with.
Yes, yes, and the place I wentto.
(29:41):
But the MBA didn't teach melife itself.
It taught me how to go aboutcertain things.
It didn't revolutionize mywhole work.
Daniela (29:48):
Okay.
So you came to the US and youcouldn't work because you didn't
have the papers.
but then you started to thinkokay, maybe I don't want to be
doing hotels, what else can I do?
So how did you decided toswitch?
Augustin (30:02):
Well, after a year and a half working for that
person, it was very differentfrom my experience in Asia and I
was not a manager And Irealized people would not say it
as a carrier.
That's the professional side ofit.
The personal side of it is I wasmarried for two years and my
wife was getting tired of meworking nights and weekends.
That's the truth.
It's a tough life.
(30:22):
People who work and still workall of their life, weekends and
nights they have my eternalrespect.
It's a tough life.
It's hard, it's a hard job.
So I started to go aboutfinding a company that would
pair what I learned intohospitality into something that
I could do more, into an officeenvironment.
(30:42):
So I got into a company thatwas delivering That's like an
application that's deliveringmeals to offices.
I worked for these people fortwo years.
I got promoted after eightmonths to a GM, so I was
overseeing all the customerservice for the clients on the
East Coast.
That was my transition intosomething that is kind of
related to hospitality, becauseit's related to food and food
(31:05):
delivery, but it's not workingnights, weekends, 15 hours a day
on your feet all the time.
Daniela (31:11):
How do you get to be working in technology?
Augustin (31:15):
Objectively.
When you resume a restaurant,hotel, hotel management training
, fnb hotels, restaurant, nobodyin Chase Bank or Goldman Sachs
is going to hire you, right orbad.
So I had to make a switch ofsaying I can be hired but still
do something that I learned inhospitality.
So when I was first hired bythis company, I was hired to
(31:38):
oversee coordinators that wouldgo on site And after eight
months of doing this I had theopportunity to move within that
same company as GM CustomerSuccess Manager.
Daniela (31:50):
So I wouldn't barely go on site anymore.
Augustin (31:53):
But what made me stand out is that I was good on
site and good with clients.
Daniela (31:57):
I understand.
How do you get to be in the ITjob that you're doing at this
time?
Augustin (32:03):
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Back then, the startup I wasworking for was delivering meals
to corporate offices And whenthe pandemic hit, all the
corporate offices closed in thecity.
I was doing a lot of Excel andeverything for my job.
I decided to get more into thatand do a certification for
three months with like an onlinebootcamp, and then I started as
(32:23):
a side job.
So I started to put myself onthe upwork.
It's a freelancer app, so youput what you can do when people
send projects your way And youcan apply.
It's like Uber, but forfreelancing, someone will
request something.
You say you can do it.
You propose and then hire youto do it, and I did that and
that took off.
(32:44):
So I was making a lot more thanmy full-time job.
So I quit my full-time job andI started doing only freelancing
.
I started my own company.
What do you do?
I do data analytics So I helppeople convert what they do
manually on a daily basis tosomething that's more automatic.
So let's say, you use aspreadsheet to track all your
(33:06):
expenses as a business And thenyou have another spreadsheet
that says we get this client onthis day, this is what this
client is bringing me as far asmoney.
I put all of this software andspreadsheet that you have into
one place, so you just have tolook at one place.
(33:26):
The data comes in and it tellsyou directly how much you made
yesterday, what's your expensesfor that day, what's your
revenue per client, what's yournumber of clients active.
Daniela (33:39):
That's one example.
Augustin (33:41):
But in general, i do automation of collecting your
data to making it visible in away that you're not aware of,
because what you do on a dailybasis you, for example, let's
say, your podcast you have10,000 people listen to your
podcast, but you don't knowwhere they come from.
So you want to know where theclick coming from.
(34:02):
You want to get more of theclick from Topify or Apple Music
or everything like this, andall of this is collecting.
Already You have thisinformation.
Whether you know it or not isdifferent.
What I'm here is to help youaccess this information and see
it in a way that'sunderstandable.
Daniela (34:20):
Also very different.
You have clients, but you'reworking mostly in the computers.
Augustin (34:24):
No contact with humans, just my two dogs in the
office, just a lot of Zoom calls, which I don't mind doing.
Soon I'm going to hire peopleand build the team again and get
this kind of team spirit goingagain.
Daniela (34:36):
Okay, so you see yourself moving from the hotel
hospitality to the technology.
