Her Story
About Kristen
My journey has taken me through multiple careers that all center on one thing: people. I'm a classically trained dancer who earned my degree from NYU, and I spent my life choreographing, teaching, and performing. At the same time, I built a culinary career that spanned fine dining country clubs, New York City restaurants, and everything in between. I trained under Chef Christina in New York and worked my way up to sous chef and culinary manager positions at places like Ruby Tuesday, Cracker Barrel, and privately owned establishments. I always looked at the restaurant experience as creating something special for people - from the front door to the time they leave with their bellies full and happy. But what I realized was that while I was creating amazing food, I was also developing amazing people. I was hiring, training, giving raises, managing leaves of absence, and helping my teams grow. I was doing HR without the title. So I made a seamless transition - I went back to school, got my degree, and deliberately started from the bottom as an HR coordinator to build credibility and respect in the industry. I stair-stepped my way up through recruiter, specialist, generalist, and HR manager roles, learning the ropes from the ground up. One of my proudest accomplishments was building and running a holistic, mental health-based wellness program that got recognized by Cigna Healthcare. I even earned a mental health certification because I wanted to understand people better and recognize when someone might be struggling. I'm definitely lifestyle medicine, whole foods, plant-based, very natural with life, and mental health-focused - mind, body, and spirit. That resonates in my work. Now I do HR consultancy, and I bring that whole-person approach to every organization I work with. HR isn't just about hiring and firing - there are many layers to who we are as professionals, and when companies grab great HR people, their employee population benefits for sure.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Kristen
01What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
You have to love people. If you're going to go into HR, you absolutely have to love people - the good, bad, and the ugly. You have to love the pain, the confusion, the questions, back to the confusion, and then eventually solving problems. Whether it's a CEO who's being overly demanding or a new hire that's nervous on their first day, you have to be able to meet people right where they are. And if you don't love people, you're not going to be able to do that. They're going to be a bother or an inconvenience to your day, and that's just not what HR is. It's the more human side inside of HR that will allow you to go home at the end of the day and feel good about the work you've done, because you met people where they were and you helped them, regardless of their level or their title.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Don't ever let someone say this is a male-dominant field. Don't ever feel like the counterpart is going to be more important or push you out, because that is incredibly true, especially in culinary. It is a very male-dominant field - I found myself at seminars or conventions being 300 deep and only 7 or 8 women, because it was all men. And as you get up into the higher rankings or higher titles and positions in human resources, you're having a seat at the table with the C-suite, and a majority of C-suite are men. I would say it's better now than it was, it's a healthier mix, and different industries are more male-dominant than others, like construction. Really feel confident and secure that whatever seat at the table you have, you've earned it. And try not to let, whether you are a female or a male, rent space in your head. Just know that that seat at the table is there for you. And if you can't get a seat at the table where you are, go find another table.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
In HR, it's like juggling 8 balls at once every day. You have to be there for the people - it requires a great deal of empathy and understanding for the employees. But you also have to balance empathy with employees to compliance and legalities for the business, because you're there to protect the company from harm and help the company grow and scale, but you're doing it through and with the people. So you have to embrace both the people and the business side and find a happy medium. You become their mother, their best friend, their counselor, their disciplinarian, all things for all questions. You become their leave of absence administrator, the one that gives them their vacation time or denies it and why. You become all things to all people, and it is really, really exhausting which hat you have on at which time if you're going to be successful.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
In my work and my personal life, if I could combine them, I would say integrity, putting your best foot forward all of the time, not doubting yourself, having faith and confidence in the task at hand or the situation at hand, and always being approachable. You can't really get anywhere with your personal life or with your career if you're not approachable to communicate. It means keeping a happy spirit, keeping a grounded, calming spirit, a safe space for people to come and talk. Both personally and professionally, I have found, even in motherhood, I can't always be the disciplinarian. I raised my kids with a stern fist, but also with a lot of love, and you have to be approachable and be willing to communicate, whether it's a tough conversation or an easy one. You just have to be that communicator all the time.
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