I've been a lot of things: overachiever, certification collector, HR ladder climber, and eventually, corporate dropout.
I spent years earning a long string of letters to put after my already-too-long last name. They opened doors. What they didn't do was close the gap between what I was doing and who I really was.
I grew up with a strong intuition. I was the kid talking to ghosts on the regular, who thought it was just a coincidence that I ended up in haunted places a lot. But like a lot of people with that kind of gift, I shoved it down. I wanted to be taken seriously. I wanted the "right" life. So I followed the checklist:
- Go to college
- Marry the guy
- Buy the house
- Have the kid
- Climb that ladder, babyyyy
Then, at 30, it hit me: was I really going to keep this up for another 35 years? I was exhausted. Burnt out. Living someone else's version of success.
That was my wake-up call. It pushed me to stop hiding the part of myself I'd resisted the most and let my intuition back in. But I also loved building businesses, supporting leaders, and solving real problems at work, and I didn't want to choose. So I built a career that uses both: intuition and strategy, people and numbers, meaning and money.
Looking back, I've lived about five working lives. I started in a local grocery store office. I became an in-house HR leader for a small business. I consulted for thousands of small employers. I trained and led about 1,000 HR professionals across the country, including working alongside attorneys on workplace risk. Then I became a founder.
Employment law and risk mitigation run through all of it. So does something I saw over and over: most workplace problems don't start with people. They start with how the work is set up and how changes get communicated.
That became How Work Works™, the framework behind everything I do now. It follows a change from the plan, to the message, to the results, and out into the community.
Because what happens at work doesn't stay at work.
A steady workplace means steady paychecks, leaders who step up, and people who stay. That's what holds a community together, and it's why so much of my work now reaches past any one business.
Here's where you'll find me today:
- Speaking and writingKeynotes, workshops, and podcasts on change, communication, leadership, and how work shapes communities. See the talks → I also write essays on Permission to Riff →
- CommunityBringing employers, leaders, and neighbors together right here in Central New York, sharing what small employers need to grow, and plain-language education on how local government works for people stepping into leadership. More on the community work →
- BusinessI founded ConsciousHR, an organizational strategy firm for mission-driven, community-minded organizations. People strategy can make or break a business, and profit isn't a dirty word when it comes from treating people well. Visit ConsciousHR →
- CoachingLeadership Alchemy is where strategy and intuition meet, for founders and leaders who want to steady themselves as much as their business. Explore Leadership Alchemy →
Along the way, I also founded DisrUpstate, which brought DisruptHR and bold leadership conversations to Syracuse and the North Country, and POPI, a nonprofit that brings HR strategy to small mission-driven organizations. And yes, I wrote a book, Becoming Conscious in a Corporate World.
It all comes back to one idea: strategy for business, steadiness for the person running it, and strength for the community around it.
Better people. Better business. Better communities.
If any of that sounds like what your team, your stage, or your town needs, I'd love to hear from you.