Augustin (34:42):
Oh definitely.
At least until I get to like astatus quo, and if I'm bored
again, then maybe I go back torestaurants.
Daniela (34:49):
It is a matter of personality.
You will say that you're aperson who doesn't have much
expectations, but has always adesire to experience more, and
that's what moves you to beadventurous, but adventurous
with no expectations and no fearthat, however, things are going
to work out.
Augustin (35:09):
That's a very good description.
I like that.
I think there's a lot of truthof what you said.
There's one thing Noexpectation doesn't mean no fear
.
You always are anxious It's avery Western world anxious of
what if and what that.
but you can have the anxietycoming in.
You can have it after a certaintime, like the stress can lead
(35:31):
to anxiety.
Being stressed is good.
I mean working in restaurantsand hotels you're stressed all
the time.
You've got to go fast andthings got to go fast.
But the anxiety will come.
You just have to make sure thatit's handled in a proper way.
Another thing I have no fear.
I don't.
I ended up in some places,sometimes in Hong Kong or
Cambodia.
(35:52):
I was like I have no ideawhat's going to happen, if it's
good or bad, but I went throughit.
I'm not sure I would go back toit because I'm maybe afraid of
these places, but it's like Ihad the fear.
I just didn't know I would havethe fears.
It's like this distance.
I put myself into somethingthat happens.
I just have to concentrate onme and make the best of what I
(36:15):
can bring to the table.
So things happen in a certainway I may know of, and if they
don't, but then it was not myfault I put myself to that
purpose of saying okay, i putmyself for success.
Daniela (36:27):
If success comes it's great.
Augustin (36:29):
If something else comes, then it's just an
experience.
Just keep What's in the past isdone.
We're not getting time back.
I wish, but we're not gettingtime back, so it's just moving
on.
Time is precious.
Daniela (36:40):
Do.
Your personality irritatesanybody at all.
Augustin (36:43):
Oh yeah, Some people don't understand why everything
has to be always like, and alsothere are some people dealing
with their own challenges.
So some people with the loveand anxiety, for example, will
tell me you can't tell me thatthis is not working Like.
I have anxiety.
This is the way I am, And Iunderstand that I'm not saying
every second of my life.
I'm thinking, oh yes, let's go,Let's do it, It's going to be
(37:05):
great.
No, no, it's not.
It's not always like this.
For most of them, I try toapproach myself.
Whether I succeed or not.
It's different, But some peopleare just like.
This is what they like.
They don't like the unknown,which is fair.
We can all have the same life,But I think sometimes the
unknown can be the other side ofthe fence of your backyard.
(37:27):
It doesn't have to be China orCambodia.
Daniela (37:30):
Anything that you think that now that you have this
experience, you will dodifferently.
Augustin (37:35):
Moving forward patience.
Patience is a good thing.
I don't want to say age, butit's kind of true.
I think, patience, you learnwith age Back then I was like I
want this, i get it, i do it, idon't.
And now I'm more like, okay, Iwant it, but let's make sure the
plan is pretty well done beforewe go into it.
(37:56):
So there's no too bad surprises.
But you learn these things liketime and things will come.
Good things will come.
Daniela (38:02):
Yes, you're right Patience.
Wonderful learning lesson, Ogie.
Thank you so much for sharingyour story.
You brought me back to my hoteltimes.
You make me excited because Ireally missed that world, but
it's true that you work reallyhard.
Augustin (38:18):
It's a good life.
Daniela (38:19):
Definitely.
I'm sure that people will learnand relate, which is very
important as well.
Augustin (38:24):
Oh yeah, that's the best way they can relate to
someone on the podcast or,anyway, can make good links.
Yes, thank you, Daniela,appreciate your time.
Thank you.
Daniela (38:32):
This was a fun story.
I enjoyed very much meetingAugie, his sense of adventure.
It was a light story, yetlessons learned.
Also, i appreciate that he wasable to pronounce my name so
beautifully, because I know youmay wonder, but Daniela seems to
be a very difficult name topronounce for many cultures.
Please take five seconds rightnow and think of somebody in
(38:56):
your life that may enjoy whatyou just heard, or someone that
has a story to be shared andpreserved.
When you think of that person,shoot them a text with the link
of this podcast.
This would allow the ordinarymagic to go further.
Join me next time for anotherstory conversation.
Thank you for listening.
Hasta pronto.
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