Welcome Dustin Wenzel, our Lead Dad of the Week. Dustin lives north of Houston, Texas, with his wife Kerri and their children, 11 and 7.
He has worked in the oil and gas industry for the last 15 years. At the start of Covid, his company offered him a buy-out and he took it. Now he and his wife have traded lead parenting roles. His wife is running communications and marketing for a pre-school, while he’s working remotely as a consultant for a different oil company.
When he was hired, he said he wanted to work remotely. “I’m used to bringing my kids to school and picking them up,” he said. “A lot of times what I do is at night or in the morning. From 3 to 8pm, when the kids are home from school, I’m rarely looking at a computer. That’s beautiful to me.”
When we spoke, it was his daughter’s 11th birthday and he had plans to take her to Barnes and Noble when she got home from school.
Yet having less adult interaction during the day hasn’t always been easy. Derek sets aside time for himself during the day as often as he can. “I actively seek people to go to lunch with,” he said. “I know it’s $10-$15 each day. But it’s intentional for my mental health.”
Lead Dad of the Week
Dustin Wenzel – Houston, TX
