9 Years at ExxonMobil, Then She Built a Refinery for Food Waste | Michelle Ruiz, Hyfé

Michelle Ruiz spent nine years at ExxonMobil before walking away from Big Oil to build a refinery for food waste. Born in Ecuador, she immigrated to Miami at seven and landed her first Exxon internship as an 18-year-old freshman by refusing to accept that freshmen don't get internships. Today she's CEO and Founder of Hyfé, pulling high-value natural ingredients out of the peels, pulps, and seeds that food processors currently pay to haul away. But the line that stops you isn't about chemistry: "I wasn't meant to follow a predetermined path. I was meant to carve a new path for myself." Michelle shares: ✨ The shame she carried about being rebellious — and why it turned out to be the point ✨ How to beat imposter syndrome with math instead of affirmations ✨ Telling her board she wanted to scrap two years of work and pivot ✨ The freezing February in the Dakotas that changed the whole company ✨ Why the ingredients label on the back of your food is about to change ✨ What she learned about waste at an oil refinery outside Chicago ✨ Fixing the food system instead of blaming people's behavior ✨ Why therapy is the number one thing she recommends to founders ✨ What chronic stress cost her, and what she changed ✨ Getting emotional intelligence up to "executive skill" level ✨ Finding your founder community before you think you need one ✨ The question that matters more than what anyone expects of you ✨ Why a small team that follows no rules can outrun a big one Whether you're mid-pivot, pitching a board, or quietly wondering whether the path you were handed was ever yours, Michelle's story is a case for building the one you actually want. About Michelle Ruiz: Michelle Ruiz is the CEO and Founder of Hyfé, a plant refining company that turns agricultural and food-processing byproducts into high-performance natural ingredients for the food, beverage, personal care, and nutraceutical industries. A chemical engineer by training, she spent nine years at ExxonMobil — including as a chemical engineer at the Joliet Refinery outside Chicago — before founding Hyfé during the pandemic. She is one of the California women founders recognized on the floor of the State Senate and Assembly. 🌱 Learn more at https://hyfe.tech/ The growth engine for women who mean business. http://www.f5collective.com 0:00 Intro & Welcome 1:16 From Ecuador to Miami: "So It Was All Worth It" 1:58 Freshmen Don't Get Internships. I Do. 2:40 Joliet Refinery: Where Waste Clicked 3:38 What Hyfé Actually Does 4:01 The Rockefeller Lesson: Waste Is Expensive 5:02 Billions to Find the Oil, Then We Bury It 5:51 Why Food? Following the Sugar 7:10 The Pivot: Wastewater to Solid Waste 7:53 Freezing in the Dakotas 8:09 "What About These Piles of Beet Pulp?" 9:19 Telling the Board to Scrap Two Years 10:38 The Leap, and Her #1 Advice for Founders 11:09 Where the Name Hyfé Came From 11:55 Fix the Food, Not the Person 12:27 The Shame of Being Rebellious 12:54 "I Was Meant to Carve a New Path" 13:50 Read the Back of the Package 15:23 What's Next: Scaling in the Central Valley 17:20 "We're Small, We're Agile, We Follow No Rules" 18:19 What Not Decompressing Cost Her 19:47 The Business Minute 20:27 Get Your EQ to Executive Skill 21:09 Rapid Five 21:44 Beating Imposter Syndrome 22:36 Candy, Dogs, and Goodbyes