Layla Kayali

I've been in the oil and gas space for over 15 years and have been working with Invent Corporation for 9 years as of June. As a Senior Sales Account Manager, I manage the full 360 side of the business, doing business development within refineries, chemical plants, terminals, and municipalities to help them with emissions and water treatment. We build and maintain our own equipment in-house, including thermal oxidizers that help companies take tanks out of service or manage turnarounds. When companies need to depressure their equipment, we rent our units and people to come out and burn off all those vapors so they don't have emissions, because they're only allocated a certain amount of emissions per year. This helps them avoid burning harmful substances into the environment and helps them take equipment out of service quicker, saving them money long-term. When I first came to Invent, I didn't know anything about degassing, vapor control, or water treatment, but I worked very hard to learn as much as I could by latching onto mentors within my organization and going on field walks to actually put myself out in the field to learn about what I'm selling. Living in Australia for 5 years really inspired me to get into this industry - I lived in Perth, which is like the sister city to Houston and very much focused on exploration within oil and gas. The people I met there, especially the women I met, inspired me to get into the industry. While I was there, I joined Women in Oil and Gas, where I supported the organization by getting sponsorships so they could hold monthly events where people could learn about all the different women involved in the industry and hear what they go through and tackle and experience as women.